[sarvat]

Hi
I need to lose 20kgs in 3 months. I know its a lot but I have to.
I have joined the gym where I am on treadmill for an hour 20mins cardio and 10mins cyle
I am on fruits and cabbage soup diet
Can you suggest ho wi can lose this weight
Thanks
Saru

[ajt86]

Hi! Saru, is it? I'm Anne. If you would like a friend to hold you accountable, I would be happy to join you in your journey. We could exchange emails and tell each other our problems and issues. Post again here if you want to do this!

That is a great deal of weight to lose in three months. Be glad for your every success, and don't quit just cause it doesn't happen fast enough for you!

Cabbage and fruit do not constitute a balanced diet. If you don't eat enough protein, your body will start to cannibalize it's own muscles and connective tissue. You do not want this! If anything, you want to be ADDING muscle, not subtracting it! Muscle burns more calories at rest than any other kind of tissue. The more muscle you have, the more calories your body burns on its own! Besides, I can't imagine eating nothing but cabbage soup for three months! (that's over 90 days of cabbage soup! )

Instead, try a more balanced diet with small portions (3-4oz) of lean proteins like chicken, fish and low-fat dairy products in addition to high-fiber foods like fruits and vegetables. Avoid refined sugar, but incorporate healthy, high fiber, whole grain cereals and breads. Again, keep your portions small.

Get a food diary. This can be a blank notebook. Write down everything that you put in your mouth along with the portions sizes. For the next two weeks measure everything and then figure out the calories. Never limit your calories to below 1200 per day, but go to 1200 by all means. After two weeks you will probably be able to guesstimate portion sizes, so you can stop measuring, but keep writing it down

Your cardio plan sounds good! Keep up with it, and after about six weeks it can be good to change to another type to keep your body from getting used to it and to keep you from getting bored.

You should probably consider adding weight training. Your gym should come with a free tour of all facilities. Ask your guide to show you how to safely use each of the weight machines (they are probably required to do this by gym policy to stave off injuries and lawsuits. However, if this is not an option there are lots of good books on this subject) and then set the weight level so that you can do 8-12 repetitions of each movement. The thing with lifting weights is that it really boosts any weight loss goals and it helps your body to start looking better faster.

The basic science of weight loss is that calories in must be less than calories out. You must burn more calories than you consume. Be anal about recording and thinking about calories. This is the only way to effectively and permanently lose weight.

Hope things are going well for you,
Be healthy,
Anne