How to lose 5 pounds in a month?

[m_m]

My goal is to lose 5 to a max of 10 pounds. I am lazy when it comes to exercise and I LOVE eating

Plan:
1. avoid the elevator as much as possible
2. eat less when not feeling hungry (my main problem is that I am eating all the time, especially at nights)
3. stay on my elliptical for at least 5-10 min a day, and try to do some sit-ups before going to bed
4. eat more fruits, vegetables and yogurts, and less chocolate cookies and ice cream

Will my plan work? Any other advice is appreciated.

[micaelagb]

Sounds like a good plan. 2 pieces of advice:

1. Don't buy high-calorie snacks. Get light popcorn or other low-cal bagged snacks (hubby loves "Pirate Booty"--see if your grocery store has it. Yum!). If it's not in the house, it's easier to avoid it.
2. Watch out on the fruit! It can have a lot of sugar. If you're eating fruit to replace other higher-calorie things at meals, that's great. But just to munch on something, try veggies instead (esp. baby carrots or grape tomatoes.)

[thing]

5 lbs/month * 3500 calories/lbs / 30 days/month = 583 calories/day.

If you're eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's per evening, stop doing so, and that change alone should be enough. If you're downing 32 oz. of regular cocacola/day, switch to water or tea, and that change alone should be enough. Etc.

Good luck.

[Drzy]

Originally Posted by m_m

Any other advice is appreciated.

For your stated goal, I'd recommend cutting off your head.

For real advice, your plan is missing the part where you keep track of what you eat. Keeping track is almost a necessity... with just "eating less" there won't be much motivation to not overindulge when you're never going to see it again anyway. When you're keeping track, your bad habit is in the records to haunt you forever.

[m_m]

Originally Posted by thing

5 lbs/month * 3500 calories/lbs / 30 days/month = 583 calories/day.

If you're eating a pint of Ben & Jerry's per evening, stop doing so, and that change alone should be enough. If you're downing 32 oz. of regular cocacola/day, switch to water or tea, and that change alone should be enough. Etc.

Good luck.

I haven't had any ice cream for a few months now and I only have soft drinks occasionally.

Still one frozen pizza left in my fridge, I will likely finish it this weekend and no more pizza for me for next little while!!

[m_m]

Originally Posted by Drzy

For your stated goal, I'd recommend cutting off your head.

For real advice, your plan is missing the part where you keep track of what you eat. Keeping track is almost a necessity... with just "eating less" there won't be much motivation to not overindulge when you're never going to see it again anyway. When you're keeping track, your bad habit is in the records to haunt you forever.

Are you implying my head weighs 5 pounds?

I do pay more attention to how many calories I consume per day, even though that doesn't stop me from eating some time

[MNBridge]

Increase #3.

[Maine-iac]

Make your snack foods filling foods in small quanties (a few nuts, an oz. of low-fat cheese, a serving of high-fiber/high protein cereal, etc.) Veggies aren't filling enough alone to stop you from grazing for more, and sugary snacks make you crash too soon and start grazing again.

[RG]

How I lost 6 pounds in the last month, despite holiday parties:

Eat yummy food ONLY. Well, I like fruits, but it's amazing how much more filling a Really Good cookie from the pastry shop is than an ordinary one. I slowed down, savored, plated it (with a nice piece of fruit, actually), took slow bites and alternated with fruit and water...

A couple of observations:

1. bodies are creatures of habit; if I'm used to eating 800 calories per meal, I crave that. After about 3 days of a serious change, my body is used to eating less and having to break down fat stores. The first three days, expect to be hungry and cold.

2. some foods are just NOT "worth the calories". Rice, pasta, have minimal flavor compared to a piece of chocolate. Two cups of broccoli or 1 truffle - both 60 calories, if you can keep it to ONE truffle. A good, freshly made roll instead of buying the whole loaf. Instead of buying a whole pie ($5), I buy a half-price ABP cherry croissant ($1) - same calories per serving, but freshly baked and no leftovers.

3. Dropping my caloric intake left me eating less salt from foods and craving high-salt-foods, so I drink more bouillon until I can re-equilibrate. Also eat mustard, pickles, soy sauce...

4. In a charity event last spring (for Afghan girls by National Geographic), these 10 people (male and female, non-athletes but not in any physical danger) did a 200 mile walk over 10 days with NO FOOD. Lots of water, but this way they didn't have to carry a full back pack. One guy had lost 11 pounds at the end of it. No one was sick from the lack of food. The guy who had lost 11 pounds talked about how he was satisfied with a lot less food - the fast had helped his stomach shrink.

5. Counting calories (a la weight watchers) and budgeting does work. If I'm done with calories, I can have something non-caloric (diet soda, broth, pickle, weak hot choc if I'm desperate) until the next day. Or, if I want to eat more, I have to exercise more FIRST, the same way that I would not spend money I haven't earned yet.

[m_m]

Jan 10:

Lunch: English muffin with Jam

Dinner: veggie + 1/2 chicken breast + 2 large oranges + 175g "original" yogurt (hated the non-fat kinds)

Post-dinner snack: a large bowl of corn pops cereal (without milk) + 1/2 can of corn

Worked out for 20 min on elliptical both tonight and last night.