I’ve had a lot of people contacting me lately with questions about my weight loss program.  I am going to address the number one question today.  Here is the gist of how it is usually asked:

“I currently weigh 175 pounds.  I’d like to weigh 130 by October 30.  Do you think this is possible?”

First of all, I’m one of those people who believe that anything is possible, but let’s do the math.

If today is August 1 your goal date is roughly 90 days away.  You want to lose 45 pounds in that time so that means you need to lose one-half pound per day, or 3.5 pounds per week.

Since 3500 calories add up to about 1 pound of body weight, you need to consume less or expend 12,250 calories per week, or 1750 calories per day, than your current rate.  Is this possible?  Well, we need to look at several more factors.

Before I go on, I need to make some assumptions.  Let’s assume that you are a 5’6” 30-year-old female who works in an office environment.  You might do some exercise, but it’s not consistent enough to really count.  (You have to be honest with yourself in my system.)

If you weigh 175 with this profile, you are consuming an average of 1954 calories per day.  To subtract out 1750 would leave you with 204.  No one can survive on that!  So let’s look at other options.

If you dropped down to your basal metabolic rate, which is around 1200 calories per day, that would have you taking off about 1 pound every 4.67 days, or 20 pounds between now and your goal date – about half of your target.

So, what else can you do?  Well, there’s always the big “E” word; that’s right – exercise!

I don’t suggest it starting out because it is difficult for most of us to find something we can stick with, and it’s even more difficult to change more than one routine at a time.  So here you are trying to count calories and then you add exercise to it, which makes you hungrier, at least, that’s the way it always worked for me.  But if you’re going to reach you’re goal, you’re going to have to do more.  Other than contracting some fatal disease that severely suppresses your appetite and losing the weight that way, which I don’t recommend, you’re going to have to find some ways of burning the extra 996 calories.

The good news is that there are plenty of websites that will help you figure out how to do this.  I like this one from the Mayo clinic, but if you simply Google “calories burned per type of exercise,” you’ll get lots of results.

The bad news is it’s going to take about an hour a day of something as vigorous as running to reach your target.

Now, back to the original question, “Do you think this is possible?”  Here’s my take on it.

I know that I lost 25 pounds in one month.  I didn’t have a target date.  I simply wanted to weigh 123 at some point in the future and I was serious about it, so the weight came of quickly for me.  However . . .

I’ve never weighed 175 pounds.  I have no clue what that’s like.  I was somewhere around 150 when I lost my weight.  That has to make a difference.  Wouldn’t you think?

If the question were, “Do you think you could do this,” my answer would be yes because I would really, really, want to do it.  I would count the calories and do the exercise and make the life changes necessary to become healthy again.

But the question seems to be, “Do you think I can do this.”  And that I just honestly don’t know.  When I respond to this question, I always make it vague and generic because I don’t want to discourage anyone.  But quite frankly, it doesn’t matter whether I think you can, all that matters is if you believe you can do it.

So, if you’re asking for a scientific viewpoint, I’ve now given you the numbers and the techniques.  If you’re asking if I believe in you, I absolutely, unequivocally do.  I’ve witnessed other people lose that kind of weight at that rate, very healthfully, and keep it off.  At this point, I think I’ve earned the right to ask you this question:

Do you think this is possible?

The amazing thing to me is that if you play around with the calculators enough, (see bottom of Update article), you’ll discover that the difference between weighing 175 and weighing 130 is only 246 calories per day.  Think about that!  If you would simply cut back by 246 calories, which is a snack, then added one-half hour of walking daily to that, you’d lose about 1 pound per week, and maybe more by the time you get a synergistic effect going.  To me, that’s the easiest, healthiest, most realistic way to approach it.  Then, if you reach your target date, great.  If not, you’ve changed your habits, and therefore your life.  Isn’t that better in the long run?

I am going to be 100% honest and frank here for a moment.  The people I know who are thin and healthy regularly watch what they eat, and they exercise.  There are no “tricks,” schemes, diet plans, etc. that work.  I’ve told you before that I no longer use my calorie counting system.  I haven’t used it for 10 years now.  I used it back then to get my weight, my life, under control.  It had the effect of establishing new habits within me and that’s how I’ve kept the weight off.  If you try to use a gimmick, that’s exactly what it will be.  If you’re trying to lose weight for some momentous occasion, then you plan to go back to your current habits, guess what, the weight will come back too.

My plan is really for people who are serious, and want to live a healthy lifestyle.  I share it because I want that for everyone.  But I cannot implant my belief system into you.  You have to want to eat less, exercise more, and be healthy.

Again, back to the original question:  “Do you think this is possible?”

Resources:

Think and Get Slim: Natural Weight Loss

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Posted under Inspiration, Motivation, Weight Loss