Weight loss question - what's the best way to lose max lbs. in a six-month period?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am considering entering a weight loss competition that begins in January and ends six months later. There is a substantial prize for the man and woman who lose the largest percentage of body weight.

It will be well-regulated and tightly monitored, so suggestions such as wearing cast iron boxers at the initial weigh-in are not helpful.

So I am…uh…weighing my options. I plan on working out like crazy - aerobic-type exercise - but I am conflicted as to which diet plan to follow. I am considering 1. Atkins 2. Weight Watchers and 3. Simple calorie counting.

Remember, max weight loss is the goal.

Any advice appreciated.
mmm

2

diet plan is a good idea but if you want to keep the weight off you’re going to need a lifestyle change.

Lots of veggies, some fruit, lean meats, cut down on carbs (pasta, bread, etc), the odd cheat food is ok. Have you considered seeing a dietician?

3

Simple calorie counting.

Lift weights-you need to minimize the muscle mass loss that usually goes with dieting.

Bicycling has the greatest potential for calorie burn as it’s non-weight bearing and you don’t have the fatigue that goes with the impact forces of running.
You’ll ultimately be able to cycle for much longer than running. Use a heart rate monitor to make sure you’re maintaining a good heart rate.

4

As starvation diets go this one seems minimally harmful and was recommended to me by someone who had actually used it and lost the weight.

5

You’re also going to have to live with it for six months, so any crash diet will likely fail.

Acceptable weight loss is one-half to two pounds per week, just so you know, and you’ll probably stall out at some point.

6

From the OP:

7

Here are a few tips, from someone who has lost a good amount of weight. I am NOT a doctor so please don’t take this as medical advice.

Tip 1: Get a fiber supplement and take it regularly. I usually like to start my day off with a protein shake (one made for body builders, that sort of thing), and a spoon full of that dissolving fiber. This curbs appetite tremendously. Obviously you don’t want to take too much fiber, but going slightly over the daily allowance is probably ok.

Tip 2: Cut out as many carbs as you can reasonably manage. Try to eat a lot of vegetables and lean proteins. Cutting out carbs is SO difficult, but it’s definitely worth it.

Tip 3: Exercise as regularly as possible, but don’t overdo it. It takes at least 3 weeks of regular exercise to get into the trend, and if you burn yourself out, pull a muscle, etc in the first 3 weeks, you’re going to get demotivated. Start out easy. A bike is a good choice, but personally I prefer elliptical machines. They are low impact and can burn a lot of calories. And of course, some minimal strength-training is good, but if you are going for “Maximum weight loss” you definitely don’t want to be gaining muscle. In fact, losing muscle will actually help you win the contest, even if it’s actually not so great for your health.

Tip 4: If you’re not hungry enough to eat an apple, you’re not hungry enough to eat. People claim they get cravings for a specific food, etc. But if you go to the kitchen to rummage for food and you see the bowl of apples, and it just doesn’t look appetizing to you, then you need to wait until you’re hungry enough to find those apples appetizing. If you don’t like apples, substitute with some other healthy food.

Tip 5: Try your best to eat only lean proteins. When I am trying to lose weight, I eat nothing but turkey, chicken and fish. Try not to eat fried foods. Steam and bake whenever possible. AVOID POTATOES, but sweet potatoes every once in a while are ok.

Tip 6: Reward yourself, but sparingly. It’s important, I think, to eat a nice treat every once in a while, but don’t pig out on a whole box of cookies either.

Tip 7: Find someone who will be your moral support. Ask a friend or a spouse to be MEAN to you and to motivate you. If you have someone who is constantly pestering you to work out and eat well, it’ll be a lot easier for you.

I hope this helps and good luck to you!

8

After 25 years of dieting and binging, I decided to send a year following these three simple rules:

I would only eat when hungry, and stop when not hungry

I would only eat whatever I wanted

I would walk outside at least an hour every day

The first two months where hell. I did not know what being hungry felt like and what I liked to eat (though I knew the calorie count of every food on the planet). After six months, though, I had learn to eat like a regular person.

9

What is your starting weight?

You will have to incorporate exercise into this plan. If you just try to reduce your calories, your body will slow it’s metabolism and you will feel sluggish and grumpy. Exercise is a great way to burn extra calories without those effects. Stay away from energy drinks/bars. They are for performance, not weight loss. Water is all you need.

Do exercises which are low impact such as biking, swimming, elliptical, and dance. The impact from running can lead to injuries which mean you can’t exercise anymore. I would also recommend staying away from weight building exercises as they increase muscle mass and have a greater chance for injury.

Are you a member of a gym? If not, join one that offers classes. Classes are a great way to burn lots of calories in an hour in a fun and motivating environment. Look for classes which are not high impact. Aerobics and dance classes like Zumba are great for this.

Start with at least 3 hours a week of aerobic exercise. Work your way up to as much as 12-14 depending on how good you feel. Classes are great for this as self-motivation can be tough for this much exercise.

Diet is pretty complex. You’ll need to find what works for you. You can accomplish a lot by getting all the garbage out of your diet like fast food, processed foods, sodas, etc. If you can get your diet to consist of things like rice, beans, chicken, fruits and vegetables, you’ll lose weight without thinking too much about calories.

10

I appreciate all the responses.

I think this is the gem of the thread so far (from drewtwo99):

My current weight is around 280, so there’s lots to peel off. The grand prize of the contest is $1000, which would be so nice; but even if I don’t win it, I figure I’ll still come out the other end with some significant weight loss if all goes right.

I do belong to an excellent gym that is less than a mile away from me. I have virtually every type of exercise equipment readily available to me, including treadmill, elliptical, bikes, all manner of weight machines, free weights (won’t be lifting weights, though), etc. Also an indoor walking/running track and lap pool.

So, my main decision is dietary. I am leaning toward following the Weight Watchers points system while adhering to the lean meat/beans/fruits/veggies regimen already mentioned in this thread.

On the other hand, I’ve had excellent (though obviously non-permanent) results from Atkins in the past.

I have a month to decide (while resisting the temptation to fatten myself up even more in the mean time). :smiley:
mmm

11

I’m not giving this advice to suggest that you become a vegetarian–I’m not a preachy type and I don’t care what you eat–but I want to put this out there because it’s relevant: a lot of the meat substitute foods out there, like veggie hot dogs, veggie burgers, veggie chicken patties, etc, have MORE protein and LESS fat than the meat equivalent they’re replacing. You might want to consider trying some of them out in your quest for “lean proteins.” Not saying eat them exclusively or anything, but say if you really want a taco or something, veggie crumbles with taco seasoning in them taste quite a lot like ground beef with taco seasoning (especially if you add the other taco ingredients–but use low fat cheese and leave off the sour cream!) but have way less fat for the protein you’re getting.

A few others: Morningstar Farms makes both sausage patties (and links, but those aren’t nearly as good) and bacon strips if you get cravings for that kind of thing and want to eat it but don’t want to eat the fat. The bacon strips have a very different texture, but if you can get past that they taste quite good–they’re good in a BLT or crumbled into eggs or whatver. (In fact, did you know that “Bac’n Pieces”–the real name of what most people call Bac’n Bits–are actually totally vegetarian?) And in the produce section of your grocery store, near where the tofu and stuff is, there are “cold cuts” like ham and salami and so on that are also high protein, lower fat than the “real thing” and taste quite good (not exactly like meat, but still quite good.)

Again, this is all offered simply as “lean protein” options and is not an attempt to convert you to be a vegetarian.

12

I would recommend against super low carb diets especially if you are gonna do alot of cardio. You potential to fail and eat a bag of dougnuts increases that way. Just reduce carbs and increase protein and eat healthier. If you must get protien powder and have some of that in between your meals or as an occasional replacement. Cut out the most obvious offenders. Fried food and soda and the like.

Cardio is amazing. Take it easy and do not worry how much you can do this week. Just focus on increasing it and doing more every week. 2 months ago I could only do 10 min on the rowing machine and only did about 800m. Yesterday I did 6k meters in 28:46. Then jumped on the elliptical for 30m. No problem.

I lost 25lbs gained some muscle and feel and look better than I have in many many years. In only two months of regular activity in which I increase my intensity and resistance weekly.
Why not lift weights? Lifting will really help.
Lift weights. Work on core exercises and try to increase the lifts every week.

This is what keeps ME motivated. Watching my progress in every area. Resting heart rate. times on cardio, weights lifted. weight lost and overall looks.

Couch to 5k could be a helpfull addition.

If you want to gain an edge by not exercising till the comp starts I understand. You may want to at least work on some stretching and light movement exercises to get your ready. You may also like to start going to the gym now to get it into your schedule and feel comfortable there. You will likely win just by sticking it out to the end.

I think you should reconsider lifting.

13

Won’t that slow down actual weight loss, though? Remember, my primary goal is to lose as much weight as possible, percentage-wise, between January and July.

I think the recommendation of doing stretching between now and the beginning of the competition is an excellent idea that I hadn’t thought of.

I do currently go to the gym, although I’ve slacked off to once or twice a week.

Opal - I appreciate the vegetarian suggestions. I will consider them, but turkey burgers/sausage/bacon is fine by me too. I also want to keep an eye on sodium content.

Oh yeah, one more wrinkle: I am going on an 8-day cruise in February. :eek:

One thing I know for sure: I’m going to have a big-ass meal prior to the initial weigh-in.

mmm

14

If done right I’ve found Atkins to be the fastest way by far to drop a lot of weight. And since this sounds more like a game than a desire to be healthier that’s probably the way to go.

The trick is to actually do it right, as mentioned above the low carb nature of it makes it tricky to do a lot of other activities.

The physiology behind Atkins is solid, since without excess blood sugar your body isn’t going to store fat (and probably won’t store protein either). But with that said, all the other rules of physiology still apply, so if you’re over doing it on cholesterol, transfats, and salt you’ll end up with a whole new set of issues.

Something else to consider is that you’ll probably be able to drop a lot of weight in the first month, but you’ll need to keep it off for the next 5. I’d suggest looking at an Ironman Training program; seriously high endurance activity that develops lean muscle. I shed about 15 pounds off an already light frame when I trained for my last one.

And again because this sounds like a game there are (seriously unhealthy) ways of loading on weight before such as antidieretics. As a skinny guy I’ve found that I naturally shed muscle mass, so it’s possible that you could do some really heavy strength training beforehand, bulk up, and then shed that pretty quick. The extra muscle mass will also increase your metabolism making weight loss easier after the start of your competition. If you think about it, you’re pretty limited in the lower number, ie a 6ft man is going to have a hard time weighing less than 150lb. So you might actually need to put on a lot of fat/weight before to get the percentages in your favour.

All in all this sounds like something you wouldn’t want your physician, mother, or health insurance provider to know about.

ETA There are also some really dangerous things you can do right before the final weigh in to get as much weight off of you as possible. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone dies as a result of this.

15

As far as muscle weight is concerned I think the issue may be how they measure progress.

BMI would be the worst choice. A very healthy muscular individual with little body fat can be considered obese using BMI. Actual weight would be good But it only.measures weight. Not all that telling. But Body fat % would be the best. It will measure the actual fat lost. Purely shedding weight is not a sole indicator of health.
How is the contest measured?

16

I’ve lost weight, and kept it off, on Atkins. I no longer follow it strictly, but the weight has stayed off. It was fast and (after the first couple of weeks) painless.

My daughter on the other hand, had no success with Atkins. Since you know Atkins works for you I would do that.

I had great success in the 60s with Dr. Stillman’s weight loss diet (drink water!!), but I quit being careful and it came back. If I remember correctly, it was just like Atkins.

17

Instead of eating to gain weight between now and the start why not lift now? Any extra muscle will burn more calories as long as you keep it and if you shed some muscle during the 6 months it will be less of an issue (slightly anyway)

*when you write a post and hit submit hours later it never hurts to check of anyone else has posted in the meantime.

18

Don’t worry about gaining muscle. If you weigh 280 now, you’ve got plenty of potential weight too lose. It is expensive calorie wise for your body to bild muscle.

My best advice is to go buy p90x, and follow the exercise and diet plan religiously. The weight will melt off, I promise.

19

I went one a cruise over Thanksgiving. I lost a few pounds, because I was more active than normal, and didn’t eat badly. Resist the urge to eat at every change. Have your three meals, and snacks in between. Choose the fruit dessert instead of the chocolate one most nights. It’s ok to indulge a bit, but don’t make it a lifestyle.

Pick excursions that are active…take the one that hikes up the river, instead of the one that rides a bus the whole time.

On your days at sea, make sure you use the gym. Enjoy the view while you’re on the exercise bike.

Tell yourself you have to earn the extra food. Exercise raises your metabolism alot. As long as you’re active, you can survive a week of eating a little more than you want.
-D/a

20

Exercise isn’t going to take more than 5 or 10 pounds off, if you’re really lucky. You need to change the amount of food.

Then again, if your goal is to win the contest, you don’t have to really lose anything. Just make sure everyone else GAINS weight and you’ll still win :slight_smile: