I'm new here!

[Jigsaw Puzzle]

I've been doing the No S Diet for nearly a week, which I know isn't very long, but I feel better already! I don't have very much to lose though (only about 15lbs), so I'm guessing that it will probably tale a little longer to get the weight off
I have a couple of questions though:
1. Realistically, do you think that I can lose 15lbs by August, using the No S Diet and moderate exercise? Also, could you please maybe suggest an amount and type of exercise that I should be doing each day?
2. I have a fair amount of lower tummy fat that long of sticks out... I was wondering if No S and exercise would help to get rid of that by August as well (I'm going on holiday )? If not, then again, could you please suggest a way to help le achieve that?
Sorry if I sound dumb, I don't mean to
Than you!

[Jigsaw Puzzle]

Sorry about the typos, I'm writing this on my phone

[kccc]

As to the losing weight... it depends. And it depends on so many variables that I couldn't say.

However, it's February now, so August is about 6 months... to lose 15 in that time, you'd need to lose about 2.5/month. That's a pretty high target for any sustainable weight loss plan (note the word "sustainable," which leaves out crash diets). For most of us, the weight didn't go on fast, and it won't come off fast.

But by August you could certainly be smaller-than-you-are-now, and on the way to better habits and a long-term healthier life.

Adding exercise is a good idea. Exercise can make you look a good deal slimmer, even if the scales don't move.

You might check out the "Shovelglove" forum. A lot of folks on this board walk, some with pedometers. Others do "14 minutes of anything" - Shovelglove, yoga, Pilates, whatever. Just remember "something is better than nothing" and "daily babysteps beat one-day sprints".

Hope this is helpful for you. Welcome and good luck!

[reinhard]

Welcome, Jigsaw!

15 pounds in 6 months is certainly not outrageous BUT I'd caution you against focusing on specific target numbers.

Why? Because moderation shouldn't be contingent on results.

You shouldn't say to yourself (more or less): "IF I can lose x amount of weight I will eat moderately. If not, I will do something extreme."

You should say, "I will eat (and move) moderately and see what happens."

Moderation is the goal, not some number. The number is a side effect. It's necessarily a side effect. You have no chance of obtaining (and keeping) the side effect unless you put moderation first.

It's like that great C.S. Lewis quote about "first and second things":

To sacrifice the greater good for the less and then not to get the lesser good after all–that is the surprising folly. . . Every preference of a small good to a great, or a partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice was made. Apparently the world is made that way. If Esau really got his pottage in return for his birthright, then Esau was a lucky exception. You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.

Reinhard

[Blithe Morning]

You would probably need to directly implement some tweaks and mods. Depending on how far afield your current eating is from these mods, that may or may not be sustainable. And No S might become another diet focused on weight loss instead of habit builder that results in weight management.

[Jigsaw Puzzle]

Thank you very much everybody for your replies! You gave me something to think about - and from now on I shall try to be more focused on how healthy and 'good' I feel rather than how much weight comes off! Although there is still a small part of my brain that worries that the weight won't come off, although the logical part of knows that it probably will...