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HELP!!! I need to lose 20 lbs before my wedding! Any advice?

Hmm, at least you have time still.  I don't know much about dropping weight quickly- I love food WAAYYY too much.  

Working out though, if you're in for a serious butt-kicking you could try P90X (yes the one from the infomercial).  You can actually buy it at Home Outfitters now or even the Bay for about $120.  Its a whole series of workouts.  My FI and I have been doing it together for about 2 months.  I've lost about 10 pounds, but I've definitely been gaining muscle and getting toned.  I actually can see definition in my biceps for the first time in my life!  

I know that the weight loss is 80% diet and probably only about 20% working out though.  Which is probably why I haven't lost more weight.  Good luck!

My sister lost 10 lbs in about 3 weeks without working out.  She takes a colon clense and acai berry 30 min before she eats.  She got them at GNC.

If you're weirded out about taking that stuff, There's always the grapefruit diet.  You lose 7 lbs the first week and 1 1/2 lbs every other day after that....if you can tolerate the grapefruit that long!  I've done that one and it works.

Here are some general tips (in no particular order):

Be aware of what you eat.  Eat proper portions, and smaller meals. Put less on your plate, and stop eating when you're full (instead of cleaning the plate).

Look at the nutritional information to determine if it's "worth" eating or not.  There are lots and lots of yummy snack foods that are portion controlled for 90 or 100 calories.  They are great for when you want something sweet.

Fruits and veggies.  Stock up on them, and eat them.  You can even pre-cut them - ie. slice green peppers, so they're more convenient, or you can purchase them already cut if you're willing to spend the $$$.  Carrot sticks, mushrooms, cherry/grape tomatoes, cucumbers with a low cal/ low fat dip are great.

Find an exercise you loooove to do.  Join a dance class, or a martial arts class, or something you've "always wanted to do".

A great upper body strength exercise is one you see in pilates and yoga classes.  In pilates, it's called "plank".  You know the startup push up position? The one where the elbow are still straight?  Get into that position, and hold it for 30 seconds.  Slowly build your way up to 2 minutes.  Make sure your butt isn't in the air, though!!  You can also do this with your knees bent (like "girl push ups").

You can also do general weight lifting exercises, using tin cans as weights.  Here are some how-to websites.
http://exercise.about.com/cs/exerciseworkouts/l/bltotalworkout.htm

http://www.free-online-health.com/home-exercise-programs.htm
(This website has some good ideas, but lacks description on the exercises.)

oh yeah, you've got time.  you don't want to lose too much though cuz then your wedding dress won't fit properly!

On the extreme end, you've got the diets where you eat something totally different from what you normally eat.  i've done the lemonade diet twice and lost 11 lbs (cuz you're basically not eating and drinking only lemonade).  When you finish that diet after a week or so, it doesn't take long for the weight to creep back.  If it's a month before your wedding and you still haven't lost anything, you might want to consider this approach.

A good program for you really depends on your eating habits.  I did Weight Watchers a few years ago and I lost 20lbs over 5-6 months.  I've gained only about 5 lbs since then.  The weight loss is gradual and you can still eat whatever you want (none of that no carbs, only protein business).  You're basically watching what you eat (with a food journal - did you hear about the recent study?) and exercising.  I thought it was worth the investment.

you have more than enough time to lose 20lb before your wedding.

I highly recommend weight watchers with regular exercise.

I am definitely not an exercise expert, but most of my friends (and my FH) love to exercise (bunch of weirdos). Anyways, from what I understand, you need to constantly be changing your exercises. If all you do is the elliptical, then your body gets used to it and you plateau. So try something different. Consider buying one of those exercise magazines with a bunch of different exercises in them and do a different one everyday - and don't overwork your upper body, make sure to take a day off for each muscle. So do arms Monday, abbs Tuesday, legs Wednesday... you get the idea.
Also, something I do - don't buy anything unhealthy. All my snacks are rice cakes and dried fruit. That way when you get a craving for the munchies, you have no choice but to eat healthy. It stinks to eat carrots when you want Lay's, but after 5 minutes of munching, you're over the craving.
Good luck!

i still stand by the south beach diet...its not unhealthy and keeps me on track of what to eat and what not to eat.  I lost 20 pounds in 2 months and was eating like 6 times a day--the first two weeks are the toughest since you are limited to what you eat but after that the possibilities are endless.  Try picking up Jilian Michael's 30 day shred--when I was doing it I saw an improvement in 7 days----even FH said he could tell I was firming up.  Joyfulsong had some great suggestions---you couuld always join a gym and get a personal trainer.  :-)  You'll definitely need to invest in some hand weights---you could even pick up 3 lb weigths and use them while you are inthe eliptical.  Good luck!

i reccommend the fat smash diet. it the one they used on vh1 celebrity fit club and regular excercise. i've been doing the diet since the first of the year. i reached my goal weight and now i'm working toward my dream weight. its really easy to stick to and there is no counting anything. check my page for my blog on it.

try this website

www.dailyplate.com

you enter some info about yourself and how much you are wanting to lose and by what date, and it will give you a specified amt of calories you can have per day. also you can track your food you eat ( has tONS of fast food restaurants in their data base ) and also keep track of your exercise you did and for how long.

portion control is very important ( i suck at this lol ) and watching carbs does help ( just dont go crazy with it cuz your  body needs them! ) for instance if your having pasta, dont eat the garlic bread with it!

good luck , we know you can do it!

hi..i to had to loose 20 lbs!! ive lost 14 so far!! i've been doing hip hop abs!! from TV ..and i love it. I think i paid like 70.00 from beachbody.com its a 30-40 min a day workout and its fun! ive also been walking everyother day, and really watching what i eat. ive had no sweets or fried food..only healthy fresh food. Its been about a month and a half! i still have a little less then 3 months til the wedding..so i cant wait to see the end results..ill be lokking good on the beach for the honeymoon!! :) lol good luck

You still have plenty of time to lose 20 pounds!
I started on www.myfitnesspal.com October 15, 2008
and I started walking and working out 5-6 times a week
and as of today I am down 47.2 and it has only been about
4.5 months by just watching my calories and excercising!
You have about 6 months til your wedding, so I think you
could totally loose 20 pounds by then :)
If you need any help at all please feel free to email me! I can
maybe help keep you on track :)

Try bikram yoga (heated yoga) great for getting out the toxins and awesome lean toned muscles + you don't want to eat anywhere around going!!! (snack stopper!)

Also my personal trainer said you have to lift weights to lose weight - don't get stuck on just cardio.  I lost 4lbs in my first week with my new weights plan.

Good luck!