ExRx.net

Hi all.

A long standing, (but now fixed), thyroid problem has left me at a staggering 24.5% body fat.

My mission - Loose 10% body fat in 6 weeks (my 29 birthday).

If anyone is interested I'll post my progress here on a week by week basis.

I used to be very fit and healthy so know all the tricks, how do you all rate my chances of success?

Cheers.

How many pounds/kilos are we talking about you losing?

Hi,

It would be the same as loosing 1 stone. That is if I gain no muscle during the period. I will be doing weights as well though so I expect to gain some lean mass whilst loosing a fair bit of fat.

Losing 14 pounds (1 stone) in 6 weeks is a bit on the long side of the odds. It can be done, but the measures used to effect that kind of weight loss can't be sustained for long periods of time. You would be better off making doable dietary/exercise changes and looking to the long term.

Remember, the *real* goal of weight loss is to keep the lost weight off for good. Yo-yo dieting, long term, might be even worse than remaining constantly fat.

Hi There,

I understand your concern, but let me just clarify.
I've just recovered form a failed thyroid gland for which I now take thyroxine daily and my levels are now back to normall.
The year it has taken the docs to get my metabolism back to normal topped off by my not being able to excercise during this period is why my weight has got so high.
Prior to this illness I was at 12% body fat and ran daily as well as a 3 day split weights routine, surfing and swimming.
The excess weight has not been caused therefore by lack of excercise and a poor diet.
All I will be doing during my 'weight loss mission' is ressuming my pre illness activities now my doc has given me the all clear, but adjusting my diet slightly from a maintenance level to a calorific defeciency level in order to facilitate weight loss.


All the best.

Sorry, forgot to say, once i get back to my pre illness %bf i will switch back to maintenance.

cheers.

I lost 60 pounds in 6 weeks and kept it off. Until I started really lifting, then I gained, but in a good way :)

I'll share the story I posted on a scoliosis message board (updated):

Anyway, I had scoliosis all my life and bracing attempts were made around age 15. After a year straight of wearing it, and feeling asymmetrical, I got tired of simply maintaining my curve. Wearing the brace was a pain and my job, football, hockey, and running track didn't help either. I generally just got tired of wearing a brace that hurt and immobilized me just to "stay messed up." So I stopped wearing it, and my curve got worse. When it reached the curve that my insurance would cover surgery for, I had it. I think it was about 55 degrees and 50 degrees (two curves of course). I had the usual spinal fusion, bone grafts and rods at age 16. The surgery was a breeze, but sports had an unexpected consequence. My back was so muscular (my doctor said) that the 2-3 hour surgery turned into a 5 hour affair. Needless to say, I had more recovery to go through than my two girl friends that had the same surgery at the time. I hate hospitals, and left after just under two days. Home was miserable. I am pretty tough, but I had bad side effects from the perchaset (is that how you spell it?) painkillers. I had night sweats, insomnia, and nightmares. So after a week and a half or so of staying home, I went to school with a backpack on wheels and a pillow for a while. I couldn’t exercise for ten months, but I still ate like I did, and my Italian mom didn’t help either with her cooking. OK, never mind, it was my fault. Anyway, in ten months, I ballooned up from 125 pounds to 210 (I was 135 pre-surgery). 210 pounds at 5’7” with no muscle is quite pudgy. I visited my friend’s place and got the wake-up call of my life. My friend’s eccentric (Belgian) mother and stepfather sat me down and explained to me very frankly that I was “A fat bastard! Look at you! You used to be so much more attractive. You are going to kill yourself! You are your own doctor and your health depends on it.” I woke up pretty quickly, and realized that I could now exercise (my doctor confirmed this). Falling back on past weightlifting experience, I developed a workout plan. I hit the gym every other day for four hours religiously. I also cut out all beverages except water, cut salt and simple sugar intake to almost nothing, and overall reduced my daily intake to 1300+ Calories (1200 or less causes the starvation effect http://www.exrx.net/Questions/StarvationEffect.html ). I lost 60 pounds in six weeks. No, that’s not a typo, I dropped from 200 to 140 pounds. Once you cut out the salt, you urinate away the first fifteen. Anyway, now I am 23. After much research and years of built up experience, I have a pretty extensive and effective weight training regimen. I am now a muscular 190 pounds and very much in shape to say the least at 5'10".

If I can do it, so can you!

now thats a good post very good motivation. From my experience i lost 25-30 pounds it took me a year maybe from 175 to 145 now im 148 anyways u probably already know this stuff but ill give it to u anyways.
5-6 meals a day breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, supper, snack and try to have protein in every meal if u can
protein- fish,beef, chicken,cottage cheese,eggs, milk
carbs - vegetables,fruit, whole wheat rice, pasta , oatmeal
fats - olive oil, avocados, nuts or seeds like flaxseed and fats from fish i hear its good for you
i believe most of weight lost is mostly diet then exercising
u could something like 3 day bodyworkout stick with the major muscle groups squats, benchpress, deadlifts, dips, chinups and then on your off days 2-3 days of cardio low intensity or maybe HITT where u run for a min of high intensity then slow it down for a min then keep doing it 4-5 times. The more muscle u have the more calories u burn the more cardio u do the more extra calories u burn but most importantly be consistent eat right and just have fun goodluck if u believe u can achieve

Thanks for the help guys much appreciated.

It's going okay at the moment, i'll keep you posted!