The bottom line is that losing weight -- especially a significant amount of weight -- requires quite a drastic lifestyle change. You must watch your diet closely as well as exercise on a regular basis. The two key points to keep in mind when you decide to set a goal of losing 45 lbs. in just five months is to focus your diet on nutritionally-dense foods and to exercise for 30 to 60 minutes-a-day at a moderate-to-vigorous pace. These are the recommendations of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC also recommends losing weight at a pace of 1 to 2 lbs. per week to ensure your body adjusts properly to the changes; this can help you reach your weight loss goal in less than 23 weeks.
Step 1
Eliminate high-calorie, sugary foods from your diet. These foods and drinks only contribute empty calories that your body doesn't need. Many of these calories simply get stored as fat in the body, so it's counterproductive to a weight-loss plan.
Step 2
Make healthy food choices, such as whole grains, vegetables, fruit, low-fat dairy, lean cuts of meat, beans and nuts/seed/legumes. Foods high in fiber, such as oatmeal and vegetables, can help you feel full, so they tend to help you eat fewer calories. HHS recommends adult women consume a minimum of 1,000 calories a day and 1,200 calories for men. See your doctor to get a more accurate depiction of how many calories you need specifically.
Step 3
Exercise your abdominal muscles three times per week. Each workout should completely exhaust these muscles to help strengthen and tone your midsection quicker. Be sure to have at least one day of rest between each abdominal workout. Use a variety of exercises, including crunches, leg lifts, planks, weighted crunches, side-crunches and hanging leg lifts. Other resistance exercises can also benefit your weight loss goal, including squats, pushups and pullups.
Step 4
Perform at least 30 minutes -- preferably 60 minutes -- of aerobic exercise on the days you do not exercise your abs. Your workout intensity determines how many calories you burn. A moderate intensity workout might be a brisk walk; an intense workout includes jogging or swimming. At the beginning, use a moderate pace when working out. As you become more physically fit over the subsequent weeks, increase the intensity of your workouts gradually to improve your results. A few of the more effective aerobic workouts include walking briskly, jogging, biking, elliptical training, swimming and stair-stepper exercise.
Tips and Warnings
- Mix in some weightlifting or resistance band training to your exercise regimen. Muscle tissue burns more calories naturally than fatty tissue, so increased muscle mass will help you lose weight faster.
- Never begin a diet or exercise program without first consulting your doctor. Don't focus exclusively on exercising your abs. Losing weight and toning your midsection is best done by exercising your entire body and burning the maximum number of calories possible.
Things You'll Need
- Healthy foods
- Running/Walking shoes
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