possible to lose 40lbs of fat over summer ??

[Dmango98]

i am just wondering if it is possible to lose 40lbs of fat over summer maybe a little less with a good diet and i will be taking nutrex lipo 6 along with alot of cardio..also wat im worried about is losing all the strength i built up ??

[supplementsavvy]

Well, you have three months, I think closer to 30 pounds would be more realistic, even that would be a great accomplishment.

Seeing as it's almost June, I'm focusing on getting into great shape for next summer. I've got quite a bit of weight to lose so I'm giving myself a good year to get there.

[Orggendut]

you could lose it, especially with a good diet, cardio, and the right supplement.

It may not be the best idea tho, try to take it slow, this way, ur giving time for your body to adapt to the changes and you wont risk into lossing as much muscle...

[Dark Phoenix]

Last summer I lost 40lbs in 4 months, strength stayed the same.

[( S I C )]

I lost 25lbs in 1 1/2 months.

If you are dedicated and determined to do whatever it takes - anything is possible.

[big_motz]

i'm a little under halfway to meeting my goal of losing 40 pounds.

[craigblitz]

I see your plan involves cardio and a good diet, that is awsome!!! Are you not going to be lifting during this time? If not why not? Good luck man you can do this NP you are 15 years old

[Stand Ablaze]

Yes I believe it's possible to lose 40 lbs over summer, naturally not all of it will be fat, but most of it will, if you do it right.

I'm planning on getting down at least 25lbs before the end of August for my holiday and to keep going untill I hit my goal, and bulking for a bit, and cutting before summer.

Most things are possible if done correctly, just dont lose more than 2lbs a week of fat cuz it might cause your skin to sag.

[SSBOY]

i dont know about 40 pounds.. wont ALL be fat... muscle loss for sure, r u sure u wanna lose 40 pounds of pure fat? lol THAT IS ALOT OF FAT, i dno depends what bf u are atm... some1 told me 1 pound of fat is enuf to fit in ur 2 hands

[Stand Ablaze]

http://www.nutritioncouncil.org/memb...splays/Fat.jpg

[zcsmith]

Dude, don't try to lose 40 pounds of FAT during the summer!!!! Even if you meant "weight", that's still a LOT to lose in about 3 months. To be honest, I'm shocked at some of the replies!!! Sure, it's possible to lose 40 pounds in 3 months, but do you want to? That's quite a fast rate to be losing weight, meaning that you will lose substantial muscle. Again, assuming that you mean 40 pounds of weight, not fat. Losing 40 pounds of fat means a weight loss somewhere around 45-50 pounds, I would think.

Some of the statements that I disagree with include:
--"Last summer I lost 40lbs in 4 months, strength stayed the same."
--"I lost 25lbs in 1 1/2 months. If you are dedicated and determined to do whatever it takes - anything is possible."

1) Strength is not the same as muscle. They are related, but certainly not the same thing.
2) Just because it's possible, doesn't mean that you should do it. This guy was losing weight at a clip of 4.2 pounds a week. Unless you are obese or screwing with your sodium intake, this is way too fast to be losing weight, especially if you want to preserve muscle.

Assuming three months of summer (12 weeks), I would say that you could lose about 18 pounds of WEIGHT (not necessarily fat) pretty safely, maybe 24 pounds if you want to stretch it. If you're obese, you could lose more than that and be safe.

Not trying to rip people, I'm really not. It still amazes me how some want to take the shortcut approach and lose more weight than they should in a given amount of time. If you don't give a rats behind about muscle, then do whatever you want. If you want to preserve the muscle that you worked hard to build, I would REALLY hesitate to lose more than about 2 pounds OF WEIGHT a week, though.

Hope that helps!!!!

[Stand Ablaze]

3) Nitpicking here, but I'm not sure what he means by saying "most" of it will be fat. Again, since your losing weight at a very fast pace, you will be losing substantial muscle. It's different for everyone due to numerous factors (genetics, protein intake, etc.) but you will lose more muscle than you want. I guess if you lose 40 pounds and 21 of that is fat, I guess that you did lose more fat than muscle. Don't think that it's a good ratio, though - do you?

When I said that most of it will be fat, I meant that he will lose both water, muscle, and fat. If he where to do it correctly he would lose more muscle than fat, and water loss isn't really too important as it comes and goes. I did not mean he could lose a solid 40lbs of fat. Maybe 30 if he's lucky, but overall more fat than muscle.

Muscle will be lost, due to the fast take on losing the fat, I agree. Sure, I could go with losing 40lbs in one summer myself but I know I do not want that, but I reckon it's quite possible.

My own advice is not what he wants to hear, because the quick way out will not work in the long term and he should work hard for next summer.

[lifequest]

Zcsmith…Don’t speak in absolutes. I lost a ton of fat and gained muscle and strength at the same time in 4 months and am continuing the same trend…is this normal? No. Many say this is imposable…I would have to disagree. Almost anything can be done some how by some body. All you can do is try things out and see what your body responds best to. Do the best you can and always strive to improve.

I do agree that looking for short cuts is not smart. It takes time, patience, and dedication. Any quick fix you try will most likely set you back eventually…why do you think 98% of all diets fail and the majority of that 98% gain more weight then what they started with…

[zcsmith]

Zcsmith…Don’t speak in absolutes. I lost a ton of fat and gained muscle and strength at the same time in 4 months and am continuing the same trend…is this normal? No. Many say this is imposable…I would have to disagree. Almost anything can be done some how by some body. All you can do is try things out and see what your body responds best to. Do the best you can and always strive to improve.

I didn't think that I spoke in any absolutes, I simply wanted to make it clear that it was NOT a good idea to try to reduce your weight that much in that short a time. I also made some exceptions, namely sodium and obesity. Your statement "I lost a ton of fat and gained muscle and strength..." could possibly mean that you were obese. Possibly. Normally people who are in good relative shape don't have a "ton" of fat to lose. Overweight and obese people can easily accomplish the "losing fat and gaining muscle" phenomenon. Don't know the science behind it, but it's easier - I've even done this before when I was overweight. A trained athlete who's in decent shape? Unless you have superior genetics, I HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt that you can lose 40 pounds OF FAT in 12 weeks without sacrificing muscle and strength. Heck, even overweight people will probably lose some muscle and strength towards the end of the cycle.

You also have to remember the chance to human error as well. When you made the claim of losing fat and gaining muscle, how did you know this? Calipers? Something else? I've seen people get tested at 6% and there was obviously no way they were at that mark. I know, I was one of them.

Again, I didn't think that I spoke in absolutes. If you can seriously say that he should lose 40 pounds OF FAT in 3 months, well there's nothing stopping you. I, on the other hand, think it's a pretty bad idea, and I think that he will lose strength and muscle if he were to try to lose that much weight in 12 weeks.

[zcsmith]

LIFEQUEST, I just took a look at your thread, and even though it was a small novel (meaning that I did not read it all), there one thing that stood out to me:
1) You were obese - 202 and 23%. It does not shock me at all that you were able to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time. I did the same thing at that weight. You were untrained AND obese. Now you managed to do that, and look at all the work that you put into that. I don't think that the "normal" person is like that...whatever "normal" is these days.

DMANGO - Can you please provide more information on what you hope to achieve, and how you plan to do it?

[lifequest]

I didn't think that I spoke in any absolutes, I simply wanted to make it clear that it was NOT a good idea to try to reduce your weight that much in that short a time. I also made some exceptions, namely sodium and obesity. Your statement "I lost a ton of fat and gained muscle and strength..." could possibly mean that you were obese. Possibly. Normally people who are in good relative shape don't have a "ton" of fat to lose. Overweight and obese people can easily accomplish the "losing fat and gaining muscle" phenomenon. Don't know the science behind it, but it's easier - I've even done this before when I was overweight. A trained athlete who's in decent shape? Unless you have superior genetics, I HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt that you can lose 40 pounds OF FAT in 12 weeks without sacrificing muscle and strength. Heck, even overweight people will probably lose some muscle and strength towards the end of the cycle.

You also have to remember the chance to human error as well. When you made the claim of losing fat and gaining muscle, how did you know this? Calipers? Something else? I've seen people get tested at 6% and there was obviously no way they were at that mark. I know, I was one of them.

Again, I didn't think that I spoke in absolutes. If you can seriously say that he should lose 40 pounds OF FAT in 3 months, well there's nothing stopping you. I, on the other hand, think it's a pretty bad idea, and I think that he will lose strength and muscle if he were to try to lose that much weight in 12 weeks.

Ummm…no…just no… thanks for bashing my journal in the actual journal, real cool man. I didn’t say any of what you just defended so calm down. Let’s see...where to starts…

Post 2 - “I didn't think that I spoke in any absolutes”

Post 1 -“Dude, don't try to lose 40 pounds of FAT during the summer!!!! Even if you meant "weight", that's still a LOT to lose in about 3 months. To be honest, I'm shocked at some of the replies!!!”

This is an absolute statement…to rephrase what you said in another way “DON’T DO IT, it’s impossible, I can’t believe what these idiots are saying!!!!”

Post 2 “I simply wanted to make it clear that it was NOT a good idea to try to reduce your weight that much in that short a time.”

Another absolute statement made by you – I lost 30 lbs of fat and gained 10 lbs of muscle in 4 months, these are conservative numbers because if I went straight by measurements I had lost 34 lbs of fat and gained 20 lbs of muscle at that point it’d be even crazier now since I’m reading 6% bf. I agree with you in that this is highly unlikely so somewhere water weight and gauge variation has had an effect. I do agree that there is an element of gauge error and will ad that to my journal…you are just wrong on the point that losing fat at a relatively fast pace is always bad. It is a bad idea for most, yes, but not all.

You - “Your statement "I lost a ton of fat and gained muscle and strength..." could possibly mean that you were obese.”

No…did you not see the words under my post:

Feb 1, 2005
202lbs 23% bf
bench 145x6
squat 225 x 4

May 17 2005
184 7% bf
bench 225x4
squat 315 x 5

I clearly wasn’t obese. I was unhealthy and over weight. That is apparent by the shown body fat. So not a very relevant comment.

You - “Normally people who are in good relative shape don't have a "ton" of fat to lose. Overweight and obese people can easily accomplish the "losing fat and gaining muscle" phenomenon. Don't know the science behind it, but it's easier”

I’d say it has a lot more to do with genetics…not whether you started obese or not. I’m a meso endomorph and I played athletics throughout high school. I was stagnant for 2 years in college and put on +30 lbs of weight. But since I lost the majority of my muscle and gained fat to replace it I was much worse off then that. I’d say I didn’t have “a ton” to lose but I’ve lost weight in a linear fashion for over 4 month…including the hardest going from 10% to 8 % drop and I’m continuing on down down down.

You - “I HIGHLY HIGHLY doubt that you can lose 40 pounds OF FAT in 12 weeks without sacrificing muscle and strength. Heck, even overweight people will probably lose some muscle and strength towards the end of the cycle.”

This is you saying an absolute but trying not to be absolute…again I used to be athletic. I had consistently gained muscle and lost fat and have not sacrificed muscle or strength even though I’m at the more demanding part of my cut…you are wrong. You can “highly highly doubt” all you want. But I still basically did it in 16 weeks.

I think 12 weeks is aggressive but 10 lbs a month is doable. That’s what I am defending. I agree that anything more then that may be detrimental.

You - “Again, I didn't think that I spoke in absolutes.”

You just did it several more times...again

You - “If you can seriously say that he should lose 40 pounds OF FAT in 3 months, well there's nothing stopping you. I, on the other hand, think it's a pretty bad idea, and I think that he will lose strength and muscle if he were to try to lose that much weight in 12 weeks.”

I never said this. I said I did it in 4 months so that is possible and just that. I also said it wasn’t normal and shouldn’t be expected. I was just annoyed that you were saying it was always unhealthy no matter what. Which is just untrue.

Anyways thanks for questioning me it will just make it more fun to prove you wrong. Please check on my journal in a few months.

[lifequest]

Unfortunately I missed this in my earlier reply…

You said - ” You were untrained AND obese. Now you managed to do that, and look at all the work that you put into that. I don't think that the "normal" person is like that...whatever "normal" is these days.”

I believe you are trying to say that the “normal person” would be unable to motivate themselves to work as hard as I did to achieve their goal of improving their health and appearance…I worked my ass off yes…And I got results because of it…The way I see it is if people see what I did and I spell it out for them (in my “novel” as you call it) it will help them. I think that’s why people come to this site in the first place. That’s why I did. You are saying that they’d see what I did and what I had to do to accomplish it and wouldn’t want to work that hard? You suck man…what the hell are you doing here? You’re like the guy would walks up to people in the street and says “you know your going to die one day” people can accomplish amazing things as soon as pessimists like you get outa their way.

[zcsmith]

[QUOTE=lifequest]I clearly wasn’t obese. I was unhealthy and over weight. That is apparent by the shown body fat. So not a very relevant comment.

Here's ONE definition of "obese" = Obesity is defined as excessive body fat usually measured as 30 pounds or more over ideal body weight.

Well, I apologize. I believe that you cut 27 pounds of weight, according to your journal. I was CLEARLY wrong. 3 pounds off.

Also, regarding your last comment - have you looked around lately? Do you see what "normal" is these days? Well, let me tell you this - I don't think that your normal, average, every day person writes everything the eat down, carefully plans everything out in terms of nutrition and lifting, and writes a HUGE journal detailing how they did it. The "normal" person, I believe, wants the easy way out. They want to take a diet pill and have the fat magically melt away, they want to eat whetever the want and walk a few times a week and watch their weight go down. That's what I call "normal" in today's society. Doesn't make it right, but that's what you see. Dude, let's be real - if it was as simple as looking at a journal to see the great results you got, wouldn't more people be doing that? Some people would loo at your journal and say, "damn, that's more work that I though! I don't know anymore..."

fyi - I'm NOT "normal". I weight my food on a digital scale, I have excel spreadsheets showing the average, standard deviation, man, etc. of what I ate, I log everything that I work out, I cary a gallon of water around with me where ever I go...no, that's not normal, and in my prime (a few months ago), I was down to 167.5 and 5% on the skin calipers. It would be ignorant to believe that anyone who saw my results would go out and do it, whether they are interested in bodybuilding or not. Some people don't realize the DEDICATION that it takes to make significant progress. You proved that in your journal. Do you think that people realize that it takes that much work!?!? I'm sure that there are plenty of noobies on this board that sign on, look at a few threads, and realize, "Damn!!! That's a lot of work!!!"

so NO, the normal person is not motivated to do what you did to achieve results. If they were, don't you think that there would be a lot more people in great shape!?!? That's what makes the bodybuilding breed special - we are NOT normal people when it comes to health and fitness.

[TanTheMan]

Please dont take this thread off subject. it is rude and is not helping the original author.

my 2 cents

[zcsmith]

Sorry man - you're right, I did go off subject. Gotta stop myself from doing that

Yes, I suppose it's possible to lose 40 pounds of fat during the summer, but it's not recommended. If we say that summer is approx 3 months (four seasons, 12 months in a year, yadda yadda), I think that you would lose strength and muscle.

It depends on what your long term goals are, as well.

DMANGO - Can you please give more information on what you are trying to achieve? Height, weight...all that stuff would greatly help.

[zcsmith]

Dmango - here's a thread on beginning bodybuilding; it might be able to help you some.

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=150447

Here is one of the statements in said thread:

**IMPORTANT: Remember, you can not lose more than 3 lbs. of fat/week, and that's even pushing it. One of the biggest problems with cutting is people want to loose so much weight, so fast, that the majority of it is muscle (and water). Aim for a loss of 2 lbs./week. If you are losing more than 2 lbs./week assume the rest of it to be muscle and alter your diet to how you see fit.

So, please don't try to lose your 40 pounds of fat over the summer!

[TanTheMan]

I agree with the others. As much as i myself would LOVE (emphasis on LOVE) to lose 50lbs, i dont think it would be wise. i myself am aiming for 2lbs a week while cutting, and if you take a look at a picture of 5 pounds of fat, think what 20 pounds would look like, then subtract that from your body, its a lot man. yea, i want to be cut, with a nice defined body. but i doubt i will return to school that way. i only hope to return atleast 20 pounds lighter! then bulk when my BF% is low enough.

Just take it slow, appreciate the work it takes to lose that weight, get your diet in check, try some HIIT and lift. It will all work out, and plus, we have a whole year before next summer! imagine what you can by like then!

Good luck to you.

[Vlenin1870]

i am just wondering if it is possible to lose 40lbs of fat over summer maybe a little less with a good diet and i will be taking nutrex lipo 6 along with alot of cardio..also wat im worried about is losing all the strength i built up ??

It always seems impossible until its done.