Can you lose 50 pounds in 6 months? The answer is yes, I did just that and even more. Now I am going to tell you how.
Well actually I lost even more than just 50lbs! I lost 88 lbs, which is 40 kilos in 6 months.
And here how I looked before and after. Left image is my starting pic and I weight 313 pounds (142kg). On the right side I am down to 224 pounds (102kg).
This weight loss took excatly 6 months. I participated in a weight loss competition at the same time, it was a nation wide in Finland at 2007. The competition was a nice bonus and extra motivation. I didn’t get any podiums but I got great results just in 6 months.
i reached 25 pounds in two months
I don’t have a photo for exactly 25 pounds, but below is how I looked when I had lost 55 pounds (25kg). On the right my weight is 257lbs or 117kg.
This took only July and August, so in two months I was already a lot of lighter. The life was starting to feel interesting and fun after a decade of obese lifestyle. I remember how curious I was about nutrition, exercise and new possibilities. I felt so good about myself and happy.
And yes, before you ask. My weight loss was extremely fast. And it came off super easily also, I didn’t struggle at all. After the first week I was down 11lbs (5kg).
losing 50 pounds – what did i do?
The most important thing for me, was to change the diet. It was absolutely horrible as you can imagine from my before picture.
I’ll describe what I used to eat daily:
Breakfast:
Snickers Ice Cream bar
Bar of chocolate
Huge glass of Coca-Cola
Lunch:
Big bowl of rice
Minced beef
Cottage cheese
Dinner:
Pizza or hamburger with fries
More ice cream
In between:
Candy
Chocolate
Cookies
This is how it looked almost daily for over 10 years. Just a lot of junk food and shit that had zero nutrition value. I understand now that, I was badly nutrition deficient with key vitamins, minerals and building blocks.
At the same time my blood sugar was all over the place and I was in a fat storing mode 24/7. My body just couldn’t access fat storage because of really poor nutrition. So it made me hungry all the time, so that I would at least get the minimium required fuel in just to survive.
And with junk food, there is no nutrition. So I had to eat that a lot, which of course cumulated more fat. I was obese, but malnourished.
2007-2008 Atkins, keto and low carb diets were coming into mainstream in Finland. One well known doctor in Finland recommended low carb diets for removing excess weight. He had a lot of experience with that in his clinic.
So I was of course interested, since I didn’t understand anything about correct nutrition. I bought his cook book (his name was Antti Heikkilä).
I just started eating with book’s recipes.
my new eating rules
First:
I cut out sugar in all forms. That includes bread, pasta, pizza, candy, coca-cola, cookies, rice and so on.
Second:
Learned how to cook. Here above you can see the masterchef in action. I made a chicken breast with melted cheese on top and some salsa. With that I sliced some tomatos. Then I had also some almonds and glass of water.
Simple but it worked really well for me. This is how I got my insulin response back in check and my body to burn fat for fuel between the meals.
Third:
No more fast food, pastries or something that is pre-made. Everything must be fresh and natural food.
I ate three times per day. I usually ate for satiety, since my nutrition quality went up. The plate you see, was usually one meal.
With this style of eating, not measuring anything, I lost 40kg in 6 months.
what about the exercise
For exercise I didn’t do anything special. My weight loss came from better quality nutrition, not from training.
I did daily walks between 30 – 60 minutes. I tried to walk every day, no matter what the weather was. Easy pace all the time.
I also implemented small fitness hacks into my life. Park the car far away from the door. Walk stairs instead of elevator. Standing when calling to the client. Really small things.
After three months, I started to do little bit of sprint intervals during my walks. I could walk for one minute, then do sprint for 10 seconds. I would do that 10 rounds for example.
I started the gym after second month. I wasn’t so embarrassed anymore and wanted to lift something, so I got a gym membership. Nobody there ever stared me, so I was worried for nothing.
Went there twice a week for full body workout. I made a simple progression with that, add more reps or weight after each week. Got the program from the gym, since I was a beginner back then.
Can you lose 50 pounds in 6 months? Yes!
It is very much possible, if you eat quality nutrition. I think nutrition is 90% of everything. 5% is training and 5% is sleep. So the nutrition is the biggest lever what you can use for your health, body composition and how you feel.
Training and good sleep are important, but nutrition first. Always.
Can you lose 50 pounds in 6 months or even more? Yes!
We all are different, so anything is possible. For me the low carb approach worked wonders. It removed weight so fast.
I have used keto and low carb for my own PT clients also with great success. It works well for men and females.
Need any ideas with that? Just shoot me an email and let’s talk.
Talk to you soon again!
Markku