Apart from the crucial information Emerald's given, that weight loss is just not healthy, as you say. Let me repeat that.
What you're suggesting is really not healthy. Even at your minimum target, you're trying to lose 2/3 of a pound
a day. Recommended safe weight loss is 1-2lb (or up to a kilogram, 2.2lb)
a week. I wouldn't underestimate the importance of this. Not only do crash weight losses like the one you're proposing not work in the long term (most people put the weight right back on again, some put on more), because you're not setting yourself up with healthy eating and exercise habits which will help you keep the weight off, but in this sort of extreme case you could also make yourself very ill, particularly if you deliberately deprive yourself of essential nutrients like fat (and as Emerald says, despite its reputation, it is essential). And if your kids are old enough to take note of what you're trying to do to yourself, that's a really horrible example to set. Don't you think they (and your parents, for that matter) would learn more from, and be prouder to hear "I've been changing my diet and habits, I've healthily lost 6.5/ 13 pounds and I plan to lose 23-29 more but I'm not prepared to do this in a way that will damage my health, and I can foresee keeping up these changes and teaching them to you/ my kids so that they'll have long, healthy and happy lives too"? I don't have kids (although I am a full time student), but I'm visiting my parents (who I haven't seen in over a year- they live about 12 000 miles away from me) in July and they're incredibly proud of my slow and steady weight loss (hell, mum's asking me for diet tips!), and I've lost the princely sum of 3kg (6.6lb) so far. In fact they were proud of me for making the changes, as they knew it'd improve my health, even before I started losing any weight.
As to the actual diet, apart from the fat. Lots of fruit and salad is good. It's not enough. Where's the protein to prevent muscle loss? What about complex carbohydrates? How are you measuring how much you're eating so you don't eat too little (and slow your metabolism so the weight loss gets much harder because your body is trying to preserve fat- by the way, I would consider this a major, major risk with the kind of weight/ time ration you're talking about), or too much (theoretically you could gain weight on salad and fruit)?
The exercise you're talking about is good, although depending on your current fitness levels you could do a lot better than an hour of walking (light exercise, a very low calorie burner). On a normal weight loss program, I'd recommend jogging, aerobics, the gym (either get a program set up for you or set one up for yourself with the help of people here), or swimming/ aquarobics (the latter are very good if you have joint problems or the propensity for injury). On the starvation diet you'd have to be on to lose the kind of weight you're talking about, you'd have to do a lot more exercise than you're planning to get even remotely sensible amount of food in, but at the same time you're not going to have the energy to do that.
I recommend slowing it right down, taking a more sensible approach, and making sure you get the nutrients you need. I recommend at least having an awareness of your calorie intake, and making changes on that basis. Track your calories for a week (if you want to save time, estimate- as brutally honestly as you can be, err on overestimating as most people underestimate- your last week of "normal" food consumption. You can do this by searching for foods through search engines or using a calorie counter like fitday, which is recommended a lot around here, or the one I use, cron-o-meter. Both are free). Then calculate your daily calorie needs by calculating your BMR-
Fitness.com BMR calculator - and using a formula like the Harris Benedict equation (for level of activity, multiply by the following figures: sedentary lifestyle, 1.3, lightly active (light exercise/sports 1-3 days/week), 1.375, moderately active (moderate exercise/sports 3-5 days/week), 1.55, very active (hard exercise/sports 6-7 days a week), 1.725, or extra active (very hard exercise/sports & physical job or 2x training), 1.9. For weight loss I would err on the side of underestimating level of activity- for example, I go to the gym 3-5 days a week, I work probably past the point of exhaustion most days, so I probably do hard exercise, and I calculate at moderately active). The figure you get is how many calories you need to eat a day to maintain your current weight. Reduce that figure by 500 for 1lb loss a week, or 1000 for 2lb, as long as that number doesn't go below 1200 (1800 if you're breastfeeding/ pregnant)- any more than 1000 below maintenance, or 1200, whichever is higher, will risk slowing your metabolism. That's the amount you should aim to eat a day. Whether you calorie count (my system- nothing has ever worked for me before and this is working far better than anticipated) or not, having an awareness of that number and how calorific your foods are will allow you to make better choices about what you eat (but remember the importance of a nutritious balanced diet for your health- use nutritional guidelines from your country, or if you don't know how to find them the NHS in England has a set of simple articles on how to eat healthily according to British nutritional guidelines-
Healthy eating - Live Well - NHS Choices).
I'd recommend having a look around here- first at the stickied posts, which have some valuable information about weight loss, diet, and exercise (look particularly to the first couple of pages or the contribution by the original poster). Have a browse through the sections you're interested in to see if any advice sticks out for you (keeping in mind the vast majority of people here are also trying to lose weight, there aren't very many professionals- and apart from those with a good reputation- not necessarily judged by the green bars on the right- you can't always be sure if someone's telling the truth about their qualifications or not. I have no relevant qualifications to speak of, by the way, I've just tried to give myself a good layman's knowledge of this stuff). Then go and look at the diary section for ideas on how to go about this. If you choose to calorie count, have a look at my diary and see the kinds of things I'm eating and how I'm going about this- you'll see I'm not starving myself by a long shot (for example, yesterday I had over the recommended serving of porridge/ oatmeal with milk and blueberries, a big mango, three cups of coffee with milk, two open sandwiches with cottage cheese, honey, tomato and spices on rye bread, 2 kiwi fruit, 2 big rye crackers, a generous serve of chicken stirfry and a small portion of rice. Sounds like a lot of food, right? Well, I was 985 calories under my maintenance- I made low calorie choices. If I'd have eaten dinner earlier I probably would've had dessert as well- I like Greek yoghurt with honey, berries, and steamed fruit such as apples or plums- and I still would've been well under my aimed 500 calorie deficit. Or I might have chosen to have a couple of squares of the chocolate my boyfriend bought me for Easter. Yes, I get to eat chocolate on a diet, and I'm losing at about the maximum safe rate).
