Many people struggle to lose weight for one main reason: they fail to set concrete goals. Instead of specifying an exact and quantifiable goal, plan, and deadline, they content themselves with vague targets like, “I want to lose weight.” This is no way to win. To be successful in any endeavor, including weight loss, people must set concrete goals, define the stepping stones that will mark the path, and create and stick to a plan that will keep them moving forward towards the target.
If you want to lose weight, set a goal, one that is quantifiable, or can be represented with objective numbers. For the purposes of this article, let’s say the goal is 10 pounds in a month. Now chunk it down – there are four weeks in a month, so you’ll need to lose about 2.5 pounds a week. At seven days per week, you’ll need to lose about a third of a pound each day. If each pound of fat contains 3500 calories, this means you must burn around 1250 calories a day through diet and exercise.
Thus, losing ten pounds in a month is difficult, but not impossible, especially if you are very overweight. In that case, those first ten pounds will be quite easy, as long as you follow the plan. If you simply want to lose the ‘last’ 10 pounds off your frame, this goal will be harder to accomplish. No matter your situation, to meet this calorie target, you will have to consistently follow a strict and detailed plan of diet and exercise. Here are the main steps:
1. First, determine how many calories your body uses each day based on your age, sex, weight, and activity level. There are many of these ‘calorie calculators’ around the internet, so find a good one and enter your vital statistics. Let’s say that your basic burn rate in a day is 2500 calories.
2. If you did no additional activity, you’d have to eat 1250 calories a day in order to hit your calorie target and induce weight loss. This would be very difficult to sustain, as you’d be hungry all the time and you’d suffer from malnutrition. Thus, you need to add in daily workouts to up your calorie burn. Let’s say you shoot for 500 calories burned in exercise. This takes your daily calorie burn at 3,000, and thus you need to eat 1,750 calories a day – a much more doable target.
3. Once you’ve determined your calorie target, plan out your daily meals so that you eat that many calories or less. A few guidelines: first, don’t starve yourself. If you consistently deprive your body, it will go into starvation mode, lowering your metabolism and killing your fat burning machine. Instead, you need to make sure your body is well supplied throughout the day with food and water. Instead of eating two or three big meals, eat 5 to 6 small meals throughout the day. This will help control your hunger while also keeping your metabolism roaring. Second, make sure to eat a wide variety of foods from all food groups, focusing especially on whole grain carbohydrates, lean proteins, healthy fats, fruits, and vegetables. Drink plenty of water each day, and avoid empty calorie beverages like soda and iced tea. If you make the right choices, 1,750 calories should be plenty of food to keep you satisfied each day, but you may still need to get used to ‘real’ portion sizes and wean yourself off the excessive portion sizes that are seen as ‘normal’ today.
4. Once your nutrition plan is in place, design your daily workout regime. You will want to mix in cardiovascular exercises and strength training. Shoot for about 4-6 cardio workouts each week, 3 strength training workouts, and daily flexibility training. Each type of workout will give you specific benefits. Cardio will improve your heart and lung health while also burning calories. Strength training will burn calories too, but it will also build muscle mass, increasing the number of calories you burn simply by existing. Flexibility will help you recover from workouts more quickly and will reduce your chances of injury.
If you follow this clear, detailed plan without fail, you will be sure to hit your goal after one month. The journey doesn’t end there, though – fitness and health is a lifetime quest; a journey, not a destination.
Dieting is just so simple and good when it is been done correctly. Knowing fully well that what worked for may not work for the other, get to know your own system and create it. Now we all know that simple sugars and processed foods like canned food make you gain weight no matter what the serving size. They say in moderation you could eat whatever you want and this and that and the other. But in all actuality, sugar adds fat to your body and your body will store it as fat the more sugar you consume. If you go through your day barely eating any sugar at all, then you’re okay.
I thoroughly agree that you need a plan to stick to and you need to set up quantifiable goals that are lifetime. Your artile is well said. Weight training and working out is also extremely important to do. Thanks for sharing. Keep up the good work.
This is one of the few “lose weight quick” type articles I have seen on the internet that makes sense. It is completely accurate. This would be a great way for someone to get rid of the last hard to lose pounds or jump start a diet. Be aware that even with this number of calories, you will be hungry because your body does not want to shed fat for ancient evolutionary reasons. This is not a diet that will be maintainable forever, so jumps start your weight loss with this and move to a more maintainable 500 calorie per day deficit for the longer term, eventually balancing your caloric intake as your goal weight is reached.
This article is very much on point and it doesn’t feature ridiculous “tips” you’ll find floating around other sites. Most people will lose a significant amount of water weigh in the first week, once committed to a diet and fitness regimen.
The experts seem to think that it’s safer to lose between 1 to 2 pounds per week but I think the envelope could be safely pushed to 4 pounds per week over the first month or so.
Great article with some good tips. Making realistic goals and actually making a commitment to yourself goes a long way to reaching your weight loss goals
I agree with the above comments. This article makes losing 10 lbs. a realistic and attainable goal. After losing 50 lbs. I have found that I tend to go up and back down within 10 lbs. This is a nice way to get that extra 10 lbs. off that I’ve gained.
When you first go from doing nothing to exercising at a moderate intensity you can lose up to 10lbs of pure water weight as a training adaptation. After that your losses will be about 1-2lbs per week. Great article by the way
I agree with all of the above. Water is probably one of the most key. When you increase your water intake, it gives your liver a chance to function in the matter of changing fat calories into usable energy. If you don’t have enough water, then the liver has to help the kidneys causing fat stores. Additionally, if you are already exercising, then adding some weight lifting will help give your body a boost to achieving the calorie burn needed to lose weight. I like your website. Lots of useful information located here.
This article is informative and to the point. I strongly believe that if someone were motivated to embark on a weightloss program, quick results are possible, thus sustaining and perhaps elevating awareness of proper dietary habits. Most individuals who are overweight are holding a great deal of water weight, and dropping those excess pounds will drastically change your appeareance in a small space of time. Great stuff!
Most of the people sometimes have the information but lack motivation. When it comes to weight loss having motivation and setting goals is the key.
Hello, just wanted to comment on your page and let you know that i enjoyed viewing your weightloss journey. I went through basically the same issues as an overweight person. I hated it! Ii finally reached my weight loss goal and lost over 80lbs. I learned how to measure portion sizes and what healthy foods to start eating to reach that goal. Congratulations to you, Good Luck and best wishes always.
I believe that doing all the weight loss to achieve our fitness goal we need determination and focus then everything will just follow. This 10lbs is really hard to achieve in a month knowing that there are many factors. I hope posts like this could help out many hopefuls to achieve their fitness plans. It is really hard to take away a lifestyles that we had already accustomed to do.
I agree with this article you need to set goals to lose weight. People who want to lose weight and say they want to lose 10 pounds may look at that task and think it’s too much or too hard. But if you stick to the plan in this article to a daily goal it seems a lot more achievable. Don’t miss out on meals. Trying to cut calories by leaving out a meal actually works against you because your body’s metabolism will slow down to compensate in order to conserve energy – your body does this when there is a limited intake of fuel. Eating little and often can increase your metabolism. Goal setting I believe is the most important part of your personal training plan to lose weight.
You’re so right that losing weight is not a destination, but a journey. We are so bombarded with advertising for “foods”, and I use the term loosely, that are so full of toxins, growth hormones, antibiotics and processed garbage that it really does take a mindset shift to eat the foods that are good for us. When we exercise regularly, eat the right food, we feel better, have more energy and the weight goes away almost by itself.
I agree. Losing weight does not happen overnight but if you set your goal and focus your mind on it you will loss a great deal of weight. Especially if you made it a habit and in a healthy way. Successful weight loss can be determine not by how fast you curb fats but by how long you can maintain your body. I believe also that successful weight loss constitutes on healthy lifestyle.
Thumbs up!