6 months left and 25lbs to lose HELP

That's a pound a week which is doable. What worked for me was MyFitnessPal - weighing and logging EVERYTHING I ate. You have to be brutally honest with yourself but if you put in your current weight, that you want to lose a pound a week and your activity level, it will give you a calorie allowance for the day. Stick within it and the weight should come off. I didn't stop eating things I liked or drinking wine, I just had to fit it into my calorie allowance.

I was stuck for awhile. I'm trying the 21 day fix. I'm just doing the food though, and no shakes. I prefer real food. I'm still doing my own gym routine too.

It broke my plateau. I lost 5 pounds in 3 weeks so it's a start. I'm only 5 away from my goal now.

It's a lot of food. I'm not hungry at all.

I'm on week two of the fast metabolism diet and have lost four pounds. It's good because it's real food but you just have to take the time to plan it all out. Side note: the cover of the book drives me crazy but if you read the book it actually makes sense.

I used Jenny Craig and it has worked for me. I don't have to think about it, just grab a meal!

I also do the 21 day fix. I was strict for first two months. But now we have adapted it to our lifestyle and adjusted our normal diet.

I do the DVDs someday a but mostly do 2 hours at the gym 3 days a week( I like the classes they offer).

We've both lost 20 odd pounds since June.

I used a Fitbit & lost 30 pounds in about 4 months. It's great & the app allows you to track calories as well as monitors your activity, water intake, etc. I used just the basic step counter which cost $50 at Best Buy & it was well worth it! Plus it's made it easy to stick to my healthier eating even now that I don't have a wedding dress to motivate me.

I'd like to lose about 5-8 lbs also by January and am starting logging my food in the fitness pal app like some have mentioned ...it helps because you really don't realize how things add up and it can show you your carb and sugar intake which is my problem area ...good luck!

Weight Watchers point system is very helpful! On average my mom and I will lose 1-3 pounds per week on it!

I actually lost 50 pounds over the course of 6 months by doing intermittent fasting. While it sounds hard, it actually wasn't bad when I set my mind to it. I wouldn't eat breakfast or lunch on Monday and Wednesday, but then I would eat a decent high protein dinner. Other days I would eat normal meals. I lost about 2 pounds average every week and I really didn't even work out much. So add in some exercise and you could probably do even better. Just google intermittent fasting and you can find lots of articles about the diet and how it works and is actually healthy for your body when most people think fasting would be really bad for you.

And I went from 230 down to 180, so it wasn't like I was enormous and had 250 pounds to lose. Not that I'm saying you or anyone else on here is that way either, just saying it was a diet that worked really well even for the last 10-15 pounds that I was trying to lose.

I agree with Weight Watchers. I lost 30 pounds on it. I like it because you can eat what you want, as long as you properly portion it.

One spoon of Apple Cider Vinegar, half a spoon of baking soda mixed with half a cup of warm water. Twice a day. Morning and night. Try it!

I can't do weight watchers becomes I lie to the app about portion sizes, but I know it's work for many people.

I like 21 day fix because it's about filling those containers. I'm really good at getting lots of food in there.

Everyone is different so I would look at all the plans and pick what you can stick to. I was always slim and muscular until my late 30s. It's a battle now that I'm over 40.

Good luck

I also second the advice to use an app. I use Lose It!, which is a free app that tracks calories as well as nutritional values. And a follow-up on my advice on the intermittent fasting, I have continued to do it for the past year (with a few cheats here and there) and maintained a weight of about 183.

Here's a long list of my advice based on person experience:

- Apps definitely help keep you aware of what you're eating.

- Be careful of under eating though. If your body goes into starvation mode, it'll lower your metabolism and make it harder to lose weight.

- I'm not sure if it's doable for you with your schedule, but I found that lifting heavy weights helped a lot, even more than cardio. (but if you end up doing this w/o cardio you'll be less able go by just pounds because of muscle gain.

- lastly, I did a month of Tiny Tea. I'm always iffy about sharing this because it doesn't work as a cure-all, the way it's advertised. However, it did cause me to lose water weight while I was drinking it (the main thing I does is reduce bloating), it helped me stay in check with when & what I was eating, and it made me drink a lot more water, which decreased my appetite/cravings.

If there's a way you can fit fitness classes into your schedule I think that's a great way to stay motivated and push yourself harder than you would alone. Spin classes, bootcamp classes, kickboxing etc are all great workouts and really fun! Having a set schedule for the classes can make it easier to incorporate into your life too, knowing on x day at x time I'll spend an hour at this class etc.

Sign up for MyFitnessPal IMMEDIATELY. It's free.

Track everything you put into your mouth. Buy a food scale (mine was $12 on Amazon).

Make it a priority once a week to meal prep. I do this on Sunday and have all my lunches for the week. Many say they "don't have time" but we all have time, it's just what you prioritize and what you don't.

Also- 25lbs in 6 months is about a pound a week, so you need to consume 3500 calories less than you burn a week, or about 500 a day.

I did the dukan diet. Dukandiet.com

Weight watchers has been super helpful for me! 11 pounds in the last month

I just heard about intermittent fasting from my friend yesterday @david! She is loving it. She does 24 hrs at a time, occasionally 48 hrs. I'm considering adding that in with my tracking on My Fitness Pal , and my 3-5 days at Orangetheory Fitness to reach my goals.