Can I lose 15 by 10/5?

 I will preface the rest of my post by stating right off the bat that I have a no bs attitude toward this kind of thing.  Suck it up.  So you're hungry, big deal.  As long as you're giving your body enough of the right foods, hunger is not a bad thing.  Learn to love the hunger and associate it with fat loss.  Can you lose 15 by 10/5...did I read that right?  October 5th?  I think you can lose 15 by 9/5.  It takes trial and error to figure out what works for you.   For the last year I have played around with the numbers enough that I know exactly where my protein, carbs & fat need to be to drop weight.  The only way I know this however is trying different ratios and following them to a T.  If you cheat, you won't really know if it was those ratios or if it was b/c you cheated.  Don't cheat, don't sell yourself short.  The goal is worth the hunger.  

Pretty much anything processed is an instant halt for me, even if it's an even calorie swap.  Also, I try to have my last meal in by 7:30pm.  If I'm still up at 11pm I'll drink a protein shake, but that's it.  Again, trial and error is how I figured that out that eating chicken at 10:30pm halts things, but a protein shake doesn't.  Protein shakes are the only processed food that is a part of my diet 6 days/week.  Saturday's are a free day.  Keep it in moderation, but it's good to get higher calories and higher carbs to keep your body guessing.  Yes, I eat crap food on Saturday's.  Check out my log today, you can read my quick fix as I'm dropping 5 lbs. in a week for a wedding next weekend.  Treat your body like a science experiment for the next 2 months and just see what you can do.  You'll be amazed.  Get over the hunger.  

 ps--goal setting helps a ton.  Write them out, put them on your fridge & mirror, read them 5x/day.  Write what weight you will be by whatever date.  Write it in the present tense like it's already happened and tie some emotions to it.  Like how great it feels to weigh x and how thrilled you are that through discipline & commitment you healthfully got to this weight.  How awesome it is to run at this weight, etc. etc.  

 pps--ditch gluten & dairy for the time being.  More instant halts for a lot of people.

Try phasing out the meat you're currently consuming. Reduce it week by week until it's not a major part of your diet (or not in yor diet at all!). I've found that by dropping animals products, the weight has come off without me even noticing. I'm still eating my fill, sometimes even stuffing myself at meals, and I'm still losing weight.

Heart disease runs in your family, doesn't it? All the more reason to stay away from meat! Buy and read The China Study. Lots of good reasons to stop eating meat there.

http://www.goveg.com/order.asp This is a link to a free vegetarian starter kit. Order it! Use it!

This may seem a bit drastic but it sounds like, if you've had a weight problem your whole life and all this exercise isn't doing something, a drastic change is the way to go. And what's more drastic, changing your eating habits or having a doctor crack open your chest to get at your heart?

Ouch

I know this was a Spokes question but that answer cuts right to the heart of it and my issues. I  WANT to get back into shape and drop the unneccessary weight I put on over the winter but do I REALLY WANT to do what it takes???

Thanks again for the harsh reminder!!

I agree.  I've been going the opposite route from the old "suck it up" hunger pang style diets, in fact.  I'm eating healthier and lighter, but I'm actually eating more often: 5 or 6 meals a day.  The 3 standards (especially gotta get your breakfast in--there's a TON of research on why that's so important) of breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as some snacks in between--a handful of almonds here, an apple there, and an occasional protein shake smoothie (skim milk+ice+banana+flavored protein powder)...

I've felt better than I have for a long time... and have been dropping the weight steadily (all the swimming is surely helping with that).  So far, I'm down to about 250 from the 265 I started out at in late June/early July.

This subject is near and dear to my heart.  I've been battling my weight for years to a high of 215 pounds.  At the beginning of April of this year something changed and I changed my thinking about exercise and loving me for me and that has helped me drop the weight.  I'm currently down 18 with about 50 more to go.  More importantly I have added significant amounts of muscle training for this weekend's aquabike duathlon.  For awhile I was very frustrated with the actual pounds lost until I researched proper caloric intake and realized that I'd actually put my body in starvation mode by taking in too few calories.  I used this calculator http://www.freedieting.com/tools/calorie_calculator.htm#and found that on any given day I was taking in 100-400 too few calories.  I bumped up the intake and the weight started falling off.  Part of the key to that is writing down what you're eating.  For me, tracking that was an eye opener. And if I think I want an ice cream or whatever if I go log it first and see what it does to my daily calories it makes me think twice.  I don't always not eat the ice cream but I'm more aware of it. 

Also, I'm not a fan of allowing oneself to constantly be hungry nor am I a fan of not snacking.  I'm not saying that we should always be stuffed but taking the edge off with something healthy isn't bad.  For example, I eat breakfast, then somewhere around 10:30 I'll have a small .75 oz piece of cheese.  Then lunch and around 2:30 or 3 a mini bag of popcorn.  Then dinner and usually some sort of fruit or fudge pop a little later in the evening.  And I'm finding that a cup of tea just before bed is nice as well. 

 In the end, yes I think it's entirely possible to loose 15 by 10/5. 

Did you do the numbers? 
Weight to lose: 15 pounds in 10 weeks = 1.5 pounds per week
Calorie deficit to lose 15 pounds = 3500*15 = 52,500 total calories less than maintenance
Daily caloric deficit to lose 15 pounds in 15 weeks = 750
(not that this is guaranteed, but you get the idea)

Yes, it's possible to lose this weight in 15 weeks, but that is a fairly aggressive goal to accomplish in the midst of training hard for a marathon, especially because you do not have a lot of weight to lose in the first place.  I'm not sure how a large caloric deficit affects you, so you might be fine with it, but I have about 5 pounds to lose, and personally if I go anything over three or four hundres calories per day while training hard... bad things happen.  Mostly, I become evil. 

Before you try to lose this much weight, you might want to consider getting your bodyfat percentages done because you might not actually have 15 pounds to lose.  Consider what would happen if you are currently around about 12% bodyfat.  You'd have 18.5 pounds of fat and 136.4 pounds of lean mass.  There's just not that much fat to get rid of!  Also, with a big calorie deficit like the one above, you'd be losing more than just fat... you'll be losing muscle too.  Maybe that's fine with you, but again, something to consider since you're marathon training and these things probably matter more to you than to the average joe.

Anyway, I am not a Nutritionist of course, but just wanted to give you some numbers. 

This is an interesting thread.... I too struggle with food and find myself crazy hungry almost all of the time despite eating a quality 2200-2400 calories - the one exception is after long swims since I drink too much pool water and usually feel sick after (I guess I should just spend all day in the pool swimming laps ).  I have lost 40 pounds in the last 10 months with about 10-15 to go (currently 6' 1" 225).  I have experimented with lots of different foods, at different times, etc. and found no answer.  I have found nutritionists less than helpful (I have always eaten good food, just too much, so the have 5 small meals, drink more water and stop eating RingDings doesn't help). 

I am meeting with another nutrionist this week to see if I can get any more ideas and will try to post any useful suggestions.

Jeff