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Obesity and Weight Management

I Need to Lose 60 lbs in 5 Weeks

03/04/2010

Question:

I need to lose at least 60 pounds in 5 weeks. My elderly mother is coming to visit me, maybe the last time I will see her, and I do not want her die thinking that I am complete 100% failure at life because I am so fat (which is what she WILL think -- and she will also consider herself to be a complete and total failure at life for having a child who is this fat if she sees how fat I am -- and I don’t want her to die thinking that).

I **MUST** lose the weight before she arrives. It is essential. I know they lose 60 pounds or more in 5 weeks all the time on the TV show "The Biggest Loser" so I know it is possible to do it. How do they do that and what do I need to do in order to accomplish that? I will do whatever it takes, I just need to know how to do it.

I have been to a residential fitness spa, kind of like "The Biggest Loser" before, where they make you exercise 8 hours/day and they decide for you everything you should eat, portions, etc. -- and I only lost 17 pounds in 10 weeks. That is not nearly enough. I need to lose 60 pounds in 5 weeks. How do I do that?

Answer:

Losing 60 pounds in 5 weeks is not wise; in fact it can be dangerous. DO NOT TRY. 'The Biggest Loser' has medical people constantly monitoring the 'loser's' status. You don't.

A good rate of weight loss is 1 or 2 pounds per week. To show your mother that she is not a 'failure', take a photo of yourself now, and even if you haven't lost all your weight, she will see that you are making progress.

To lose weight properly you need to do it slowly, using a combination of fewer calories and more physical activity. To keep it off you will need to make this a permanent lifestyle change. If you go to http://www.mypyramid.gov/ and put in your age, gender, and current physical activity level, you will see how many calories you should be eating to maintain your present weight.

To lose weight slowly, reduce your calories by 500 calories per day to create a deficit of 3500 calories per week. This is the amount of calories you shouldn't eat to lose 1 pound (.5 kg). At the same time you need to increase your physical activity to burn another 500 calories per day, and include some strength activities that will firm up and build muscle, replacing the fat you now have. With a higher muscle mass instead of fat mass your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR) goes up. BMR is a measure of the base number of calories you need for your body to function properly.

I don't know your age, gender, or physical activity level so I will give you an example based on a female, 40 years old and 5 feet, 4 inches tall and 200 pounds. Her physical activity above and beyond her daily life is less than 30 minutes each day. Mypyramid.gov says that this person would maintain a correct/good weight eating about 1800 calories per day (which means that a person who is overweight could lose weight on this amount). This person could probably safely cut calories another couple hundred so 1500 calories per day may be reasonable.

Break the 1500 calories down into amounts from the following food groups:

Dairy - 3 cups, nonfat or very low fat Grains - the equivalent of 5 ounces (half should be whole grain)

Vegetables - 2 cups (include a variety of vegetable subgroups)
* Dark Green Vegetables = 2 cups weekly
* Orange Vegetables = 1.5 cups weekly
* Dry Beans & Peas = 1.5 cups weekly
* Starchy Vegetables = 2.5 cups weekly
* Other Vegetables = 5.5 cups weekly

Fruits - 1.5 cups

Meat and Beans - 5 ounces lean

Oils and discretionary calories (These are calories and foods that flavor your foods listed in the food groups) - 4 teaspoons of oils and trans fat free margarines, plus 135 calories that you can use for sugars, other fats or more food from one of the food groups.

Check out MyPyramid.gov to get ideas for foods that fit in these food groups. This 'sample person' will probably lose some water weight when she first controls her calories at 1500, (16 ounces of water weighs 1 pound or a little less than .5 kg, but has no calories), so she may actually see a greater weight loss on the scales the first few weeks than 1 pound or .5 kg.

'Ms Sample Person' shouldn't be tempted to eat far fewer calories than 1500, or she will encourage her body to go into starvation mode, which lowers her BMR, and she won't lose weight at all or very slowly.

She should eat breakfast; then space the rest of her calories into 3-5 more meals or snacks so that her body will never think it is starving and switch to a lower BMR. The only period longer than 4-5 hours of not eating should be while sleeping.

By eating the recommended amounts of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, you/she will be getting foods that provide higher levels of satiety, longer. You/she will be satisfied with fewer calories and won't feel as hungry as fast.

Increasing physical activity is important. Purchase a pedometer and see how many steps per day you take now. Add 2000-2500 more to it as an initial goal. Work up to 10,000 steps per day. This should put you in the physical activity range of 60-90 minutes of activity beyond your normal routine. If you do not have a level waistline (i.e. it drops a little in front) a pedometer may not register all your steps correctly. Wear it on your waist on your back hip instead of in front.

Your(or Ms Sample Person's) weight loss will eventually stop, which is when this meal plan should become a permanent lifestyle plan rather than just a weight loss plan.

Good luck.

For more information:

Go to the Obesity and Weight Management health topic, where you can:

Response by:

The Ohio State University Sharron Coplin, MS, RD, LD
Lecturer, Food & Nutrition
Department of Human Nutrition
College of Education and Human Ecology
The Ohio State University
Sharron Coplin, MS, RD, LD