If you have less than a month to lose weight for a big event and you're beginning to stress out, you can stop worrying now. It is possible to lose weight in just 20 days; however, planning and dedication are necessary. Starting a food and activity journal as well as cutting empty calories out of your diet and maintaining a habit of daily exercise will allow you to reach your goal of losing weight in 20 days.
Step 1
Start by cutting out all sodas, fruit drinks, fruit juices and alcohol from your diet for the next 20 days. These all contribute empty calories and can also cause you to have cravings for sweet foods.
Step 2
Buy a refillable water bottle that you can drink from all day long, wherever you are. Make water your main source of hydration, drinking at least eight 8-oz. servings a day. According to The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, drinking water actually speeds up your metabolism.
Step 3
Go to mypyramid.gov and enter your sex, age, weight, height and activity level to determine how many calories you should be eating each day for weight maintenance. To lose weight, subtract 500 calories each day from the weight maintenance number. This, along with cutting out extra calories and exercising more, will help you lose the weight you want in 20 days.
Step 4
Make sure your diet is balanced. Try to follow the government's recommendations for how many servings of grains, vegetables, fruits, milk products and protein foods you should eat every day, though since you are subtracting 500 calories each day, your amounts will be slightly less of everything. This will help you stay in your desired calorie range while at the same time getting enough vitamins and minerals to stay healthy.
Step 5
Start a food and activity journal and record everything you eat and drink, as well as all of the exercise you do for the next 20 days. Recording what you eat and drink will keep you accountable to your diet so you will be less likely to eat unhealthy foods or overeat. At the end of the day, record the totals of your daily calories. Remember, it should be approximately 500 calories less than your maintenance calories.
Step 6
If you want to lose weight in only 20 days you should exercise every day within that time frame. You don't have to run an hour a day; your exercise can be as simple as 45 minutes of brisk walking or dancing or 20 minutes of jogging, but you need to have at least moderate physical activity.
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