Can I lose 20 lbs in a month?
 

Hello everyone!

I'm brand new here I just joined a few days ago. I'm someone who has lost a significant amount of weight and gained it all back:( That's right I lost 100 lbs going from 250 lbs to 150 lbs. Well if you want to get really technical I gained 98 lbs back. I had gotten up to 248 lbs. However I have made the decision to lose the weight again and so far I have lost 8 lbs. I want tho set a mini goal of 20 lbs in a month. I know it's challenging but I think if I really focus and exercise and watch my food intake intake I can do this.

My question is is this a reasonable healthy amount of weight too lose in a month? Are there any of you that have lost this amount in a month? If so what did you do to lose it? My goal weight is to be 160 lbs. I want to lose 20 lbs a month. I have to lose 80 lbs to reach my goal. Is this healthy or to much too lose in that time frame? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I'm not a doctor, but I do not believe that 20 pounds a month is healthy weight loss. The average recommended is between .5-2 pounds a week (2-8 pounds a month). The most I have lost is about 10 pounds in a month and that was with crazy exercise and only using my daily weight watchers points. I'd recommend sticking with that range or talking to a doctor.

I don´t know if it`s healthy or not, but I think it`s not sustainable in time, I mean, maybe you can loose 20 your first month because it usually goes faster at first (I´ve seen people loose 8, 10, or even 12 in their first week), but it WILL slow considerably after that... anyway even if you only loose 10 or 5 it`s 10 or 5 less than now and you`ll eventually get there!

Good luck!

i lost 22 pounds in one month once ! But i was heavier then you and on a vlcd (500 calories a day). I find it best to set reasonable and realistic goals otherwise its easy to get discouraged and give up. 1 to 2 pounds a week is what is recommended by most doctors. remember its a marathon not a sprint ! take time to adopt a healthier lifestyle and learn proper nutrition otherwise the weight will just come back ! it took me years to figure that out...i dont think there is a vlcd out there that i havent tried.

I'd love to lose that much in a month! We weigh about the same and that was what I was hoping for too, although I'm not sure it's healthy, it's possible. My problem is gaining it all back too :(

Maybe instead of focusing on the most weight you can lose in a month, focus on building in the healthy eating and activity habits you'll need to sustain any weight loss. Work HARD on that and the weight loss will come, but maybe not in the time frame you want, but when you're looking at the rest of your life, if it takes longer, but stays off, you're that much better off.

I think 10 lbs in a month is a good goal and 15 could be a stretch goal. 20 lbs in a month, unless you are on a doctor-supervised diet, is not healthy or even safe.

I lost 17 pounds my first month, and I started out close to where you are (250). I'm breastfeeding (which gives me a 400-500 calorie deficit), ate 1600 calories a day, and ran for 15 min, walked for 5. This is my second month, and little over halfway through and I've lost another 10.

15 would probably be a better goal, and if anything extra comes off, well then yay for you! Also, even if for some reason you lost 20 pounds the first month, there is no way your body could keep that rate loss up. The smaller you get, the less weight you'll lose. (Not sure if you meant you wanted to lose 20 pounds your first month, or consecutively in the following months as well). When I first lost weight a few years ago, I weighed 300, and I easily lost 20 pounds my first month. But I was much larger...

Honestly, you can but....
 

I recently lost 20 pounds in one month. Actually I was a few days shy of one month by the time I had lost the 20 pounds. I went on a sudden fast in March of this year... kinda by accident.

I was about to start my period- I never have an appetite around that time, so I did not eat all day long. The next day, I thought to myself "Why not just do water, tea, and make my own juice with the juicer? I've already got a headstart." So I did it for about a week... I was dizzy one day, but it dissipated in about an hour.

Between fasting every other day from March 10th to early April and exercising religiously 5 days a week, 20 pounds pretty much fell off. Then again, if you're heavy, then the weight will initially come off easy once you take drastic measures.

BUT--- supposedly you lose muscle if you completely stop eating. I only did that for about a week. Then I switched it to every other day. I'm still 200+ though, so if you ask me, I'll be alright. I just want to be able to take off running again!!!

Keep us posted!