any quick (2weeks) diets to lose 5 lbs?

[Kirsten in MO]

Any one lost 5 pounds or so in a couple of weeks? I'm leaving on a cruise in 2 weeks and would like to drop 5 lbs or so (more if possible) before I go. Know any diets that might accomplish this, something easy to follow? I am walking every day 30-60 minutes, so not a lot of exercise, but some.

 

Thanks!

Kirsten

[abbeyej]

Eat to Live works for me. It's rigid, but healthy, and you do lose weight *fast* initially. Boiled down to the essentials, it's:

 

You *must* eat every day:

1lb+ raw veggies

1lb+ cooked veggies (unlimited leafy greens, and other non-starchy veggies)

4+ servings fresh fruit

1C+ beans

 

You *may* eat each day:

1 C whole grains (or 1C starchy cooked veggie like potatoes)

1oz nuts or seeds

2oz avocado

1t olive oil

 

You may *not* eat:

meat

dairy

sugar

refined grains

 

He also recommends cutting out salt and caffeine. I continue to salt things to taste and drink some tea while on the diet...

[Loupelou]

Kristen, It would help to know what you are already eating.Here's a few suggestions:

 

- eat more of your calories the first half of the day.

 

- get a good start with a filling breakfast, it depends on if you are a carb or protein person - egg & veggie omelet, or a couple of pancakes topped with applesauce are two I like

 

- don't eat after 7 pm

- cut out juice, soda, and refined sugars.

-load up on salad with lean meat, lots of veggies and a vinagrette type dressing

- advise several smaller meals, try hummus on cucumber, light cheese stick wrapped with a piece of lean turkey,etc.

 

I'm sure I'll think of more later! Have fun!:001_smile:

[Jennifer in MI]

Eat to Live works for me. It's rigid, but healthy, and you do lose weight *fast* initially. Boiled down to the essentials, it's:

 

You *must* eat every day:

1lb+ raw veggies

1lb+ cooked veggies (unlimited leafy greens, and other non-starchy veggies)

4+ servings fresh fruit

1C+ beans

 

You *may* eat each day:

1 C whole grains (or 1C starchy cooked veggie like potatoes)

1oz nuts or seeds

2oz avocado

1t olive oil

 

You may *not* eat:

meat

dairy

sugar

refined grains

 

He also recommends cutting out salt and caffeine. I continue to salt things to taste and drink some tea while on the diet...

 

Abbey - I don't see eggs here. Is that a no-no too? This looks like my ideal eating plan for the most part. But, I'd definately miss eggs! Is this now how you eat daily or did you use this to lose weight? I know I could do this for a few weeks to get the last 10 pounds of baby weight off, but I'm worried I'd put the weight back on when I went back to eating some meats (maybe once/week or so).

 

Could you post a typical day's food? Thanks!

[Beth in SW WA]

Hi,

I lost 5 lbs in 10 days. No sugar/white carbs/diet coke. Lots of iced green tea. Minimal exercise.

[SquirrellyMama]

I lost 5 pounds in a week by upping my exercise to 90 - 120 minutes a day and eating no sugar. I wanted a good jumpstart to my weightloss and am now aiming at 2 pounds a week.

[abbeyej]

Jennifer, what I posted is sort of the extreme end of Eat to Live -- and yes, it's also no eggs. If you were to read the book (which is pretty comprehensive about the *why* behind all of this), you'd see various modifications for losing weight more slowly, or simply maintaining weight. At the maintenance level, Fuhrman says there's no problem with occasional, moderate consumption of eggs or meat. (I think he says <12oz of meat per week?) He tends to prefer a vegan diet, but admits that the research that supports a vegan diet does not show any difference between "pure" vegans, and those who follow a mostly vegan diet, with occasional animal products. (From a *health* perspective -- obviously someone following a vegan diet for ideological reasons would choose not to eat meat ever.)

 

Dh and I did the diet very strictly for a couple of months last year, and felt great -- but it requires a *lot* of chopping and chewing, lol. We were so positive about it, that my parents finally read the book and gave it a try. My dad was the funniest one -- he was always pretty meat-oriented, and they had done Atkins in the past, etc... Well, he lost a lot of weight and said his blood pressure and other markers were down where they'd been in his early 40s. He looked fantastic! They both have been going through a really stressful, really painful time, and haven't followed the diet since about Christmas, but even though he's put a few pounds back on, Dad still looks *so* much better. And he loved how he felt. It was just funny to have him calling me up and raving about the roast veggies meal he had just had... ;) I had really gotten off track too, but I'm back to it now. It's funny how much better I feel -- but if I get going in a bad direction, it's just so easy to keep stopping at Chick-fil-a... ;) (I *am* in Atlanta, after all...)

[Emmy]

The south beach diet phase 1 will have you lose at least 5 pounds in that amount of time.

[hanki]

I read Eat to Live and implemented his eating plans as best as I could. I didn't eat as much as he recommended (but I eliminated all animal products) and still lost weight. I lost over 20 pounds in about 6 weeks and I have managed to maintain it. It has been almost a year and I still do my best to eliminate animal products in my diet.

 

As for eggs, I use an egg replacer for any baking/cooking that requires eggs and make a tofu scramble instead of scrambled eggs.

 

I think of it as a lifestyle more so than a diet. From my experience, when there was a special occasion (say, Christmas) I ate whatever I wanted for a few days and gained 5+ pounds. So for me, I know that if I went back to my "old ways" I would definitely put the weight back on. There is one drawback for me and that is when I do have an occasional slice of cheese pizza or something else with real cheese/dairy I have quite a bit of digestive discomfort. I also do take a B-12 supplement as well as Vitamin D.

[Greta]

The only way I know of to lose weight that fast is the induction phase of Atkins or some other very low-carb diet. You can eat all the protein and healthy fats that you want, but you cut out all sugar, corn syrup, and starchy foods like pasta and bread. Since carbohydrates cause water retention, part of the weight you lose will be water weight. But for me that's always a good thing, because it means no more puffiness and bloat. On this diet you would eat lots of eggs, nuts, meat, poultry, fish, cheese, etc., and plenty of high-fiber veggies (like greens and many other choices) but no starchy veggies (like potatoes and corn). You can also eat small amounts of fruit, preferably berries because they are highest in nutrition and low in sugar. If you're interested in doing it, I can give you lots more info.

 

ETA: When I did this I lost five pounds the first week and two the second.

[lynn]

Add some intervals to your walks. walk 3 min/Walk faster or jog for 1min. Also, I like doing a few of these videos every day http://health.msn.com/fitness/video.aspx?vid=e749ebe5-8db7-4af6-b514-16808d6933b8%26tab=Abs. I love 5lbs in a week by upping exercise as above and really watching what I ate. My biggest weakness is bread, pastries etc I just had to cut them out altogether. If you plan your meals and know exactly what you will eat it really helps.

[Jennifer in MI]

Jennifer, what I posted is sort of the extreme end of Eat to Live -- and yes, it's also no eggs. If you were to read the book (which is pretty comprehensive about the *why* behind all of this), you'd see various modifications for losing weight more slowly, or simply maintaining weight. At the maintenance level, Fuhrman says there's no problem with occasional, moderate consumption of eggs or meat. (I think he says <12oz of meat per week?) He tends to prefer a vegan diet, but admits that the research that supports a vegan diet does not show any difference between "pure" vegans, and those who follow a mostly vegan diet, with occasional animal products. (From a *health* perspective -- obviously someone following a vegan diet for ideological reasons would choose not to eat meat ever.)

 

Dh and I did the diet very strictly for a couple of months last year, and felt great -- but it requires a *lot* of chopping and chewing, lol. We were so positive about it, that my parents finally read the book and gave it a try. My dad was the funniest one -- he was always pretty meat-oriented, and they had done Atkins in the past, etc... Well, he lost a lot of weight and said his blood pressure and other markers were down where they'd been in his early 40s. He looked fantastic! They both have been going through a really stressful, really painful time, and haven't followed the diet since about Christmas, but even though he's put a few pounds back on, Dad still looks *so* much better. And he loved how he felt. It was just funny to have him calling me up and raving about the roast veggies meal he had just had... ;) I had really gotten off track too, but I'm back to it now. It's funny how much better I feel -- but if I get going in a bad direction, it's just so easy to keep stopping at Chick-fil-a... ;) (I *am* in Atlanta, after all...)

 

Thanks for the details. I just ordered the book from our library. I look forward to reading it. But, I'm not looking forward to all the chopping. I've been eating like this (basically) for a couple weeks and I spent about an hour one day chopping. Those veggies lasted three days!

 

Good for your dad! He must feel so great about himself.

 

Thanks.

[gandpsmommy]

Eat to Live works for me. It's rigid, but healthy, and you do lose weight *fast* initially. Boiled down to the essentials, it's:

 

You *must* eat every day:

1lb+ raw veggies

1lb+ cooked veggies (unlimited leafy greens, and other non-starchy veggies)

4+ servings fresh fruit

1C+ beans

 

You *may* eat each day:

1 C whole grains (or 1C starchy cooked veggie like potatoes)

1oz nuts or seeds

2oz avocado

1t olive oil

 

You may *not* eat:

meat

dairy

sugar

refined grains

 

He also recommends cutting out salt and caffeine. I continue to salt things to taste and drink some tea while on the diet...

 

I tried this last summer and lost 6 pounds the first week. Unfortunately I wasn't self-controlled enough to keep following it. I'm about to start it again, though, because I'm serious about losing weight and getting healthy. It also is great for your hair and skin. My dh tells me that I have such a nice glow to my hair and skin when I'm eating all those fresh fruits and veggies.

[OH_Homeschooler]

To me that sounds like a reasonable amount of weight to lose in two weeks and you don't really need a special diet. From a dietary perspective, you would need to lose 17,500 calories to lose 5 pounds (3500 x 5). That is 1,250 calories per day (17,500/14).

 

If you have any idea how many calories you are eating now, then you can subtract 1250 calories each day to determine how many calories you SHOULD be eating to lose weight. Or you can figure out a way to burn a certain number of extra calories per day (e.g., 500 calories) and then you'd only have to cut 750 calories per day. You shouldn't go below 1200 calories per day.

 

If you are interested at all in calorie counting, I've been using livestrong/The Daily Plate to track my intake/output. You can go there and play around with numbers to see more specific details.

 

ETA: To give you an idea, I need to keep my calories at 1,600 calories a day to lose about 2 pounds per week. I weigh about 200 pounds.

[RegGuheert]

Fat Loss For Idiots

 

I've done this diet twice in the past year. I believe it is generically known as a "calorie confusion" diet. It is a VERY simple diet and you finish in 11 days. Last September I lost 8 pounds in 11 days and this May I lost 10 pounds in 11 days, even though I was already 35 lbs. lighter than when I started the first time around!

 

MomsintheGarden did it with me the second time and lost 5 pounds. (She weighs quite a bit less than me.)

 

IMO, this is the best $40 I've ever spent.

 

Good luck!

 

Reg

[mom2abcd]

What do you eat? Is this similar to Crack the Fat Loss Code where you change your metabolism?

 

Does the weight stay off? Do you have to continue a diet?

 

Fat Loss For Idiots

 

I've done this diet twice in the past year. I believe it is generically known as a "calorie confusion" diet. It is a VERY simple diet and you finish in 11 days. Last September I lost 8 pounds in 11 days and this May I lost 10 pounds in 11 days, even though I was already 35 lbs. lighter than when I started the first time around!

 

MomsintheGarden did it with me the second time and lost 5 pounds. (She weighs quite a bit less than me.)

 

IMO, this is the best $40 I've ever spent.

 

Good luck!

 

Reg

[RegGuheert]

What do you eat?

Four meals a day. Sometimes they are all protein (meat and/or nuts). Sometimes they are all carbohydrates (fruit and vegetables) and sometimes it is a mix. It tells you *exactly* what to each each day based on a menu from which you select. No exercise. In fact it is discouraged during the 11 days, since exercise makes you hungry. It was perfect for us.

Is this similar to Crack the Fat Loss Code where you change your metabolism?

I'm not familiar with that diet, but, yes, the idea is to change your metabolism. That's what drew me to the diet: it is designed to manipulate the hormones so that you burn fat. That idea appealled to me.

Does the weight stay off?

Yes! I'm convinced that much of the loss each time I did the diet was fat. What's amazing is that after I lost 8 pounds during the first diet, I continued to loose 2 pounds every week for months (except during Thanksgiving and Christmas!).

Do you have to continue a diet?

No, it's not required. However, I made one MAJOR change following the first diet. Part of this diet is no calories in anything you drink. I had previously been a BIG milk drinker. On the VERY FIRST NIGHT of the first diet, even before losing a single pound, I stopped snoring! MomsintheGarden was thrilled! As a result, I have continued to not drink ANY milk, and in fact I still do not drink any calories. Since then, a coworker sent me a link to an article that indicates that liquid calories are more fattening than food calories.

 

So far after the second time I did the diet, I'm about 3 pounds above my weight at the end. I'm not gaining but I'm not losing, either. I may do the diet again. One thing that's nice is that I have NO food restrictions (except I cannot handle MSG, but that's not new), only I do not drink any calories.

 

You can do the diet again and again, as many times as you like. It just requires a 3-day break between diets.

 

The bottom line is that I weighed 222 pounds at the end of August, 2008 and today I weigh 184 pounds and can eat whatever I like.

Edited June 12, 2009 by RegGuheert

[mom2abcd]

 

The bottom line is that I weighed 222 pounds at the end of August, 2008 and today I weigh 184 pounds and can eat whatever I like.

 

Thanks for all the details, Reg. I have heard of similar "philosophies" for weight loss with the Crack the Code book (this requires exercise and a longer time period) and just recently a friend told me she's doing the HCG diet. It's supposed to heal the hypothalamus and lots of people have had success with it. But you have to eat a very low calorie diet, it lasts several weeks, and you need injections or I guess there are other ways to get the HCG. http://www.myhcgjourney.com/Pounds_&_Inches.html

The http://www.fatloss4idiots.com/ method sounds much more do-able. I love the idea of 11 days with the weird eating plan!!!

 

I think I'm going to spend the $40. I wonder what the $17 Beyond Calories add-on is about?

[hsmom3tn]

I have continued to not drink ANY milk

 

 

Do you have to cut out foods from milk, like cheese and ice cream? Forgive my ignorance, LOL. I've never heard of this diet.

 

What do you drink, besides water? I can't drink anything with aspartame in it because it gives me bad headaches.

 

-Angie

[Elaine]

The Fat Flush by Ann Louise Gittleman.

[hsmom3tn]

I did Atkins from Oct 2002 until Oct 2003 and lost 100 pounds. I lost it very quickly in the beginning, 30 pounds in the first month, 15 in the second month, and after that it slowed down. 100 pounds was my goal and I was really wanting to eat some sugar and flour again, so I stopped. I was really eating healthy, not overeating, exercising a lot, walking 3 miles a day at least 5 days a week, etc..., and still the weight came back. No matter what I did, the weight came back. I was very disappointed and frustrated, and after several months of this, I pretty much went back to my old ways of eating too much and not exercising enough. Almost 6 years later, it's all back and maybe a bit more :(

 

Anyway, my point is, you can lose your 5 pounds and more right away, but if you eat "normally" again, it will come right back... unless there was just something wrong with me, LOL.

 

-Angie

[RegGuheert]

I think I'm going to spend the $40. I wonder what the $17 Beyond Calories add-on is about?

I bought them both, but you only need the $40 thing for the diet. I don't regret the purchase of the other one, since it gives good tips on diet and exercise that you can use after the diet to try to keep the weight off.

 

I spent around $60, but I've saved over 10X that in milk expenses since then. All around an excellent investment!

[RegGuheert]

Do you have to cut out foods from milk, like cheese and ice cream? Forgive my ignorance, LOL. I've never heard of this diet.

It's a good question. People often ask me this when I bore them with my diet story details! I'm not lactose intolerant, so I can eat whatever I like. I eat cheese often and ice cream occasionally. It's strawberry season now, so I've been eating quite a bit of strawberry shortcake with whipped cream on top. The strawberries are straight from MomsintheGarden's garden!

 

Milk, it seems, was causing me to have an excessive amount of congestion which was leading to my snoring problem. It's a real blessing to have been able to eliminate the snoring so easily. (Momsinthegarden says I still snore occasionally, but that when I do, it is nothing like before.)

What do you drink, besides water?

Black tea.

I can't drink anything with aspartame in it because it gives me bad headaches.

I don't drink anything containing aspertame, either. I get severe headaches from MSG and aspertame falls into the same categories as MSG (right-handed versions of the left-handed molecules found in nature). We save a fortune by not purchasing drinks containing sugar. The exception is that the children drink real fruit juices with their breakfast.

[RegGuheert]

Anyway, my point is, you can lose your 5 pounds and more right away, but if you eat "normally" again, it will come right back... unless there was just something wrong with me, LOL.

 

-Angie

I agree, Angie.

 

I should say that I LOVE milk and I used to drink a LOT of it. I used reach for a glass of milk instead of water when I was thirsty. After I stopped drinking it, we realized that I must have been consuming 5 gallons of 2% milk each week! :blink: The bottom line is that I have cut out about 1700 calories per day by switching from milk to water.

 

I know it sounds stupid, but I never thought about how many calories there were in the milk I was drinking. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person that thought this way, since most people that I tell this story to ask me if I was drinking whole milk. I usually respond that I don't think it's the fat in the milk that is the problem, but the sugar. Think about how quickly baby calves grow!

[mom2abcd]

I agree, Angie.

 

I should say that I LOVE milk and I used to drink a LOT of it. I used reach for a glass of milk instead of water when I was thirsty. After I stopped drinking it, we realized that I must have been consuming 5 gallons of 2% milk each week! :blink: The bottom line is that I have cut out about 1700 calories per day by switching from milk to water.

 

I know it sounds stupid, but I never thought about how many calories there were in the milk I was drinking.

 

Yeah.... and unfortunately (or fortunately:o) I rarely drink anything but water. So I might not see as good results as you saw.

 

Another question: Does this method have a name? Any yahoo groups or forums or other places to hear other people's experiences? I hardly know what to search for to find others' success rates.

Edited June 12, 2009 by mom2abcd
new question

[RegGuheert]

Sorry, I don't know another name for this diet. I literally clicked on an add link in a blog that I read. I bought it based one the sales pitch I found at the link they provided. I've been generically referring to it as a calorie-confusion diet based on my understanding of what it does.

 

Here is the data I have based on four uses of the diet:

 

RegGuheert - September 2008 - 8 lbs.

MomsintheGarden - May 2009 - 5 lbs.

RegGuheert - May 2009 - 10 lbs.

Reg's coworker - May 2009 - ~8 lbs.

[mom2abcd]

Sorry, I don't know another name for this diet. I literally clicked on an add link in a blog that I read. I bought it based one the sales pitch I found at the link they provided. I've been generically referring to it as a calorie-confusion diet based on my understanding of what it does.

 

Here is the data I have based on four uses of the diet:

 

RegGuheert - September 2008 - 8 lbs.

MomsintheGarden - May 2009 - 5 lbs.

RegGuheert - May 2009 - 10 lbs.

Reg's coworker - May 2009 - ~8 lbs.

 

Thanks again, Reg. And you've kept it off. I know some of these diets throw the body into ketosis and then you gain it all right back. Surely giving up the milk wasn't the only reason you continued to lose weight.

 

This researcher will have to be content to take a chance:o)

[RegGuheert]

Surely giving up the milk wasn't the only reason you continued to lose weight.

I won't go quite that far. I will say that the weight came off during the 11 days because of the diet.

This researcher will have to be content to take a chance:o)

If I remember correctly, my decision process was something like this:

 

- The description of how it causes weight loss makes sense to me.

- 11 days: I can do ANYTHING for 11 days! I can also fit this in between business trips.

- No need to buy special food that likely contains MSG

- $40: No recurring costs

- SOLD!

 

Clearly Reg is not opposed to making impulse purchases! ;)