Fad diets and crash diets may tempt you with promises of losing weight quickly and easily. The fact is, the best path toward losing 30 lbs. is the slow, but steady, diet in which you lose 1 to 2 lbs. per week. A slower rate of weight loss means that you create eating and exercise habits that you can adapt to your lifestyle, helping you maintain your new weight.
Mediterranean Diet
Many types of diets fall within the American Heart Association's guidelines for heart health, including the Mediterranean diet. In this plan, you center your diet around fresh, seasonal fruit and vegetables as well as plant-based proteins and fats such as legumes, nuts and seeds. The diet allows olive oil and a glass of red wine with dinner. Restrict your animal-based proteins to light preparations of fish. You may also eat eggs, yogurt and cheese. Replace processed grains and refined flour with whole grains such as brown rice, whole-wheat pasta and couscous. Swap fattening desserts for fresh fruit. Keep portion sizes reasonable, and you can lose up to 2 lbs. per week or 30 lbs. within four months.
Exercise
Most diet plans feature exercise to help you achieve your weight-loss goals. If you want to lose 30 lbs., you can do so in less time by burning up to 900 calories per hour doing intense cardiovascular exercises such as running, boot camp, vigorous circuit training or rollerblading. For a more moderate approach, aim to burn 500 to 600 calories per hour by doing dance aerobics, swimming laps, playing single's tennis, jogging or skipping rope. If you work out at this rate every day, you can lose an extra pound every week.
Strength and Flexibility Exercises
Complement your cardiovascular exercise regimen with two to three half-hour sessions of strengthening and flexibility work. While these exercises do not raise your heart rate like aerobic exercise, they increase your muscle mass while burning fat. You raise your basal metabolic rate, burning more calories throughout the day. You can pump iron in the gym or do yoga sun salutations. Some intense strengthening moves, such as push-ups, pullups, squats and calisthenics, also provide a cardiovascular workout.
Exceptions
In some cases, you can lose 30 lbs. more quickly. Very overweight people may consult a doctor about trying an extremely calorie-restricted diet. Such diets allow a jump-start for weight loss, with people losing up to 10 lbs. in the first two weeks. However, you cannot maintain such severe dietary restrictions for more than two weeks and stay healthy. People on such diets must remain under medical supervision for the course of the diet.
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