When it comes to losing weight quickly, there are healthy ways and unhealthy ways. Resorting to weight loss supplements, herbal formulas, appetite suppressants and eating 2g of protein for every pound of body weight a day is not the healthy way. Although these strategies might be effective to a certain degree, your best approach is to make some significant changes to your daily diet and workout routine. Being motivated and disciplined will also help.
Step 1
Eliminate foods that are high in fat, sugar and sodium if you want to lose weight quickly. Examples of these are fast foods, deep fried foods, high-fat dairy products, processed meats, white flour products, candy, cakes, cookies and commercial baked goods. Have your diet consist solely of nutrient-dense foods like fruits, vegetables, lean meats, fish, low-fat dairy products, whole grains, nuts, seeds and beans.
Step 2
Cut back on your overall calorie intake to lose weight quickly. To lose a pound, you need to remove 3,500 calories by reducing calories and increasing activity. If you reduce your daily intake by 500 calories, you can lose a pound a week.
Step 3
Avoid drinking anything but water. Calories in the form of liquid still count and they can sabotage your fast weight-loss efforts. Avoid any beverage that is high in sugar and calories, like soda, sweetened tea, fruit juices, milk shakes, flavored coffee drinks and alcohol.
Step 4
Eat often to lose big. When you eat a large meal and then don't eat again for several hours, your body goes into starvation mode and holds on to stored fat for energy. To kick-start your metabolism, eat a small meal every two or three hours during the day. Make these meals a balance of protein and complex carbs, and make sure you eat breakfast every day. An example of a meal would be a scrambled egg white sandwich on a whole grain bun.
Step 5
Build muscle to increase your metabolism. Muscle is metabolically active tissue which helps you burn calories when you are at rest. Build muscle by doing weightlifting exercises that target all of your major muscle groups. Examples include bench presses, shoulder presses, back rows, triceps dips, biceps curls and step-ups.
Step 6
Burn calories with interval training. Cardiovascular exercise helps strengthen your heart and lungs, and it is also efficient at burning calories. To increase your caloric expenditure even more, perform interval training, which is intense. According to the Mayo Clinic, the more vigorously you exercise, the more calories you will burn. To do interval training, start with a five-minute warm-up at a low intensity. Then go at about 80 percent maximum effort for 30 seconds. Come back to about 50 percent effort for 60 seconds and continue alternating back and forth for 30 minutes. Finish with a five-minute cool-down at a light intensity. Examples of exercises that you can apply this to include running, Spinning®, elliptical training, stair stepping and rowing.
Step 7
Formulate a plan. For your weight training, do 12 to 15 reps with moderate weights and do three or four sets of each exercise. Perform weight training thtee times a week on alternating days and do cardio thee times a week on the other alternating days. Take one day of rest.
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