I get married In 6 weeks. I bought my dress 2 years ago as wedding was cancelled during lock down. It’s now too tight. I need to loose half a stone in 6 weeks. I don’t care how extreme the suggestions but please help.
First, 6 weeks is a lot of time, you definitely can lose A LOT of weight in that amount of time dry fasting.
There are many things you could do but I’ll go with my personal favorites.
A) If you want to lose a lot of weight quickly without burning yourself out ->
4 days dry fast, 1 day refeed and repeat.
The refeed needs to be only fatty meat and water. Preferably beef entrecote. Always eat until you are full, salt your meat well and make sure to drink enough water.
You can lose anything from 9lbs ( 4kgs ) to 17lbs (8kgs) depending on your metabolism, activity level and sleep with each cycle. Some people actually lose even more weight. Those are just the common numbers. Lets say you do this once a week for 6 weeks, that’s already 52lbs ( 24kgs ) at the minimum.
B) If you actually want to be extreme about it ->
7 days dry, 1 day refeed and repeat.
You can lose anything from 15lbs ( 7kgs ) to 14kgs ( 31lbs ), again depending on what I wrote previously during each cycle. Let’s say you only do it for 5 weeks, that’s 77lbs ( 35kgs ) at the minimum.
I have done this before and while it is extremely drastic weight loss wise, you will feel pretty drained eventually. You might struggle with sleep because of the higher cortisol caused by the fasting period.
Just remember that you can always go carnivore too and just eat a 200g/300g steak or two each day and lose a lot of weight without having to actually fast. The weight-loss will be slightly slower but still noticeable and you will get to eat and drink.
I’m not a big fan of people posting here wanting to quick fixes for weight loss, but hey it is your wedding, so in my heart I totally understand.
Dry fasting is great for weight loss, but a lot of the initial weight will be water loss, and you’ll put it back on immediately if you don’t control what you eat after. It isn’t the right protocol for a quick fix to weight loss. It is hard and I believe you have to have the right mindset for it and slowly ease your way into it.
So without judgment here, one of the most sure fire ways to lose weight however stubborn it is, is to do alternate day fasting. So 1 day eating absolutely nothing except black coffee or black tea (no sweeteners). On your eating days go as low carb as possible, completely carnivore if you can. Meat, fish, eggs, cooked in butter, ghee or olive oil. No alcohol. No sodas.
If you’re vegetarian just go as low carb as possible. If you’re vegan, just keep the food as natural as possible and no processed food, and you’ll be OK.
If not eating for a whole day is too much for you, then do OMAD - i.e. one meal a day. Again make that meal carnivore. Just eat a couple of grilled ribeyes every night for 6 weeks and you’d lose more than half a stone.
I was losing `1 kg a day on dry fasting, but I gained half of it back quickly when I started drinking water. I suggest either doing one long dry fast or breaking it up into multiple fasts, whatever is psychologically easier. Since you have 6 weeks, I bet if you did at least 3 days of dry fasting per week with normal eating in between you could pull it off. Either a dry fast every other day or one 3-day per week.
6 weeks is more than enough time. I can lose half a stone (about 3kg) within 2 or 3 days. With fasting (dry or water) this is very easy!However, it’s mostly water weight, not only fat.
So for instance, if you do a 7 day water fast, you should lose half a stone without problems.Refeed carefully, then you will hold the new weight.
0.5 stone is 6kg? That is easily doable in 6 weeks
2 days fasting per week will get you there just in time and feel very comfortable.
2day on, 2 days off? (alternate eating for 2 days, fasting for 2 days) will get you there quickly but might be harder with willpower.
basically, every 2 days is 1 kg or ever day is 1lb
avoid all chocolate, sugar, pastries, juice, fizzy drinks and crap food generally and keep your meals on off days to reasonable portions, but not ‘restocking’ - you want to be in the mindset of losing weight, not rewarding with mini-binges whenever you make it. It’s very easy to do dumb stuff and binge after fasting.
also do not think about food at all while fasting (it is how breaking it starts) - ban that,
also aim to have the mindset during the fast that this is easy and you will easily eat nothing for x days, e.g. imagine 4 days and just witch to that mindset and dont think more about it when you start longing - this is key to conquering it - when you start focusing on feeling bad your brain starts mini-panicking and thats when you break and give in. IF you can kid yourself it will feel easy, it usually will