There is nothing healthy about someone your size losing 60lbs in 3 months on less than 1000 calories per day.
Yes, some people can lose 60lbs in 3 months but they are extremely obese and more than likely under doctor supervision. Less than 1000 calories at your height and weight will lead to major muscle loss among other horrid side effects.
Pretty much what I was going to say myself.
There is plenty of information on 3FC about how to lose weight in a more reasonable (and sustainable) fashion. I understand your desire to be thin (don't we all?) but you chose the wrong approach.
Losing 60 lbs in 3 months would not just be fat loss - it would also be muscle loss. Weight loss is a loss of fat, muscle, water, etc. The faster you do it, the higher the ration of muscle you lose. And I don't know about you, but I have no interest in losing calorie burning muscle. I want to do what I can to keep muscle loss to a minimum. I don't want to be a thin girl with muffin top. I want to be firm!
The things that you would have to do to lose 60 lbs in 3 months are not realistic changes to maintain over a life time. It would be short-term "diet" which would make it easier to do "off the diet" once you reach your goal.
I am not knocking a 60 lb weight loss in 3 months - but it is up to you what your priorities are. Fast weight loss? Sustainable habits? Muscle vs. fat ratio?
To achieve this ambitious goal of yours, you are going to have to pretty much sequester yourself away as you were in a minimum security jail for the entire summer. You'll have to live an awful lot like an inmate who works out as a way of passing the time while counting the days till his sentence is over. And eats barely any food, except what the prison warden gives him. And avoids or is closely monitored through any social events where there might be food -- like Memorial Day, Fourth of July, cookouts, parties, basically any Friday or Saturday night, or lazy Sunday, etc.
Your body will not like this. Your body will get weaker & you will get cold all the time & yeah, your hair may start shedding. Your body might start disobeying you & carry out what would be basically, a prison break, which will end in bingeing & regain. Which is eating disorder territory & not where you want to be, I believe.
Summer is really not supposed to be about putting yourself through something as painful & difficult as rapid, unhealthy weight loss.
Summer is supposed to be about taking a breather & hanging out with your friends, getting outside & enjoying yourself, maybe earning a little money on the side, without the daily pressures you experience while you're in school trying to get everything done. And yes, maybe picking up an interesting project. I agree that working on your weight would be an interesting, worthwhile project, but not if it's the entire focus of your summer & you have to put much of your life on hold & beat yourself up really hard to do it.
If you lose something more like 20 or 30 pounds, as was pointed out elsewhere, everyone's going to see it & compliment you on it anyway. And you'll have done it without, in effect, having jailed yourself.
Summer is just too sweet & short to spend it in jail.
one thing you have to consider is your starting weight. While it might be very reasonable for someone who is 300 lbs to lose 60 lbs in 3 months, that's 20% of their weight, so about 1.6% per week - not extreme at all.
But for someone starting at 186, 60 lbs is 32% or 2.6% per week. That's definitely on the high side for a healthy fat loss that will be sustainable.
(the percentages are actually a little off, they are just averages and as you weight went down each week, the percentage would go up but this is just to illustrate).
1000 calories a day will not give you the nutrients your body needs. 1400-1500 calories a day is more what you need. I'd say a loss of about 25-30 pounds would be healthier for you and you would look great.
Take it from someone who spent their entire high school experience trying to lose weight. When summer ends and you're not where you want to be you'll just feel awful about yourself. Set something realistic that you can attain and keep up throughout the school year and maybe try to meet your weight loss goal for prom and grad . That would be a great goal. The last thing you want is to lose a bunch of weight and then not be able to keep it off for all those big events.
Every summer I would have it all marked out on a calendar how much weight I would lose, and every summer would have given up my plan by the 3rd or 4th week because I was already falling behind and knew I couldn't make the goal.
So I would strongly recommend that you follow the plan you have set up for yourself (maybe a few more calories than 1000/day) but do not weigh in at all the entire summer. That way you will end up with a loss by the time school starts and can then decide if you want to keep going based on how much you lost while following your plan.
Last edited by caryesings; 05-21-2010 at 04:23 PM.
I think that it's possible, but that you're setting yourself up for failure. You've already lost 5 pounds, so consider that a great jump-start! Also, if you have 60 lbs to go I think exercising intensively is going to be difficult.
That said, I did lose 30 pounds in one month when I was 19. And I did not gain it back until I was 45 (and there was no secret there, the way I was inhaling pizza lol.) But the diet was pretty dull. It was a small piece of chicken or fish with lots of veggies. But to stay on that for two more months? I don't think so. On the other hand, at my young age then, I had NO idea why I was overweight. Eating this way (it was a 1970s "crash diet" from Glamour magazine) did teach me the wonders of lean protein and lots of produce. I did eat that way for many years and stayed slim.
Also if you are in high school and living at home, it can be difficult to control your diet that stringently. I know my mom kind of sabotaged me ;-) but she was just concerned that I stay healthy.
I hope you just avoid any "diet" and instead learn to eat healthfully. Weight Watchers is a great resource for that. Another thing you can do is sign up for an online weight tracker. I have one on my cell phone where I enter whatever I eat and whatever exercise I do. Then it logs how many more calories I need to eat or burn off that day to meet my goal. Then you also see, as you are entering foods, exactly how much you're about to ingest and which foods may be keeping you from your goal.
If you're really gung-ho about the rapid weight loss, here's what I'd suggest. Eat healthfully for a few weeks and watch the pounds come off slowly. Then perhaps blast it for a short period with the low-calorie/high exercise plan to give yourself a mid-goal jump start. But if you're going to set about losing weight and getting healthy, don't sabotage yourself. I lost all that weight when I was your age and it completely changed my self-image.
You might think about enlisting your mom or another female relative for support. They will be relieved to know you want to lose it healthfully. Good luck and stick around here for advice -- sounds like you're getting great guidance!
Every summer I would have it all marked out on a calendar how much weight I would lose, and every summer would have given up my plan by the 3rd or 4th week because I was already falling behind and new I couldn't make the goal.
That's exactly what I did. I knew exactly what I had to lose each week and I never would (for hormonal reasons though). I would get frustrated, realize my goal was completely unattainable and throw in the towel.
I had all these visions of myself coming back to school in size 6 jeans and knocking everyone's socks off. Going to prom, looking smoking hot in a dress, wearing whatever I wanted on civvies days. They never happened. And it sucked. Big time.
Not weighing yourself too often (or at all) is actually a great idea. The last thing you want is to become obsessed with the scale.
When I graduated hi-school (many years ago!) I weighed 121. In three months, I was down to 92 lbs. I lost 29 pounds simply by "not eating". Grabbing a banana here or there, a glass of juice in the morning, & then just running around all day with my friends. BUT I WAS VERY FAR FROM HEALTHY. Hypoglycemic, anemic, and yeah - I looked so thin & svelte! - but I was SICK, SICK, SICK.
Pretty much what I was going to say myself.
There is plenty of information on 3FC about how to lose weight in a more reasonable (and sustainable) fashion. I understand your desire to be thin (don't we all?) but you chose the wrong approach.
All im going to say is... it took alot longer than 3 months to get that 60 lbs on your frame.
Even if you keep up the same routine, at least bring up your cals to 1200. AT LEAST. Thats a maintainable cal range for a lot of people, still allows you to eat healthy, BE healthy and lose weight.
I'm not that much older than you i'm 23. I did what you are right now and after i brought my self up to a NORMAL calorie range i BALLOONED, because i tried what you are for too long. It isnt healthy and it will just make it harder for you to lose and MAINTAIN that weight loss.
we're not trying to be 's we just dont want to see what happened to US, happen to you. IT did nothing for us other than make us overweight/obese in the end. If alot of us knew what we're telling you now.. then, we wouldnt be where we are now...
BUT your gonna do what your gonna do, just remember if you want to be a healthy/sexy weight! do it the right way from the start so you dont mess it up for yourself in the future.
Also, my friend, don't overlook simply walking. When I was in high school and struggling with weight, I started walking in to and from school (2 miles round trip = 40 minutes). And amazingly, I noticed I did not gain weight those weeks. That's all it took. If you're meeting friends at the mall or going somewhere else not to far, try walking. You'll feel less like eating bad stuff, and you'll also feel happy and upbeat!
You've gotten a lot of good info so I don't have much to add. I wanted to add that I "recommitted" to my weight loss journey in January and I was 187. I've been working really hard, but I eat WAY more than 1000 cals, because for one thing I don't want to be miserable, 2. it's unhealthy to go too low, 3. I want to change my lifestyle and am not looking for a temporary fix and most people fail at low cal diets. It's taken me just over 5 months to lose 30 lbs. Could I have done it faster, probably, but I'm very happy I did it this way because I'm healthy and have good muscle tone. I know you want this now, but you have your whole life ahead of you and in the not so distant future high school will seem like an eternity ago and your priorities will have completely changed. It's great you're starting now though, I started gaining my senior year and ruined my 20's being heavy. Good luck to you, stay healthy!
Most important of all, I don't think any of us want to seen a teen girl be miserable for her last little bit of time to enjoy being young in high school. This plan is really setting up a starvation cycle (and inevitable binging), muscle mass loss, reproductive system issues, etc. Nobody wants to see that. Please just enjoy your time in the last year of school, focus on eating healthy and active. If you make good food choices and stay active, the rest will fall into place.
I could personally sustain 1000 calories a day if I set out to, but I would be incredibly physically ill within a week, that's without exercise. I have tried it before and lost weight, but you will gain it all back likely plus some.
. That would be a great goal. The last thing you want is to lose a bunch of weight and then not be able to keep it off for all those big events.
's we just dont want to see what happened to US, happen to you. IT did nothing for us other than make us overweight/obese in the end. If alot of us knew what we're telling you now.. then, we wouldnt be where we are now...
