2" in 2 weeks.... can I do it? - Exercise & Fitness Message Board

Footer52 · 12-18-2007, 09:26 PM

I have an important "gathering" in about 3 weeks and would love to shave around 2" off my lower stomach and 'love handles' in time for it. I have a decent metabolism and am relatively active. I have a pass to the local gym 7 days a week if I want. can this be accomplished and how should I go about doing this? What kind of diet should I be looking at and what sort of exercise routine should I get myself on?

jeb1977 · 12-19-2007, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Footer52

I have an important "gathering" in about 3 weeks and would love to shave around 2" off my lower stomach and 'love handles' in time for it. I have a decent metabolism and am relatively active. I have a pass to the local gym 7 days a week if I want. can this be accomplished and how should I go about doing this? What kind of diet should I be looking at and what sort of exercise routine should I get myself on?

how old are U? you can loose an average of 2-3 lbs per week if done right. not counting the lbs of water weight.
the key to fat loss is cardio + diet = fatloss.. simple as that. In my opinion I think it can be done. I was 205 or so now I'm at 175lbs and getting leaner and leaner. (i'm 30). but then again I started from the bottom.. this is an example of what I eat:

6:30am 3 eggwhites and one whole egg scrambled with one piece of whole wheat bread and zero fat milk.
10am i pack of instant oatmeal
1pm chicken breast and brown rice with beggies
3pm one can of tuna with 3-4 whole wheat crakers non salty
515pm I"m at the gym, do my weight lifting for about 40 min then 20min of cardio ie running on the thread mill or elleptical machine..
6:30 40 gms of protein low carb shake right after the workout
830 a piece of lean meat and veggies like green beans or sweet potatos.

avoid and starchy foods and sugar sodas and stuff like that and I'll bet if you increase your cardio daily you will get what you are aiming for.

me, I'm doing it to preserve muscle while burning fat, but in your case is just to drop your body fat so I would stick to cardio and some weight lifting.

i hope this helps

gib · 12-19-2007, 10:04 AM

Howdy from a fellow Coloradoan!

You want 2" off your waist line? In 2-3 weeks? That's a tall order and you'd better be at the gym 24/7 for the next two weeks!

You can't target your belly and love handles for weight loss, you lose all over and I'm going to guess that for 2" off your waist, you're going to have to drop 25lbs or more. You might say you don't have any fat on the rest of your body, but you'd be amazed at how much comes off. I've pretty much have gone through this and as a comparison, I've dropped about 15lbs for each inch gone from my waist. I'm 6'2" and was at 225lbs with a 36" pant size, at 200lbs I was around a 34" waist and now at 185lbs I'm at 33". It would be unhealthy to try to lose that much weight in that amount of time and it'd probably be next to impossible to actually do it. A safe amount might be around 5-10lbs, 10 is pushing it though, you'd have to come close to starving yourself and it'd probably come right back the minute you eased up on your diet/routine after your 'gathering'. 10 pounds isn't going to do much for your belly profile though, sorry to say. I hope you're not discouraged at this point.

If you are just starting out at the gym, work towards 1 hour of cardio 3-4 days a week, throw in some strength training too. This is general, as most people starting out can't or won't try for more than this and this is a good level to lose around 1-2 pounds a week coupled with a clean diet. If you and your body can handle it right now for the next 2-3 weeks, go to the gym every day and do an hour of cardio see where that takes you. Running is great cardio and will produce the best results for short term goals.

Search this forum for posts on diet, there's also plenty of stuff on the web to help you clean up your diet. For the short term that you're looking at, you probably already have a good idea on what to do, cut back on portion size, cut back/out fatty fast food, cut out sugary drinks like pop, cut out all sugar that you add to anything.

Don't set a 2" goal off your waist in 2 weeks, your goal should be to get to the gym every day and do what you can between now and then. You'll probably burn out at this level, so after your gathering ease up on the intensity and settle in on a long term routine. All this assumes you are healthy enough to do it. Talk to a doctor first if you have any serious concerns about your ability. Good luck!

Footer52 · 12-19-2007, 12:50 PM

Actually if 2" is 25lbs then we are talking more like 1", I used to go to the gym M-F and did some heavy lifting with about 20 mins of cardio, then I started a new job and haven't been for at least 3 months, I have no problem getting back into my weight training schedule, but I think I may increase the cardio substantially, my upper abs are coming through I just need to ditch the one roll at the bottom, if I pretty much shut out all sugar and fatty foods is this a semi reasonable expectation for me? By the way I am 20

gib · 12-19-2007, 02:00 PM

Go back to M-F, bump the cardio to an hour, cut out sugar, pop, fast foods, cut back on portion size, you'll probably get pretty close.