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Last Minute Weight Loss Tricks

Posted in Uncategorized | September 5th, 2008

last minute weight loss tricks
25lbs in 10 weeks. Is this possible?

My workplace is hosting its own “Biggest Loser” competition… and while none of us are really “big” per se, I have been looking to drop a little more weight, so I signed up! The contest runs for 10 weeks, and in that time, I’m looking to lose 25lbs. That’s about 2.5lbs per week. I’ve heard that anything between 1-3lbs a week of weight loss is normal, so I think I can do it. I just want to make sure that my plan will get me there. Expert opinions?

I plan to eat about 1200 calories a day, do 30 minutes of cardio every day, and 30 minutes of strength training 3 days a week. Will this do the trick, or should I do more?

If it helps anyone, I’m 145lbs. I was 180 in 2007, so I’m no stranger to diet/exercise regimens… but I’ve really had trouble getting these last 25lbs off. I need to win this contest, so help me out!!

You will not like my answer, but really, get real and stop hurting yourself.
Your health is more important than winning some stupid contest.
There is no “trick” in losing weight, just common sense.

Usually, you should have a daily average of exercising of 30 minutes to maintain weight, one hour to lose half a pound of fat reserves a week, and two hours to lose one pound of fat reserves a week (each pound of fat reserves is 3,500 calories of exercising).

Of course, if you eat a lot, you could still gain weight working out 30 minutes a day or not lose any weight working out one hour a day (which is the best to be at, once you’re fit and want to maintain your muscle mass to stay fit while not having to worry about your calorie intake).

You should make sure that you eat enough. If you do not eat enough to cover your Basal Metabolic Rate, your body, which is a marvelous adaptable system, will adapt to lower caloric requirements, lower your metabolism and make it very hard for you to use your fat reserves and THEN, as soon as you start eating normally again, you will make fat reserves very easily (with a lower metabolism) and regain all the weight you previously lost, and then keep going up. It’s quite depressing.

You’re not saying your age and height so I’m only assuming there, but still, if you were an average 25 years old, 5’4 woman, your BMR would be 1,470 calories.

Women: BMR = 655 + ( 4.35 x weight in pounds ) + ( 4.7 x height in inches ) – ( 4.7 x age in years )
655 + ( 4.35 x 145lbs ) + ( 4.7 x 64 inches ) – ( 4.7 x 25 years old )
655 + 631 + 301 – 117 = 1,470 calories.

Of course, your BMR could be lower if your body already lowered your metabolism because of previous low calorie diets, like if you lost 35lbs since 2007 by eating less and not exercising more.

I would advise you to eat around 1,500 calories so you don’t mess up your metabolism further down. Then exercise for 3,500 calories for every pound of fat reserves that you wish to lose.
I’m not taking into account muscle mass gain (which is very good) and water and waste fluctuations (which are very confusing). Use a tape measure to chart your progress because when you lose half a pound of fat reserves but gain some muscle mass and some water weight…it’s a little depressing, when, in fact, you should be happy.

Losing one pound of fat reserves a week is VERY time consuming. It’s 3,500 calories of exercising and you need a couple of rest days (you cannot progress if you don’t give your body enough time to rest). If you burn 700 calories of exercising over 5 days (with two rest days), that is about 2 hours of exercising on each of those days when you’re exercising. If you aim for more than 2 hours of exercising, you will not lose more weight because you will have to eat more to get enough energy to exercise for more than 2 hours. Also, you will gain more muscle mass.

Two and a half pound fat reserves loss a week would be 8,750 calories of exercising and get real…you cannot exercise for 1,750 calories/day over 5 days (with 2 rest days) and just eat 1,500 calories because your calorie expenditure should not be higher than your calorie intake.

Just eat 1,500 calories and exercise for 2 hours/5 days/week so you can lose one pound of fat reserves a week…or exercise for just 1 hour/5 days/week and still lose half a pound of fat reserves/week. The slower the loss, the easier you keep at it and the easier you keep it off.

I wish you the best.