Lose 2 stone in 8 weeks diet plan: How to lose 2 stone in 2 months

Lose up to a stone in two months on this four-stage, low calorie diet that involves healthy eating and sensible exercises. You can eat three meals and two snacks a day.

Woman drinking water
(Image credit: Getty Images/Tetra images RF)
Jessica Dady
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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 (opens in new tab) 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 (opens in new tab) techniques, maintenance and combatting the weight loss plateau (opens in new tab) 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 (opens in new tab), 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 (opens in new tab) 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.

Woman running after learning how to lose 2 stone

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)

Overnight oats, one of the breakfast options on the plan to lose 2 stone in eight weeks

Credit: Getty

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

Baked chickpeas

Credit: Future

Exercise 

The National Activity Guidelines (opens in new tab) 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 

Lunch

Dinner

Stir fry

Credit: Future

Snacks

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." 

Woman exercising after learning how to lose 2 stone in eight weeks

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 (opens in new tab) (424 calories)

Lunch

Dinner

Cherry tomato pasta

Credit: Getty

Snacks

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 (opens in new tab) (165 calories)

These are just examples of some low-calorie breakfast ideas (opens in new tab), with plenty more out there.

Smoothie bowl with banana, grapevine and oat cocos topping

Credit: Getty

Lunch

Dinner

Snacks

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."

Jessica Dady
Jessica Dady

Jessica Dady is Senior Content Editor at Goodto.com and has over 10 years of experience as a digital journalist, specialising in all things food, recipes, and SEO. From the best food hampers to cookbooks, from the best cake stands to baking sets, Jessica has a wealth of knowledge when it comes to must-have food products. A passionate baker, she spends much of her time creating celebration cakes for friends and family - particularly for her two lucky children.

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