2 week experiment
Discussion
I have a bit of a bet/experiment I'm currently trying.
For a bit of background, I've always been overweight. I find losing weight quite easy once I'm committed but my usual diet is awful (yet tasty).
I was subjected to watching one of those 'Save me I'm dying lose weight in 24 hours' programs and there was an American teenager that managed 30 pounds in two weeks! Pure craziness (if true) but he was easily 13 stone overweight so this was probably the biggest factor.
Now I don't look huge and I'm quite happy as I am but thought for the interests of science I'm going for a 2 week completely strict routine to follow to see how much weight can be quickly lost.
How much weight realistically would you expect someone to drop? I will be exercising daily for 1-2 hours and eating effectively fish/chicken and vegetables for the two weeks.
I've been told 2 stone is impossible but it is the goal. I mean, if an overweight American can do it.. surely willpower will see me have a good go.
I'm 15 stone (gulp) and 5ft9.
oh and if I can manage it, the winnings should be quite fun!
So.. 2 stone in two weeks, doable?
For a bit of background, I've always been overweight. I find losing weight quite easy once I'm committed but my usual diet is awful (yet tasty).
I was subjected to watching one of those 'Save me I'm dying lose weight in 24 hours' programs and there was an American teenager that managed 30 pounds in two weeks! Pure craziness (if true) but he was easily 13 stone overweight so this was probably the biggest factor.
Now I don't look huge and I'm quite happy as I am but thought for the interests of science I'm going for a 2 week completely strict routine to follow to see how much weight can be quickly lost.
How much weight realistically would you expect someone to drop? I will be exercising daily for 1-2 hours and eating effectively fish/chicken and vegetables for the two weeks.
I've been told 2 stone is impossible but it is the goal. I mean, if an overweight American can do it.. surely willpower will see me have a good go.
I'm 15 stone (gulp) and 5ft9.
oh and if I can manage it, the winnings should be quite fun!
So.. 2 stone in two weeks, doable?
Can you lose 2 stones in 2 weeks? Not from your weight. You will probably lose a few pounds initially and then your body will think there's a drought and get clever with fuel. It is certainly an interesting experiment. If you try a low carb diet but add a s
t load of exercise (cycling machine because you can at least keep going even when you are knackered), you will lose a few pounds more.Depends what you class as "weight". There are 3 things:
Fat (what you want to lose)
Muscle (what you don't want to lose)
Water (temporary)
In 2 weeks you can safely lose between 4 - 6lb of fat. Beyond that you're going to be into muscle wastage and playing hell with your body. If you're willing to do this for the sake of a bet, then you can probably lose a couple of stone (and put it on very quickly)
Short term, you can probably knock off another stone through dehydration, this is what boxers do before a fight.
Fat (what you want to lose)
Muscle (what you don't want to lose)
Water (temporary)
In 2 weeks you can safely lose between 4 - 6lb of fat. Beyond that you're going to be into muscle wastage and playing hell with your body. If you're willing to do this for the sake of a bet, then you can probably lose a couple of stone (and put it on very quickly)
Short term, you can probably knock off another stone through dehydration, this is what boxers do before a fight.
. when I first started losing about 10 weeks ago I managed 20 pounds in 6 weeks which was extremely difficult for me. I did it entirely on a calorie deficit idea and did not focus on metabolism or having an extremely low carb intake or anything like that. I also did an awful lot of exercise. I was also a lot heavier than you.
Now though, I have altered it into a more 'manageable' regime where i'm still eating clean but not so anal about calories and stuff like that. More of a 'lifestyle change' if you will and have still lost a further 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks which is what some consider a good, healthier weight loss.
If youre talking purely about weight, then have a look at some fighters 'cutting weight' before a weigh in (there is one video of rashad evans of the UFC which is extremely interesting and shows him losing around 7 pounds of water weight in a morning)
My Muay Thai coach is also Paul 'Semtex' Daley's head coach and 'apparently' he lost 18 pounds of (mainly) water weight in a week, but Im pretty sceptical about that. I'd say that would be the way to get anywhere near those short term goals.
Edit: Apologies for sounding like a bit of a knob with the Paul Daley coach reference, I can assure you I am very much a beginner lol. Didn't mean to sound like I was comparing myself to Daley/showing off lol.
Now though, I have altered it into a more 'manageable' regime where i'm still eating clean but not so anal about calories and stuff like that. More of a 'lifestyle change' if you will and have still lost a further 5 pounds in the last 2 weeks which is what some consider a good, healthier weight loss.
If youre talking purely about weight, then have a look at some fighters 'cutting weight' before a weigh in (there is one video of rashad evans of the UFC which is extremely interesting and shows him losing around 7 pounds of water weight in a morning)
My Muay Thai coach is also Paul 'Semtex' Daley's head coach and 'apparently' he lost 18 pounds of (mainly) water weight in a week, but Im pretty sceptical about that. I'd say that would be the way to get anywhere near those short term goals.
Edit: Apologies for sounding like a bit of a knob with the Paul Daley coach reference, I can assure you I am very much a beginner lol. Didn't mean to sound like I was comparing myself to Daley/showing off lol.
Edited by nottinghamblue on Monday 12th March 17:38
You might well be able to lose that sort of weight but I suspect you will put it all back on rather quickly.
The key is making changes that you can stick to all the time rather than just for a month or so.
Are you really going to live on nothing but chicken and veg for the rest of your life?
Eat a good balanced diet, cut down on the cr@p and alcohol, go to the gym 3 - 4 times a week and the weight will come off. It may take longer but you stand a lot better chance of keeping it off permanently.
The key is making changes that you can stick to all the time rather than just for a month or so.
Are you really going to live on nothing but chicken and veg for the rest of your life?
Eat a good balanced diet, cut down on the cr@p and alcohol, go to the gym 3 - 4 times a week and the weight will come off. It may take longer but you stand a lot better chance of keeping it off permanently.
Thank for all the pointers and suggestions guys. This is initially just being done to see what will happen and if I can manage it, I won't revert straight back to my normal eating habits as with 2 weeks behind me I'll probably want to carry on with it just not as extremely.
I'll pop back every so often to let you know if I'm spectacularly failing
I'll pop back every so often to let you know if I'm spectacularly failing
dodgydave said:
If you're doing it for a bet, I would suggest loading up on water before the weigh-in.http://www.pistonheads.com/xforums/imgs/4.gif
Yup - also, eat loads of carbs the day before and make sure you don't go to the toilet before hand. You can probably add up to 3/4 of a stone short term by doing this. If you're talking fat, not water, there's no way you can lose anything like 2st unless you chop off a leg. Roughly speaking you need to achieve a 3500 cal defecit to lose one lb.
So say you're now eating 2500 cals a day and you're maintaining a constant weight.
You drop that to 1400 cals for two weeks, and burn an extra 400 cals a day through exercise (we're assuming you have the willpower of a zen master).
So that's a defecit of 1500 cals per day.
X2 weeks = 21000 cals.
Which is approximately a 6 lb loss.
But that's not all of it because as you decrease calories your metabolism reduces, so that 6 lb becomes 5. Although in your case it might be balanced because you're already 15st, so let's leave it a 6lb.
So my estimate, if you stick to it and don't starve yourself, is 6lb total. Of course, if you eat 500 cals a day and run 10 miles a morning you'll lose a lot more than this but most of it will be water and lean tissue and as soon as you start eating properly you'll put it all back on. So I say 6 lb is the maximum realistic target.
So say you're now eating 2500 cals a day and you're maintaining a constant weight.
You drop that to 1400 cals for two weeks, and burn an extra 400 cals a day through exercise (we're assuming you have the willpower of a zen master).
So that's a defecit of 1500 cals per day.
X2 weeks = 21000 cals.
Which is approximately a 6 lb loss.
But that's not all of it because as you decrease calories your metabolism reduces, so that 6 lb becomes 5. Although in your case it might be balanced because you're already 15st, so let's leave it a 6lb.
So my estimate, if you stick to it and don't starve yourself, is 6lb total. Of course, if you eat 500 cals a day and run 10 miles a morning you'll lose a lot more than this but most of it will be water and lean tissue and as soon as you start eating properly you'll put it all back on. So I say 6 lb is the maximum realistic target.
Thanks for the effort in posting, appreciate that. I would have realistically thought half a stone so I'm glad I have some theory right.
With the lack of food and fizzy drinks I have been drinking an awful lot of water, how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Also just been to purchase meats and veg for the coming few weeks. Alot more expensive than I first imagined! Except carrots, they're fantastic value
With the lack of food and fizzy drinks I have been drinking an awful lot of water, how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Also just been to purchase meats and veg for the coming few weeks. Alot more expensive than I first imagined! Except carrots, they're fantastic value
Aphex said:
how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Dont. It wont give you an accurate reflection of what you have lost because some of it will be water and dehydrating yourself on purpose is never a good idea.Aphex said:
Thanks for the effort in posting, appreciate that. I would have realistically thought half a stone so I'm glad I have some theory right.
With the lack of food and fizzy drinks I have been drinking an awful lot of water, how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Also just been to purchase meats and veg for the coming few weeks. Alot more expensive than I first imagined! Except carrots, they're fantastic value
What are the terms of the bet? Start point/End point? How much weight are you betting you can lose? How much money is on the line? With the lack of food and fizzy drinks I have been drinking an awful lot of water, how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Also just been to purchase meats and veg for the coming few weeks. Alot more expensive than I first imagined! Except carrots, they're fantastic value
Aphex said:
Thanks for the effort in posting, appreciate that. I would have realistically thought half a stone so I'm glad I have some theory right.
With the lack of food and fizzy drinks I have been drinking an awful lot of water, how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Also just been to purchase meats and veg for the coming few weeks. Alot more expensive than I first imagined! Except carrots, they're fantastic value
What are you trying to achieve? If you want to win a bet then simply eat 200 cals a day and drink water, you'll probably make the two stone (and yourself ill at the same time). But if you're doing it for health and permanency then you need to do it properly, which doesn't involve not drinking water.With the lack of food and fizzy drinks I have been drinking an awful lot of water, how long should I go towards the end of the two weeks without drinking to dehydrate myself a bit and give myself more of a fighting chance?
Also just been to purchase meats and veg for the coming few weeks. Alot more expensive than I first imagined! Except carrots, they're fantastic value
Re meat, try venison. Cheap, very tasty (like good steak) and less than 30% the fat of beef.
I didn't appreciate until recently the extent to which glycogen storage influences water retention. I understood the mechanisms involved, carbohydrate metabolism is secondary school biology, but I was curious about the amount of weight I was losing overnight (and then regaining over a couple of days) after a big cardio session in the gym. I was adequately hydrated judging by urine colour, there was no way that fat levels were swinging by that magnitude, but I was dropping three or four pounds from one morning to the next. Turns out that such a swing is easily within the bounds of the typical mass of glycogen and associated water stored in the body.
The temporary increase in weight from consuming a large amount of salt is also quite dramatic.
The temporary increase in weight from consuming a large amount of salt is also quite dramatic.
Thanks again for all the input, once I'm in front of a computer I'll make more detailed replies but basically it's from yesterday until Monday after next. I do understand it's a bad idea but I'm doing this purely for the number at the end of the two weeks, be it water or anything else.
The wager is actually between a lady friend and myself and there's a month long 'wager' if I win
I will be looking for proper advice after the two weeks is up so I can start leading a healthy lifestyle. You guys are much friendlier than I expected (sorry about that) so hope you won't mind further questions soon.
Mm venison, I'll give it a go
The wager is actually between a lady friend and myself and there's a month long 'wager' if I win
I will be looking for proper advice after the two weeks is up so I can start leading a healthy lifestyle. You guys are much friendlier than I expected (sorry about that) so hope you won't mind further questions soon.
Mm venison, I'll give it a go
Why is this in the health forum?
You wont drop 2 stone in fat, you wont keep off what you do drop, what ever you do will be unsustainable and make you feel like crap and the muscle loss that will go with the fat/fluid loss means you'll put back on fat afterwards pushing your bodyfat % higher than before.
Should add - the TV shows about human elephants are as far removed from what a normal chubster should/can do as the skinny guy in the gym following the training style of a My Olympia.
You wont drop 2 stone in fat, you wont keep off what you do drop, what ever you do will be unsustainable and make you feel like crap and the muscle loss that will go with the fat/fluid loss means you'll put back on fat afterwards pushing your bodyfat % higher than before.
Should add - the TV shows about human elephants are as far removed from what a normal chubster should/can do as the skinny guy in the gym following the training style of a My Olympia.
Tiggsy said:
Why is this in the health forum
I didn't know who else to ask or where to ask.I understand this isn't advisable but I'm just seeing what happens.
Could someone tell me why I will suffer muscle loss if I have enough blubber for my body to take from? I'm doing more exercise now than I did before but I'm really not clued up on this.
I understand that 2 stone is impossible but it is the goalposts, if I lose 3lbs in the two weeks then that's the way it goes
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