I want to lose 20 pounds in 40 days

[Love,]

You must think I'm crazy.

 

But I've given this a lot of thought.

 

My height is about 5.5 feet (167 centimeters).

When I graduated from high school at age 18, I weighed about 115 pounds (52 kilograms).

I have a slim build.

 

http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w65/lettheraincomedown/thenandnow.jpg

18 years and 23 years

 

Now, I am 23 years old, and I am currently 135 pounds.

Having gained 20 pounds, I could see it in my sides, in my face, in my buttocks, my arms, etc!

 

I've been so overwhelmed with work that requires me to be stationary. I do a lot of moving around during projects and production, but most of my time is spent sitting down. Also, I have this unstoppable craving of friend foods, processed foods, and sweets.

 

All in all, I know that I want to live as long as I can. Of course, I will still have my German chocolate cake from time to time, but I want to be more careful now. I want to be as healthy as possible! So - doing this will benefit me, overall.

 

I now I have a goal to lose 20 pounds in 40 days (9 kgs) - in the most healthy way possible. With this, I've begun rigorous exercise by working out one to two hours per day. I've also added a new hobby, called cooking. Yes, Sopha in the kitchen!

 

Anyway, I don't want to go on and on...

So, what are your thoughts?

Edited July 28, 2008 at 10:54 PM by Love,

[Alex_Incognito]

My son, it's called growing up and growing out. You're certainly not fat, so to those that are overweight this might be offensive. Many of us were smaller at 18, but we're still kids then.

 

For someone your size that is an unhealthy amount of weight to lose in such a short amount of time.

Edited July 28, 2008 at 11:00 PM by Alex_Incognito

[CelineAndRene]

I agree. You're actually in the right weight-class. Please don't get too obsessive about this. Don't want any Anorexia or Bulimic problems.

[Shamrock_1982]

Im in exactly the same situation Soph...lol

 

I've started to do 5 things, over 5 days out of my week:

500 situps spaced out over a day, 80 laps of the pool twice a week, cycle instead of walking to certain places, cut down on certain foods/drinks, ie. beer, pasta, bread, & junk/fatty foods...., and do light weights everyday....

 

Although I'm only in my 5th day so far, lol....

 

I'll let you know how I get on...

 

Darren.

[Jacqui]

You really don't need to If you insist on doing it, please be careful. That's kind of a lot to lose in a short period of time. And believe me, it's not worth compromising your health for. Unfortunately, I know what it's like when people become too obsessive about these things and it's horrible. It's more important to accept yourself and be happy. You probably don't want to hear that lol, but you asked...

[GoldenLeaf]

I was 120 pounds at 18 and I'm still 120 pounds at 20 and I'm 181 centimeters! I walk outside 2 hours per day and I'm not really into fat and sugar foods so this might explain why I'm that skinny. Edited July 29, 2008 at 12:47 AM by Calypso

[VanMerlin]

Love, in the one pic, you are still a boy. In the other picture, you are a young man. Don't forget than we reach our height at about 18 years of age, but in our early twenties, we fill out, especially men. It's natural. Our bones and muscles take their adult sizes and shapes. Yes, there are some who remain the same weight, and some who weigh less because they held onto baby fat or were overwight as a child, but it's perfectly normal for a boy to gain some weight as he becomes a man.

 

I will say this...try not to focus on "weight". You are a healthy weight and you look good. Only focus on muscle tone and tightening up your body to make it a lean machine. If you're going to work out as much as two hours a day (and even just 30 minutes of strength training will give you immense benefits), make sure you're eating well. Cutting out unhealthy foods is always a good choice, but make sure you're getting lots of protein, calcium, and vitamins (fruits and vegetables...preferably fresh or barely cooked). To get your body into it's optimal state, give it everything it needs, and build up your endurance at a safe pace.

 

Exercise is great. Eating well is great. Cutting down on sweets and fried foods is great. You're making excellent choices. Just don't get wrapped up in what the scale reads, because twenty pounds in forty days is a lofty goal, especially when you're already slim. The general rule is to lose two pounds a week! I'd say you don't need to lose anything, and I think you'll find that simply toning the body to define its shape and strength will give you more satisfaction than a certain number on that scale! Besides, once you gain muscle, which weighs more than fat, you'll find that being healthy and toned might mean that you'll weigh more than the end weight you're hoping to achieve.

 

In any case, I wish you the best of luck.

[Cheerfuljane]

Silly boi !!! Did you ever take into consideration that when you were 18 you were too skinny??

 

Looking at those pictures you were too skinny at 18 and you`re just perfect now

 

If you`re determined to do this then don`t overdo the exercise. 30 Minutes a day is fine !!

 

DON`T set the goal for 40 days !!! You may get there but in the long term it can only have negative effects Change it to 6 months.

 

I`m gonna be watching you Boi !!!

[GoldenLeaf]

Don't forget some people are naturally skinny (like me) and some people ain't. That's the life.

[Shesings2me]

I'm with you on the healthier eating and regular exercise goal, but what we lose or gain will depend on many different things. I'm going to try my best to do the same and then we can share with each other how it's going when we get to NY in just over a month. Good luck and stay well, T.

[Frida]

Sorry sweetie but you look MUCH healtier now... :hugh:

[Cheerfuljane]

See? Frida agrees with me. Although she put it a better way

[Céline's Blues]

You can't be serious Sofa. Give me any OTHER reason to lose some weight than just the weight difference between being a teenager and a young man like Vanmerlin said already.

 

Exercising is an excellent way of losing weight and staying fit but only and only IF you make it a habt, not a horrendous must. And don't exaggerate cuzz if you burn out during the first week you'll be so pissed off that you don't have the power to go on through the rest of the schedule.

 

Start off slowly every other day and then increase the length of the cardio/weights training gradually... not like 100% from one day to another.

[Prince Whiskers]

Don't forget some people are naturally skinny (like me)

and Celine herself.

[VintageCeline]

LOL Is this a joke?!

 

I've been healthy eating for a couple of months now and lost a bit of weight - but I actually needed to loose it - and more.

 

If you want to loose weight do it for yourself, and don't shout about it.

Just eat healthy (three meals per day - varying what you have, with lots of fresh fruits/vegtables)

 

To be honest, I'm saying what everyone is saying - You don't need to loose weight, if you feel uncomftable with yourself, just go to the gym or go for a run a few times a week.

[I Surrender]

u dont look like u need to lose any weight. if u still wanna go ahead and do it make sure u do it the right way.

eat right, start excercising. dont push urself too hard and take time to do this. i lost 44 pounds in a year and it stayed off.

its better to take more time. its all about changing ur eating habits.

[GoldenLeaf]

Don't forget some people are naturally skinny (like me)

and Celine herself.

Yeah!

[incalculated fool]

You do look kind of chubby... especially for the gayboy-shoot coming up... good luck

[KimboCosmo]

Sopha...You look AMAZING the way you are.

 

If you decide to do this, don't go tooooo crazy, I have a friend right now who needs help, and hers started this way...she weighs 98 pounds now and is 5'7...she's very sick, and she KNOWS it, she just can't stop.

 

It's so sad...be careful ...

[Bumble]

You do look a bit fat... to european standards. You're still young, hence you gotta lose those extra pounds, cause they'll build up with age. Abdominal fat is correlated to the risk of heart failure, hence it's a good thing you wanna lose it before it grows more.

 

Your goal is too much in my opinion. 9 Kg in 40days is bound to bounce back on your tummy as quickly as it disapeared, cause it'll mean a diet that is too restrictive for your body.

 

Cooking your food is definitely a good idea, rather that eating processed food, which is for economical reasons full of fat, salt and water . However, chose your food carefully. Be sure to eat colors, especially green and red. Try to always have some green to eat if you eat some whitish/yellowish food. No food is bad, you just need a good nutritional imbalance.

For breakfast, try to avoid all those bad things you can spread on bread (peanut butter, toffee...) and all those corn flakes full of sugar.

An orange juice, two toasts with butter , and a dairy product is all you need. Take an apple if you get hungry in the morning.

 

Oh, I forgot: Water, with some lemon juice....is definitely better than sodas.

 

You can do cardio to burn fat, but you need to do it with some increase of speed at some times to promote fat burning. But more than anything, you must build lean muscles. Muscles burn more energy than fat to stay on your body. It increases your basal metabolism, and you'll burn energy, without even exercising. No need too grow big horrible muscles...

No need to do thousands of crunch a day. Just exercise to the point of rupture, with slow motion movements, so you keep the contractions as long as possible (i.e 10 seconds), 4 to 5 times in a row, up to the point you feel it really burns. Repeat twice and you're done.

[Prince Whiskers]

You do look kind of chubby... especially for the gayboy-shoot coming up... good luck

[Alex_Incognito]

And now the shirtless pics...I think someone wanted attention! lol

[GoldenLeaf]

You do look kind of chubby... especially for the gayboy-shoot coming up... good luck

Pretty interesting.. Can you give us more details that upcoming gayboy-shoot please?

[DianaLuts]

Sopha, first of all you look great. We know you how you are right now and I have never heard anyone say that you are not beautiful they way you are. Everyone is smitten by you. I don't know about 20 LBS but 10 sounds ok. Since you have a small frame 10 LBS off will make a huge visual difference. Dont overdo it. You are risking insury. Take it from a person with chronic shinsplints and messed up legs. and I SWEAR BY STAIRMASTER!

[Cambroneroj]

Get over urself Mr. OMG he said he wants to loose 20lbs ???? is that normal? First instead of thinking of loosing 20big ones try to turn what you already have into muscle, trust me, muscle looks better then skinny! If you loose 20lbs you gonna look like a skinny asian girl. j/k

 

Get a trainer to teach you how to work out, im not saying to turn into a big muscle guy , but all you need to do is tone up and youll be ok. You can afford a trainer and you can make time to work out, instead of being here all day go to the gym, you only need 1 hour a day 4 times a week and in 2 months you'll see the changes in your body.

 

Eat clean! Cakes oncea week only, pick sundays.

Have egg whites in the morning withing 45 mins of waking up and a cup of oatmeal with raisings or some fruit no sugar added eat it DAILY! eat a banana or an apple mid morning ,

then a nice lunch with some chicken,beef or fish some brown rice and steamed veggies. The same for dinner but less carbs , try cooking everything with olive oil , drink it if u want! its soo good. Do cardio 3 times a week for 30mins but make sure you are eating right.

 

Why do i tell you to take this lifestyle? Cause i do and look at me! j/k it works for me and to everyone i give it to. Good luck! and please drop the idea of loosing weight ,you are not fat , you are SOFT. Not cute!

[kathyc25]

Hi Soph!

 

You have to do what makes YOU happy. If that means loosing weight, then go for it! I am doing that as well, I`m part of Weight Watchers online and its been really helpful. They have amazing recipies on there too, so if you want me to try and send you some I can . Just make sure you`re setting realistic goals for yourself too. even 10 or 15lbs in a month would be fantastic!

Edited July 31, 2008 at 05:17 PM by kathyc25

[grobandion]

OMD....!!!

you look great!!! I am the one who is overweight!!!

I gained about 6 kilos (sorry, don't know the conversion...but it's a lot) since I got married, and it's really hard to be back in shape.

I've set my goal for the summer, so I still have about 4 months to loose that extra weight

No more Coca-Cola, that's for sure

 

saludos

Edited July 31, 2008 at 05:20 PM by grobandion

[Prince Whiskers]

No more Coca-Cola, that's for sure

 

saludos

But the milk will go on, yes?

[celinerific]

Urgh. I feel the same way. I've been eating too much carbs lately... It sucks that I adore eating cereal - but cereal is my ultimate replacement for chips and french fries, so I'm not complaining about that. But I certainly need to cut down on pastas and other white carbs and eat more salads. :nod: I remember last summer I was a size 14 but now I've gone down to an 8.

[reamary]

I believe it's all about changing your lifestyle, not so much "dieting" or losing some certain amount of weight (unless you are really overweight for real, and it's threatening your life). It's good to eat healthy, cut down all the greasy and sugary stuff and eat lots of vegetables, and good to do exercice, but I don't believe in any special diets, cause you can't really maintain them for the rest of your life.. I mean, one of my friends once decided she wants to lose some weight, and decided not to eat anything but an orange a day, for some time.. But what good was ever going to come from that because you can't eat like that the rest of your life.. Maybe you lose few kilos (or pounds) very fast, but you'll sure get them back when you notice that an orange a day just isn't going to keep you going.

The same with all these carb free diets. I don't know, I haven't tried so I can't really know for sure how they affect you, but at least if you want to do some exercice, you need to eat carbs.... that's where you get the most of the energy you need when you're exercicing!

 

I did my own "lifestyle change" 3 years ago. I started to go to the gym (and am totally addicted to sports ever since!), I cut down grease and sugar, started to eat a lot more vegetables and fruits, and started to eat more often but smaller proportions, that's what works for me at least. And I still had one day a week when I let myself eat sweets, chocolate, ice cream or other stuff like that, giving up ALL the delicious things would've been too much! And not necessary even. In the beginning I obviously lost some weight, though that wasn't even a goal for me, but it just happened without trying, due to exercice and healthier way of eating. So I think you should just start to pay attention to what you are eating, eat less grease and sugar, more veggies, eat OFTEN enough, and pay attention to the size of the proportions you eat. And get more active during your free time, walk everywhere you can and do some exercice. After a while, I believe that your weight is just going to settle to the level which is right just for your body. Don's stress too much about your weight, and don't intentionally try to lose weight, just do some little changes. You're gonna be fine then I believe.

 

Ps. You don't look chubby at all in that second picture, I actually think you look better in that than in the first one!