4 Month Diet Exercise Plan
- Diet plans
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If you're looking for how to lose 2 stone over eight weeks, our diet plan will take you through the steps to do it in a way that's healthy and sustainable in the short-term.
Losing weight quickly is rarely advised as it often involves some form of extreme dieting and intense exercise. Experts often warn this is one of the least sustainable ways to lose weight as you'll start to put the weight back on as soon as you come off the diet plan. A combination of healthy weight loss techniques, maintenance and combatting the weight loss plateau is the best way forward.
But losing two stone (12.7kg or 28 pounds) in a short space of time is doable, according to Personal Trainer Claire Smith from The Training Room, and doing so doesn't have to be an intensely restrictive process.
How to lose 2 stone using our 8 week diet plan
To lose any weight (and keep it off), you have to be in a calorie deficit. This essentially means "making sure that calories in are less than calories out", Claire says. As this differs from person to person, based on factors like age, height and starting weight, you should use a calorie deficit calculator before starting the plan.
The plan for how to lose 2 stone is divided into four stages, each one carefully designed to limit your calorie intake. Each stage also comes with exercises that start gently and gradually build up to help burn those calories. By week seven, you'll be on a beginners' running guide, plus skipping and swimming during the week.
Credit: Getty
This plan for how to lose 2 stone will undoubtedly be a shock to the system if you're someone who is not used to planning calorie-restricted meals or exercising very regularly. In this case, Claire suggests, "Look at it as a lifestyle change rather than crash dieting – this way it is more sustainable too. A fat loss of between 1-2lb a week is the most healthy and safe. It may be that more weight is lost within the first two weeks and it's important to create healthy habits rather than drastically cutting calories or cutting out a whole macronutrient, such as carbohydrates.
"It could be that you lose two stone in two months, depending on your metabolism, starting weight and physical activity levels – however, it is more realistic to be aiming for 1 stone in that same time period and anything you can lose above that is a bonus."
Always seek medical advice before taking on any new diet or exercise plan.
The 8 week diet plan
During the 7-day week, pick from one these options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. As you need to make sure your total calories consumed does not exceed your calorie deficit number every day, we've added the calorie values to each meal.
Meal plans for weeks 1 and 2
Breakfast
- Porridge with raspberries (109 calories)
- Overnight oats with raspberries (196 calories)
- Poached eggs on toast (189 calories)
- Mixed berry and yogurt smoothie (89 calories)
- Bananad and honey (99 calories)
Credit: Getty
Lunch
- Quorn lunch bowl (161 calories)
- Green miso noodle bowl (198 calories)
- Mediterranean vegetable chilli (190 calories)
- Pork pittas with mango and pomegranate salsa (222 calories)
- Tuna and red pesto pasta (370 calories)
Dinner
- Wholewheat spaghetti with roasted vegetables (400 calories)
- Wild mushroom risotto (317 calories)
- One-pot tuna puttanesca (429 calories)
- Lemon chicken and rice stir-fry (204 calories)
- Chinese vegetable chow-mein (170 cals)
Snacks
- Medium apple with 2tbsp peanut butter (283 calories)
- Energy balls (106 calories)
- Banana smoothie (165 calories)
- Red pepper hummus (128 calories per portion) with 4 x cracked black pepper Rivita crackers (136 calories)
- Baked chickpeas (71 calories)
Credit: Future
Exercise
The National Activity Guidelines give a great breakdown of what your exercise plan over the 2 months could look like. But to get started, PT Claire says, "In terms of a basic plan for weight loss, I'd suggest a full-body programme as follows, which can be progressed by splitting it into separate upper and lower-body sessions so that the person is doing more exercises per muscle group. Cardiovascular (CV) training can be progressed by lengthening the time, intensity or even starting to do high-intensity interval training (HIIT)."
Here's an example of a full-body programme you could try:
Credit: GoodtoKnow / The Training Room
Meal plans for weeks 3 and 4
Breakfast
- Strawberry and rhubarb breakfast bars (388 calories)
- Scrambled eggs and mushrooms (91 calories)
- Boiled egg with toast soldiers (285 calories)
- Alpen No Added Sugar cereal (199 calories)
- Kiwi, Greek yogurt and blueberries (95 calories)
Lunch
- Spring vegetable soup (130 calories)
- Chicken pittas (176 calories)
- Winter root vegetable tagine (353 calories)
- Vegetable tortilla (390 calories)
- Rainbow cabbage salad (129 calories)
Dinner
- Smoked salmon stir-fry (429 calories)
- Roast lamb with potatoes and rosemary (381 calories)
- Cheese and tomato bake (481 calories)
- Sausage, mushroom and bean stew (440 calories) – swap out the sausage for a non-meat version to make this dish vegan.
- Split pea and vegetable curry (300 calories)
Credit: Future
Snacks
- Homemade cheese straws (40 calories each)
- Quick pizza (218 calories)
- Super greens dip (62 calories) with 4 x cracked black pepper Rivita crackers (136 calories)
- Spicy baked chickpeas (70 cals)
Exercise
The national Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults and older adults (aged 19 and over) aim for at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise (including swimming, brisk walking and cycling) or at least 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity exercise per week (including running and sports) or a combination of both.
Claire says that building strength over the 8-week period is also essential, "to keep muscles, bones and joints strong and minimise sedentary time (e.g. hours glued to your desk) by breaking up periods of inactivity. Doing all of this will most certainly help you to lose weight over a two-month period."
Credit: Getty
Meal plans for weeks 5 and 6
Breakfast
- Spinach omelette – 1 medium egg, 60g of spinach (94 calories)
- Two crumpets with butter (183 calories)
- Blueberry bircher museli – 5g Bircher muesli, 1/2tsp cinnamon, 15ml unsweetened apple juice, 10-12 blueberries (105 calories)
- Grapefruit, satsuma and pomegranate (75 calories)
- Mixed spice museli (424 calories)
Lunch
- Tarka dahl (137 calories)
- Sweet potato pasta (198 calories)
- Baked stuffed peppers (240 calories)
- Minestrone soup recipe (190 calories)
- Leek and potato soup (140 calories)
Dinner
- Salmon and potato salad (470 calories)
- Pasta with roasted cherry tomatoes (473 calories)
- Steak with reduced fat chips (425 calories)
- Tuna and tomato calzone (410 calories)
- Lean lamb chop with couscous (560 calories)
Credit: Getty
Snacks
- Energy balls (106 calories)
- Banana smoothie (165 calories)
- Super greens dip (62 calories) with 4 x cracked black pepper Rivita crackers (136 calories)
- Spicy baked chickpeas (70 cals)
Exercise
Once you've got the cardio and beginners' strength training under your belt, Claire says, "try to do functional functional exercises which help with active daily living as well as compound exercises that work multiple joints and muscle groups – examples are squats, lunges and press-ups.
"You can get your daily steps by walking instead of driving and taking the stairs instead of using the lift. Keep things simple and take things one at a time to create the habit, then move onto the next stage."
Meal plans for weeks 7 and 8
Breakfast
- Bran Flakes with skimmed milk (166 calories)
- 1/2 grapefruit and 1 toasted teacake (216 calories)
- 2 slices of toast with 100g grilled tomatoes (125 calories)
- Boiled egg with toast soldiers (285 calories)
- Banana smoothie (165 calories)
These are just examples of some low-calorie breakfast ideas, with plenty more out there.
Credit: Getty
Lunch
- Pitta pesto pizza (500 calories)
- Salmon and scrambled egg bagels (639 calories)
- Tuna and red pesto pasta (370 calories)
- Mixed bean salad (180 calories)
- Bacon and broccoli pasta salad (340 calories)
Video of the Week
Dinner
- Chicken stir fry (various)
- Honey and mustard marinated road salmon (438 calories)
- Cheese and tomato bake (481 calories)
- Sausage, mushroom and bean stew (440 calories) – swap out the sausage for a non-meat version to make this dish vegan.
- Wild mushroom risotto (317 calories)
Snacks
- Protein bar (around 300 calories)
- Energy balls (106 calories)
- Banana smoothie (165 calories)
- Super greens dip (62 calories) with 4 x cracked black pepper Rivita crackers (136 calories)
- Spicy baked chickpeas (70 cals)
Exercise
Follow the exercise plan for how to lose 2 stone as per other weeks.
As Claire says, "The best thing to do is to take baby steps because a drastic change will possibly lead to a return to an unhealthy lifestyle. By taking it one step at a time, you will ensure that your new normal is sustainable."
Source: https://www.goodto.com/wellbeing/diets-exercise/8-week-weight-loss-plan-59735