Best way to lose 40 pounds in 3 months?

That much weight in that short of a time period would be unhealthy. Usually the upper end of healthy weight loss is one or two pounds a week. If you try to lose that much weight, most of it will come from muscle degrading, which i’m sure you don’t want. Also, you’ll gain it back again very easily.

As far as how to do it, eat less, exercise more. Sparkpeople.com has a good calorie tracker for food, and it’s free once you sign up.

Become a contestant on Survivor.

1500 calories a day.You could follow a high protein-low carb diet.One hour brisk walk daily and lift weights alternating upper and lower body every other day.Crunches,every day.Be careful,you could disappear ;)
Don’t take pills.K?

I FINALLY found something that worked for me….and it’s called PATIENCE!!!! Never tried that diet before. I started Nov. 1st and every week I decrease my calorie intake by like 25 so its so gradual it’s hard to even notice. I also use a pedometer and increase my steps by 50 every other week. I didnt notice a thing but a few pounds here and there the first 2 months and all of a sudden it’s really starting to show and has been completely painless since Ive been easing my way into it!! Ive lost a total of 30 lbs!!!

Spin class twice a week.

@lucillelucillelucille Nothing wrong with a little Alli :-) That stuff is awesome!!!!! As long as you dont take it along with a pizza buffet. I know this from experience. I will not elaborate any further lol

One way to know that a food will not be good for you is if it contains anything CREAMY in it…sauces made with milk are typically high calorie alone. Stick to vinaigrettes and olive oil/vinegar based sauces and marinades. Also chicken broth is a great substitute for a lot of things such as butter and milk in some recipes. Also, cut out white potatoes entirely, and limit your red meat intake to no more than once or twice a week. Stick to fish and chicken as much as possible.

If its a matter of being full, you can actually eat a HUGE salad with cooked/steamed veggies that will be delicious and it only be say 300 calories. Half of it serves as a detoxing aid because it’s chock full of water and fiber that will help you digest it faster, cleanse your intestines, and absorb nutrients. There are lots of little tricks to making food taste rich and be a quarter of the calories.

After a while, you’re body will become accustomed to this type of fresh healthy eating and crave more… you will be able to tell if you need iron or more red meat, or if you should just lay off the protein for the day completely.

Instead of having a full dinner, have a bowl of oatmeal instead. Sprinkle a few dried cranberries on top or raisins AND, get this, add a half tbsp of margarine, yes shocking, mix it together and you have a delectable dinner of less than 300 calories.

Final rule I have is do not eat past 8 pm. Don’t do it. Even if you are staying up later than 10 or 11. Make yourself go to bed when you start feeling those hunger pains. Drink water. But give yourself AT LEAST 2 hours after eating before you go to sleep. This is HUGE. Do little chores around the house and get ready for bed then snuggle up to the tv and watch a show to keep your heart going steady instead of just camping out on a chair feeling full and happy. No matter what you eat, this rule will make an amazing difference that you will feel immediately.

Yay for being a more fulfilled, better feeling you!

@TILA_ABs_NoMore – I monitor my weight closely and if I gain a few pounds,I either cut back on food or increase the exercise.I know too many people that had trouble with pills.I’ll take the hard road. :)

Eat less. Cut out all sweets, milk, bread, starches. Walk 2 miles a day.
I lost 35 pounds doing this in 5 months. It is a great idea. Keeping the weight off is easy, so long as I stay away from cake, ice cream, candy, milk and starches.

Also cut out potato chips. And don’t listen to anyone telling you that you can’t or that you shouldn’t even try.

Very bad idea, very unhealthy, and unlikely to keep the weight off. A pound or so a week is rapid weight loss under safe conditions. I’m willing to bet the Service has ways…

That isnt healthy. Running a lot will work though.

You don’t have to do hardcore cardio to lose weight. Just doing something that keeps your heart rate working for 30 minutes or more daily helps more than you know. In my off season, (from triathalons) I don’t run at all except maybe 2 or 3 times a month. I hit the gym 4 times a week tho and lift weights for an hour and a half to 2 hours…your muscles continue repairing themselves even when you stop working on them…which burns calories like crazy…all day long and all night long.

also eating at the same times every day gets your body on a schedule, and your metabolism moving.

When I moved to Pennsylvania, I weighed 250lbs at 6’1, i currently way about 196 @ 6’1. I lost that weight in the course of 8–10 monthes. from basic excersizes (running,walking) I currently walk anywhere from 3 miles a day to 9 miles a day .just because I dont feel like wasting gas when its 2.80 a gallon.

i did that once, but…
1. as said before, it’s unhealthy and you won’t feel good (especially in the beginning)
2. you need to be absolutely consistent during these months and afterwards!!!

food:
there is a very tasty shake you can make yourself instead of one/two meals a day. put some protein-powder, a banana, some frozen mixed berries and a glas of pure multivitamin juice in a blender – mix it and there it is! this shake will give you the most your body needs and you will feel good and full.
important: avoid any sugar, cream, meat (pork, beef) and super fine flour products
instead: vegetables, meat (chicken, fish), a lot of salad and some(!) rice/potatoes/pasta

sports:
don’t overdo it in the beginning!!!
best way is to go to the gym 4–6 times a week (1–2 hours), but don’t pump your muscel to much – endurance-training is much more important! ask the coaches there, they know what you need to do…

i did it and you can do it too – but seriously, most important is your will and your consistency, good luck!

1 month ≅ 30 days; 3 months = 90 days; 40 lbs/90 days = 0.44 lb/day = insane

Swimming would not really help anyway. It is a great exercise, but for reasons which I do not fully understand, it tends to cause people to retain at least some body fat.

Be wary of an “awesome exercise routine”. Your body is not ready for it if you are carrying that much extra weight. This is not just a question of muscle strength, but of tendons and joints. You can overload real quickly and then the resulting pain or even injury can keep you from exercising.

The best thing you can do is to start walking, every day. At first walk until you are fatigued, but not exhausted. Keep this up and the distance will increase. After a time try jogging short distances during the walk. Beward of increasing mileage too much too fast as that usually leads to knee pains, shin splits, and the like.

You have to eat less too, of course. I don’t know if you can safely lose 40 pouns in three months, but you can make a lot of progress.

people who are overweight, lose a lot faster than people who have say 5–15 lbs. Because a small change is a very large change in the long run. I would say 20–25 lbs is a very attainable goal if this individual started with just a few small changes to their normal routine.

going extreme causes quick burn out anyway. consistency is the trick, like u said. woohoo! I hope you try some of these ideas we’ve all given you! the best part is not losing weight, it’s feeling like you have the energy to keep trying. The better you take care of yourself the easier it is to continue taking care of yourself. take it 3 days at a time to start and then a week at a time and so on. Don’t look at it “globally” that will only overwhelm you and make you think you can ditch out on your plan for a day. That day will, as we all know from experience, turn into weeks.

I dont want to sound pessimistic but without a well-thought, objective evaluation from a specialist you would be hard pressed to achieve your goal of 40lbs in 90 days.

If you have the resources and hell bent on succeeding, then you may want to put yourself in the hands of professionals. Check out http://www.biggestloserresort.com/,

Dr Atkins will lose it for you that fast. I did it a couple of times and it was painless. I worked as a nurse-very physical work involved and kept up exercising at home. I think it’s a great diet for short term weightloss- 3 months would be about as long as anyone should, though he claimed it should be lifetime. My energy was up higher than usual throughout. The problem I developed was an absolute yearning for carbs.

prevention magazine talked about a 400 cal diet, that’s 400 cal’s 4X’s daily of anything food! has worked for friends, one has lost 35 pounds so far and she doesn’t feel hungry…

Just dont eat breakfast and lunch. Depending for how long you do it, your body wont be able to replace the amount of calories or fat in just one meal. If you get really hungry just have one of those healthy granola bars.

@bugabear: that seems like a bad idea. it would take monthes for hte body to stop storing what it is eating…..

@Bugabear That’s a terrible idea. It’s been proven that the best way to lose weight is by eating multiple, small meals throughout the day. Eating one meal a day makes your metabolism grind to a screeching halt, making your body keep whatever you put into it. This could make you actually GAIN weight.

Besides, going hungry for that amount of time is both dangerous and unpleasant.

Eat no starches. No bread, potato, rice, or flour. Lots of steak.

Either that, or heroin.

Do not “diet”

Change your lifestyle, start eating Healthy and start doing P90X

You will get in the best shape of your life.

Any please do not join the military, killing is wrong.

Stop eating.

@windex, its the navy. And its not that im a huge fan of killing, but id like to do my part for the country that kinda keeps me from eating bullets at night. Im not really into killing people so i joined the navy.

I once lost 15lbs in two weeks. Of course I excersised like crazy and ate fruit with every meal. That helped me eat less of the bad foods and more healthy food. I would eat at least half an apple before every meal and drink a bottle of water and then eat my regular meals. It kept me full till the next meal time so I never felt hungry. Got tired of fruits after a while. But I kept the weight off an lost some more after the two weeks with just maintaining my excersise routine. I would do a half hour of cardio at home and then go to the track and do two miles of short sprints and then walking. When walking I would try to contract muscles as they were being used. I think the secret is trying to fill up with healthier food and not sacrifice the things you love to eat, rather just the amount and of course a good cardio program. Good Luck

40 pounds? There is no quick way to lose weight. You should aim to lose 1–2 pounds every week and not try to set your goal on MUST LOSE 40 POUNDS IN X Days… Lifestyle change is the best way to lose weight. Exercise, eat healthy and stop worrying about how fast you can do something. Americans all want fast results for everything, sometimes there is no quick fix – you just have to take it one day at a time. Its like quitting drinking. When I did this I said to myself; I am not going to drink today the same thing applies for weight-loss say to yourself I am not going to eat crap today or I am going to exercise today don’t make harder on yourself by saying you need to lose 40 pounds in a predefined amount of time. Take it day-by-day

@ParaParaYukiko I used to be overwieght then I couldnt afford to eat 3 meals a day so I only ate one. I went from 160 to 120 in 4 months. And yes, it was unpleasant.