Can a person lose 50 lbs in 11 weeks?
 

I'm am new to 3FC and need as much support and encouragement as I can get during my weight loss journey. I am a 24 year old college student and I currently weigh 303 lbs. My goal weight is 150 lbs. I'm graduating this December and would really love to be 50 lbs thinner by graduation. That gives me 11 weeks to lose 50 lbs....is this a unrealistic goal? Or do you fellow weight loss masters think this is doable? Any feedback anyone can give me would be great.

I think that is too much too fast - You could probably push it and be 30lbs lighter, but 50lbs lighter would be really, really too much. I watch my diet and exercise 45-60min a day, 4-6 times a week and I'm losing 2-2.5lbs a week. I can't imagine what I'd have to do to double that.

ETA: For reference, it has taken me since May to lose 56lbs, and we started out at almost the same weight.

A college student getting ready for graduation - how much time do you have for exercise and keeping a food journal and making sure you are eating healthy? You are aiming for 5 pounds a week and could do that for a few weeks, but it wouldn't be healthy for 11 weeks. I doubt you could do it unless you don't eat enough.

I am pretty sure I did but can't really remember. I lost a lot in my first month and then around 2-4 pounds every week for the the next 2. It really slowed down when I hit the mid 180's though. According to health experts 50 in 11 is a bit over the top.. but like I said, if you're just starting out sometimes it can fall off pretty quick.

I know of no safe, medically unsupervised ways of losing weight that fast and wouldnt suggest quite such an aggressive goal.

Generally speaking, losing 1% of your body weight a week is reasonable to lose FAT. Otherwise you risk losing lean muscle, visceral fat and other tissues.

You have a great, eager attitude! What if you made it your goal to keep focused on your weight loss between now and graduation and celebrated whatever # of scale that ends up with?

Good luck :)

i agree with xty, i think you should shoot for whatever goal you want, just make sure you're healthy about it and be happy with however many pounds you end up losing!! you can do it!!

It is really awesome that you are ready to make healthy changes! The key part is HEALTHY. 50 pounds in 11 weeks seems really fast to me, and probably a bit on the fast side to be healthy as other's have said.

One thing to keep in mind while you start this journey is that the scale is just numbers; it is a point of reference and putting to much stock into it can lead to really unhealthy habits. The scale is the easiest thing to refer to when it comes to weight loss goals because it is right there and everyone is concerned with the numbers.

Perhaps you can think about other goals instead of focusing on the number that will be just as beneficial? Here are some ideas just off the top of my head (and I am not suggesting you do all of these, although that would be pretty productive):
1) I will be doing 30-60 minutes of exercise, 6-7 days a week, by graduation!
2) I will drink 150 ounces of water every day from now until graduation!
3) I will stop eating sugar (or whatever your vice is) by graduation!
4) I will count every calorie that I put in my mouth, and keep it under 1800 calories a day by graduation!
5) I will detail and follow my healthy weight loss plan faithfully every day from now until graduation!
6) and if you really, really need numbers, 22 pounds is the healthy weight loss (2 pounds per week) suggestion by 'experts', but chances are you will lose more since you are just starting - I checked my journal, and I did 44, most of which was water weight I am sure.

Let us know how you do!

Actually, *they say* that losing 1 - 2 percent (not pounds) of ones body weight is a safe number to lose. Obviously the more a person weighs, the more they can safely lose. Given your starting weight, to lose 50 lbs in 11 weeks would be safe IF it were done in a safe manner. That would mean adhering to a calorie budget and making those calories really, really count, meaning they must be of the HIGHEST quality - zero garbage. Zero. All high nutrition foods.

But in order to lose 50 lbs, you would have to REALLY adhere to that number, whatever it would be - perhaps 1500 calories - 1800. You'd have to stick with it day after day, after day, for the entire time period. No cheat meals, No cheat days. Consistency, consistency, consistency. And even than, there is no way to guarantee a certain number of lbs lost.

I agree with the others though - instead of focusing exactly how much you can lose in that time, why not focus on how you will change your lifestyle in that time. How you will change your habits. How you will find healthy foods to enjoy. How you will tweak your plan during that time, make it your own. How you will teach yourself coping skills and tips to get you through all situations - stress, parties, holidays, boredom, etc. Focus on meal planning, preparing ahead, taking foods with you, saying no to yourself etc. IF you focus on that, the scale will have no choice but to move down. And you'll lose lots of pounds and be well on your way to losing it all. :)

I just looked back at my first year food/weight journal. I lost 51 pounds my first 11 weeks. Though I started out 30 pounds more than you...but I'm a good 20 years older than you too.

I did it SAFE and healthfully and ate only 100% nutritious food. No junk, no cheats, no booze, no crap. I ate 1200 calories every single day for the first couple months of my weight loss, then upped my weekend calories to 1500 later on. I felt great and was never hungry because I ate enormous amounts of vegetables, lots of lean protein and low glycemic carbs and of course this was all totally approved by my doctor. Oh, and I didn't die or plateau or gain weight from starvation...lol ;)

So yeah, it can be done, and it can be done safely and effectively, but it takes nerves of steel, and PURE 100% determination.

I say why not try? :D I say go forward as if you were going to lose 50 pounds in 11 weeks and see what happens, but understand that it might not. If your graduation rolls around and you are "only" 40 pounds down, would you be thrilled with that? (Because you should be!) If your head's in the right place, give a try! Why not?

I think it would be awesome to set a goal to be perfectly on plan each and every day for 11 weeks. Then after that 11 weeks, re-evaluate. How did you do? Did you like your plan? Did you like your results? And then commit to another 11 weeks right there on the spot.

I too did this and lost effectively. I did not want a self induced plateau. Now, it is fun figuring out how many more calories/carbs I need to add in without gaining.

Thank you all for your replies. I honestly wasn't expecting anyone to reply back to me. You have all giving me things to think about and I hope I can start to make the healthy life changes I need to finally lose this weight so that I can finally enjoy life the way a young person should be able to.

If you lost 30 pounds or 20 pounds, would you be happy? The problem with setting goals like this is that we often get discouraged when we don't achieve such quick results.

Sometimes weight comes off really quickly and other times it is stubborn. As long as you are making healthy choices EVERY SINGLE DAY and hitting your calorie mark, just take that as a success.

I'm always a bit leary of goals tied to an event like this. Are you losing weight for yourself or losing weight for someone else?

Several years ago (when I was at my highest weight) a friend of mine was getting married. I told myself I was going to lose weight before the wedding and shock people with how good I looked. Long story short is that I faltered, felt horrible, and was so embarassed that I didn't even go to the wedding.

You've done a great thing deciding to lose weight. Just make sure that you are losing it for YOU and not anything else. You have to want it more than you've ever wanted anything in your life.

I would be more than happy losing any amount of weight, I just thought 50lbs sounded like a good number. I just hate the idea of look like a hugh blimp walking across the stage at graduation. But after reading these replies and other threads on this site I am starting to come up with more realistic goals for myself.

Kris, the good thing about this, is that you don't have to hope for it, as if it's left up to chance. It's not like winning the lottery. You get to actually choose whether or not it takes place. This is something that you CAN make happen. You absolutely can!!

So, do you have a plan in place, a mode of attack, on how you are going to go about making these changes?

Calorie counting, South Beach, Weight Watchers????