getting fitter and slimmer

Question
Hi
i am almost 52 yrs of age, 6ft 4" tall, 18 stone 7lb and in reasonable shape but with a fat belly and man boobs, (probably due to evening drinking and snacking).My blood pressure is borderline and i need to lose weight and get fitter. I dont do much exercise but i do ride my bike to work a couple of times per week.My wife is going on holiday for two weeks and during that time i intend to walk back and forth to work each day (17 mile round trip)and diet on rice,beans,potato,fresh veg,salad,fresh fruit. Do you think i could drop 21 lbs in 2 weeks by sticking too this regime

Answer
If you were able to stick to such a routine, you would certainly lose weight and become healthier. However, your exercise background and eating habits make it very unlikely that you will be able to stick to it. The massive exercise increase will make you sore and exhausted, and the the drastic change in diet will lose its appeal rapidly.

A better plan would be to start making small changes to your diet and start with a small amount of walking, then gradually increase your exercise. A mile per day would be plenty to start with -- even less if one mile makes you sore. Stay at that level for several weeks, giving your body time to adapt to the exercise before you increase it. During the same time frame, you should continue continue to make improvements in your eating habits.

I don't mean to discourage you. Your goal of losing 21 lb is laudable, but losing weight too fast often leads to regaining weight fast. What you want is gradual, sustained loss, until you reach your target weight. Losing 1.5 lb per week is a good target for sustainable weight loss.