5 kilos in 5 weeks?

Question
About four years ago at the age of 16, i lost 40kg to bring my weight down to 55kg. (I am 170cm). In the last four to five months, i gained 10kg without altering my diet or exercise. I exercise everyday (brisk walking for an hour) and eat a healthy vegetarian diet.

I want to drop the 10 extra kg because it is mostly all on my thighs and as a result i am very self-concious and cannot fit in my pants. I was wondering if you could make any suggestions in terms of diet and nutrition to help me to lose 5 kilos in 5 weeks. Or to boost my metabolism?
i dont overeat so i just am at a loss as to what to do.
thanks for any help or ideas.

kate

Answer
Dear Kate,

First of all congratulations on your past weight loss.  It sounds like you kept the weight off for more than 3 years so you apparently changed your lifestyle for the better.

There is little chance that you gained 10 kg without altering your diet or exercise.  You definitely are not aware of the changes, but something had to change to make this difference in your weight--basically about 500 calories a day, which is quite significant!  Did you change jobs? hours? residence? friends?  We don't usually notice a subtle change in our intake or activity until the day our pants get tight, and then we can't figure out how it happened!

I would suggest you keep log of everything you eat and every time you exercise so you can be sure you are doing what you think you are doing.  Sometimes we believe we've skipped a day or two of exericise when we've actually skipped 10 last month; or we fool ourselves into believing that walking around the store grocery shopping counts as exercise, etc.

The last thing I want you to think about is why it's important for you to lose the weight in 5 weeks.  Certainly it's possible, but it would mean a huge change in what you're doing now --  and you don't even know what that is yet.

My suggestion is to pay close attention to your actual habits through record keeping, try to identify what you can change to cut out high-calorie, low-nutritious foods, and take the weight loss as it comes--if it takes 3 months to come off, well that's quicker than you put it on, and it's more likely to establish a more permanent habit change that will keep you where you want to be for another 5 years!

let me know how it goes :)

Laurie

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