What to do if you are 100 Pounds Overweight
Most people that want to lose weight only have 20 or 30 pounds to lose. However, as obesity rates continue to rise, more and more people need to lose up to, and often over, 100 pounds of body fat to reach their ideal, healthy weight.
100 pounds (or 45kg, just over 7 stone) is a huge amount of weight to shift. But it is certainly not impossible. In fact, Anthony Hopkins lost 80 pounds over a 2 year period just by walking and eating a low calorie but healthy diet. Sir Anthony only lost 2/3 of a pound a week, so following his 1800 calorie a day diet could take up to 3 years to lose 100 pounds.
To lose 100 pounds within a 2 year period requires you to average 1 pound a week. This is possible by consuming approximately 500 calories a day less than your daily requirement.
When you are so overweight, losing weight is actually easy, in theory. All you need to do is consume less calories than the average person of your age requires to sustain their current weight. However, as you carry so much excess weight, you should actually lose weight quicker than normal to start with. The secret to successful weight loss is to stick to the plan.
For example, an average 50 year old woman that is sedentary (never exercises, hardly walks) requires around 1800 calories a day. If you are 100 pounds overweight you are probably eating at least double this every day.
So the first step is to reduce your diet down to 1800 calories a day, but make sure those 1800 calories are all healthy foods – fresh fruits, vegetables, salads, lean meats, fish and dairy.
As soon as you start doing some moderate exercise, say walking everyday plus some structured exercise 3 times a week, your daily needs increase to 2000 calories. Anthony Hopkins consumed 1800 calories a day, which is certainly not a very restrictive diet.
In our article How many calories do you need? there is some information on how to manage a low calorie diet for weight loss. You will find more specific advice in the weight loss section.
The image above is a painting of Daniel Lambert (1770-1809), an English animal breeder and a jailer who was famous for being so obese. The artist is unknown.