Tag: Calorie Deficit
How to Lose 10 Pounds in a Week – Four Proven Strategies
It’s generally best to lose weight slowly and steadily. Most experts agree that losing 1-2 pounds per week is optimal. That rate of weight loss is sustainable and not too hard to achieve. You won’t need to starve yourself or exercise to exhaustion.
But, while a slow rate of weight loss is generally best, there may be times when you want to lose weight faster. For example, you may have entered a powerlifting or martial arts contest and need to be a certain weight to compete. Or, perhaps, you have a big school reunion coming up, and you’re desperate to fit into your old high school cheerleading outfit.
It’s usually best to plan for these things well in advance so you don’t have to rush to lose weight. However, life has an annoying way of derailing the best-laid plans, and an event you thought was months away can arrive far sooner than you expected.
In this article, we reveal the four best strategies for losing ten pounds in a week.
The Realities of Losing Ten Pounds in A Week
Before you begin your attempt to lose ten pounds in seven days, make sure you understand the realities of what you are trying to achieve:
A lot of the weight lost won’t be fat
Your body weight is made up of several different components, including muscle tissue, internal organs, bones, skin, fluids, minerals, and fat. When most people talk about weight loss, what they actually want is fat loss.
However, the chances of losing ten pounds of fat in a single week are very low. You’d have to eat next to nothing and exercise for several hours a day to burn the 35,000 calories that ten pounds of fat contain.
So, a large proportion of the ten pounds you lose will be water weight. Water is heavy, and one liter weighs a little over two pounds. Shedding water weight is relatively easy, especially compared to fat loss.
You can and will lose fat in a week, but a significant percentage of your ten-pound weight loss will be water.
You’ll almost certainly regain some of the weight you lost
Losing ten pounds in a week will result in temporary weight loss. Once you return to eating and drinking normally, you’ll regain at least half of what you have lost. It’s very unlikely that you’ll be able to sustain your new weight for more than a day or two.
As such, you should time your efforts so you hit your lowest weight on the day you need to be ten pounds lighter, e.g., the day of your weigh-in if you are cutting weight for a sporting event.
Such rapid weight loss is unsustainable
Just because you can lose ten pounds one week doesn’t mean you’ll be able to lose another ten pounds the next. Such dramatic weight loss is unsustainable. Trying to lose another ten pounds in such quick succession could be dangerous. A slower, more consistent approach to weight loss approach is usually best.
Losing ten pounds in a week could be unhealthy or even dangerous
You’re going to have to exercise and diet hard to lose ten pounds in a week. You’ll also have to manipulate your water levels to reach your ten-pound weight loss goal. Invariably, this will cause dehydration and may even lead to electrolyte imbalances which can affect muscle contractions and even your heart.
Athletes use these strategies all the time to compete within their chosen weight categories, but they also accept there are risks to losing so much weight this quickly.
This is not going to be fun!
Losing ten pounds in a week is going to take effort and determination. You’re going to feel tired, hungry, and possibly unwell. You may not sleep well, and you’ll probably feel moody or anxious.
So, before you begin, ask yourself if the result will be worth it. In all but a few cases, slow and steady weight loss is best.
Four Strategies for Losing Ten Pounds in a Week
While there are no guarantees of success, these are the strategies you need to use to lose ten pounds in a week. The more of them you implement, the more likely you are to reach your weight loss target.
Create a significant daily calorie deficit
While much of the weight you lose over the next seven days will be water, some of it will be fat. That is, providing you eat fewer calories and force your body to burn fat for energy. For every pound of fat you want to lose, you’ll need to burn 3,500 calories more than you consume.
For most people, a 1000-calorie-per-day deficit is realistic and sustainable. This will invariably mean slashing your food intake, but that’s the price you have to pay to lose weight fast.
To determine how many calories you need to consume a day, you need to:
Estimate your total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) using this calculator.
Subtract 1000 calories from that number.
Track your meals and consume that number of calories over the coming week.
Increase your caloric expenditure
Eating less is only part of the weight loss and fat-burning equation. You’ll lose weight faster if you increase your caloric expenditure and create an even more significant calorie deficit.
It doesn’t matter what you do to burn calories, but you should aim to expend an additional 1000 calories per day through exercise and non-exercise physical activity. While this might sound daunting, it probably adds up to an hour of exercise plus a couple of hours of walking, gardening, household chores, and general purposeful movement.
Combined with your 1000-calorie dietary deficit, burning an extra 1000 calories a day should result in losing about four pounds of fat in seven days.
Learn how to burn an extra 1000 calories per day here.
Cut your carb intake to less than 50 grams a day
Low-carb diets aren’t necessarily better for fat loss than a more balanced diet. However, they are good for weight loss. Most dieters lose several pounds during the first week of a low-carb diet.
When you cut carbs from your diet, your body has to use stored muscle glycogen for energy. Glycogen is glucose bound to water molecules. As your body converts the glycogen into glucose, it releases the water, which you then excrete. Eliminating this water from your muscles will lead to rapid weight loss.
How much you’ll lose depends on the size of your glycogen stores. However, low-carb dieters often lose 3-5 pounds within the first week.
However, getting your carb intake to below 50 grams per day won’t be easy, and it means you will have to eliminate many nutritional staples from your diet.
Foods to avoid at this time include:
Bread
Rice
Pasta
Potatoes
Cereals
Sugar
Junk food, including candy, soda, chips, etc.
Most fruit
Instead, your meals will need to be built around proteins and fats. The good news is that foods high in protein and fat are very filling. Good options include red meat, fish, eggs, and full-fat dairy. You can also eat plenty of leafy green vegetables and other low-carb plant foods.
Do a water cut
The above strategies should get you close to losing ten pounds in a week. That said, if you want to be certain to hit or even exceed that goal, you may want to try a water cut. This is the process of ridding your body of excess water.
However, this is also the riskiest weight loss strategy, so only do it if you are determined to lose ten pounds in one week.
This is how you do a water cut:
Day 1 & 2 – consume one gallon of water per day (normal water intake)
Day 3 & 4 – consume two gallons of water per day
Day 5 – consume one gallon of water
Day 6 – consume half a gallon of water
Day 7 – time to weigh yourself; you should now be at your target weight
So, how does this method work? Good question!
When you initially increase your water intake, your body starts flushing out the excess, and you’ll find yourself peeing more than usual. But as you lower your water intake from day five onward, your body continues to expel water at an accelerated rate, despite drinking less.
This creates a negative water balance, where you are excreting more than you consume, leading to significant weight loss.
Of course, you’ll regain all that water weight when you start drinking normally again. But, your weight should be at its lowest on the morning of day seven.
You can also sweat off a few extra pounds by working out or hitting the sauna. However, this should be unnecessary if you have done your water cut correctly.
Losing ten pounds in a week is usually easier than keeping that weight off. Dehydration, a high exercise volume, and a very strict, low-calorie, low-carb diet are unsustainable. Your weight will quickly return to normal as soon as you stop doing these things.
You may be able to avoid fat regain if you continue to eat and exercise sensibly, but you’ll soon rehydrate when you start drinking normally. For these reasons, slow and steady weight loss, where you drop 1-2 pounds per week, is usually the recommended approach.
A Better Way to Lose Weight and Keep It Off
If the idea of working so hard to lose ten pounds in a week, only to regain it soon after, is unappealing, you should consider a more conservative approach to fat loss and weight management.
The best strategies for easy, sustainable weight loss include:
Create a modest calorie deficit
There is no need to starve yourself to lose weight when you have more than a week to reach your weight loss target. A deficit of 500 calories per day should be sufficient for most people.
Ways to do this include:
Reducing meal size
Cutting out sweets and snacks
Using low-calorie ingredients
Adopting a low-fat diet
Skipping meals (intermittent fasting)
Choose a sustainable diet
Extreme diets are almost impossible to stick to for more than a few days. Hunger and cravings will invariably wear down your willpower, and it’s only a matter of time before you cheat or quit your diet entirely.
So, pick a diet you know you can stick to and that you’ll enjoy. After all, food should be one of life’s pleasures and not only a source of energy and nutrients.
Track your food intake and progress
If you don’t measure something, you can’t manage it. So, start using an app to analyze your food intake to make sure you are hitting the required caloric deficit. Also, track your weight to make sure you are achieving the results you want.
If your weight isn’t changing, you may need to increase your deficit slightly or do a little more exercise.
Exercise moderately and regularly
Super long and ultra-intense workouts make great social media posts but are usually impractical for the average exerciser. Very few of us have the time or energy to work out for several hours a day.
So, instead of training like a pro athlete, commit to working out 3-4 times a week for 40-60 minutes each time. This should be doable for most people and sufficient to enhance your weight loss efforts.
Combine strength training with cardio
While all exercise is good for weight loss, you’ll probably get better results by combining cardio and strength training. Cardio burns calories, while lifting weights will help preserve your muscle mass and maintain your metabolic rate.
Many people fall into the trap of doing nothing but cardio to lose weight, but this is a mistake. While cardio does burn fat and calories, it can also cause muscle loss. Losing muscle makes it harder to lose weight and keep it off, and you could end up “skinny fat,” where you look slim, but your body is soft and weak.
Combining strength and cardio training is like one plus one equals three!
Increase your NEPA
Woman Looking After Plants
NEPA is short for non-exercise physical activity and is one of the most powerful things you can do to lose weight and keep it off. Examples of NEPA include:
Anything that gets you up off your butt and moving counts as NEPA and burns calories for faster, easier weight loss. Look for ways to inject more NEPA into your day. NEPA often registers as “steps” on activity-tracking apps and watches. Try to clock up 10,000-15,000 steps a day for best results.
Be patient!
Weight loss of a pound or less per week might not sound impressive but lose that amount weekly for several months, and you’re looking at a significant change in your body composition.
You could look like a whole new person in less than a year!
Not only is a slower rate of weight loss sustainable for longer, but it will also be easier to keep it off.
In contrast, rapid weight loss is invariably followed by rapid weight regain. This phenomenon gives rise to the term “yo-yo dieting,” where your body weight goes down only to rebound back up soon afterward.
So, be patient and don’t try and lose weight too fast. In almost every instance, slow and steady wins the fat loss race.
How to Lose 10 Pounds – FAQs
Do you have a question about losing ten pounds in a week or weight loss in general? No worries, because we’ve got the answer!
1. What is the best diet for rapid weight loss?
It really doesn’t matter what diet you follow when trying to lose weight fast. The most critical thing is to create a significant calorie deficit, so your body is forced to burn fat for fuel. Ideally, you should limit your calorie intake to 1000 calories below maintenance.
That said, the very low-carb keto diet may be beneficial because it promotes glycogen depletion, which hastens water and weight loss.
However, any diet that keeps you in a calorie deficit will work, so choose an eating plan that fits your lifestyle and food preferences.
2. Can I have cheat meals while trying to lose ten pounds in a week?
If you feel you need cheat meals during a one-week diet, you probably don’t have the right mindset for this weight loss challenge. Cheat meals during such a short diet will almost certainly derail your progress and undermine your results.
Surely you can tough it out for a week and just stick to the plan?!
Losing ten pounds in a week means committing to the process and ignoring cravings and hunger pangs. If you don’t think you can do this, you should look for a more conservative diet and resolve to losing weight more slowly.
3. How much weight will I regain at the end of the week?
Initially, most of the weight you regain at the end of your seven-day, ten pound-diet will be water. As such, you could gain as much as five pounds in a matter of hours. It all depends on how much hydrating fluid you consume after your water cut.
You will also regain fat if you start consuming above-maintenance calories. However, fat regain will probably be slower, especially if you eat sensibly and don’t binge. That said, you can avoid fat regain completely if your calorie intake remains equal to your calorie expenditure.
4. Is water cutting safe?
Water cuts are best described as safe-ish. The protocol outlined in this article is not especially extreme, and the risks are pretty low. Other water cuts lead to much more significant weight loss (20+ pounds in 24-48 hours) and are much more dangerous.
However, there is always a risk when manipulating your hydration levels, including dehydration, cramps, nausea, heart palpations, heat stroke, kidney problems, low blood pressure, confusion, unconsciousness, and death.
Consider these risks before embarking on any type of water cut.
5. What is the best workout for losing ten pounds in seven days?
The aim of exercise during a rapid weight loss diet is burning calories. Ideally, you want to burn about 1000 extra calories per day. Combined with your 1000-calorie deficit, this should result in about 4-5 pounds of fat loss in a week. The rest of your weight loss will be in the form of water.
So, it really doesn’t matter what type of exercise you do so long as you burn the required number of calories. You can do short-but-intense workouts or longer, more leisurely workouts – both can burn a similar number of calories.
Including strength training in your workouts is a good idea, as it can help preserve muscle mass and prevent atrophy. However, as you’ll only be dieting for one week, muscle loss should be minimal, provided you consume sufficient protein.
Related: Calorie Burning Calculators
You could even skip exercise altogether and just walk and be more active. However, this will entail a lot of movement and may be impractical if you have a sedentary job.
Most people get the best results by combining sensible daily workouts will reasonable amounts of general physical activity. However, be aware that, as the week progresses, you will probably start to feel tired and are going to fatigue more quickly. Make allowances for this in your workouts.
Related:
Closing Thoughts
It usually takes months or even years to gain weight and become overfat. Too much food and insufficient activity and exercise put you into a calorie surplus, and those unused calories are then converted to and stored as fat.
This is why most people tend to gain weight gradually over several years and not all at once.
However, despite slow weight gain being the norm, most people want to lose weight as fast as possible.
Unfortunately, while you CAN lose weight quickly, and dropping ten pounds in a week is entirely doable, rapid weight loss is seldom sustainable or enjoyable. Plus, rapid weight regain is practically unavoidable.
So, by all means, use the strategies in this article to lose ten pounds in seven days, but understand this weight loss will probably be temporary, and a slower, more conservative approach to weight loss will invariably be more successful.
How To Lose 15 Pounds in a Month: The Ultimate Guide to Transform Your Body and Boost Your Confidence
Everyone experiences undesired weight gain at some point in their life. Some people realize they have gained extra weight when they notice love handles poking through their favorite shirt; others have an epiphany when they have difficulty bending over to tie their shoelaces.
Whether you gain weight in your early teens or late 40s, it is usually because of the same reasons. Since the causes of weight gain are timeless, so are its remedies. Avoid reinventing the wheel every time you want to lose a few pounds.
Most people want to lose a lot of weight in a very short period. Ask a newbie about their transformation objective, and they will probably tell you they want to lose 15 pounds in a month.
Interestingly, most people quit their weight loss journey without achieving their goals. Setting unattainable goals is one of the most common reasons why most people never attain their transformation objectives. The lack of experience and guidance takes a close second and third.
Is it possible to lose 15 pounds in a month?
Yes, you can undoubtedly lose 15 pounds in 30 days. However, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should. Losing 15 pounds in 30 days without a plan and proper guidance can be a disaster and lead to health issues.
In this article, we’ll uncover the science of weight loss, discover if it’s safe to lose 15 pounds in 30 days, learn about the best ways and diet to lose fat quickly, and go over some of the most popular questions on this subject. We have a lot to cover. So, sit tight and read on.
How Weight Loss Works
Weight loss ultimately boils down to calories in vs. calories out. You must be in a calorie deficit to lose weight, meaning you must expend more calories in a day than you consume. Once you are in a calorie deficit, your body starts burning stored glycogen for fuel, leading to fat loss.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cutting 500–1,000 calories from your daily diet can result in a weekly weight loss of 1–2 pounds. Staying in this range will keep your physique transformation journey gradual, steady, and sustainable. [1]
But how does restricting 500 calories a day lead to a 1-pound weekly weight loss?
Per the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a pound of body fat comprises 3,500 calories. A shortfall of 500 daily calories results in a 3,500 calories weekly deficit (500 X 7), allowing you to lose a pound of body weight. [2]
That said, a pound of body fat does not equal a pound of body weight. However, several studies have shown that a 500 daily calorie cut results in a weekly weight loss of one pound, and hence, this is often used as a standard while designing a weight loss diet program. [3]
Per the CDC guidelines, restricting your daily caloric intake by 500–1,000 calories will result in a weight loss of 4–8 pounds. However, our objective here is to lose 15 pounds in a month.
How many calories do I need to cut to lose 15 pounds in a month?
In line with the CDC guidelines, you would need to cut approximately 1,875 daily calories to lose 15 pounds in a month.
Is Losing 15 Pounds in a Month Safe?
Is a 1,875 calories deficit possible? It depends on your current lifestyle. Folks coming off a bulking diet and eating upward of 4,000 calories daily might find it easy to cut approximately 2,000 calories from their diet. However, if you eat 2,000–2,500 calories daily, a 1,875-calorie deficit can lead to major health consequences.
Most people flock toward fad diets such as the boiled egg diet or the cabbage soup diet for quick weight loss results. However, most of these fad diets have no scientific evidence backing them and can lead to chronic health conditions as they significantly limit your nutrient sources and intake.
Contrary to what most people think, achieving a calorie deficit isn’t limited to restricting your food intake. You can also enter a calorie deficit by burning calories through exercising. Combining a low-calorie diet with a training program is the most effective way of losing 15 pounds in a month.
That said, maintaining a 1,875 calorie deficit is like walking a tightrope. You must consult a healthcare professional before starting a weight loss program, especially if you have an existing condition like diabetes, gallstones, or heart disease.
Factors That Determine If You Can Lose 15 Pounds in a Month
Buckle up for some truly mind-blowing revelations. Hold onto something sturdy while you still have time.
There is no guarantee that you’ll lose 15 pounds in 30 days, even after maintaining a 1,875 daily calorie deficit. You read that right. There are no guarantees here.
Weight loss works uniquely for different people. While your training partner might shed the desired 15 pounds in 28 days, it might take you more than a month. Many factors influence weight loss, including:
Genetics
Your genetic makeup dictates how your body reacts to your diet and training program. Some people will lose fat faster than others. Plus, some folks lose fat from a specific body group before the results replicate in other areas. For example, your training partner might lose fat first from his belly, whereas you might see the magic of your transformation program first on your face.
Your genetics will also determine where you store body fat. You must work around your genetics and design a training program that best suits your needs. Individuals that hold fat in the back of their upper arms should add arm exercises in their workouts to combat the bat wings and tone their guns.
Remember, your genetics might slow you down, but they will not stop you in your tracks. This is also why beginners must always track and assess their progress. Make necessary changes as soon as you discover you are not going in the right direction.
Related: Weight Loss Calculator
Experience
Training and dieting experience is one of the most undervalued aspects of a transformation journey. People that have undergone a physical transformation before experience faster results than newbies.
The quick results are the result of muscle memory. Plus, people that have done something before know what works for them and what doesn’t, saving them considerable time.
Newbies have no reason to hang their heads low. If you lack the experience to fast-track your transformation progress, you can hire a healthcare professional with a proven track record to help you achieve your goal.
Gender and Age
On average, men shed weight and build muscle mass faster than ladies. It is primarily because of testosterone — the male sex hormone. Females tend to store a greater amount of body fat in their lower bodies, whereas males hold it in their upper bodies.
Further, the essential body fat storage in men is 2–5% and 10–13% for the ladies; it is the amount of fat required to maintain life and reproductive functions.
The natural testosterone levels in both genders decline with age, which results in a higher body fat percentage. Weight loss also becomes more difficult with age.
Metabolism
Your metabolic rate plays a crucial role in your weight loss journey. A high metabolic rate helps you burn calories throughout the day, even when you are physically inactive. Men generally have a higher metabolic rate than women. Plus, your metabolic rate declines with age, making weight loss more complex as you grow older.
Use this basal metabolic rate (BMR) calculator to determine how many calories you need daily to maintain your basic body functioning. The BMR calculator uses your age, gender, weight, height, and body fat percentage (optional) to determine how many calories you burn throughout the day.
Regular exercise can help increase your muscle mass and burn body fat, which can help boost your metabolic rate.
According to a popular myth, eating small, frequent meals throughout the day can result in a faster metabolism. However, several studies have debunked this theory. According to a 2015 study, increasing meal frequency from three to six per day might increase hunger and the desire to eat. [4]
To lose fat, you should focus on staying in a calorie deficit instead of trying to tweak your metabolic rate. Find a meal plan that suits your lifestyle and works for you, and stick to it long-term for optimal results.
Training, Nutrition, and Recovery Program
Most people never achieve their transformation goal because of substandard training, nutrition, and recovery program. These folks follow a cookie-cutter transformation program designed for someone else, which delays their results and leads to muscle imbalances.
For instance, a 190-pound female trying to lose 15 pounds in a month will never find success following a transformation program made for a 185-pound male aiming to shed 8 pounds monthly.
Your diet, training, and recovery program must fit your lifestyle, preferences, and habits. You should refrain from making significant lifestyle changes during your weight loss journey. A night owl should resist the temptation to turn around his life overnight by signing up for an early morning CrossFit class. You must ease into your new transformation journey and focus on longevity.
Consistency
Consistency is the key to a successful weight loss program. Weight loss is complex and challenging. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. You must do everything right to make the needle budge in the right direction. A wrong step, and you will either hit a plateau or put the weight back on.
Plus, losing 15 pounds in a month is a hefty goal. You must do everything as per plan for these 30 days to maximize your chances of success. It means that you cannot miss a training session or meal or cut down on your recovery time.
A transformation program will test your determination, grit, and consistency. The longer a fitness program, the more challenging it is to stick to it. Furthermore, since losing 50 pounds in a month requires you to follow rapid weight-loss techniques, going off track can make the weight bounce back as quickly as you lost it.
How To Lose 15 Pounds in a Month
Sustaining a 1,875-calorie deficit requires you to make adjustments to your entire lifestyle. Although you could cut almost 2,000 calories from your diet just by eating less, it is not ideal. You must balance your training and diet plan to achieve your weight loss goal of shedding 15 pounds in a month.
Notably, folks that want to lose 15 pounds in a month have short-term objectives. These people don’t want to continue this weight loss program for several months. Hence, you must make quick and significant adjustments to your diet as soon as you begin your weight loss journey.
You must also get comfortable making significant lifestyle changes during this transformation program as you are racing against the clock. Thirty days is all you have; you’ve got to make every one of these days count.
Here are 18 changes you must make to your lifestyle to lose 15 pounds in a month:
Set a Realistic Goal
Most people never achieve their transformation objective because they bite on more than they can chew. To be honest, losing 15 pounds in a month is an ambitious goal too. Sustaining a 1,875-calorie deficit for 30 days is easier said than done.
If you do not have a specific reason to lose 15 pounds in a month, you should aim for a more realistic goal, such as shedding 8 pounds in 30 days. This goal aligns with the CDC weight loss recommendations and is relatively easy and safe to sustain over the long term.
Switch To a Low-Calorie Diet
Weight loss ultimately comes down to calories in vs. calories out. You must enter a calorie deficit to lose 15 pounds in a month. Depending on your current lifestyle, you can either adjust your current diet or switch to a new diet to help you achieve the deficit.
The keto and Mediterranean diets are a couple of popular diets that can help you lose weight, but more on these later in this article. Remember, you must choose a diet that fits your lifestyle. Going vegan might help a non-vegetarian significantly restrict his calorie intake, but it will be extremely hard to sustain if you’ve never tried it before. Always ease into a diet rather than switching to a radically different diet overnight.
Do More Cardio
Although exercising and cardio are not mandatory in a weight loss program, they can help you enter a calorie deficit. You could enter a calorie deficit by eating less, working out, or combining both. Using both options will speed up your weight loss progress.
Since your goal is to lose 15 pounds in a month, you must perform two daily cardio sessions to fast-track your results. The first cardio session should be a 30-45 minute low-intensity steady state (LISS) workout done on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. For the second cardio session, do a 15-20 minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout in the evening.
HIIT workouts are an anaerobic form of training, meaning it relies on stored glycogen for fuel. On the other hand, LISS cardio is a form of aerobic exercise that relies on oxygen for energy production.
Weight Training
Most people leave gains on the table by restricting themselves to cardio workouts during a weight loss program. Resistance training can boost your weight loss results in multiple ways. It helps build muscle mass and tone your physique, improving your physique aesthetics.
Muscle mass is more metabolically active, meaning it burns more calories throughout the day than a pound of body fat [5]. Folks with a higher muscle mass will burn more calories throughout the day than folks with a high body fat percentage. Plus, weight training increases your metabolic rate, helping you burn calories even after your workouts when you are physically inactive.
Incorporate HIIT into Your Workouts
High-intensity interval training is one of the best ways to ramp up your weight loss progress. You shouldn’t limit HIIT to cardio. Perform a bodyweight HIIT circuit or incorporate this principle into your weight training workouts to maximize results.
Tabata, AMRAP, EMOM, ladders, and pyramids are a few popular forms of HIIT. Cycle between these HIIT protocols to keep your workout routine exciting and avoid hitting a plateau. You must also program progressive overload in your workout regimen to make consistent gains. Progressively overload your muscles by using heavier loads, increasing your training intensity or volume, or incorporating advanced training principles into your workouts, such as dropsets, supersets, and intraset stretching. [6]
Prioritize Recovery
You break muscle tissue while you are in the gym. Your muscles grow back bigger and stronger while you’re resting. Even if you do not hit the gym or train, you must give your body enough time to recover and undergo changes. The excess weight comes off your body while you’re asleep.
You must sleep for at least seven to eight hours each night for optimal results. Besides sleeping, you can also use nutritional supplements such as whey protein powders and BCAA to speed up your recovery. Massages, self-myofascial release, and cold and hot water therapy are other excellent methods of streamlining your recovery and boosting weight loss.
Eat Nutrient-Dense Foods
Consuming nutrient-dense whole foods will keep you feeling full for longer, reducing your risk of binging on junk food. Furthermore, nutrient-dense foods often have a low caloric content than processed or refined carbs. It allows you to consume a large volume of food without overshooting your daily caloric target, which can help promote satiety. [7]
Eating nutrient-dense foods also ensures that you meet your daily micronutrient needs, limiting the risk of nutrient deficiencies and promoting overall health and well-being. You must eat a balanced diet to meet your daily macronutrient needs. Switch to a high-protein, low-carb, low-fat diet to fast-track your weight loss and build muscle mass.
Limit Refined Carbs
Refined carbs sources such as white bread, white rice, sugary snacks, and sugary beverages have a high caloric content. Plus, they provide little to no nutritional value. Consuming refined carbs can significantly increase your daily calorie intake. However, since these are empty calories, refined carb sources won’t lead to satiety and might even lead to cravings. [8]
Your body digests refined carbs quickly, resulting in insulin and blood sugar level spikes, which can lead to energy crashes, cravings, and increased fat storage, hindering weight loss efforts. These food sources often lack essential nutrients and can hamper your metabolism.
Eat Fiber-Rich Foods
If your goal is to lose 15 pounds in a month, you must avoid binge eating. Fiber-rich foods are a godsend in this regard, as they keep you satiated throughout the day. High-fiber foods also take longer to digest. Additionally, fiber-rich foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, are low in calories than processed foods.
Eating high-fiber foods also improves your digestion and gut health. A healthy gut microbiome can lead to better weight management and a lower risk of obesity. Foods rich in fiber usually have a high water content, which increases their volume without adding to their calorie content.
Track Your Calories
Losing 15 pounds in 30 days requires you to adhere to a strict dieting regimen. Exceeding your calorie target, even on a few occasions, can disrupt your weight loss aspirations. The most effective way of staying below your calorie limits is to track your calories.
You could use a calorie tracking app, such as MyFitnessPal, to stay on top of your caloric intake. Most calorie-tracking apps have an extensive database of foods and recipes, making food logging easy and convenient. You can skip logging your meals after you’ve settled on a routine.
Tip: Calculate Your Daily Energy Expenditure
Increase Physical Activity
Contrary to what most people think, spending 30 to 45 minutes in the gym isn’t enough to lose 15 pounds in a month. Doing a cardio session early in the morning and sitting at your desk for the rest of the day puts you in the active, sedentary category.
You must program activities throughout your day to limit your risk of developing chronic health conditions associated with sitting for prolonged periods, including high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. 9]
Walking more throughout the day is a convenient (but not easy) way to ensure you remain active. Beginners can set themselves a 5,000 daily step target and work their way up until they are walking 10,000 steps a day.
Drink a Lot of Water
Staying hydrated throughout the day can keep you satiated, lowering your chances of feasting on junk food. Plus, water is a calorie-free beverage, meaning it won’t add to your calorie bottom line. Drinking an adequate amount of water can also boost your metabolic rate. You must drink at least a gallon of water daily to ensure optional body functioning.
Drinking 500 ml of water 30 minutes before a meal can help limit your hunger. This technique has been shown to lead to greater weight loss in overweight or obese middle-aged and older adults. [10]
Try Fasting
Fasting is one of the most effective ways to enter a calorie deficit. Intermittent fasting is a popular fasting protocol involving cycling between fasting and feeding windows. The 16/8 intermittent fasting (IF) protocol is the most popular fasting method that requires you to fast for 16 hours a day and eat during an eight-hour window.
Unlike most other diets, intermittent fasting doesn’t dictate what you can and cannot eat. In an IF diet, you focus on eating at a particular time during the day. Among other things, fasting helps burn through your glycogen reserves and boost your metabolic rate, which can help you lose 15 pounds in a month. Beginners can start with more conservative IF protocols, such as the 14/10 method, whereas more experienced faster can try the OMAD (one meal a day) diet. [11]
Avoid Cheat Meals
A month is a relatively short period to lose 15 pounds. Although cheat meals have a time and a place, you must avoid them on this program. A cheat meal can put you in a calorie surplus. It is common for people to eat 1,000-2,000 excess calories during a cheat meal.
Offsetting these calories can take you an additional two to three days. Depending on your cheat meal, you could need to cut more than 1,875 calories from your daily diet to get back on track with your weight loss goals. Those serious about their transformation should refrain from eating cheat meals for four weeks.
Cut Out Alcohol
Alcohol is like a double agent. You think it is on your side, but it is scheming with your enemy (body fat) to disrupt all your plans. Alcohol contains a high sugar content; a gram of alcohol generally contains seven calories. Worse yet, these are empty calories that have no nutritional value.
Alcohol consumption increases your appetite and your chances of binging on junk food. It also leads to dehydration and poor sleep and slows down your metabolism. Alcohol does everything that you want to avoid on a weight loss program.
Read also: Alcohol and Muscle Growth – Alcohol Fat Burning.
Manage Your Stress Levels
Chronic stress leads to higher levels of cortisol in your body, which can increase appetite and cravings for unhealthy foods. High cortisol levels also lead to an increase in fat storage in your abdominal area.
Higher stress levels also increase your risk of emotional eating, which never ends well on a fat loss program. Chronic stress can also disrupt your sleep, which can hamper your recovery. Try meditation, yoga, and journaling to combat stress. You should seek professional help if these three methods don’t bring you relief. [12]
Track Your Progress
Since 30 days is a short period for losing 15 pounds, you must track your progress to ensure you are heading in the right direction. Recording your body weight and anthropometric measurement, keeping a workout journal, and taking photos of your physique are the most reliable ways to track your progress.
Remember, you don’t need to track your progress daily. Take your measurement on the same day at the same time every week and make necessary adjustments if you are unhappy with your progress.
Hire Professionals
Most people never achieve their weight loss goal because they follow a cookie-cutter transformation program. Each individual is unique. What might work for your training partner might not work for you. Ensure that you follow a customized training, diet, and recovery program for optimal results.
Seek a professional’s help if you don’t have experience designing a training and diet program. A personal trainer can give you a personalized training regimen, and a registered nutritionist can provide you with a diet plan that fits your lifestyle. Hiring a trainer and dietitian might cost you some money upfront, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Diets To Help You Lose 15 Pounds in a Month
Although some people can get away with making adjustments to their current meals, others need to revamp their entire diet to lose 15 pounds in a month. If you fall in the latter category, given below are some diets that can help you achieve your weight loss goal. Pick the one that fits your lifestyle.
Keto
A ketogenic diet involves eating a very low amount of carbs and replacing them with fat, as it helps your body burn fat for energy. Studies show that high-fat diets are significantly more effective at helping you shed weight than low-fat diets [13]. Furthermore, a keto diet can improve your training performance as it results in better ATP production than a high-carb diet.
Here is a typical macronutrient split used in a keto diet:
Fats: 70-80%
Protein: 20-30%
Carbs: 5-10%
Next Read: What is Keto Diet? Benefits, Drawbacks, and Sample Meal Plan
Paleo
A Paleolithic diet includes eating whole, unprocessed foods, such as vegetables, nuts, seeds, and meat. The paleo diet involves eating like our ancestors. Studies have shown that a paleo diet can result in significant weight loss and reduce your risk of lifestyle diseases, such as obesity, diabetes, and heart disease. [14]
Check Out: Paleo Dieting: A Comprehensive Guide for Beginners
Mediterranean Diet
The Mediterranean diet revolves around eating foods traditionally eaten in the countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, including Portugal, coastal France, southern Spain, southern Italy, Crete, and much of Greece.
Dieters that eat a Mediterranean diet have lower risks of contracting heart disease and other common illnesses and diseases. These dieters generally live longer and are healthier than folks who eat a standard American or Western diet.
Also Read: What Is the Mediterranean Diet?
FAQs
Do I need to exercise to lose 15 pounds in a month?
No, working out is not mandatory on a weight loss program. That said, doing a couple of daily training sessions can speed up your weight loss progress by helping you enter a calorie deficit.
How long will it take for me to lose 15 pounds safely?
The CDC recommends limiting your daily deficit to 500-1,000 calories, which will help you lose 4–8 pounds safely and sustainably in a month. According to the CDC guidelines, it will take you 2–3 months to lose 15 pounds.
Will the weight I’ve lost come back if I return to my old habits after successfully completing my transformation journey?
Losing and keeping weight off requires lifestyle changes. If you return to your old habits right after achieving your weight loss goal, the weight will come back on just as quickly.
Note: The content on Fitness Volt is for informative purposes only. Do not take it as medical advice to diagnose, prevent, or treat health problems. If you’re suffering from a health issue, are pregnant, or are under 18 years old, you should consult your physician before starting any new supplement, nutrition, or fitness routine.
Wrapping Up
Losing 15 pounds in a month can feel overwhelming, which stops most people from taking their first step. You might not realize this, but you have already taken the first step in achieving your dream physique by choosing to read this article. So, congratulation on taking your first step toward your weight loss goal.
It is absolutely fine to experience self-doubt and frustration before starting to work toward such a big goal; we’ve all been there. Remember, you don’t need to follow all the 18 steps mentioned in this article to achieve your weight loss goals, and you don’t have to limit your transformation timeline to 30 days. Start with making a couple of adjustments to your lifestyle and take your time with your weight loss goal. The results will be worth it. Best of luck!
Related:
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Losing Weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html
Wishnofsky M. CALCULATION OF DIETS. JAMA. 1957;163(5):384–385. doi:10.1001/jama.1957.02970400056024
Kim JY. Optimal Diet Strategies for Weight Loss and Weight Loss Maintenance. J Obes Metab Syndr. 2021 Mar 30;30(1):20-31. doi: 10.7570/jomes20065. PMID: 33107442; PMCID: PMC8017325.
Ohkawara K, Cornier MA, Kohrt WM, Melanson EL. Effects of increased meal frequency on fat oxidation and perceived hunger. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2013 Feb;21(2):336-43. doi: 10.1002/oby.20032. PMID: 23404961; PMCID: PMC4391809.
Zurlo F, Larson K, Bogardus C, Ravussin E. Skeletal muscle metabolism is a major determinant of resting energy expenditure. J Clin Invest. 1990 Nov;86(5):1423-7. doi: 10.1172/JCI114857. PMID: 2243122; PMCID: PMC296885.
Atakan MM, Li Y, Koşar ŞN, Turnagöl HH, Yan X. Evidence-Based Effects of High-Intensity Interval Training on Exercise Capacity and Health: A Review with Historical Perspective. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jul 5;18(13):7201. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18137201. PMID: 34281138; PMCID: PMC8294064.
Nicklas TA, Drewnowski A, O’Neil CE. The nutrient density approach to healthy eating: challenges and opportunities. Public Health Nutr. 2014 Dec;17(12):2626-36. doi: 10.1017/S136898001400158X. Epub 2014 Aug 28. PMID: 25166614.
Bradley P. Refined carbohydrates, phenotypic plasticity, and the obesity epidemic. Med Hypotheses. 2019 Oct;131:109317. doi: 10.1016/j.mehy.2019.109317. Epub 2019 Jul 20. PMID: 31443772.
Pesola AJ, Pekkonen M, Finni T. Why is excessive sitting a health risk? Duodecim. 2016;132(21):1964-71. PMID: 29190048.
Handbook of Non-Drug Intervention (HANDI) Project Team. Pre-meal water consumption for weight loss. Aust Fam Physician. 2013 Jul;42(7):478. PMID: 23826600.
Vasim I, Majeed CN, DeBoer MD. Intermittent Fasting and Metabolic Health. Nutrients. 2022 Jan 31;14(3):631. doi: 10.3390/nu14030631. PMID: 35276989; PMCID: PMC8839325.
Xenaki N, Bacopoulou F, Kokkinos A, Nicolaides NC, Chrousos GP, Darviri C. Impact of a stress management program on weight loss, mental health and lifestyle in adults with obesity: a randomized controlled trial. J Mol Biochem. 2018;7(2):78-84. Epub 2018 Oct 3. PMID: 30568922; PMCID: PMC6296480.
Giugliano D, Maiorino MI, Bellastella G, Esposito K. More sugar? No, thank you! The elusive nature of low carbohydrate diets. Endocrine. 2018 Sep;61(3):383-387. doi: 10.1007/s12020-018-1580-x. Epub 2018 Mar 19. PMID: 29556949.
Challa HJ, Bandlamudi M, Uppaluri KR. Paleolithic Diet. [Updated 2022 Jul 4]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482457/
How To Lose 5 Pounds in a Month: 15 Healthy and Effective Tips To Lose The Flab
There is a big event coming up (it could be a much-deserved vacation at a beach resort, a wedding, or a photoshoot), and you want to shed a few pounds quickly to look dapper. Most of us find ourselves in such situations quite often, but let’s be honest, how many of us end up achieving our objective?
I can’t say about you, but I can do it ten out of ten times. No, I’m not bragging; okay, I’m bragging a little bit, but I digress. The point is that I don’t have a magic potion that helps me shed weight overnight. I follow a tried and tested approach that allows me to drop weight on demand.
In this article, I share everything you need to know to lose weight as quickly as possible while staying healthy. You’ll also learn about the science behind weight loss and what is possible on a long-term weight loss program. We’ve got a lot to cover, so let’s get started.
How Much Weight Should I Expect To Lose in a Month?
Many people never achieve their weight loss goals because of their unrealistic expectations. On the other hand, many folks do not know what to expect. If you join a gym with the vague goal of ‘losing weight,’ you will most likely be unsatisfied with your progress. Conversely, exercisers that aim to ‘lose 15 pounds in a month’ will crash and burn.
Your transformation objective should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound). You should be able to throw concrete numbers at whosoever asks you about your transformation goals. For example, losing 5 pounds in a month ticks all the right boxes. It is specific, measurable, relevant, and time-bound. However, is it attainable? Let’s find out.
The Science of Weight Loss
To lose weight, you must be in a calorie deficit, meaning you must burn more calories in a day than you consume. Of course, there are other things that you must consider for a successful weight loss journey, for example, eating nutrient-dense whole foods and avoiding empty calories or eating refined calories, and adhering to a suitable macronutrient split. But maintaining a calorie deficit (calories in vs. calories out) is the most crucial factor when it comes to weight loss.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cutting your daily calorie intake by 500-1,000 kcal can help you shed 1-2 pounds weekly. On the flip side, adding 500-1,000 calories to your diet will result in a 1-2 pounds weekly gain.
As per the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), a 3,500-calorie deficit results in a body fat loss of one pound. Sticking to these calorie increases and cutting limits will keep your physique transformation journey gradual, steady, and sustainable. [1][2]
Going by the CDC guidelines, your goal of losing 5 pounds in a month is attainable and safe. Furthermore, a month technically has 4.3 weeks (30 days). To lose 5 pounds in a month, you need to cut approximately 583 calories from your daily diet, which is absolutely doable.
Weight loss not only improves your physique aesthetics but also boosts energy levels, enhances self-confidence, and improves mental health and overall well-being.
How To Find How Many Calories To Cut From Your Diet To Lose 5 Pounds in a Month
Here is the step-by-step process of determining your calorie intake goal to lose 5 pounds in a month:
Find Your Daily Average Calorie Goal
There are two ways of doing this:
1. Use a TDEE Calculator
Total daily energy expenditure estimates how many calories your body burns daily by accounting for three major contributing factors: your basal metabolic rate (BMR), your activity level, and the thermic effect of food metabolism.
Don’t worry; you don’t have to buy a scientific calculator to determine your TDEE. Use our neat TDEE calculator to determine how many calories you need daily for optimal functioning.
2. Find Out Your Daily Average Calorie Intake For Five Days
The TDEE calculator requires your gender, age, weight, height, activity levels, and body fat percentage (optional) to calculate the calories you need in a day. However, many people do not find it reliable, as no calculator can account for your lifestyle.
Alternatively, you could go the manual route and do all the hard work yourself. For this step, you will need a calorie-tracking app, such as MyFitnessPal. You must log your daily food intake for five days in the app.
Ensure that you are logging meals for typical days. Avoid recording meals and snacks on days when you’re out partying.
Take an average of these five days; this will be your average daily caloric intake, which accounts for your lifestyle.
Cut Calories
After determining your average daily caloric intake, deduct 583 calories to enter a calorie deficit. Remember, this is a generic recommendation, and your exact calorie reduction will depend on your lifestyle. People dealing with medical issues should consult a healthcare provider before starting a transformation program.
Also, this calorie cut is optimal for folks that consume more than 2,000 calories daily. Individuals that eat fewer calories than 2,000 should opt for a smaller daily calorie deficit, as it will ensure a more stable fat loss progress and prevent excess muscle loss.
You can enter a deficit by cutting calories, exercising, or combining the two. We recommend adjusting your diet and starting an exercise regimen, as it will get you faster results.
Weight Loss Timelines
Once people learn about what is possible in a month, they want to know what they can achieve long-term by sticking to the 500-1,000 daily calorie deficit. This section answers just that. Here are the weight loss estimates and timelines for up to a year based on the CDC weight-loss guidelines:
Time
Expect Weight Loss Results
1 Day
0.14–0.28 pounds
1 Week
1–2 pounds
1 Month
4–8 pounds
3 Months
12–24 pounds
6 Months
24–48 pounds
12 Months
48–96 pounds
Factors That Determine If You Can Lose 5 Pounds in a Month
No two people will have the same weight loss results by following the same fitness regimen. For example, your training partner might lose the required 5 pounds in a month by cutting 583 calories from your diet, whereas you might only manage 4 pounds.
Multiple factors can influence your weight loss progress. You can tweak some of these factors but must make peace with the others. Here are the factors that affect your weight loss progress:
Experience Level
Your training and dieting experience will influence how much weight you can lose in a month. People that are just starting their fitness journey shouldn’t expect to lose 5 pounds in their first month. Your body needs some time to adjust to your diet routine before you can see the needle budge in the right direction.
Beginners hit the weight loss sweet spot within a couple of months of starting their transformation journey. However, once you get the knack of things and have successfully dropped 5 pounds in a month, you will have no problems replicating the results in the future.
Gender
Men usually shed body weight and fat faster than females. It is primarily because of the male sex hormone — testosterone. Low testosterone levels are also the reason women cannot gain the same amount of muscle mass as men.
Furthermore, the essential body fat storage in men is 2–5%, whereas it is 10–13% for the ladies. The essential body fat is required to maintain life and reproductive functions. That said, females can still attain a shredded physique quickly by following the correct training and diet regimen.
Metabolism
Metabolism is how your body changes food and drink into energy. The energy generated through metabolism powers essential body functions, such as breathing and digestion. Your body needs a minimum amount of calories to carry out these functions, known as the basic metabolic rate (BMR).
Your age, sex, muscle mass, and physical activity determine your BMR. Some people have a higher metabolic rate than others, which helps them burn more calories throughout the day. Regular exercise to build muscle mass can help boost your metabolic rate.
Age
The natural testosterone levels in men and women decline with age, which can slow down their weight loss progress. Your metabolic rate also declines with age, which further hampers your fat loss progress.
Furthermore, we tend to lose muscle mass with age. Greater muscle mass helps you burn more calories throughout the day, even when you are physically inactive. The dip in the metabolic rate will require you to work harder to achieve a calorie deficit.
Genetics
Your genetic makeup will determine how you react to your training regimen and how quickly you lose weight. Some people will lose weight faster than others simply because they are genetically blessed.
However, people who are not born with Greek god genetics do not need to hang their heads. Your genetics might slow down your weight loss progress, but it won’t stop you dead in your tracks.
Your unique genetics is also why you should always use a personalized diet and training regimen. Following a cookie-cutter training regimen or using your best friend’s fitness program will return suboptimal results and can lead to strength and muscle imbalances.
Training, Nutrition, and Recovery Program
These three are the holy trifecta for losing weight and building muscle mass. To achieve your dream physique, you must follow a customized diet, training, and recovery program. We recommend working with a personal trainer and a registered dietician to help design your transformation program.
A personal trainer can give you a workout regimen that fits your strengths and weaknesses. He can also build a solid physical foundation by teaching you the correct exercise form. A dietician will provide you with a suitable nutrition regimen that will help speed up your weight loss progress.
Remember, you don’t have to do everything on your own in a transformation program. Seeking a professional’s help can save you a lot of time, energy, and frustration. Hiring coaches might cost you some money upfront, but it will pay dividends in the long run.
Consistency
Consistency, dedication, and commitment are implacable in a transformation program. You must be consistent with your diet, training, and recovery routine to ensure you lose 5 pounds in a month. You might get through your first one-month fitness regimen without much friction, but if you want to continue your weight loss progress, you must adopt military-like discipline.
15 Tips To Lose 5 Pounds in a Month
Many people adopt fad diets, such as the boiled egg diet and the cabbage soup diet, for quick weight loss. These diets promise mind-boggling results in a short period. However, they have little to no scientific research backing them. Following these fad diets or other obnoxious weight loss methods can lead to chronic health conditions.
In this article, we go over 15 tips that will help you lose 5 pounds in a month safely and steadily. Plus, unlike in the case of extreme weight loss methods, the weight you lose by following these tips won’t return as quickly as it came off.
Without any further ado, here are the 15 tips that will help you lose 5 pounds in a month:
Fix Your Diet
If you are dealing with excess weight, chances are that your diet is out of place. A weight loss program must always begin with fixing your diet. You must enter a calorie deficit to kickstart your weight loss journey.
Determine your average daily calorie intake and deduct a suitable amount of calories to lose weight. You must cut 583 calories from your daily intake to lose 5 pounds in a month.
After arriving at a daily calorie intake goal, you must use a suitable macronutrient split to shed the excess weight and develop a chiseled physique. Plan and prep your meals in advance so you don’t find yourself scrolling through your favorite fast food restaurant’s menu while you are starving.
Eat Protein and Fiber Rich Foods
Following a high-protein and high-fiber diet can help you lose weight quickly. A high-protein diet will help you build muscle. Muscle mass is more metabolically active than fat, meaning it requires more calories to sustain itself. People with higher muscle mass have a higher BMR and burn more calories throughout the day.
Eating fiber-rich foods can speed up your weight loss progress as it will keep you feeling satiated for longer, a quality it shares with protein. Furthermore, it improves your gut health and slows down your digestion.
You must switch to a moderate-carb and low-fat diet on a weight loss program. However, eating carbs two to three hours before a training session will ensure you have enough energy to crush the workout.
Track Your Calories
Losing weight requires you to be in a calorie deficit. You must track your food intake to ensure you are maintaining a calorie shortfall. Using rough estimates isn’t going to cut it. Eating one extra bread slice can disrupt your weight loss progress if you are not careful.
Get in the habit of logging your meals in a calorie-tracking app to stay on top of your diet. Folks that eat the same meals daily can stop logging them after ensuring they are in a deficit by recording their meals for at least a week.
Try Fasting
Fasting is an excellent weight loss method. Beginners can use intermittent fasting to achieve their goal of losing 5 pounds in a month. Intermittent fasting involves cycling between voluntary fasting and non-fasting over a given period.
The 16/8 method is the most common intermittent fasting protocol. It requires you to fast for 16 hours in a day and meet your daily caloric needs within the remaining eight hours. You could also use more advanced IF methods such as OMAD (one meal a day) and ADF (alternate-day fasting).
Intermittent fasting focuses on eating within a particular period. It doesn’t restrict your food choices. Nonetheless, you should avoid junk food and get your calories through nutrient-dense whole foods while fasting to ensure optimal results.
Eat Nutrient-Dense Whole Foods
Consuming 2,000-2,500 calories is extremely easy if you consume a soda and a burger daily. However, it requires considerable effort when limiting yourself to whole foods.
Whole foods are packed with nutrients that will help you achieve your weight loss goals. Refined foods digest quickly and lead to more cravings. On the flip side, whole foods keep you feeling satiated for longer, which will keep you from snacking on junk food throughout the day.
Add Cardio To Your Weight Loss Routine
Although working out is not mandatory in a weight loss program, exercising can help speed up your progress by boosting your calorie expenditure and putting you in a deficit. Since one month is a short time, you should ideally do two daily cardio sessions for optimal results.
The first cardio workout will be a 30-45 minute low-intensity steady state (LISS) session on an empty stomach first thing in the morning. Perform a 15-20 minute high-intensity interval training (HIIT) cardio session after your weight training session in the evening.
Many people despise cardio as they find it boring. If you are one of these people, you could spice up your training program by incorporating different equipment into your training regimen. Furthermore, you could switch training intensity and intervals to spice things up.
Avoid Liquid Calories
Most people lose track of their calorie intake while consuming liquid calories in the form of carbonated soft drinks. These can also cause blood sugar spikes and crashes, leaving you feeling tired and drained. During your weight loss program, you must also limit energy drinks and fruit juices.
Instead, you should opt for metabolism-boosting beverages such as green tea. Remember, water is the only beverage you need. Drinking a couple of glasses of water whenever you crave an energy drink or a sugar-laden beverage will curb your urges.
Capitalize on HIIT Resistance Training
You shouldn’t limit your HIIT workouts to cardio sessions. HIIT resistance training workouts can help fast-track your weight loss progress by improving your metabolism. They can also improve your physique aesthetics by toning your muscles.
A HIIT strength training workout lasts 15-30 minutes, making it a perfect fit for people with a packed schedule. Since most HIIT resistance workouts require minimal equipment, you could do them in your garage gym.
Cut Out Cheat Meals
Although losing 5 pounds in a month is possible, safe, and sustainable, it won’t be a walk in the park. You must stick to your guns for 30 days to achieve the desired results.
Most people consume anywhere between 500-1,000 extra calories in a single cheat meal. Burning these excess calories can take up to an additional week. Since we are on a tight deadline, you must cut out cheat meals on this program. You will sacrifice four cheat meals, but the results will be worth it.
Focus on Your Recovery
Sleep seven to eight hours each night to give your body enough time to rest and recuperate. You build muscle mass and shed weight while sleeping. Sleeping four to six hours each night doesn’t allow your body appropriate time to work its magic.
Use self-myofascial release, cold plunges, and weekly massages to improve your recovery. Plus, do not hold back from taking a day off from training if you feel sore and tired. Learn to listen to your body.
Avoid Alcohol
Alcohol is a no-go if you want to lose 5 pounds in a month. It is a source of empty calories, makes you retain fluid, shuts down your digestive system, and disrupts your sleep, which can hamper your recovery.
Alcohol increases your appetite, which is why folks tend to overeat while sipping their favorite drink. It can also lead to dehydration and decrease your exercise performance. Just like fast food, you must cut out alcohol for 30 days to achieve your weight loss objective.
Hydrate
Drinking water throughout the day can help you avoid dehydration. Furthermore, it can improve your metabolism, regulate your appetite, boost your training performance, flush out toxins, and improve your digestion. Drink at least a gallon of water daily to ensure optimal body function and performance and lose 5 pounds quickly.
Follow an Active Lifestyle
A sedentary lifestyle is one of the biggest reasons behind weight gain. Staying active throughout the day improves your metabolic rate, helping you burn more calories. Become more active by being mindful of your choices. Take the stairs, bike to work, and use a standing desk for work.
Control Your Stress Levels
Your body release cortisol whenever you are under stress. Cortisol and adrenaline are the stress hormones that make you hold onto excess fat. Use relaxing activities like yoga, meditation, reading, or listening to calming music whenever you are stressed. Seek a medical professional’s help if you are dealing with chronic stress.
Find Your Support System
It is your friends and family’s fault if you cannot achieve your weight loss goal in the desired time. No, I am just kidding. But really, your near and dear ones, directly or indirectly, play a vital role in your transformation journey.
You must find a support system that helps and motivates you on your transformation journey. Surround yourself with people who are trying to lose weight and can understand what you are going through.
Keep yourself accountable by sharing your goals and progress with your friends, family, and coaches. It will keep you motivated and push you to achieve your objectives. It might also push others to join you, which is a win-win for everyone involved.
Note: The content on Fitness Volt is for informative purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice to diagnose, prevent, or treat health problems. If you’re suffering from a health issue, are pregnant, or are under 18 years old, you should consult your physician before starting any new supplement, nutrition, or fitness routine.
Wrapping Up
Losing 5 pounds in a month might sound like a gargantuan ask for newbies. It might sound impossible and borderline offensive. However, you must not let this big goal stun you. All you need to do is take that first step.
Start by limiting your portion sizes or cutting out the soda from your lunch, and with this, you’ll have taken the first step toward losing 5 pounds. You don’t have to adhere to all the 15 steps mentioned in this article at once for a successful weight loss campaign.
Begin with making one small change and steadily incorporate other steps until the first pound comes off. After that, it is all about doubling down on your strengths, and you’ll achieve your goal before the 30 days are up. Now, go, get it, tiger!
Related:
References
Wishnofsky M. CALCULATION OF DIETS. JAMA. 1957;163(5):384–385. doi:10.1001/jama.1957.02970400056024
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Losing Weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html
How to Burn 400 Calories a Day: 12 Effective Ways To Flame Up Your Fitness
Most people want to lose weight but never start their transformation journey because they have no idea how to go about their weight loss goal. On the flip side, some folks spend so much time thinking through choices that they end up with analysis paralysis.
In this article, we will take you through the psyche behind burning 400 calories daily, the results you can expect, the prerequisites you should know about, and the 12 most effective ways to achieve your new goal.
You must enter a calorie deficit to lose body weight. A calorie deficit includes burning more calories in a day than you consume.
But why 400 calories and not 300 or 500 calories?
We are glad you asked. A 400-calorie deficit hits the sweet spot. It is not as intimidating as cutting out 500 calories from your diet. Conversely, it is more effective at helping you improve your body composition than cutting 300 calories, which can be slow. Nonetheless, even the slightest calorie deficit is a good place to start for beginners trying to get rid of their spare tire.
Since shredding 400 calories isn’t an overly ambitious objective, most people can achieve this goal by making small adjustments to their daily routines. Plus, you don’t even need to hit a gym to burn 400 additional daily calories, which is often a bottleneck for folks with a packed schedule. You could burn 400 calories a day by mowing your loan or biking to work.
So, without any further ado, let’s get into the article.
If I burn 400 calories a day, how much weight will I lose in a month?
This is probably the first question that popped into your head after reading this article’s title. That said, it is an excellent question since burning an additional 400 calories daily requires serious effort, and knowing the final result can motivate you when you don’t feel like working out.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), cutting your caloric intake by 500-1,000 calories a day can lead to a weight loss of 1-2 pounds weekly. Plus, staying in this range will keep your physique transformation journey gradual, steady, and sustainable. [1]
You must burn 3,500 calories weekly to lose a pound of body fat. Breaking this into a daily target gets you to cut 500 calories from your diet. Similarly, restricting 400 calories from your diet leads to a 2,800-calorie deficit, which will result in a weight loss of 0.8 pounds per week. Sticking to this regime can help you lose around 3.5 pounds in a month. [2]
Summary: A daily 400-calorie deficit will lead to a 2,800-calorie weekly deficit, helping you lose around 3.5 pounds monthly. However, your gender, age, training intensity, and activity levels can influence your results.
How Long Does It Take To Burn 400 Calories?
The 500-1,000 calorie deficit mentioned above can be achieved by cutting calories from your diet and adding exercise to your daily regimen.
Depending on the type of physical exercise and intensity, you can burn 400 calories between 25 to 60 minutes of continuous work. An exerciser can burn calories more quickly during high-intensity circuit cardiovascular training compared to low-intensity bodybuilding-style resistance training workouts.
That said, no two people will lose the same amount of weight using the same techniques. Your weight loss results will depend on your age, height, weight, gender, activity levels, muscle mass, body fat percentage, and genetics. Meaning your training partner might lose more weight than you following the same techniques.
Men usually lose weight faster than women. Higher estrogen levels lead to greater fat storage among women. Men also tend to have greater muscle mass density, which improves their metabolic rate and spikes their fat loss progress.
Folks that engage in regular exercise usually lose weight faster than sedentary people. Furthermore, advanced exercisers will shed weight and body fat faster than newbie trainers.
Summary: As with the amount of weight you can lose in a month with a 400-calorie deficit, your genetics, age, gender, weight, training intensity, and experience will affect the time it will take to burn 400 calories in a day. However, you can torch 400 calories within 25 to 60 minutes of continuous work.
Prerequisites For Burning an Additional 400 Calories Daily
Knowing about the following things can make your weight loss journey easier:
Know Your BMR
Your basal metabolic rate (BMR) is the number of calories your body needs to accomplish its most basic (basal) life-sustaining functions, such as breathing, circulation, and cell production. For example, if your BMR is 2,000 calories, it means that your body burns 2,000 calories to sustain itself.
Your BMR depends on your age, height, gender, activity levels, genetics, and target body weight. We will not consider your BMR calories for the sake of this article. You must burn the additional 400 calories through physical activities. Need help to figure out your BMR? Check out our convenient online calculator to find out.
Use Cardio Machines With Monitors For Precise Calorie Tracking
If you hit the gym to achieve a calorie deficit, you should use machines with monitors to track your progress. Spending hours on a machine without a monitor or other method to track your calorie expenditure can leave you confused about your progress. Thankfully, most cardio equipment in the gym, such as the treadmill, elliptical, bike, Stairmaster, and rower, come with a calorie tracker.
That said, the number of calories a 200-pound male burns from running a mile in 10 minutes will be different from the calories a 140-pound lady burns who logs in the same distance. However, a cardio machine will return the same result for both users.
Furthermore, some low-quality machines tend to have uncalibrated monitors, which can give you skewed results. Inaccurate machines can lead you down the incorrect path, which brings us to our next point.
Wear a Fitness Tracker
Although the in-built calorie trackers are great, they are usually inaccurate. A study conducted by Sam Houston State University found that elliptical machines spike the number of calories burned by up to 100 calories for each 30 min of exercise at moderate intensity. [3]
Using a fitness tracker such as an Apple Watch, Fitbit, or a chest strap can better gauge the calories you burn during a particular physical activity or throughout the day. Plus, since these apps require you to input your age, height, and weight, they also give you a fairly accurate reading of the distance you cover while running.
Remember, when using these trackers, you should look at ‘active calories.’ Active calories are the ones you burn through all kinds of movement, from taking the stairs at work to playing with the kids to cleaning out the garage. You should start a workout on your tracker before engaging in physical activity to get more accurate results.
Use Calorie Burning Calculators
Folks that don’t have access to a wearable calorie tracker but want an accurate calorie-burning estimation can use our calorie-burning calculators to measure their fat-loss progress. You can use these calculators to plan your exercise or daily routine to ensure you burn 400 calories a day.
These calorie-burning calculators can also be used to double-check the data from your wearable calorie trackers or the numbers on the machine. A conservative approach to your calorie-burning progress best ensures you are meeting your objectives.
12 Ways To Burn 400 Calories
Given below are 12 effective ways to burn 400 calories in a single day:
Walk More
This is arguably one of the easiest and most convenient ways to burn an additional 400 calories daily. Folks that find intensive physical exercise intimidating should focus on walking more throughout the day to burn an extra 400 calories.
An average 140-pound person will burn 400 calories by walking 10,000 steps a day. Depending on your stride length and walking speed, walking ten thousand steps equates to about eight kilometers, or an hour and 40 minutes walking.
Remember, most of us cannot walk 10,000 steps in a single session. You must break down these steps into 6-8 smaller parts to complete the desired steps. You can schedule a longer 3,000-4,000 step walking session earlier in the day to get a head start.
Going on hikes on weekends is another fun activity that can help you get in the desired 10,000 steps on your rest day. Take your friends or family along with you on your walks, as it can allow you to spend some quality time with them.
Check Out: Calories Burned Walking Calculator: Find Calorie Burn from Walking?
Get Comfortable Doing Your Chores
You must gamify your daily routine if you want to burn an additional 400 calories without hitting the gym. Wash your dishes, mow your lawn, wash your car, scrub your bathroom floor, or do anything that keeps you moving. Time yourself doing these tasks and try to set a new record every time.
It will take an average 170-pound individual around 60 minutes to burn 400 calories mowing his lawn using a power mower. However, the same results can be achieved in under 50 minutes using a hand mower.
Mowing the lawn is an underrated low-impact cardio activity that will help you achieve your calorie deficit goal without stressing your joints.
Check Out: How Many Calories Does Mowing the Lawn Burn?
Play a Sport
Most of us quit playing sports after graduating from school or college. However, this is one of the biggest reasons many people gain weight.
Most sports require intense physical effort, which can help keep you in shape. Plus, playing a team sport can make you feel like a part of a community, which can make you stick to the sport for the long term.
Choose sports that involve a lot of running for optimal calorie-burning effects. For example, an average 180-pound individual can burn 400 calories in 35 minutes playing football.
Check Out: Calories Burned Playing Football Calculator
Running
Did you think we forgot running? No, we didn’t.
Most people have a love-hate relationship with running. However, you are more likely to get hooked on running after you get over the initial hump.
It takes an average 180-pound male around 50 minutes to burn 400 calories while running. He can cover a mile during this period.
If you are not a frequent runner, we recommend starting with shorter runs, like a 100-minute easy jog. Increase the distance slightly after every 4-5 days until you can finish the mile at a comfortable pace.
You could also choose between running outdoors or on a treadmill based on your comfort level. Notably, running outdoors is more challenging than running on a motorized belt.
Check Out: Calories Burned Running Calculator
HIIT Workouts
If your primary goal is to lose body weight, we recommend doing cardio-based high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workouts. These will get your heart racing and will get you to your 400-calorie goal quickly.
HIIT cardio workouts generally involve a 5-10 exercise circuit that has to be repeated 2-5 times. On average, a HIIT cardio workout can help you burn 400 calories in a 25-30 minute session.
You could use HIIT protocols, such as Tabata, AMRAP, ladder, and EMOMs, to increase your training intensity. Ensure that you do not compromise your exercise form while trying to push the intensity, as it can increase your risk of injury.
Check Out: The Best HIIT Ab Workout: Get Ripped Abs in Record Time
Cycling
Cycling is the perfect middle ground between walking and running. It is not as easy as walking or as intimidating as running, and it gets the job done.
An average 175-pound individual can burn 400 calories biking within 35 minutes. You can get it done much faster if you push the pace.
A bike is easy to incorporate into your daily routine. You could bike to work or run some small errands. Furthermore, most cities have biking clubs that go out for a ride on the weekends. Joining such a club can make biking more fun and adventurous.
Check Out: Calories Burned Biking Calculator
Swimming
Swimming is an incredibly effective way to burn calories, especially in the summer when running or cycling outdoors can be challenging.
A 150-pound person will burn roughly 400 calories during an hour-long swim at a moderate pace. Plus, swimming can help in muscle toning and heart and lungs-conditioning.
Swimming is a very low-impact exercise that is perfect for overweight or obese folks. It is much safer on your joints than jogging or running. Put everything you have got into a few laps, and you’ll be gasping by the end of your workout.
The freestyle stroke has the potential to burn the most calories, as it allows you to cover the most distance in the shortest time. However, you should constantly switch between strokes to keep things interesting and challenging.
Check Out: Calories Burned Swimming Calculator
Jump Rope
Jump rope is one of those exercises that looks super easy but will have you begging for mercy by the time you are done with it. Beginners should initially focus on mastering the rope swing and hand-eye-rope coordination. Advanced rope jumpers can challenge themselves with high-skill movements such as double unders and crossovers.
A 170-pound individual can burn around 400 calories in 25 minutes if he jumps between 100 to 120 times within a minute. This makes the jump rope one of the most effective calorie-burning activities on this list.
You could choose between jumping rope for time or setting a rep target for yourself. Choose your jump rope wisely, as it can make a world of difference.
Check Out: Calories Burned Jumping Rope Calculator
Dancing
Depending on who you are, dancing can be the most intimidating or comfortable exercise on this list. Most dancing styles are highly demanding and can help burn a lot of calories in a short period.
Dancing can improve your heart and lung health, increase muscular strength, endurance, and motor and aerobic fitness, improve muscle tone and strength, help with weight management, build stronger bones, and enhance your coordination, agility, and flexibility. Furthermore, dancing is an art form used for centuries to express feelings, emotions, and stories.
Salsa dancing can help you burn about 400 calories per hour.
Check Out: Calories Burned Dancing Calculator
Yoga
Although most people consider yoga a relaxed exercise routine that requires sitting on an exercise mat with closed eyes, it is much more than that. Many yoga poses will send your heart rate through the roof and challenge every muscle, bone, and ligament in your body.
You should opt for Vinyasa yoga if your goal is to burn calories, as it is one of the most intensive forms of yoga. It can help you burn an average of 400 to 500 calories per hour.
Remember, you must perfect your poses to get the most benefit from yoga. We recommend joining a yoga class to learn the basics until you form a solid base and can do it on your own at home.
Check Out: Yoga Calories Burned Calculator
CrossFit
CrossFit involves constantly varied high-intensity functional movement, which can be broken up into three elements: weightlifting, gymnastics, and metabolic conditioning. It makes CrossFit a highly-intensive exercise form, which can help burn a lot of calories in a short period.
Since the CrossFit workouts are so varied, it is difficult to put a number to the calories you can burn during one of the workouts. However, it is not uncommon for an athlete to burn up to 400 calories during a 20-30 minute CrossFit workout.
Check Out: How Many Calories Does CrossFit Burn?
Resistance Training
Bodybuilding-style resistance training isn’t given its due credit when it comes to burning calories. However, a bodybuilder can burn 400 calories within an hour during a free-weight training session.
You must maintain a high training intensity to burn 400 calories in 60 minutes. Resting more than 120 seconds between sets will lower your intensity and hamper your training performance. Remember, compound exercises burn more calories than isolation and machine movements.
Check Out: Calories Burned Resistance Training
FAQs
Is burning 400 calories a day safe?
Yes. Torching 400 additional calories daily is safe. Furthermore, it is below the CDC guidelines, which recommend limiting your calorie restriction to 1,000 calories a day. Burning 400 calories daily can help you lose 0.8 pounds weekly.
Can I burn 400 calories a day without exercising?
Yes. You could burn 400 (or more) calories daily without hitting the gym or even going near your running shoes. An average 140-pound (63.5-kilogram) person will burn 400 calories on average by walking 10,000 steps a day. If you cannot walk 10,000 steps daily, you could instead do all your chores yourself to enter a calorie deficit. Doing one hour of chores burns around 400 calories.
What are some fun activities that can help me reach the 400-calorie burning goal?
Contrary to what most people think, burning calories doesn’t have to be boring. In fact, choosing a boring activity is a sure-shot way of dropping off your fitness routine. You burn calories by engaging in any physical activity; hence you should pick something you can stick to for the long term or at least until you achieve your weight loss goal. Use our calorie-burning calculators to determine how many calories you can burn during your favorite activity within a specific period.
Wrapping Up
Burning 400 calories a day isn’t as difficult as most people make it out to be. Most folks can achieve this goal by following a 45-minute HIIT workout. People that do not exercise can still achieve the 400-calorie goal by adjusting their schedule to add an outdoor run, walking 10,000 steps, or doing daily chores like mowing the lawn, cleaning the house, and doing the dishes.
You must, however, remember to maintain a calorie deficit if your goal is to lose weight. Burning 400 calories and eating 500 calories over your maintenance calories will get you nowhere.
You could switch between the 12 calorie-burning methods mentioned in this article to keep your daily regimen interesting. We recommend using a wearable tracker like an Apple watch or a chest strap to get accurate results. So what are you waiting for? Put on your shoes and let that fat melt off. Best of luck!
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Losing Weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html
Wishnofsky M. CALCULATION OF DIETS. JAMA. 1957;163(5):384–385. doi:10.1001/jama.1957.02970400056024
Glave, A. & Didier, Jennifer & Oden, Gary & Wagner, Matthew. (2018). Caloric Expenditure Estimation Differences between an Elliptical Machine and Indirect Calorimetry. Exercise Medicine. 2. 10.26644/em.2018.008.
How to Burn 1000 Calories A Day
Burning 1000 calories might sound like a lofty goal, but most people burn 1000 calories every day even if they don’t exercise.
Your Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR, is the number of calories you burn at rest in 24 hours, and it’s probably higher than 1000 calories. Your BMR is the energy your body uses just to keep functioning.
For example, a 180-pound, 30-year-old man has an estimated BMR of 1814 calories per day, and a 135-pound, 40-year-old woman has a BMR of 1267 calories. Some people may have a BMR of less than 1000, but they tend to be elderly or very small/light.
So, for most folk, it’s actually quite hard NOT to burn at least 1000 calories per day!
So, the real question, and what you probably want to know, is how to burn an EXTRA 1000 calories per day. This increased calorie expenditure could help you lose weight faster.
In this article, we explain why and how to burn 1000 extra calories per day and discuss whether such a challenge is healthy or even necessary.
The main, if not the only, reason to try and burn 1000 extra calories per day is to create a calorie deficit to lose weight and body fat. It’s only by creating a deficit that your force your body to use fat for fuel. No deficit means your body has no reason to use stored fat for energy. Hence, a calorie deficit is critical for fat loss and lowering your body fat percentage.
One pound of excess fat is said to contain 3,500 calories. So, in theory, burning an extra 1000 calories per day means you should lose just under a pound in three days or a little over two pounds per week, which is a good rate of weight loss.
However, for burning 1000 calories to lead to significant weight loss, your calorie intake must match the number of calories needed to maintain your current weight. Otherwise, even burning an additional 1000 calories per day may not help you lose weight.
So, for example, if it takes 2,000 calories to maintain your weight, but you eat 3,000 and burn 1000 through exercise and general physical activity, your weight will remain relatively unchanged.
Use this calculator to determine your maintenance calorie intake, also known as your TDEE or total daily energy expenditure.
It’s also important to note that there is nothing magical or significant about burning 1000 calories. For example, you can achieve weight loss by burning considerably fewer than 1000 calories. However, 600 or 800 don’t make sure a good article headline!
Related: How Many Calories To Eat Per Day Calculator
Burning 1000 extra calories will be easier for some people than others. For example, very fit individuals will be able to burn that much energy in a single workout. In contrast, others will probably need several hours and even all day.
Factors that affect your rate of calorie expenditure include:
Age – younger people tend to have a higher hourly caloric expenditure than older people. Metabolism tends to decrease with age, especially from the sixth decade onward.
Weight – the heavier you are, the more calories you burn per hour. This is true for both fat and muscle weight. Body mass has a significant impact on caloric expenditure.
Gender – men are generally heavier and more muscular than women, so they can potentially burn more calories per hour.
Fitness – the fitter you are, the harder and longer you can exercise, and the more calories you can burn. For example, a competitive runner who can cover 10 miles in one hour can expect to burn close to 1000 calories in a single workout. However, such a feat is well beyond the fitness of a recreational jogger.
Lifestyle – being sedentary, e.g., working in an office, makes it much harder to burn 1000 extra calories compared to someone with a physically demanding job, e.g., manual laborer. The more sedentary you are, the more you’ll have to rely on exercise to burn those surplus calories.
Consistency – while burning 1000 calories could help you lose weight, it’ll only work on the days you actually do it. For example, if you burn an extra 1000 calories per day for a week, you can expect to lose a little over two pounds. But, if you only manage this goal twice a week, you may not even lose one.
Unfortunately, burning an extra 1000 calories can be quite challenging, and doing it every day could be exhausting.
10 Examples of How to Burn 1000 Calories A Day
So, you want to burn 1000 extra calories per day to lose weight faster? Here are some of the ways you can do it. However, you must understand that these are estimates only, and your precise caloric expenditure will depend on your weight, age, gender, etc. Check out our library of calorie calculators to see how much energy different workouts use.
Running
Running burns an average of 10-15 calories per mile, depending on how fast you run plus the other factors discussed in the previous session. The great thing about running is that it’s cheap and readily accessible. All you need is a suitable pair of shoes and someone to run.
That said, running is a high-impact activity, and doing too much, especially on asphalt roads, can cause injuries. As such, it may be impractical to burn 1000 calories every day by running.
Here’s a rough guide to the time you’d need to run at various speeds to burn 1,000 calories:
Speed
100-lb. person
150-lb. person
200-lb. person
5 miles per hour
2.8 hours
1.8 hours
1.4 hours
6 miles per hour
2.2 hours
1.5 hours
1.1 hours
7 miles per hour
1.9 hours
1.3 hours
1 hour
8 miles per hour
1.6 hours
1.1 hours
0.8 hours
10 miles per hour
1.4 hours
0.9 hours
0.7 hours
Related: Discover how many calories you will burn during a run with this calculator.
Cycling
Cycling is a low-impact activity, so it’s more joint-friendly than running. However, calorie expenditure is generally lower for cycling than for running, so you’ll need to put in a longer workout to burn 1000 calories. Plus, you’ll also need access to a suitable bike.
Here’s a chart showing how long you’d need to cycle at various speeds to burn 1,000 calories:
Speed
100-lb. person
150-lb. person
200-lb. person
5.5 miles per hour
5.5 hours
3.7 hours
2.8 hours
12–13 miles per hour
2.8 hours
1.8 hours
1.4 hours
16–19 miles per hour
1.8 hours
1.2 hours
0.9 hours
Related: How many calories can you burn during a bike ride? Use this calculator to find out!
Walking
Your calorie expenditure while walking is very low. However, because walking is easy, you can do a lot of it. It’s entirely possible to spend all day walking, covering many miles. The easiest way to track how far you’ve walked is by counting steps.
It’s generally accepted that walking 1000 steps burns around 30-40 calories, so you’ll need to clock up about 25,000 per day to burn 1000 calories. However, the actual number of steps you need to do to burn 1000 calories will depend on your height/stride length.
Related: Use this calculator to determine how far you’ll need to walk to burn 1000 calories.
Rowing
Rowing is a great full-body workout that’s also low-impact, so it’s relatively easy on your joints. Most gyms have rowing machines, and they’re also suitable for home use. You can also row outdoors, although this is a tricky skill to learn without a coach on hand to tell you what to do. Plus, you’ll also need a suitable boat.
There are lots of different workouts you can do on a rower, from ultra-intense Tabata intervals to time trials to easy-paced training, and they’re all great calorie burners.
Rowing for 100 minutes at a moderate pace should burn close to 1000 calories.
Related: Find out how many calories you can burn by rowing here.
CrossFit
A lot of CrossFitters are convinced they can burn over 1000 calories an hour. Unfortunately, this is not usually true. While many CrossFit exercises and workouts have a very high energy cost, they’re too intense to do for more than a few minutes at a time.
As such, you’ll probably spend as much time resting as you do working out when you do CrossFit. Most CrossFit workouts are completed in 10-30 minutes. Needless to say, this will significantly lower your hourly calorie expenditure.
That said, if you can stomach it, doing CrossFit for two non-stop hours will burn about 1000 calories.
Related: See how many calories you can burn doing CrossFit with our easy-to-use calculator.
Swimming
Swimming is arguably one of the best full-body exercises you can do. The water supports your weight, so it’s completely non-impact and very easy on your joints. Whether you do laps in a pool or swim in the sea or a lake, swimming is not just a good workout but is also a life-saving skill.
On the downside, you’ll have to swim fast or far to burn 1000 calories, and some strokes use more energy than others. That said, swimming freestyle for three miles in about 90 minutes should burn 1000 calories.
Related: Use this calculator to estimate how long you’ll need to swim to burn 1000 calories.
Strength training
While cardio is most people’s go-to calorie-burning workout, lifting weights can also be effective. However, like CrossFit, strength training involves as much resting as it does working out, which limits how many calories you can burn. Maximize your caloric intake by focusing on freeweight compound exercises, as they tend to burn the most calories.
Two hours of intense strength training, including calisthenics or bodyweight exercises, should burn about 1000 calories.
Related: Use this calculator to determine more accurately how many calories you can burn lifting weights.
Zumba
Zumba is a dance-based cardio workout that many people enjoy. It involves a mix of high and low-impact movements performed to different styles of music. Like any group exercise class, it’s up to you how hard you work, and it’s possible to cruise and take it easy or go for it and work really hard.
That said, the average person will need to Zumba non-stop for one and three-quarter hours to burn 1000 calories.
Related: Find out how many calories you burn during Zumba here.
Gardening
Gardening might seem like an odd choice of calorie-burning activity, but, like general household chores, it can be pretty energetic. Light digging, planting, trimming, mowing, and carrying all use big muscle groups and plenty of energy. Gardening might not feel like a workout, but it does burn plenty of calories.
The average person will burn 1000 calories during three hours of general gardening.
Related: Discover how many calories you burn while gardening here.
Shopping
Some people LOVE to shop! They enjoy trawling around stores in hunt of bargains or the latest fashions. Invariably, this pursuit involves a lot of walking and a fair bit of carrying, too.
Providing you don’t stop at every coffee shop you come to for a muffin and a cappuccino, it’ll take five hours of shopping to burn an extra 1000 calories.
Related: Find out how many calories you can burn by shopping here.
Contrary to what many influencers and fitness personalities might have you believe, you don’t need to burn 1000 extra calories a day to lose weight. In fact, for many people, doing this on a regular basis may be impractical or even unhealthy.
After all, burning 1000 calories takes a lot of time and effort, and doing it every day could become exhausting. Too much exercise with too few rest days is a recipe for overtraining. This chronic condition can cause aches, pains, and even immune system impairment.
So, instead of trying to burn 1000 extra calories per day, most people find it more practical to eat less AND expend a more moderate number of calories. In studies, combining dietary interventions with exercise has been shown to be more effective for weight loss than diet or exercise alone (1).
For example, instead of creating your 1000-calorie deficit by running for 90 minutes, you could cut 500 calories from your caloric intake, and burn 500 through more modest exercise. The total deficit would be the same, but you’d be less reliant on training to achieve it.
Doing 1000-calorie workouts might make for entertaining social media posts, but for most people, they are impractical and unsustainable.
Also, a 1000-calorie deficit is pretty big, and while it will result in significant weight loss, it may be too large to sustain long-term. In fact, most experts suggest a 500-calorie-per-day deficit, which should be more manageable. So while weight loss will be slower, you won’t have to work as hard, so the chances of quitting are lower.
Exhaustive workouts and extreme diets are usually tough to stick to, even though they can produce rapid weight loss. It doesn’t matter how effective a diet or exercise program is; if you can’t maintain it for as long as it takes to reach your target weight, it’s pretty much useless.
Sustainable diet and workout habits are the best way to lose weight and keep it off.
How to Burn 1000 Calories A Day – FAQs
Do you have a question about burning 1000 calories extra per day or weight and fat loss in general? No problem, because we’ve got the answers!
1. Can I burn 1000 calories in a single workout?
It is entirely possible to burn 1000 calories in a single workout. However, you’ll have to train very hard or for a long time to do it. For example, you can burn 1000 calories by running ten miles, doing two hours of CrossFit, or rowing at a moderate pace for 100 minutes.
However, unless you are a fit, experienced exerciser, you probably won’t be able to do this every day, and any missed workouts will mean no calorie deficit, which could delay weight loss.
For this reason, it’s usually best to combine exercise with a reduced-calorie diet.
Your body burns calories constantly, and most people expend 1000-1500 per day just to stay alive. That said, the more you move, the more calories you burn. As such, you can burn an additional 1000 calories simply by being more active each day.
For most people, this is more manageable and sustainable than doing 1000 calories of exercise. For example, the following activities should take you close to burning 1000 extra calories per day:
Activity
Duration
Calories burned (male)
Calories burned (female)
Cleaning gutters
30 minutes
174–249
108–198
Cleaning or sweeping
1 hour
156–228
126–80
Moderate walking
60 minutes
348–498
276–396
Shoveling snow
30 minutes
183–264
147–210
Washing dishes
30 minutes
87–126
69–90
Total
3.5 hours
948–1,365
726–1,074
Burning 1000 extra calories could help you lose weight, but it might not. It all depends on your diet. For example, if you need to eat 2,000 calories to sustain your weight but eat 3,500, burning 1000 calories will mean you still have a calorie surplus, so you’ll actually gain weight instead of losing it despite your workouts.
However, suppose you lower your food intake to 2,500 and burn an extra 1000 calories. In that case, you’ll create a daily deficit of 500 calories, which should lead to one pound of weight loss per week.
Exercising off 1000 calories is no guarantee of weight loss.
4. What is the highest number of calories burned in one day?
Studies suggest that the maximum number of calories an average human can burn in 24 hours is equal to 4-5 times their Basal Metabolic Rate, or BMR (2). So, if your BMR is 1200 calories, your maximum theoretical daily energy expenditure will fall between 4800 and 6000 calories.
Of course, in extreme athletic events, the participants can burn vast amounts of calories. However, such fitness feats are far beyond most recreational exercises’ reach. For example, ultra-runners can burn 8000-13,000 calories running 100km (62.5 miles), and endurance cyclists can burn 14,000 during a 24-hour bike race.
This is why nutrition is a such a critical part of endurance sports and why athletes still lose weight during very long events despite eating many thousands of calories. It’s almost impossible to consume 10,000 or more calories when running or cycling huge distances.
5. What is the best workout for weight loss?
All types of exercise increase your caloric expenditure, so in theory, any workout can help you lose weight. That said, some workouts burn more calories than others. Caloric expenditure is usually higher when you work out at a high intensity level or for a long time.
This means there is no single best workout for weight loss, and there are lots of options to choose from. Some of the best calorie-burning include:
Ultimately, the best fat loss workout is one you enjoy, can do frequently, and that you can do for long enough to burn the requisite number of calories in a reasonable timeframe.
6. What is the best fat-loss diet?
The best diet for fat loss is the one you can stick to. Not for a week or a month, but for as long as it takes to reach your goal weight or body fat percentage. Unfortunately, some diets are either too strict or too boring for long-term use.
The main thing to look for in a fat-loss diet is that they provide a modest calorie deficit, and you enjoy the foods you’ll be eating. No deficit means no fat loss, and unpleasant foods mean you have a readymade excuse to quit your diet once your initial motivation wears off.
In fact, you may not even need to follow a regimented diet, and can lose fat just by controlling the size of your portions.
Combined with a sensible and sustainable workout regimen, eating less than your maintenance level of calories should result in fat loss.
Closing Thoughts
Burning an extra 1000 calories is entirely possible and may help you lose weight. You can burn these calories through exercise, general physical activity, or a combination of these two things. However, if you eat less, you may not need burn an additional 1000 calories each day. After all, you can create a caloric deficit just through dieting. However, most studies suggest that the combination of diet AND exercise work best.
The bottom line is that developing sustainable eating and exercise habits is almost always the best strategy for long-term weight loss and health. Focusing just on burning 1000 calories means you may be missing the big picture. And, if you are eating too much, even a 1000-calorie workout won’t help you lose weight.
References:
Joseph G, Arviv-Eliashiv R, Tesler R. A comparison of diet versus diet + exercise programs for health improvement in middle-aged, overweight women. Womens Health (Lond). 2020 Jan-Dec;16:1745506520932372. doi: 10.1177/1745506520932372. PMID: 32597335; PMCID: PMC7325539. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7325539/
Thurber C, Dugas LR, Ocobock C, Carlson B, Speakman JR, Pontzer H. Extreme events reveal an alimentary limit on sustained maximal human energy expenditure. Sci Adv. 2019 Jun 5;5(6):eaaw0341. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aaw0341. PMID: 31183404; PMCID: PMC6551185. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6551185/
Losing 50 Pounds in 6 Months: Tips and Tricks To Achieve Your Weight Loss Goals
Most people join a gym or start dieting to lose weight. However, most of these folks quit the fitness lifestyle before meeting their weight loss objective. There are several reasons for these weight loss lapses.
Failing to set a weight loss goal is one of the biggest reasons most people never make progress. You must have a definite objective and a plan to achieve it before you embark on your fitness journey.
Ask a newbie in your gym about their fitness goal, and they probably reply with ‘lose weight’ or ‘build muscle.’ However, these goals are too vague to set you on the right path. Your fitness goals must be more actionable and specific to push you in the right direction. For example, you must switch from ‘lose weight’ to ‘lose 50 pounds in six months.’ The new goal is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound.
The new goal gives you the exact amount of weight you must lose in a particular period. Before we go any further, let’s take a step back. Most dieters have no idea what to expect from a weight loss program. They know they need to lose weight but are unsure of what is attainable.
Tell a newbie exerciser that he must lose 50 pounds in six months, and they will look like they’ve seen a ghost. In this article, we will give you 23 tips for losing 50 pounds in six months. Additionally, you’ll learn about how much weight you should aim to lose safely in a given period. There is a lot to cover, so sit tight and read on.
23 Tips For Losing 50 Pounds in Six Months
Losing 50 pounds in 26 weeks might sound impossible to people struggling with weight loss. However, it is entirely possible with the right approach. Here are the 23 tips for weight loss that will help you see the needle budge in the right direction:
Set Realistic Goals
Most people falter on the first step of their weight loss journey as they have no clue about setting an achievable goal. Some people start exercising without a specific goal, whereas others begin with a vague objective.
Your weight loss goal should be realistic, objective, and actionable. Trying to lose too much weight too soon will lead to disappointment, and most people in this category drop off their weight loss journey as they are overwhelmed with the big numbers staring them in their faces.
You must break your main objective into smaller goals to make your weight loss journey less intimidating. Furthermore, checking smaller goals off your list each week will work as positive reinforcement and keep you motivated.
Related: Weight Loss Target Date Calculator
Run a Calorie Deficit
You must enter a calorie deficit to shed excess weight, meaning you have to burn more calories daily than you consume. However, most people have no idea how many calories they should cut out from their diet to lose the spare tire.
It is believed that you can lose a pound weekly if you cut 500 calories from your daily diet. Similarly, reducing 1,000 calories from your diet will help you lose two pounds each week. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends limiting your daily calorie cut to 1,000 kcal to keep your weight loss journey gradual, steady, and sustainable. [1]
Cutting 1,000 calories from your daily diet will help you lose 50 pounds in 25 weeks (2 kcal X 25). Notably, six months roughly consist of 26 weeks, meaning you can safely lose 52 pounds in half a year. This proves that our goal of losing 50 pounds in six months is attainable and safe.
Notably, you don’t have to cut 1,000 calories exclusively from your diet to enter a deficit. If this was the case, losing two pounds every week would be near impossible for folks consuming 2,000-2,500 kcal daily.
To achieve the 1,000-calorie deficit, you should cut 500 calories from your diet and burn the remaining 500 calories through an exercise program. This is why following an effective diet and exercise program is a must for achieving your weight loss goals.
Nutrient-Dense Foods
You must follow a personalized diet program to meet your weight loss goals. Plus, your diet should consist of nutrient-dense whole foods as they are rich in vitamins, minerals, and fiber, which keep you feeling full throughout the day.
Depending on your dietary preferences, your meals should comprise veggies, fruits, grains, non-starchy carbs, and a source of lean protein. Furthermore, you must reduce your sugar intake to limit visceral fat buildup.
Controlling your portion sizes can help ensure you don’t overshoot your calorie intake goals. Invest in a food scale or measuring cups to ensure you eat the correct portions of each food. Additionally, switching to smaller plates and bowls can help curb the risk of overeating.
You must also develop the habit of reading nutrition labels before buying packed foods. It will ensure that you only buy foods that fit your macro goals and stay away from ‘dirty calories.’ Whole foods are generally lower in calories than processed and junk foods, making them a perfect fit for your weight loss journey.
Calculate Your BMR
The role of basal metabolic rate (BMR) is often overlooked in a weight loss program. BMR determines the calories your body needs to accomplish its most basic (basal) life-sustaining functions. BMR is often used interchangeably with resting metabolic rate (RMR).
Your BMR depends on multiple factors, including age, body size, amount of lean muscle tissue, gender, genetics, etc. According to the BMR calculations, a 25-year-old, 180-pound, 5-foot-10-inch male burns 1,910 daily calories when not working out or moving around.
To lose a pound of body weight weekly, this individual will have to cut 500 calories from his diet, meaning he’ll be consuming 1,410 daily calories. Furthermore, if this individual wants to shed an additional pound, he should burn an extra 500 calories during an exercise regimen.
Alternatively, you could determine your average daily calorie intake using a calorie-tracking app, such as MyFitnessPal, by analyzing your calorie intake for the last five days. Once you have your average calorie intake number, deduct 500 calories from your diet by reducing your serving size across all meals or skipping a meal. This will help you lose a pound of body weight weekly.
Remember, everyone is built differently and responds to different stimuli uniquely. Finding the right amount of calories to cut from your daily routine might require some trial and error.
Related: Weight Loss Calculator
Reevaluate Your Macros
Understanding the three macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) is a must for fitness enthusiasts. You must limit your carb and fat intake during a weight loss program and follow a protein-rich diet.
Notably, many people consider carbs their arch-enemies in a weight loss program. However, cutting out carbs entirely from your diet will be a blunder as your body relies on glycogen (which comes from carbohydrates) as its primary energy source.
Minimize the intake of refined carbohydrate foods such as white bread, white rice, pasta, baked goods, sugary drinks, sweets, and junk food. You must consume at least 130 calories daily to maintain your overall health and performance. [2]
According to a study, your macronutrient split should be between fat (40%-20%), carbs (35%-65%), and protein (25%-15%) to promote weight loss. [3]
Exercise
Although exercising is not mandatory on a weight loss program, working out three to six days a week can help speed up your results. A 150-pound individual can burn around 500 calories in about 40 minutes if they maintain a 12-minute mile pace (5 mph).
You must include cardiovascular and strength training into your training regime for optimal weight loss results.
Cardio
Your training sessions should consist of aerobic and anaerobic workouts to optimize weight loss. Furthermore, HIIT workouts (high-intensity interval training) are incredibly effective at burning calories. They are also usually shorter than conventional cardio workouts, making them an excellent fit for people with busy schedules. [4]
Strength Training
Many people leave gains on the table by staying away from the free weight section during their weight loss program. Strength training helps burn calories during a workout and increases your metabolic rate, which enables you to burn more calories throughout the day, even when you’re physically inactive. [5]
Check Out: Calories Burned Running Calculator
Hire a Nutritionist and Personal Trainer
Contrary to what most people think, designing a diet program falls out of the scope of practice for a certified personal trainer. While a personal trainer can help you with a personalized training plan according to your physical fitness levels, limitations, and goals, you must seek a registered nutritionist’s help for a customized diet plan.
You could ask your trainer for a dietitian’s reference. The nutritionist and trainer can work together to streamline your training and recovery program and maximize your output.
You could design a training and diet program on your own; however, it will require significant trial and error. Hiring a nutritionist and trainer can help save you a tremendous amount of time, effort, and money in the long run.
Furthermore, a personal trainer can help you build a solid training foundation by teaching you the correct exercise form, which can lower your risk of injury.
Lifestyle Changes
Your weight loss program should not be limited to your diet and training program. Losing 50 pounds in six months demands a lifestyle change. You must make healthier choices in every aspect. For example, always take the stairs instead of the elevator, eat more vegetables and fruits in each meal, and go to bed on time each night.
You should also clear out all the junk food from your kitchen cupboard. Remember, what is in the cupboard, will eventually end up in your stomach. Minimize the chances of going off track by snacking on junk food.
Furthermore, you must keep moving throughout the day. Schedule a 5-10 minute walk break every couple of hours. Setting a 10,000 daily step goal can push you to walk more throughout the day. Notably, 10,000 daily steps can be a little overwhelming for most people; you could start with a 5,000-step goal and slowly build on it.
Hydrate
Water is your best friend on a fat loss program. During your cardio exercises, you’ll lose a lot of water through sweat, increasing your risk of dehydration. You must drink at least a gallon of water throughout the day to keep yourself hydrated.
It also has several other benefits, such as regulating your body temperature, protecting your tissues, spinal cord, and joints, helping excrete waste through perspiration, urination, and defecation, improving digestion and blood oxygen circulation, boosting cognitive function, and enhancing skin quality.
Furthermore, drinking water throughout the day will keep you feeling satiated, which will reduce your probability of feasting on junk food. You should drink a glass of water before meals when you feel extra hungry, as it will help curb your appetite. [6]
Stay Away From Fad Diets
The fitness community regularly witnesses new fad diets that promise mind-boggling results. Some of these diets include the boiled egg diet and the cabbage soup diet.
Fad diets rapidly gain popularity, but they are equally quick to disappear. Since these diets encourage extreme dietary choices, some people believe that fad diets can help them achieve their weight loss goals faster.
Most fad diets claim extraordinary results; however, they have little to no scientific evidence backing them. Sticking to a fad diet can not only lead you to a weight loss plateau, but it can also cause chronic health issues as these diets comprise restrictive and imbalanced eating patterns, such as eliminating entire food groups or severely limiting calorie intake. Plus, the weight loss achieved through fad diets is often not sustainable.
You must only follow a diet protocol with scientific research supporting it and a proven track record.
Fasting
Fasting is one of the best ways to enter a calorie deficit and lose weight. The rise of intermittent fasting has breathed new life into fasting. Intermittent fasting involves cycling between periods of fasting and eating. [7]
You could choose between several intermittent fasting (IF) protocols depending on your preferences and schedule. The 16/8 method is the most popular IF schedule; it involves fasting for 16 hours daily and eating during the remaining eight hours.
Besides its weight loss benefits, intermittent fasting can improve insulin sensitivity, help fight against chronic inflammation, improve heart health, boost cognitive function and immunity, and reduce the risk of cancer.
In contrast to the typical diet programs that dictate what you should and shouldn’t eat, an intermittent fasting program focuses on your eating schedule. Although your dietary choices aren’t restricted on an IF plan, you should stick to healthy dietary choices to speed up your weight loss progress.
Do Not Starve
In defiance of popular opinion, you aren’t supposed to starve yourself on a weight loss program. Going too harsh on yourself during a diet can lead to developing a negative relationship with food, where you might experience feelings of guilt, shame, anxiety, or fear related to food and eating.
A negative relationship with food can have the opposite effects on your weight loss progress as it can result in a pattern of disordered eating habits such as binge eating, purging, or using food as a coping mechanism for emotional stress. Further, it can have negative consequences on your physical and mental well-being.
Starving can also hamper your performance in physiological and psychological tasks as it can leave you feeling weak, drained, and exhausted throughout the day. Even on a weight loss program, you should eat small but regular meals throughout the day if you are not following a fasting protocol.
Plan Your Meals Ahead of Time
Leaving your meals to chance is a sure-shot way of falling off track on your weight loss journey. If you want to lose 50 pounds in six months, planning at least a week’s worth of meals in advance will help minimize your risk of giving in to cravings and sticking to your diet. It also saves you the stress of coming up with meal ideas on the fly.
Planning your meals helps you meticulously break down your calorie goal into an ideal macro split. On the other hand, if you enter a restaurant feeling insanely hungry, you’ll probably end up ordering the most unhealthy dish on the menu. Remember, you must control your environment and not be controlled by it.
Plus, planning your meals can save time and money by reducing the need for last-minute meal decisions. It allows you to buy your food in bulk, significantly reducing your grocery bill. Not to mention, it also minimizes food wastage.
Reduce Stress
Chronic stress is one of the biggest factors behind weight gain. Stress increases cortisol production in your body, leading to increased body fat stores.
Many people resort to eating unhealthy and binge eating junk food when stressed, leading to a bulging waistline.
If all this isn’t enough, chronic stress increases your appetite and can interfere with your sleep. It can also lead to decreased physical activity, contributing to weight gain and difficulty losing weight.
Exercise, meditation, and yoga are some of the best ways to manage cortisol levels, combat stress, and improve overall health and well-being. Seek a medical professional’s help if you cannot control your stress levels with these three methods.
Supplements
Adding a fat-burning supplement to your routine can help speed up your weight loss progress by increasing your metabolism, suppressing your appetite, boosting the fat-loss process, and blocking dietary fat absorption.
Notably, the effects of a fat-burning supplement can change depending on its ingredients. You must thoroughly analyze a supplement’s ingredients before making a purchase.
Whey protein supplements can boost your metabolism and curb your appetite by keeping you feeling full throughout the day. Furthermore, protein supplements will ensure you don’t lose muscle mass during your weight loss program.
Natural supplements, such as caffeine and green tea extract, can also help expedite your fat loss progress. Plus, caffeine can temporarily boost your metabolism by up to 16% over one to two hours, which can help burn more calories. [8]
You must consult your healthcare provider before starting a new supplement. Also, you should favor natural fat burners over synthetic formulas to ensure safe weight loss and that the weight doesn’t come back on shortly after stopping the supplement.
Cheat Meals
If losing weight was easy, flabs would be a thing of the past. Most people start craving junk food a few days after starting a weight loss diet. When discussing a weight loss diet with a newbie, their first questions usually revolve around permitted weekly cheat meals.
Although six months is a long time, you must stay away from cheat meals to achieve your goals and avoid derailing from your weight loss journey.
Plus, if you do eat a cheat meal, you must account for its calories. Deduct the excess calories you consumed in your cheat meal from your weekly calorie goal. Since eating a cheat meal on this program can be a hassle, we recommend avoiding junk food until you meet your objective. Cheat meals can also increase your cravings as calorie-dense, highly palatable foods can stimulate your brain’s reward centers.
Sleep
Sleeping seven to eight hours gives your body enough time to recuperate, helping you shed excess weight. Getting a good night’s sleep is especially important for exercisers and folks with a hectic schedule.
It is no secret that getting adequate sleep each night can help you wake up feeling fresh and energized. Focusing on your recovery will help you perform better in your workouts and reduce your risk of injury.
Sleep deprivation can increase cravings for unhealthy foods, resulting in overeating and weight gain. There is a high probability that you will end up at your favorite fast-food restaurant for dinner if you are fatigued because of a lack of sleep.
Furthermore, a lack of sleep can spike ghrelin levels (hunger hormone) in your body and decrease leptin levels, which can increase your appetite and make it harder to lose excess weight. Besides the hunger hormones, sleeping for seven to eight hours daily can improve your body’s hormone balance.
Alcohol
Alcohol can be detrimental to your weight loss journey. It is packed with empty calories, meaning alcohol has no nutritional value, and the calories you consume through alcohol will end up as body fat.
Alcohol can increase your appetite. Not only that, it makes it harder to resist unhealthy food choices, leading to overeating. This is one of the reasons why you’ll never see grilled chicken breast as a bestseller in a pub. Fries, pizzas, and beer are a match made in heaven — the unhealthy kind.
Alcohol can also disrupt your sleep, wreaking havoc on your recovery and weight loss progress. Waking up tired can negatively affect your motivation to follow a healthy lifestyle, which can lead you to eat junk food and skip exercising. If losing 50 pounds in six months is a priority for you, you should stay away from alcohol until you meet your weight loss objective.
Track Your Progress
Tracking your fitness progress is underrated. Putting your goals on paper will give you a sense of urgency. Furthermore, most people that track their progress also have detailed daily and weekly action steps to help them achieve their objectives.
You don’t need fancy tech to track your progress. A pen and paper or the notes app on your phone will work wonders. Before starting progress tracking, you must write down your weight loss goal, “lose 50 pounds in six months,” on the first note.
Track all your details, including body weight, body measurements, meals, workouts, weights used, sets, reps, and RPE for each exercise. You can use a calorie-tracking app like MyFitnessPal to count your calories.
Tracking your progress ensures that you are heading in the right direction. It also allows you to steer your ship in the right direction as soon as you find out that you are heading down the right path or if your weight loss progress is unsatisfactory.
Find a Support System
A support system can be a game changer in achieving your physique transformation goals. Most people think exercising is a one-person sport and overlook the importance of a support system.
A supportive system can help you stick to your goals and pick you up when you lack motivation. Your support system can consist of your family and friends. Furthermore, you could also make friends at your gym who can keep you accountable a part of your support system.
Your closest circle plays a crucial role in your transformation journey. If your best friends eat out five days a week and like partying until late, you’ll probably end up giving up on losing 50 pounds in six months.
The right company can help help you achieve your goals by sharing their own experiences and resources, such as healthy recipes and exercise tips.
Consistency
Losing 50 pounds doesn’t happen overnight. You must set realistic goals, make necessary lifestyle adjustments, follow a personalized diet and training program, and stay consistent with them until you achieve your objectives.
Most people lose a few pounds relatively quickly in the form of water weight; however, they soon hit a weight loss plateau and give up on their weight loss goals. A physique transformation will test your grit and determination. Only the people that have the courage and the perseverance to put in the work even when they do not see the needle budge in the right direction will succeed.
You have to be consistent with every aspect of your lifestyle to achieve your transformation goals, including your diet, training, sleeping, and hitting the gym at the same time every day. Slacking in any area can lead to suboptimal results.
A physique transformation program involves several rounds of tinkering. After every two to four weeks, you must analyze your progress and make necessary adjustments.
Practice Mindfulness
Weight loss is as much a psychological challenge as it is physiological. You must remain mindful and conscious of your lifestyle to achieve your objectives.
Paying close attention to your thoughts, feelings, and bodily sensations at every moment is crucial to controlling your environment and ensuring it doesn’t control you. Practicing mindfulness can help recognize the triggers that lead to unhealthy eating habits. It will also help you monitor the self-talk that may lead you to skip a training session.
Conscious eating can help avoid overeating and consuming excess calories, aiding in maintaining a caloric deficit. Incorporate mindful practices, such as meditation, yoga, exercise, and journaling, into your daily routine for a more positive mindset and reduce stress.
Be Patient
The proverb ‘patience is a virtue’ is apt for a physique transformation. Most people give up on their weight loss goals after losing patience, as it can take too long. For example, losing 50 pounds in six months is not a short-term goal. Only a handful of people have the poise to stick to a strict diet and training program for 25 weeks.
Furthermore, losing too much weight too soon can be healthy. Some people use fad diets to drop a significant amount of weight in a short period; however, this weight comes back on just as quickly after you stop following the radical diet.
You must avoid the temptation of following crash diets or engaging in excessive exercise, as it can hinder your progress and increase your risk of injury. Instead, focus on making sustainable lifestyle changes that you can follow for the long term that will help you achieve your goal physique.
Also read: How To Lose 1 Pound a Day: Shedding Pounds Made Easy
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you need to exercise to lose weight?
You must be in a calorie deficit to shed excess body weight. Exercising for weight loss is not compulsory, and you could lose weight just by cutting calories from your daily diet. However, combining working out with a calorie-restrictive diet can help expedite your weight loss results.
Is losing two pounds of body weight each week by cutting 1,000 calories safe?
The CDC recommends losing 1-2 pounds weekly to ensure your weight loss progress is gradual, steady, and sustainable. Cutting 500 calories from your diet will help you lose around a pound of body weight each week. Similarly, deducting 1,000 calories from your daily calories can result in shedding two pounds weekly.
However, you should not cut 1,000 calories from your diet. You must cut 500 calories from your diet and burn the remaining 500 calories through exercise. Remember, you must consult a qualified healthcare professional before starting a new diet.
Can I continue my weight loss journey after losing 50 pounds in six months?
Depending on your starting weight, you might experience your weight loss progress tapering close to the end of the program as your body gets used to your new diet regimen. Ideally, you must give your body a little break from dieting after six months and switch to a maintenance diet. Sticking to the same diet for a prolonged period can lead you to a plateau. Take some time off from dieting, regroup, and begin your weight loss program again after a 2-4 week break.
Note: The content on Fitness Volt is for informative purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice to diagnose, prevent, or treat health problems. If you’re suffering from a health issue, are pregnant, or are under 18 years old, you should consult your physician before starting any new supplement, nutrition, or fitness routine.
Wrapping Up
From optimizing your diet to increasing your physical activity, this article provides you with 23 wholesome tips and tricks that will help you in losing 50 pounds in six months and start living a healthier, happier life.
Following these weight loss tips is easier said than done. Adhering to these demands requires a strong mindset, determination, and patience. Remember, you might experience quick weight loss in the initial part of your weight loss journey; however, your progress might seem like it is stalling after you have shed your water weight. Nonetheless, you must keep your head down and put in the work. The results will follow.
Best of luck!
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Losing Weight.
Johns Hopkins Medicine. (n.d.). Carbohydrate Goals.
Sacks FM, Bray GA, Carey VJ, Smith SR, Ryan DH, Anton SD, McManus K, Champagne CM, Bishop LM, Laranjo N, Leboff MS, Rood JC, de Jonge L, Greenway FL, Loria CM, Obarzanek E, Williamson DA. Comparison of weight-loss diets with different compositions of fat, protein, and carbohydrates. N Engl J Med. 2009 Feb 26;360(9):859-73. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa0804748. PMID: 19246357; PMCID: PMC2763382.
D’Amuri A, Sanz JM, Capatti E, Di Vece F, Vaccari F, Lazzer S, Zuliani G, Dalla Nora E, Passaro A. Effectiveness of high-intensity interval training for weight loss in adults with obesity: a randomized controlled non-inferiority trial. BMJ Open Sport Exerc Med. 2021 Jul 20;7(3):e001021. doi: 10.1136/bmjsem-2020-001021. PMID: 34367654; PMCID: PMC8292807.
Bellicha A, van Baak MA, Battista F, Beaulieu K, Blundell JE, Busetto L, Carraça EV, Dicker D, Encantado J, Ermolao A, Farpour-Lambert N, Pramono A, Woodward E, Oppert JM. Effect of exercise training on weight loss, body composition changes, and weight maintenance in adults with overweight or obesity: An overview of 12 systematic reviews and 149 studies. Obes Rev. 2021 Jul;22 Suppl 4(Suppl 4):e13256. doi: 10.1111/obr.13256. Epub 2021 May 6. PMID: 33955140; PMCID: PMC8365736.
Stookey, J.D., Constant, F., Popkin, B.M. and Gardner, C.D. (2008), Drinking Water Is Associated With Weight Loss in Overweight Dieting Women Independent of Diet and Activity. Obesity, 16: 2481-2488. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.409
Welton S, Minty R, O’Driscoll T, Willms H, Poirier D, Madden S, Kelly L. Intermittent fasting and weight loss: Systematic review. Can Fam Physician. 2020 Feb;66(2):117-125. PMID: 32060194; PMCID: PMC7021351.
Hollands MA, Arch JR, Cawthorne MA. A simple apparatus for comparative measurements of energy expenditure in human subjects: the thermic effect of caffeine. Am J Clin Nutr. 1981 Oct;34(10):2291-4. doi: 10.1093/ajcn/34.10.2291. PMID: 7293955.
How To Lose 1 Pound a Day: Shedding Pounds Made Easy
Most people would be willing to shed a few pounds at the drop of a hat. Losing weight not only makes you look better, but it can also reduce your risk of contracting chronic health issues. These benefits make losing weight alluring, and it is also what sells gym memberships.
However, the weight loss process can be slow and meticulous, and most people do not have the patience to stick to a weight loss program in the long run. This is also why fad diets that promise significant weight loss in a short period are such a hit.
‘How to lose 1 pound a day’ is a common question personal trainers get asked by beginners. Before we dive into this subject, let’s get the record straight. Losing a pound each day is not entirely safe or sustainable. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends limiting your weight loss to 1-2 pounds weekly to keep your physique transformation journey gradual, steady, and sustainable. [1]
According to JAMA, you must burn 3,500 calories to lose a pound of body fat. As you can probably tell, burning 3,500 calories daily is not sustainable, safe, or even possible for most folks. Furthermore, a pound of body fat doesn’t necessarily translate to a pound of body weight. [2]
Losing a pound each week means a daily weight drop of 0.14 pounds, which is a far cry from the goal of shedding a pound each day. Also, weight loss doesn’t happen overnight. It might take up to a couple of weeks before a beginner starts seeing progress after switching to a weight loss program.
Prerequisites For Losing 1 Pound a Day
You must enter a calorie deficit to lose weight, meaning you must expend more calories than you consume in a day. You could achieve a calorie deficit by eating less or exercising more. A balance of both is ideal for losing a pound a day.
Remember, each individual is built differently and will react uniquely to different diets and training stimuli. There is no way to promise a pound of weight loss each day for everyone. For example, your results might differ from your training partner’s.
The tips mentioned in this article will help streamline your weight loss process and ensure you get the best bang for your buck.
In this article, we go over the 15 most effective tips to shed the spare tire. We have also included five training programs to ensure optimal weight loss. To ensure your safety, we won’t recommend radical steps. Contrarily, we will only recommend ways that will help achieve safe and sustainable weight loss in the long run.
Sticking to these steps will help you achieve your body weight goal and promote a healthy lifestyle, which will pay dividends in the long run.
15 Steps To Lose 1 Pound a Day
Sadly, there is no magic pill that will help shave off a pound from your belly each day. Losing a pound a day is an ambitious goal that demands commitment, effort, and patience. The tips mentioned below will help you make sustainable lifestyle changes and improve your overall health and well-being:
Hydrate
Cutting water is one of the fastest ways to shed body weight. It is common to lose a few pounds in a single day by dehydrating yourself.
Most fitness models start cutting water 2-3 days before a photoshoot. It helps them get diced and achieve crisp conditioning. Professional bodybuilders take this a step further and use diuretics to get in shape for competitions. However, hobbyist lifters and the general public should stay away from these methods, as they are unsafe and unsustainable.
Plus, once you resume your regular water intake, you will rapidly regain the weight you had previously lost.
Prolonged dehydration can cause headaches, delirium, confusion, fatigue, dizziness, dry mouth, and constipation. Left untreated, it can contribute to kidney stones, kidney failure, and heatstroke, all life-threatening illnesses. [3]
Tip: Water Intake Calculator
Stay Away From Fad Diets
Many people flock to fad diets, such as the boiled egg diet and the cabbage soup diet, that promise significant weight loss in a short period. However, these diets have little to no scientific evidence backing them. Most of these diets gain popularity rapidly but are equally quick to disappear.
Most fad diets require you to completely cut out some food sources, which can lead to nutrient deficiencies. Sticking to an imbalanced diet for an extended period can lead to chronic health conditions, which can worsen over time.
While choosing a diet, you must analyze if it follows a balanced approach to nutrition. Cutting out certain foods from your diet can result in developing a negative relationship with food, which can make matters worse. Plus, the weight lost through radical diets often bounces back as soon as you switch to a regular diet.
You must consult your healthcare provider before starting any new exercise or diet program, especially if you are dealing with any health issues.
Patience
After your body starts adjusting to the changes, you will experience rapid weight loss in the initial days in the form of water weight. However, you might hit a plateau if you don’t consistently change your diet and training program.
Furthermore, setting more realistic objectives can assist you in cultivating more patience and perseverance in the process. For example, you could change your weight loss goal from losing one pound daily to losing 4-5 pounds in a month. This new goal is achievable and safe.
Checking off a monthly weight loss goal can help keep you motivated. It will also act as a reinforcement that you are on the correct path.
Count Your Calories
Calorie tracking is a must if you want to lose weight. You cannot just eat whatever you like and hope for a weight loss miracle. Based on your current weight, you must set a daily calorie consumption goal to meet your target body weight.
You could determine a calorie goal for yourself by using a TDEE calculator. Alternatively, you could use a calorie-tracking app like MyFitnessPal to account for your average calorie intake.
Log your meals in the calorie-tracking app to find out your macronutrient (carbs, proteins, and fat) split. Most calorie-tracking apps have a robust food and recipe database, which makes tracking your meals easy and convenient. Some apps also come with a barcode scanner for tracking the calories of packaged foods.
Enter a Calorie Deficit
After determining your average daily calorie goal, you must enter a deficit to lose weight. Cutting 500 calories from your diet will result in a one-pound weekly weight drop. Similarly, cutting 1,000 calories will help you shed two pounds a week.
For example, if you consume 2,200 calories daily, you must shift to a 1,700 kcal diet to shed the spare tire. Cutting 1,000 calories from a 2,200-calorie diet is not recommended. If you want to shed two pounds weekly, you should cut 500 calories from your diet and burn the remaining 500 calories through exercise.
Eat Nutrient-Dense Foods
On a weight loss diet, you must get your calories from nutrient-dense whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains, non-fat and low-fat dairy, fish and seafood, unprocessed lean meat, and skinless poultry, nuts, and legumes.
Avoid empty calories such as alcohol, sugar-laden beverages, and highly processed foods. Eating nutrient-dense whole foods will keep you feeling full and supply the necessary nutrients to your muscles throughout the day.
Fiber is often overlooked in a weight loss diet. Folks following a 2,000-calorie diet should have at least 28 grams of fiber daily, as it helps with macronutrient absorption and getting the most nutritional value out of your food. It also promotes gut health, reduces bloating and the risk of constipation and diarrhea. [4]
Follow a Personalized Diet Plan
No two people will react to the same diet and training program the same. Your training partner might lose more weight than you while eating the same food and doing the same exercises as you. How your body responds to training and diet depends on multiple factors, including genetics, age, gender, body weight.
You must follow a suitable macronutrient split according to your body type and goals to fast-track your progress. Plus, you must plan your meals in advance to ensure you don’t fall off your diet regimen. Dedicate a day of the week to prepping meals; it will reduce the possibility of you ordering junk food from your favorite fast-food restaurant when you are starving and have nothing to eat at home.
To lose one pound a day, you must also watch your portion sizes. Using smaller plates and cutlery can reduce your meal size and calorie intake, helping you take inches off your waistline. You must eat your favorite healthy foods throughout the week to reduce cravings.
Though not necessary, you can also use dietary supplements, such as a whey protein supplement and fat burners, to help with your goal of losing one pound a day.
Avoid Binge Eating
Snacking on junk food is one of the biggest reasons for weight gain. Folks that do not follow a diet plan are at a higher risk of bingeing on snacks throughout the day. Following a structured diet plan keep you satiated and lowers your cravings.
You must avoid high-calories beverages. It is very easy to overshoot your daily calorie goal by chugging on sugar-laden drinks without even realizing it. Plus, you must switch to low or zero-calorie substitutes when and where possible. Making small changes in your diet can lead to big results in the long run.
When snacking, choose healthy snacks, such as mixed nuts, Greek yogurt and berries, and apple slices with peanut butter.
Read also 7 Ways To Stop Binge Eating
Stay Consistent
Consistency is key in a weight loss program. To lose a pound a day, you must be consistent with your daily meals, workouts, and sleep schedule. Consistency is even more crucial when you have a shorter timeframe to work with.
When you are consistent with your diet and training program, your body burns fat more efficiently. Furthermore, staying consistent with a fit lifestyle minimizes the risk of gaining excess body fat and improves your overall health and well-being.
Choose Healthy Fats
Many people blame fats for their excess body fat. However, this assumption is faulty. Consuming healthy fats is essential for optimal body functioning and health. Furthermore, it provides your body with essential nutrients and promotes the feeling of fullness, reducing your overall calorie intake.
Nuts, seeds, avocados, and fatty fish should be the primary sources of fats in your diet. Fats can help reduce inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity, leading to better weight management.
However, you must ensure that you choose healthy fats over unhealthy fats. Staying away from processed and fried foods can help reduce the risk of chronic diseases, such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes while promoting overall health.
Tip: Use Fat Intake Calculator
Stress Less
When you are stressed, your body releases the cortisol hormone into your bloodstream, which makes you hold onto body fat. Chronic stress is one of the leading causes of weight gain and increases the risk of health issues like high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. Increased cortisol levels can also increase appetite and cravings for unhealthy foods. [5]
Chronic stress can also hamper your motivation to train, eat healthily, and stay consistent with a fit lifestyle.
To lose a pound each day, you must keep stress at bay. Meditation, yoga, and exercise are among the best ways of combating stress. Nonetheless, you must consult a healthcare professional if you are dealing with high levels of stress and are unable to control it using these three methods.
Try Fasting
Fasting is an incredibly effective method of shedding body weight. Intermittent fasting (IF) is a rage among fitness enthusiasts. It involves cycling between voluntary fasting and non-fasting. The 16/8 protocol is the most popular IF method, involving fasting for 16 hours a day and eating in the remaining eight-hour window.
Beginners should start with easier fasting protocols, such as the 14/10 method. It involves fasting for 14 hours and a 10-hour feeding window. Advanced lifters can opt for the ‘OMAD’ protocol, which involves eating one meal a day. Fasting protocols with longer fasting windows are more effective at helping you lose a pound each day.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleeping for at least seven to eight hours is essential to allow your body enough time to rest and recuperate. Since losing one pound a day requires you to follow a stringent diet and training program, you must take your recovery just as seriously.
Get ready for what we are about to say next. It is so polarizing that ‘the hardest workers in the room’ might lose sleep over it. Ready? Here we go — don’t hesitate to hit the snooze button. Alarm clocks have a snooze button for a reason. They help you get in the much-needed sleep.
Quality sleep helps balance your hormones, which can help control hunger, satiety, and metabolism. Fatigue due to a lack of sleep increases your risk of feasting on junk food and skipping exercise.
Workout
Although you could lose a pound a day just by cutting your calorie intake, it is not sustainable or healthy. Engaging in cardiovascular and strength training can help speed up your weight loss progress and tone your muscles. High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is an incredibly effective way of promoting weight loss while keeping your workouts short and exciting.
You must follow a personalized training program to optimize your weight loss, meaning you should choose a workout regimen based on your experience level. Punching up your weight class can lead to burnout and increase your risk of injury. Regular exercise can also help regulate hormones related to appetite and metabolism, such as insulin and cortisol.
Move More
Besides sweating it out in the gym, you must ensure that you are constantly moving throughout the day. A sedentary lifestyle increases your risk of contracting chronic health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
Set a daily step goal for yourself and reorganize your day to ensure you hit your objectives. You could start with a 5,000-steps-a-day goal and make your way up to walking 10,000 steps daily.
Tip: Try Walking Calorie Calculator
5 Workouts To Lose 1 Pound a Day
Following a balanced training program that includes strength and cardiovascular training will optimize your weight loss. We will focus on HIIT workouts in this article to lose one pound a day.
HIIT Workout 1 — Tabata Workout
Tabata workouts include doing eight rounds of 20 seconds of strenuous exercise followed by 10 seconds of rest. Perform each exercise for eight rounds before switching to the next exercise.
Eight rounds of exercise, including working time and rest, will add up to four minutes. Three exercises in this Tabata workout and two recovery periods will take you 14 minutes to complete.
Exercise
Sets
Time (in seconds)
Rest (in seconds)
Burpees
8
20
10
Recovery
60 seconds
Jumping Lunge
8
20
10
Recovery
60 seconds
Spiderman Plank
8
20
10
Many people compromise their form during a HIIT workout to make the exercises easier. However, doing this hampers the effectiveness of the lifts and increases your risk of injury.
HIIT Workout 2
The second HIIT workout in our quest to lose one pound a day includes a balance of strength training and cardio exercises. You will need a pair of dumbbells to perform this workout. This workout comprises performing two rounds of the following circuit:
Exercise
Time (in seconds)
Rest (in seconds)
Close-Grip Chest Press
30
30
Leg Raise
45
30
Squat Hold
45
30
Renegade Row
30
30
Plank
45
30
Dumbbell Overhead Press
30
30
Thruster
75
30
High Knees
45
120
Rest for 30 seconds between exercises in the circuit. You are allowed a two-minute rest between circuits. To stick to the rest duration between exercises, keep all the equipment near you before starting the circuit.
Since the rest durations between exercises are short, use that time to take your position for the next lift. You must complete this workout within 20.5 minutes.
HIIT Workout 3 — EMOM
Every minute-on-the-minute (EMOM) workouts are an underutilized form of HIIT workouts. In an EMOM workout, you must complete an exercise within 60 seconds. Your goal with EMOM exercises is to complete each exercise as quickly as possible as the remainder of the 60 seconds is used as rest between exercises.
Time
Exercise
Reps
Minute 1
Dumbbell Squat
15
Minute 2
Renegade Row Push-Up
20
Minute 3
Squat Jump
15
Minute 4
Sit-Up
20
Minute 5
Burpee
10
Complete the 15 dumbbell squats as quickly as possible without slacking on your exercise form. Use the remainder of the minute as your rest before moving on to the next exercise at the beginning of the second minute.
HIIT Workout 4 — AMRAP
In the following workout, you must complete as many reps as possible (AMRAP) of the following exercises within nine minutes. AMRAP workouts are excellent for competitive folks. In these workouts, there are no defined rest durations. You can take as long as you want between exercises to rest. Furthermore, you can also break an exercise to catch a breath. Your ultimate objective is to complete as many reps as possible within nine minutes.
Exercise
Reps
Butt Kicks
100
Jumping Jack
80
Mountain Climbers
60
Side-To-Side
40
Abdominal Row
20
After completing 100 reps of butt kicks (50 right side and 50 left side), move onto the jumping jack without stopping for rest — if you can. The total number of reps you can complete will be your final score. Challenge your friends to beat your score. You can also set your score as a benchmark for yourself and try to beat it in a subsequent workout.
HIIT Workout 5 — Ladder Workout
When used correctly, ladder HIIT workouts can melt fat off your body. The rep structure of a ladder workout is like climbing a ladder. You start with a few reps and work up to high-rep sets. The rest between exercises increases with the total number of reps. Like in real life, you must also come down a ladder. After performing the set with the highest number of reps, work towards the small rep sets. Also, you must do all of this within a specific time limit.
In this HIIT ladder workout, you’ll perform two exercises on a single ladder rung. For example, for this workout, you will perform one rep of the wall ball and dumbbell thruster before moving on to the two-rep wall ball and thruster.
Exercise and Reps
Rest (in seconds)
1 Wall Ball and 1 Dumbbell Thruster
0
2 Wall Ball and 2 Dumbbell Thruster
10
3 Wall Ball and 3 Dumbbell Thruster
15
4 Wall Ball and 4 Dumbbell Thruster
15
5 Wall Ball and 5 Dumbbell Thruster
20
6 Wall Ball and 6 Dumbbell Thruster
20
7 Wall Ball and 7 Dumbbell Thruster
25
8 Wall Ball and 8 Dumbbell Thruster
25
9 Wall Ball and 9 Dumbbell Thruster
30
10 Wall Ball and 10 Dumbbell Thruster
45
After completing 10 wall balls and dumbbell thrusters, continue back down the ladder as far as possible within the remaining time.
Note: The content on Fitness Volt is for informative purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice to diagnose, prevent, or treat health problems. If you’re suffering from a health issue, are pregnant, or are under 18 years old, you should consult your physician before starting any new supplement, nutrition, or fitness routine.
Wrapping Up
Many people follow fad diets to help them drop their body weight quickly. However, most of these extreme methods are unsafe and unsustainable. To lose one pound a day, you must focus on making lifestyle changes that promote weight loss while improving your overall health.
Although the 15 healthy lifestyle tips and five workout routines detailed in this article might not make you drop a pound daily, it will put you on the right path to sustained weight loss. Now that you have all the knowledge you need to shed the spare tire, go ahead and put it to good use. Best of luck!
References
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021). Losing Weight. Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/losing_weight/index.html
Wishnofsky M. CALCULATION OF DIETS. JAMA. 1957;163(5):384–385. doi:10.1001/jama.1957.02970400056024
Taylor K, Jones EB. Adult Dehydration. [Updated 2022 Oct 3]. In: StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL): StatPearls Publishing; 2023 Jan-. Available from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK555956/
Miketinas DC, Bray GA, Beyl RA, Ryan DH, Sacks FM, Champagne CM. Fiber Intake Predicts Weight Loss and Dietary Adherence in Adults Consuming Calorie-Restricted Diets: The POUNDS Lost (Preventing Overweight Using Novel Dietary Strategies) Study. J Nutr. 2019 Oct 1;149(10):1742-1748. doi: 10.1093/jn/nxz117. PMID: 31174214; PMCID: PMC6768815.
McEwen BS. Neurobiological and Systemic Effects of Chronic Stress. Chronic Stress (Thousand Oaks). 2017 Jan-Dec;1:2470547017692328. doi: 10.1177/2470547017692328. Epub 2017 Apr 10. PMID: 28856337; PMCID: PMC5573220.
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