Less than two weeks to lose 5-10 pounds?

Any advice how to lose 5-10 pounds in a short time?

I could do Atkins, but in the past I have found when I do it, it takes the weight off, but then I put more on when I go back to normal eating.

I do plan on cutting back on calories and using the treadmil daily.

Bobbie (who will be trying to fit into a formal dress on a cruise on Halloween)

Water. Lots and lots of water. Seriously, if you drink enough water you will flush out your system and lose the excess water weight that you are normally carrying around. That will help a lot if you aren't already drinking enough. If I remember right, I think the formula is your weight in ounces of water or up to 1 gallon of water per day.

The bathroom will be your friend.

Measure your food portions and count calories. It works.

Drink more water than you ever imagined yourself drinking. It works! I promise.

I did weightwatchers last year and lost 7lbs the first week and 2lbs the second week.

Keep moving, watch your salt intake!

I DO NOT recommend any carb cutting program. Cutting carbs is very bad for you, and I think very few people understand why. Cutting carbs and increasing protein intake is very stressful on your bodies cells. You will lose weight ONLY because it takes more energy for your cells to break down protien than it does for them to break down carbs. Effects of the inceased protein and higher energy output farther down the road could be really bad. It would be like being a little overweight and putting a little more stress on your heart than it should have, eventually that small amount of extra stress adds up, and can have adverse effects on your health. Such as a heart attack. That is the best comparison I can come up with right now.
Dont mean to go on a soap box, but your body needs what it needs for a reason. It needs it to function correctly. Even if for a short amount of time, I dont recommend carb cutting.

Lots of water, and minimise sugar and salt. That includes that natural sugar found in fruit. Also - and I lost HEAPS of weight when I did this - have a breakfast and lunch with complex carbohydrates, and none at all for dinner.

Ie - cereal/toast for breakfast, pasta/rice for lunch, meat and vegetables ONLY for dinner. Plus lots of water works fantastically well!!

Also, try not to eat anything at all after 8pm so your body can process what it's had during the day without extra food going in at night.

The only other thing I'd add to the great advice you've gotten so far is to do muscle strenthening excersizes. Work your lower body one day, then upper body the next, and continue to follow that pattern. The day after you work on muscle strenthening is when your muscles start to burn the fat. You may not lose at much total weight this way but you'll lose more SIZE more quickly! (Muscle weighs more than fat so you can get smaller without the scale going down!). GL!!!

Good luck!!! Let us know how it goes!!!

I second the Weight Watchers recommendation. I'm doing it right now and lost the first pounds pretty quickly...pigged out five days in a row when company was here, but when I got back on the program the pound I'd gained back came right off again. You do have to be faithful with it though, or there's no point in trying.

You said

"I could do Atkins, but in the past I have found when I do it, it takes the weight off, but then I put more on when I go back to normal eating."

That will be true with ANY weight loss program unless you change your "normal eating" to "healthy eating" ie still watching portion size and how much calories and fat you consume and making sure you get some exercise.

Originally Posted by Waddle

"I could do Atkins, but in the past I have found when I do it, it takes the weight off, but then I put more on when I go back to normal eating."

That will be true with ANY weight loss program unless you change your "normal eating" to "healthy eating" ie still watching portion size and how much calories and fat you consume and making sure you get some exercise.

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Just remember, if you are wanting to lose this weight, why not follow a healthier eating plan altogether? Rather than just for the next couple of weeks. Otherwise, as you have mentioned, you know it will just go straight back on and that is VERY bad for your body.

Just move to another state. You can come move to see me! lol

When you do manage to take the weight off, I've got a little trick I learnt from a friend in NY to help keep it off (in addition to eating healthy and whatnot).

If you like to watch tv a lot at night, every time a commercial break comes on, do some sort of simple exercise like situps or pushups or whathaveyou until the program returns. If you do something else with your free time, but still hang at home a lot, during that activity, do the exercises every 15 minutes or so for 2 or 3 minutes at a time.

Even if you just do this a couple hours a night, it really does add up after a while, and then continue adding up quickly after that. And while it's not the same as throwing yourself into the gym, it's still good.

Good luck.

That's not a healthy weight loss there, and when you gian, you will probably gain it back twice as bad. That said water will help you drop weight, but not size.

The notion of easily pouring water down your throat is far more attractive than actually working hard on diet and exercise, which is why people have a lot of misconceptions about water. It doesn't help you lose weight. Here's an article explaining why. Scroll to the bottom: http://www.drmirkin.com/public/ezine011605.html

Ryan, do you believe everything you read on the internet??
You dont comsume more water to help you feel full and to eat less, which is what I got from the article.

Not drinking enough water, the recommended 8 8oz glasses a day, will actually slow down your metabolism. Why you ask, because you body is mostly water, and the water in your body carries everything from nutrients to heat, yes heat, to every tip of every extremity on your body. If you are not drinking enough water, you are not moving the nutrients and such you ingest as well as you should be.
(side note- if your hands and feet are usually cold, you may not be drinking enough water, water carries heat, and its primary concerns are heating the brain and the heart, if you are not drinking enough water, the only things that are going to be heated are your heart and head... therefore your extremities are colder)

Drinking 8 8oz glasses of water from what I understand will also keep you from retaining extra water. If you are not drinking enough water every day, your body is storing water for 'emergencies'...hence, water weight.

Anything regarding medical info, weightloss, medicine, diseases... unless the websites end in .org, .edu, or .gov, i would not really rely on the information.

***Another note, you dont neccessarily have to drink plain old water... as long as the beverage DOES NOT contain caffeine or you can drink it instead (water, milk, juice, etc.) (no tea, soda, etc)

Another big reason why water will help you lose weight is.....

If you drink no other beverage but water you are cutting out the large amounts of calories that soda and juice contains.....

if you only drink water (a naturally calorie free beverage)...thats less calories you have to work off later....

good luck on the weight loss

Meagan, you're way off topic. There is nowhere that I said people shouldn't drink water. Drinking adequate amounts of water in a daily diet has been shown to give athletes more endurance than those who don't drink as much water, but that's not what this thread is about and not what my post was about.

Drinking large amounts of water does not help you lose weight. That was my point. It's common sense. Drinking extra water cannot possibly burn more calories than exercising vigorously for 30 minutes or more 3 times a week. Drinking extra water cannot possibly reduce your food intake. It's just extra water. It's the amount of food and the kind of food you eat that affects the amount of fat your body makes. Water is water. Food is food.

Dr. Mirkin reads up to date medical journals and has a long history of success as a doctor. Read this if you're concerned about the source of information: http://www.drmirkin.com/about/AboutDrMirkin.htm

Originally Posted by Hydroaxe

Drinking large amounts of water does not help you lose weight.

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my comment about drinking more water than you could ever imagine yourself drinking was sarcastic. i do not recommend drinking excessive water as water poisoning is possible.

That was my point. It's common sense. Drinking extra water cannot possibly burn more calories than exercising vigorously for 30 minutes or more 3 times a week.

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Who said drinking more water burns more calories?? water doesnt burn calories, but it will give your more energy(speeds up metabolism)

As I recall you said this in your first post:

It doesn't help you lose weight.

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Which is a false statement.
If you are not drinking the amount of water your body needs, and you START drinking the amount you need, yes it will help you lose weight because it makes internal body process more accurate and faster.

Dr. Mirkin reads up to date medical journals and has a long history of success as a doctor. Read this if you're concerned about the source of information: http://www.drmirkin.com/about/AboutDrMirkin.htm

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i did not mean to imply that your article was crap, i simply stated that people who want information on medical info, need to be sure where they are looking and not believe the first thing they read.
in the article you posted i dont recall the doctor ever saying that water does or does not help you lose weight, but he does discuss that water itself helps you feel full for awhile.

I posted my reply before I read your article, because your statement "It doesnt help you lose weight" is inaccurate. I read his article, and what he discusses is somewhat correct, except for the statement that drinking a 2 glasses of water, plus eating high fiber foods will help you reach your 8 glass a day requirement. There is water in stuff like broccli and apples, but not near enough to come close to the 6 glasses you are missing. Unless you eat 40 apples a day. No matter what foods you are eating, you still need to consume 8 glasses a day. Like you said, water is water and food is food.
No doctor is going to tell you, 'yea, as long as you eat a bag of apples and head of lettuce a day, you dont have to drink actual water.' who does that??

Nobody ever said that people shouldn't drink water. The original poster can read both our comments and make her own decision. It's time to agree to disagree and let the thread go on.

Next weight loss suggestions? Anyone?