So I'm trying to lose 20 pounds by March 1st.... Think it's possible?

S

Superstar922

New member
Hello!

I'm Christine and I'm new to this board. So as mentioned in my title, that has been my weight loss goal since the last week of January. Though I haven't been very successful thus far, my goal remains the same. Now I have to really push myself, which is why i joined this forum for added (and much needed) support.

Wish me luck!!!

:willy_nilly:
 
No, it's not possible. Sorry.

YOu say in your other threads that you never really manage to meet your goals - that you lose motivation and give up. I think that's because you've set a goal that is simply physically impossible to reach and so you give up when you don't see the progress that you want.

You also have talked about how you want to lose x number of pounds from parts of your body, and it just doesn't work that way. That's another thing that might be frustrating you.

You should plan to lose about1% of your bodyweight per week. I don't know what you weigh currently, but unless you weigh around 500 lbs, losing 20 lbs in a month just isn't going to happen.
 
Superstar922 said:
Hello!

I'm Christine and I'm new to this board. So as mentioned in my title, that has been my weight loss goal since the last week of January. Though I haven't been very successful thus far, my goal remains the same. Now I have to really push myself, which is why i joined this forum for added (and much needed) support.

Wish me luck!!!

:willy_nilly:
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Hi Superstar,

Try to assess what your body can possibly do and set realistic goals. Don't over exert yourself. You know that losing weight is a gradual process. Did you lose a couple of pounds? If so base it from there and increase it gradually to reach your goals.

Jim
 
Can you lose 20 pounds in one month? Well, I've known a few people who have so anyone who tells you that it is physically impossible is wrong...

BUT!!!!

Is losing 20 pounds in one month a healthy goal? NO, not unless you are morbidly obese. If you want to lose weight in a way that will make your body healthier and you will be able to keep the weight off that you lose, then setting goals like losing 20 pounds in one month won't do you justice.

Why not set your goal at losing 10 pounds in one month, or even a smaller goal of losing 5 pounds in the next two weeks. Setting smaller, realistic and healthy weight loss goals will help you stay motivated. Just think how happy you will be if after two weeks you reach your five pound goal. I tell you, it may seem small right now, but boy does it feel good when you've done it.

I'd love to hear about what you are doing to lose weight. Are you following a specific weight loss program or diet? How much are you exercising on a regular basis? What types of exercises?

By the way, even though your goal of losing 20lbs in a month may not be the best goal to set I really love that you are trying to motivate yourself and asking for support. Keep up the great effort!
 
Chubbylamb said:
Can you lose 20 pounds in one month? Well, I've known a few people who have so anyone who tells you that it is physically impossible is wrong...

BUT!!!!

Is losing 20 pounds in one month a healthy goal? NO, not unless you are morbidly obese. If you want to lose weight in a way that will make your body healthier and you will be able to keep the weight off that you lose, then setting goals like losing 20 pounds in one month won't do you justice.

Why not set your goal at losing 10 pounds in one month, or even a smaller goal of losing 5 pounds in the next two weeks. Setting smaller, realistic and healthy weight loss goals will help you stay motivated. Just think how happy you will be if after two weeks you reach your five pound goal. I tell you, it may seem small right now, but boy does it feel good when you've done it.

I'd love to hear about what you are doing to lose weight. Are you following a specific weight loss program or diet? How much are you exercising on a regular basis? What types of exercises?

By the way, even though your goal of losing 20lbs in a month may not be the best goal to set I really love that you are trying to motivate yourself and asking for support. Keep up the great effort!
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Well, I actually had this goal of losing 20 pounds my March 1st since the beginning of January (which is a bit more reasonable), but I haven't even gotten halfway there yet. I just cannot stick to ANYTHING! I have revised my weight loss strategy over and over again, to the point where i might need to see a therapist to figure out why the hell its so hard for me to commit to doing something I so want to do. What wrong with me? Thats what I keep asking myself.
I was just saying that though the time is ticking away I haven't changed my goal yet, which I know I should. Perhaps extend the 20 pound deadline till April 1st. I don't know if i jus feel that i have all the time in the world and i just put losing weight off (esp living on a college campus where food is EVERYWHERE, I think 'I'll go ahead and have this baked ziti now, i'll just go to the gym tomorrow', which often times something will happen that would interfere with me going to the gym anyway).
But my current weight loss goal I actually just put together last night and its a conglomerate of a bunch of tips and suggestions that I have acquired over months of doing dieting and weight loss research.
I have increased my workouts to twice per week (I do an internship where I work Mon-Fri, 9-5 so I have to scramble for time to go to the gym) where I will commit approx 2 hours each day (Sundays and Thursdays) to working out. About 1 hr and 15mins goes to cardio, the rest to strength training (approximately). But working out is not my issue, as i love to workout. Its my eating habits that need an IMMENSE amount of work, and thats what i need help with.
So I had read that one way to control what you eat is to eat the same thing everyday at the same meal over and over again (i.e. having a salad everyday for lunch. Blah, I know, but its makes sense). Exposing yourself to a "variety" of foods can lead one to overeat or eat the wrong things because there are no limits, so to speak. So that is what I am going to try to implement. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I will only allow myself to ONLY eat fruits and vegetables. NO meats, NO diary, NO bread products. And only water to drink. Every other day I can incorporate the other food groups. I kno i kno its sound a bit dramatic, but drastic times call for drastic measures.
Also, on some weekends (like this coming up weekend) I will do what is called a Master Cleanse (idk if you all know what that is, if not you should look it up, only cuz it'll take too long for me to explain...lol) for two days Saturdays and Sundays. Two weeks ago I Master Cleansed from Friday until Sunday afternoon and I lost 5 pounds! (thats probably how I will lose 20 pounds by march, if i Master Cleansed every weekend until then) But of course my poor eating habits caused me to gain all the weight back.
And its not that Idk the healthy things to eat, I don't eat fast food (haven't in going on a year) and all thse Danishes, donuts, pops etc I dont eat/drink that stuff and haven't for a very long time now. But what I do eat, I end up overeating. So I know my main issue is portion control.

Anyway, let me shut up. What are some of you guys' stories???
 
Hun

This may sound a bit harsh but I don't mean it like that and I like you from your posts and my diet failures were very similar until this time. This is the longest I have kept on a diet and the easiest it's ever been for me so hopefully my advice is worth something.

I think you need to set more realistic goals. Look I've been dieting for six weeks and I've lost almost 20 pounds so I'm not saying that you can't lose a lot of weight or above the 1% per week or that you shouldn't aim high. But what is the point of setting an arbitrary goal like March 1st if you use unsustainable methods to get there and then gain it all back on March 2nd? Unless you can see yourself eating this way for the rest of your life, I don't think it's a good idea.

Part of that is the rigidity with which you are taking the advice that you have been given. Perfect example - try to eat routine food so that you don't overeat. Great advice. Your response to that: only eat vegetables 3 days a week? How is that a reasonable response to this advice? Either you like to eat a lot of vegetables or you don't. If you don't, aren't you just likely to binge on 'forbidden food' those days? It's not necessary - calories in and calories out is the key. If you eat a deficit, you can eat dairy/meat whatever. If you are hungry and so snack all day, you can still overeat on fruit (especially) and vegetables. It's hard but doable. More likely you'll be so miserable that you give up.

And you seem to be missing the crucial part of that advice - when you are hungry, it is easy to just grab unhealthy food or guess it's cal content. Having set things that you know the content of makes dieting easier. But you don't have to eat one thing a day. Cook some meals in advance and store them. Check the calorie content of your favorite snacks or find some low cal alternatives and keep them on you. This is planning ahead. Not cutting out entire food groups.

If you look at my diary you can see that I've been dieting and still eaten chocolate, KFC, chips, dinner at a restaurant and ice cream and other various things that are 'bad' but as long I include them sensibly within my calorie allocation, then I still lose weight. Forget about going crazy on this diet - I know you want to just do it, get it done and it feels like no pain, no gain. It needs to be drastic, it needs to be dramatic. The idea that you can just lose weight by eating sensibly and doing some (not even crazy amounts of) exercise is not very attractive but it is the truth.

I so wish that when I was in college (I'm 25) I had just done this instead of going on and off 3 day diets and wasting my own time. All which will happen is that you will go up and down and a little bit more up each time for the next few years until it becomes a real problem. Please please please do it the right way.

sorry this is really long but I really feel for you. Also - the weight you lost on the Master Cleanse was water weight, not fat and that's why it came back so quickly. Please do it the right way - read the stickies and work out a sustainable plan.
 
On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays I will only allow myself to ONLY eat fruits and vegetables. NO meats, NO diary, NO bread products.
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And on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays, and Sundays you'll gain back every bit of weight as you eat carbs and meat and dairy.

Why would you cut out entire groups of healthy and necessary food groups? Why would you put yourself on a diet you KNOW you can't do?

I will do what is called a Master Cleanse (idk if you all know what that is, if not you should look it up, only cuz it'll take too long for me to explain...lol) for two days Saturdays and Sundays. Two weeks ago I Master Cleansed from Friday until Sunday afternoon and I lost 5 pounds! (thats probably how I will lose 20 pounds by march, if i Master Cleansed every weekend until then) But of course my poor eating habits caused me to gain all the weight back.
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Sure, and the fact that the Master Cleanse is a crock. When you "cleanse" .. all you're doing is losing water weight. The minute you start eating real food again, it all comes back. You're not losing fat when you Master Cleanse.

But what I do eat, I end up overeating. So I know my main issue is portion control.
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Then work on that rather than setting yourself up for failure by going on crazy fad diets and swearing you'll eat in a way that is simply unsustainable.
 
I think you need to sit down and really look at your goals and what you want. Do you want to just force weight off you just to regain it? Do you want to harm your body? No. I don't think you do.

Weight loss is a long term deal. You need to think of changes to how you eat that you can do for the rest of your life. That is how the weight stays off. Here are my tips.

1: Drop the date. It shouldn't be 'I'll lose X by Y' it should be 'I'll lose X and keep X off'. Dates don't help you in the way you hope because it becomes an obsession. You start trying to take shortcuts just to meet the date. You lose sight of the good you do when you don't meet a certain amount dropped by a certain day.

2: Change the tude. Your attitude is the wrong one right now. You are almost overthinking it and turning to crap ( Master Cleanse my butt..) for a crutch. I'll tell you, half of weight loss is purely mental. I'm not talking willpower. I'm talking knowledge. Learning how food works and what your relationship is with it.

3: CSI that stuff. You have to be a scientist. Not chemicals and thinking the myths about no carbs and no fat and stuff..you need to be a scientist by thinking like one. Start with a food diary for a week. You have to be honest and write every food and drink that enters your mouth. Figure portion sizes. I bet you are going to discover that you actually eat more calories than you imagine. Sometime those little things you don't think of are the most calorie dense.
 
Thanks guys.

I appreciate the feedback, and I am taking it all in. It's just kind of an emotional thing for me because I just don't know what to do. I've always been the type to work towards a deadline; i find I work more diligantly that way and i'm more focused on the goal and I get what I need to get accomplished. I feel i need to set a schedule or i won't find the urgency to doing the task at hand. But when it comes to losing weight, though I've set countless schedules, i just can't seem to stay on track.

My weight loss battle has started since last spring where i initially started only eating one meal per day. That lasted for (surprisingly) about two weeks and i did notice some weight come off. But i didn't stick to it, obviously, because i just couldnt. And now i look back on things and i cant believe how irrational my efforts have been; and that was all just time wasted.


I'm at work now and I'm working on a project, but as soon as I'm done i'm going to try to sit down (hopefulyl for the last time) and reanalyze my strategy for losing this weight. Nothing elaborate, no fads--just something short, sweet, and (most importantly) simple. I'll let you guys know when I'm done.

Thanks!

:D
 
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