Okay, so I'm a 5'6" male and I weigh about 184 pounds currently. I actually started cutting back pretty hard on calories to between 800 and (rarely) 1000 a day. I actually went from about 195 to 182 in 15 days (I'm not sure how much of that is water), and am looking to normalize things a bit so that I'm not constantly dehydrated and so that I don't lose too much muscle mass.

But I would like to lose 30 - 35 pounds within three months. This would involve losing 3 - 4 pounds a week, which is over the healthy limit. I was thinking about bumping my calorie intake up to about 1400 - 1600 calories a day and going ahead with exercises 6 - 7 days a week for 45+ minutes (typically 15 - 20 minutes of circuit training and then 20 - 30 minutes of cardio). Do you think it'd be possible to maintain a 3 - 4 pound a week weight loss following that plan?

I also hear about how your body's metabolism will practically shut down after you've deprived yourself of so many calories for so long. Is it possible to "trick" your body at all? Say going two days with a steep reduction of calories, and then eating "normally" for a day or two? I'm not the most inept with health and weight loss, so I appreciate any patience or advice you can give me.

Thanks a bunch.

i certainly wouldnt go for the lose calories to lose weight approach

regulate your diet for sure, but dont be stupid, you cant run your body properly without enough fuel

keep to a good workout routine, make sure it is difficult otherwise you wont get the gains u need for your target, so long as u stick to workoing out and eating well there is no reason for not making ur target

cant really say how a 35-50 minute workout session would effect you, depends what ur actually doing

a hard 15 minute workout will bust ur ass and reap much greater gains than a 3 hour workout u coast through

Drink more water - The more you drink the more you shrink. You should never be dehydrated. 2 - 3 litres every day.
cut out starchy carbs completely, eat balanced protein and veg just small portions. no fat, no sugar. Oh and no alcohol! This will intitally move the weight off fast, but then you will need to start slowly adding more food. Fresh- no packaged processed food as they hold too much sugar , salt and hidden chemicals. Add fruit and mixed grain bread slowly one peice per day until your body can metabolise the increase in food without it being turned to fat. And Keep moving even if it's walking 30 minutes or climing some stairs, it all helps. Remeber excessive exercise and weight training will spike hunger bigtime. I hope that helps

You're talking about 'calorie cycling' which some people swear by. I'm trying it myself, but I've only just started. Theoretically eating low for 2-3 days and 1 day at your maintenance level (not basal!) will do that. I say try it and see if it works for you!

Wow, you are on a one-way track to pure metabolism hell by starving yourself to that level! You really have a lot to learn regarding fat loss opposed to weight loss.

Someone your size should lose 1-2 lbs per week at most. You should also be consuming a heck of a lot more cals. By starving yourself so much, you are forcing your body to find fuel in unforgiving places such as your lean muscle mass. By expending your lean muscle, you are gradually going to lower you metabolism until you reach a plateau and are unable to lose more weight. Worst yet, you will be left with a very inefficient metabolism and will most likely gain what you have lost plus more.

Though I am a different sex, height, and size than you (I'm F/5'9"/203 lbs), I have been doing the 1400 calories and 45+ minutes circuit/cardio for the past 6 weeks. I have been losing about 1.75 lbs per week. I know everybody is different, but I just thought my track record might give you some idea of what to expect.

At the end of the day, a pound of fat is 3500 calories. So, this means to lose 3 lbs a week you'll have to cut 10,500 out of your diet, or work them out. I don't know what your base metabolism is, but for your sex/height/size, fitday estimates your base metabolism at around 2100 calories/day. Assuming this, and your intake of 10,500/week (1500 per day), you'll need to work off 6300 calories. According to fitday, this is about 15 hours per week of walking 3.5 mph uphill. That's a lot of work.

I would encourage you to spend sometime figuring out your base metabolism with your way of life, and then reasonably setting expectations based on that. It would be a shame to become discouraged when the 3-4 lbs per week discontinues. It's not just that losing more than 2 lbs a week is unhealthy, it's that it would be a miserable way to live to try to get rid of 10500 calories in a week.

My advice, Dont try to lose that kind of weight in that time frame you are going to do some serious damage to your body.

Also, eating under 1000 calories a day is dangerous. Any weight you are losing is water, bone and muscle mass.

Your new routine of working out 6-7 days a week is good. But circuit training is cardio, what about weights?

If you don't mind my asking, why do you have to lose that kind of weight so soon? You weigh 184lbs now right? To lose 35lbs in a healthy and correct way, meaning, losing fat, and not muscle etc, you would need about 5 months minimum. You need to do weight training at least 3 times a week at at least 30-45 mins each. You would need cardio at least 5 days a week a minumum of 45 mins each. Calories could be higher also if you do that regiment because you will be burning more due to the work outs. Weights are critical in losing fat and speeding up your metabolism, so you really need to do weight training. It doesn't have to be brutal, but you need it.

Don't eat less that 1600 a day, and on the days you do weights along with the cardio, which would be 3 days a week, on those days you could up the calories to about 1800.

You need food to lose weight. Food is fuel that helps your body burn. Give your body too little, you body goes into survival mode. That means, metabolism slows down drastically trying to preserve fat.

Also, when starving yourself and not working out, the first things your body will burn off is muscle. So now you have less muscle, which means less fuel burning.

Please reconsider. If you don't believe me, ask any doctor. No one in their right mind would approve of this. It is dangerous. You weigh too little at 184 to be looking to lose those massive amounts in such a short time.

Decent post other than the steady state cardio recommendation. I disagree with that. Someone of his size would be better off following a HIIT routine 2-3 times per week.

There's only been one tip I've heard of that speeds up metabolism. The 2-4-6-8 diet (very unhealthy, dont do it), or the 4-6-8-10 diet.
Basically, you eat different foods and different amounts of calories a day, 400 the first day, 600 the next, 800 the day after, and 1000 the day after that one.
I've never personally tried it but I've heard good things about it.

Im 17 and 155cm tall (5ft 0) and i weigh 128lb im turning 18 in 3 weeks and i'm going to Italy in 5 weeks so i want to lose weight for then how much should i lose a week and how can i lose fat from my arms and legs quickly?

If you want to lose fat from your arms and legs quickly, try liposuction (on second though, don't do lipo, bad idea). It is almost impossible to spot weight loss. Fat is stored throughout the body and gets lost at nearly even rates. You can do specific exercises that will tone certain parts of the body and by doing so, make that part look different, but the fat layer will still be there. Only thing I can suggest is eat natural foods, not proccessed and increase the amount of movement you do (take the long way between classes instead of the short cut, takes the stairs not the elevator, walk or bike to school/work, pack a lunch that is healthy and don't eat in the cafeteria).

Hi Pinkladee, your BMI is 25.0 just above the ideal range of 18.5 to 24.9. For optimal health, a BMI of about 21-23 can be considered. Your daily calorie need is around 1,800kcal based on your gender, age, height, and weight.

Let's target 23.0 -- that's 118 pounds. Since you are off to Italy in 5 weeks, you will need to lose 2 pounds a week. To achieve this, you will need to reduce your daily calorie intake by 900kcal. Drinking more water will also help to reduce water retention and constipation and hence water and faecal weight.

To target your arms and legs, it is not easily as different people burn fat from different parts of the body. If you are lucky you will lose fat in the right places. But one way to stimulate the burning of the fats in the arms and legs is to buy a fat burning cream, apply it before doing a light workout like walking or lifting weights.

I hope this info helps!

Wow did they actually teach you that was effective from wherever you got your certification in weight management? you might want to ask for a refund.

It did work for my wife!

Oh brother..

And I'm sure you controlled all other variables to isolate the cream as the controlled variable to identify it's efficacy.

Please.

I grew muscles and I watch television at night.

Therefore television at night = more muscle.