The Palo Alto Medical Foundation reports that over-the-counter diet pills are similar to amphetamines, only less potent. The dangers, however, are also similar. They can spike your blood pressure, cause nervousness and an irregular heartbeat. Losing weight does not have to be dangerous. MedlinePlus explains that if you cut 500 calories a day you could lose 1 lb. a week. Depending on how many calories you consume on average, you could conceivably create a deficit of another 500 calories through diet and exercise, amounting to about a 3 lb. weight loss in 10 days.
Step 1
Determine how many calories you need each day. To lose weight in 10 days, you have to eat at least 500 fewer calories a day. At the same time, you don't want to eat too few calories. ShapeFit's Calories Per Day Calculator (see Resources) will tell you how many calories you should consume based on your gender, height, weight, age and activity level.
Step 2
Count each calorie you consume. Keep a food diary recording everything you eat. Don't forget to include the ketchup, mayo, potato salad and all the other extras. Go to the USDA National Nutrient Database (see Resources), which compiles nutrition information on thousands of foods including condiments, sides, fresh and prepackaged foods. They even give you calorie information on different food preparations. For instance, you can find out how many calories are in ordinary macaroni and cheese versus macaroni and low-fat cheese.
Step 3
Count each calorie you burn. The more calories you burn, the less you have to cut from your diet. Go to CalorieLab's Calories Burned Search Form. Fill in your weight and check off an activity to find out how many calories you burned. A 1/2 hour of brisk walking will burn about 155 calories for a 130-lb. adult. The good news is that you can also calculate how many calories you burned doing chores like housework, walking the dog and walking to your car from the office, between classes or during grocery shopping.
Step 4
Eliminate empty calories. Empty calories is a term to define foods that are high in calories but have few if any nutritional value. Instead of drinking colas, have water or club soda. Also avoid most canned and frozen pastas, soups and stews. Prepackaged foods are loaded with calories and few nutrients of value. Making these same meals with fresh ingredients from the supermarket will drastically reduce calorie content. To quickly eliminate a few hundred calories, skip the ketchup (48 calories per 3 tbsp.), barbecue sauce (50 calories per 2 tbsp.), mayo (90 calories per 1 tbsp.), and butter (70 calories at 2 tsp.).
Tips and Warnings
- A surefire way to quickly shed a few pounds is to eliminate high-calorie alcoholic beverages. Two light beers a day can amount to over 1,500 calories a week. Two glasses of red wine can average 1,400 calories a week.
- Taking diet pills can be tempting. Keep in mind that once you stop taking the pills, the risk of putting the weight back on is much higher than if you lost weight through diet and exercise.
Member Comments