There are
many ways to lose a lot of weight fast.
However, most of them will make you hungry and unsatisfied.
If you don't have iron willpower, then hunger will cause you to give up on these plans quickly.
The plan outlined here will:
- Reduce your appetite significantly.
- Make you lose weight quickly, without hunger.
- Improve your metabolic health at the same time.
Here is a simple 3-step plan to lose weight fast.
The most important part is to cut back on sugars and starches (carbs).
When you do that, your hunger levels go down and you end up eating much fewer calories (
1).
Now instead of burning carbs for energy, your body starts feeding off of stored fat.
Another benefit of cutting carbs is that it
lowers insulin levels, causing your kidneys to shed excess sodium and water out of your body. This reduces bloat and unnecessary water weight (
2,
3).
It is not uncommon to lose
up to 10 pounds (sometimes more) in the first week of eating this way, both body fat and water weight.
This is a graph from a study comparing low-carb and low-fat diets in overweight or obese women (
4).
The low-carb group is eating until fullness, while the low-fat group is
calorie-restricted and hungry.
Cut the carbs and you will start to eat fewer calories automatically and without hunger (
5).
Put simply, cutting carbs puts fat loss on
autopilot.
Summary
Removing sugars and starches (carbs) from your diet will reduce your
appetite, lower your insulin levels and make you lose weight without
hunger.
Each one of your meals should include a protein source, a fat source and low-carb vegetables.
Constructing your meals in this way will automatically bring your carb intake into the
recommended range of 20–50 grams per day.
Protein Sources
- Meat: Beef, chicken, pork, lamb, etc.
- Fish and Seafood: Salmon, trout, shrimp, etc.
- Eggs: Whole eggs with the yolk are best.
The importance of eating
plenty of protein cannot be overstated.
This has been shown to boost metabolism by 80 to 100 calories per day (
6,
7,
8).
High-protein
diets can also reduce cravings and obsessive thoughts about food by
60%, reduce the desire for late-night snacking by half, and make you so
full that you automatically eat 441 fewer calories per day — just by
adding protein to your diet (
9,
10).
When it comes to losing weight, protein is the
king of nutrients. Period.
Low-Carb Vegetables
- Broccoli
- Cauliflower
- Spinach
- Tomatoes
- Kale
- Brussels sprouts
- Cabbage
- Swiss chard
- Lettuce
- Cucumber
- Full list here.
Don’t
be afraid to load your plate with these low-carb vegetables. You can
eat massive amounts of them without going over 20–50 net carbs per day.
A diet based mostly on meat and vegetables contains all the fiber, vitamins and minerals you need to be healthy.
Fat Sources
- Olive oil
- Coconut oil
- Avocado oil
- Butter
Eat 2–3 meals per day. If you find yourself hungry in the afternoon, add a 4th meal.
Don’t
be afraid of eating fat, as trying to do both low-carb AND low-fat at
the same time is a recipe for failure. It will make you feel miserable
and abandon the plan.
To see how you can assemble your meals, check out this
low-carb meal plan and this list of
101 healthy low-carb recipes.
Summary
Assemble each meal out of a protein source, a fat source and low-carb
vegetables. This will put you in the 20–50 gram carb range and
significantly lower your hunger levels.
You don't
need to exercise to lose weight on this plan, but it is recommended.
The best option is to go to the gym 3–4 times a week. Do a warm-up and lift some weights.
If you're new to the gym, ask a trainer for some advice.
By
lifting weights, you will burn lots of calories and prevent your
metabolism from slowing down, which is a common side effect of losing
weight (
11,
12).
Studies on low-carb diets show that you can even gain a bit of muscle while losing significant amounts of body fat (
13).
If
lifting weights is not an option for you, then doing some cardio workouts like walking, jogging, running, cycling or swimming will suffice.
Summary
It is best to do some sort of resistance training like weight lifting.
If that is not an option, cardio workouts are also effective.
You can take one day off per week where you eat more carbs. Many people prefer Saturday.
It is important to stick to healthy carb sources like oats, rice, quinoa, potatoes, sweet potatoes, fruit, etc.
But
only this one higher carb day — if you start doing it more often than
once per week you're not going to see much success on this plan.
If you must have a cheat meal and eat something unhealthy, then do it on this day.
Be aware that cheat meals or carb refeeds are NOT necessary, but they can boost some
fat-burning hormones like leptin and thyroid hormones (
14,
15).
You will gain some weight during your refeed day, but most of it will be
water weight and you will lose it again in the next 1–2 days.
Summary Having one day each week where you eat more carbs is perfectly acceptable, although not necessary.
It is NOT necessary to count calories as long as you keep the carbs very low and stick to protein, fat and low-carb vegetables.
However, if you really want to count them, use
this calculator.
Enter
your details, and then pick the number from either the "Lose Weight" or
the "Lose Weight Fast" section — depending on how fast you want to lose
weight.
There are many great tools you can use to track the number of calories you are eating. Here is a
list of 5 calorie counters that are free and easy to use.
The main goal of this plan is to keep carbs under 20–50 grams per day and get the rest of your calories from protein and fat.
Summary
It is not necessary to count calories to lose weight on this plan. It
is most important to strictly keep your carbs in the 20–50 gram range.
Here are 10 more tips to lose weight even faster:
- Eat a high-protein breakfast. Eating a high-protein breakfast has been shown to reduce cravings and calorie intake throughout the day (16, 17).
- Avoid sugary drinks and fruit juice. These are the most fattening things you can put into your body, and avoiding them can help you lose weight (18, 19).
- Drink water a half hour before meals. One study showed that drinking water a half hour before meals increased weight loss by 44% over 3 months (20).
- Choose weight loss-friendly foods (see list). Certain foods are very useful for losing fat. Here is a list of the 20 most weight loss-friendly foods on earth.
- Eat soluble fiber. Studies show that soluble fibers may reduce fat, especially in the belly area. Fiber supplements like glucomannan can also help (21, 22).
- Drink coffee or tea. If you're a coffee or tea drinker, then drink as much as you want as the caffeine can in them boost your metabolism by 3–11% (23, 24, 25).
- Eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods. Base most of your diet on whole foods. They are healthier, more filling and much less likely to cause overeating.
- Eat your food slowly. Fast eaters gain more weight over time. Eating slowly makes you feel more full and boosts weight-reducing hormones (26, 27).
- Weigh yourself every day. Studies show that people who weigh themselves every day are much more likely to lose weight and keep it off for a long time (28, 29).
- Get a good night's sleep, every night. Poor sleep is one of the strongest risk factors for weight gain, so taking care of your sleep is important (30).
Even more tips here:
30 Easy Ways to Lose Weight Naturally (Backed by Science).
Summary It is most important to stick to the three rules, but there are a few other things you can do to speed things up.
You can expect to lose 5–10 pounds of weight (sometimes more) in the first week, then consistent weight loss after that.
I can personally lose 3–4 pounds per week for a few weeks when I do this strictly.
