30 pound weight loss goal - What's the best approach

[chefmel]

I want to lose 30 pounds by Christmas and actually keep it off. I think this is a reasonable goal if I start soon. What is the best diet and exercise approach for me to take that won't be too challenging or extreme?

[Ron]

Yeah, you really shouldn't have a problem if you start now. I would suggest that you pick a good lifestyle based diet like Weight Watchers, the Step Diet or even the Mediterranean Diet and you shouldn't have a problem losing the weight and keeping it off. Each program will alter your eating habits and will help you with portion and calorie control. If you combine this with daily exercise (ex. 40 - 60 minutes of walking), you'll get the weight off and keep it off.

[bigbobby]

There are 15 more weeks until Christmas by this point. If you haven't started yet, you will need to work pretty hard to lose 30 pounds by the 25th of September, if you want to lose 2 pounds per week and keep it off. Hopefully you've already started by Ron has it right. You need to up your activity level (raise your heart rate or a good 20 - 30 minutes) to actually burn fat and start watching what you eat and cutting out all those little extras as well as watching our portion sizes.

[chefmel]

There are 15 more weeks until Christmas by this point. If you haven't started yet, you will need to work pretty hard to lose 30 pounds by the 25th of September, if you want to lose 2 pounds per week and keep it off. Hopefully you've already started by Ron has it right. You need to up your activity level (raise your heart rate or a good 20 - 30 minutes) to actually burn fat and start watching what you eat and cutting out all those little extras as well as watching our portion sizes.

I have started. I've been going at it for two weeks now and I've lost 1 pound per week so far. I know I have to improve my diet and my exercise cause I'm not going to lose enough by then. Any suggestions on how I can do that?

[Nelly]

I have started. I've been going at it for two weeks now and I've lost 1 pound per week so far. I know I have to improve my diet and my exercise cause I'm not going to lose enough by then. Any suggestions on how I can do that?

What are you eating and how much are you exercising? If you want to shed the pounds, you're going to have to burn off more calories than you eat. Find out from your doctor how low you can safely restrict your calories and workout for at least 30 minutes a day (cardio) but eventually work your way up to an hour (you can split this into two half hours sessions) and make sure you get your heart rate up. It's the only way you'll really burn the fat.

[chefmel]

What are you eating and how much are you exercising? If you want to shed the pounds, you're going to have to burn off more calories than you eat. Find out from your doctor how low you can safely restrict your calories and workout for at least 30 minutes a day (cardio) but eventually work your way up to an hour (you can split this into two half hours sessions) and make sure you get your heart rate up. It's the only way you'll really burn the fat.

For exercise, I'm walking every day for an hour and I'm doing yoga once a week. As for my diet, I've dropped down to 1,800 calories. I am seeing some progress but it's definitely not as fast as I thought it would be. Oh well, even if I manage to lose 20 pounds I'll be happy!