Need to lose 10 lbs in a month! Help!

My diet for the last 4 weeks has been:

Breakfast: oatmeal (no sugar), eggs (2-3), fruit, black coffee

Lunch: scoop protein with a few berries & spinach w/ salad

Dinner: chicken, fish or beef, roasted veg, small portion patatos

late snack: nuts and bowl plain yoghurt

I've shed about 5 lbs but have to double that to be in "contention" for the next 3.5 weeks.

It's is possible.

It's is possible.

losethelbs wrote:

First off - Is it possible to lose 8-10 lbs in a month?

2 - How would I go about doing this without losing too much muscle mass?

I'm having a douchy physique contest with a buddy and probably about 10 lbs heavier than I would like to be - I'm already decently muscular so just need to get lean (maybe 12-14% bf at the moment)

Diet? Workouts (should I be doing reps? sprints? 2-a-days?)

Help me letsrun!

Hey man, I was in the same boat. Kind of. I needed to lose weight just because I knew it would help my running in college. I've officially just lost 10 poinds yesterday. What did I do? No sugar. It's simple. No artificial sugars. Zero.

Thanks,

Did you cut out fruits as well? I've pretty much eliminated sugar already and work out a ton (once or twice a day) and not falling as fast as I need.

How fast did you lost the 10? How old are you?

what's your height and current weight?

10 pounds in 31 days works out to ~1100 calorie deficit per day. 1100 calories is roughly burned per 10 miles running for an average sized person. So say that was your daily exercise (a 10 mile run) for 31 straight days, you could probably consume about 2000 calories and expect to be close to an 1100 calorie deficit.

That's a lot to ask from your body.

I don't know my macros that well. Looking at my diet above what would be the rough estimate of the number of calories?

Also I would assume a more efficient way to burn calories would be interval running or intervals in the gym (or both for 2 a days)

I'm currently 6'0, 185.

losethelbs wrote:

Thanks,

Did you cut out fruits as well? I've pretty much eliminated sugar already and work out a ton (once or twice a day) and not falling as fast as I need.

How fast did you lost the 10? How old are you?

No natural sugars are healthy, keep eating fruit. I'm 19 so the metabolism is high true, but I gained 10-12 pounds because of poor diet decision my freshman year. Sugar is the first thing anyone should cut out of their diet.

You will lose around 10 pounds if you don't eat anything for one month. A 30 day fast is not that difficult. It will be impossible to do much exercise while losing a lot of weight.

You can also lose around 7-8 pounds through dehydration. The easiest way to show a ten pound difference would be to drink a lot of water before the first weigh in and then become dehydrated before the second weigh in.

Swimming is also a full body fat burner also.

If you're sticking to your diet listed above, I'd say you're doing well.Cut out the nuts from your yogurt snack - nuts have extremely high calorie counts and it's easy too eat a lot without filling up, Replace with fruit.Intervals (running faster) burns calories faster, but it's a shorter workout - if you enjoy intervals though, warm up or warm down with at least a 20-30 min. jog..

losethelbs wrote:

I don't know my macros that well. Looking at my diet above what would be the rough estimate of the number of calories?

Also I would assume a more efficient way to burn calories would be interval running or intervals in the gym (or both for 2 a days)

I'm currently 6'0, 185.

Thanks this is the best advice yet. I was wondering about the nuts - but I figured it was healthy fat and good at night for slow burning protein for muscles. Maybe I should rephrase a little - The main goal isn't necessarily to lost weight but to look the most lean and ripped. Also weight loss will help with another fitness contest we're doing as part of the competition.

doubt it wrote:

If you're sticking to your diet listed above, I'd say you're doing well.

Cut out the nuts from your yogurt snack - nuts have extremely high calorie counts and it's easy too eat a lot without filling up, Replace with fruit.

Intervals (running faster) burns calories faster, but it's a shorter workout - if you enjoy intervals though, warm up or warm down with at least a 20-30 min. jog.

I did even more than that.

It wasn't easy but it was within reach.

I downloaded My Fitness Pal and logged it all. Everything. Everything I ate and drank. At first I was filled with self loathing. I lived at a calorie deficit until the scale responded. then I drove to the state university track. I said to myself, " self? Let's run."

doubt it wrote:

what's your height and current weight?

10 pounds in 31 days works out to ~1100 calorie deficit per day. 1100 calories is roughly burned per 10 miles running for an average sized person. So say that was your daily exercise (a 10 mile run) for 31 straight days, you could probably consume about 2000 calories and expect to be close to an 1100 calorie deficit.

That's a lot to ask from your body.

The math here is correct, but there is more to consider. As you lose weight your body will need less calories. Also it will become more efficient as the body fat lowers. Best idea is to do the hard work, be diligent on calorie count and balance the calories type that you consume. Also since this is an image thing and you won't have to perform it will be beneficial to slightly dehydrate for the few days prior. This will help you look more cut. But your final workouts will be harder on the body. If it were just a matter of 10 lbs you could do it in 2 days. You need to focus on strict diet and specific exercise to look how you are hoping to.

Add another 1-2 workouts. I normally run early & lift late. I started swimming during lunch for a 3rd workout, & the lbs came off in a 'chiseled' fashion. But start asap, if doing this.

Actually there is a performance component to it as well so dehydration not an option. Basically it is a 2 minute uphill running race followed by best "physique"

doubt it wrote:

The math here is correct, but there is more to consider. As you lose weight your body will need less calories. Also it will become more efficient as the body fat lowers. Best idea is to do the hard work, be diligent on calorie count and balance the calories type that you consume. Also since this is an image thing and you won't have to perform it will be beneficial to slightly dehydrate for the few days prior. This will help you look more cut. But your final workouts will be harder on the body. If it were just a matter of 10 lbs you could do it in 2 days. You need to focus on strict diet and specific exercise to look how you are hoping to.

losethelbs wrote:

My diet for the last 4 weeks has been:

Breakfast: oatmeal (no sugar), eggs (2-3), fruit, black coffee

Lunch: scoop protein with a few berries & spinach w/ salad

Dinner: chicken, fish or beef, roasted veg, small portion patatos

late snack: nuts and bowl plain yoghurt

I've shed about 5 lbs but have to double that to be in "contention" for the next 3.5 weeks.

It is hard to believe that you only lost 5 pounds in four weeks on this diet. The only way that you could make this more restrictive is reduce the breakfast by losing the oatmeal and switching to egg whites (oatmeal and 2-3 eggs plus fruit is a large breakfast). Also, maybe get rid of the potatoes and nuts and replace with a something that weight watchers would call a zero point food.

Can you tell us more about how you are scoring the race vs judging the physique?

You might be better off keeping your current diet and training for the race rather than trying to change your diet even further. It seems like you are right on the edge of not being able to train with that diet. Dropping 5 more pounds and doing well at the race is better than dropping 10 and slowing down.