While weight loss is a process that requires a significant amount of time, it is possible to lose weight in a week without turning to crash diets like the lemon cleanse or starving yourself. It all comes down to the number one way to lose weight: burn more calories than you eat. Consider this: if you burn 500 more calories than you eat every day of the week you should be able to lose about 1-2 pounds.
Of course, the bigger the calorie deficit the more impressive the results are, however, dropping below a 1200 calorie intake is dangerous and counterproductive and should be avoided. It’s best to remember that if you’re looking for easy ways to lose weight, it’s not worth putting your health at risk to look thinner. Here are a few things you should do instead:
Don’t drink calories
If you’re looking for a good way to lose weight fast, eliminating or at least severely limiting the liquid calories is a must. Make water, unsweetened green tea your beverages of choice and steer clear of alcohol, energy drinks, soda or sport drinks. Not only you’ll avoid a significant number of calories, you’ll also eliminate sodium which means you’ll also manage to look less puffy.
No simple carbs, no added sugar
The easiest way to severely limit the simple carbs from your diet is to stay away from white grain products and sugary foods. No pasta, white rice, white bread should be found in your weekly menu if you want to lose weight fast. Replace these and other simple carbs with fiber-rich complex carbohydrates such as lentils, chick peas and protein rich foods.
Work out daily
20 minute HIIT exercises are a good idea since they help boost the metabolism and burn a significant amount of calories in a relatively short time frame. However, these shouldn’t be done more than 3 times a week as otherwise your body won’t have enough time to recover between workouts. Weight training workouts and cardio exercises that can be sustained for a longer amount of time are a few good choices worth considering.
Automate some meals
This is a good way to lose weight fast for various reasons. Firstly, it makes the weekly routine easier. Secondly, it makes it a lot less tempting to grab an unhealthy option when feeling hungry. Thirdly, it will help you save time by eliminating indecision.
A few words on the sleep and weight loss connection
There are a couple of interesting correlations between sleep and weight gain. Several studies have shown that sleep deprivation (sleeping less than 6.5 hours a night) can alter the levels of leptin and ghrelin hormones increasing the appetite. However, sleeping more than 8.5 hours a night was also correlated with higher body fat levels. One sleep habit that was correlated with lower body fat was waking up and going to sleep at the same time each day. These are a few sleep related habits you should consider adopting for losing weight fast.
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