Are you looking to drop some pounds in record time? Weight loss is very different from person to person and experts agree that the best plan for losing pounds and maintaining a healthy weight involves both short- and long-term goals. But the good news is that rapid weight loss is possible!
While it is certainly possible to drop 20 pounds of weight within 30 days, the important question is whether or not it is SAFE to do so. This is certainly not the best way to approach a plan for achieving a healthier lifestyle through weight loss.
Furthermore, unless it is done properly, and under the supervision of a health care provider, even those in considerably good health could run into difficulty.
Let’s take a closer look at what would be required to make such massive losses in a short time and how these can affect the average health enthusiast.
Is It PHYSICALLY Safe to Drop 20 Pounds in 30 Days?
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The first thing to consider is the massive physical demands that such a weight loss effort could make on your body. The first step will involve creating a calorie deficit.
In other words, turning your body into a fat-burning machine by essentially forcing it to use energy stored as fat to support an increasingly more demanding exercise plan.
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And this must be done while building and maintaining muscle mass, so, in that sense, it is a little like rocket science. So, Let’s take a look at the simple mathematics that will govern this physical quest for reduced mass and increased power.
THE SIMPLE MATH – HOW MANY CALORIES TO DROP 20 POUNDS IN A 1 MONTH?
In a physical sense, it all comes down to those calories coming in compared to those calories going out. This applies both to dropping fat and gaining muscle. Here is how it works
1 pound of body fat is equal to about 3,500 calories of stored energy. If you want to drop 20 pounds in a month that is 5 pounds a week. This means that each week you will need to create a deficit of 17,500 calories to lose those 5 pounds — or 2500 calories each day.
When you consider what you are looking at right there, you can see that this is no small undertaking. The good news is that this is not only burned but also supports your basal metabolic rate, and non-exercise activity thermogenesis. There are also many ways to enhance these additional factors in enhancing weight loss efforts.
But What Does This Mean in terms of Diet and Exercise?
“On paper” the mathematics show that dropping this amount of weight in this amount of time lies within the locus of human capacity. There is also plenty of anecdotal and clinical evidence to support this claim, but there are other things to keep in mind as well.
In practice, however, this suddenly takes on a new light.
For one, most healthy people consume and spend about 2,500 calories each day. Adding a 2500 calorie deficit to this plan means doubling calorie expenditure or eliminating calorie intake. Even a 50/50 approach of eating half as much and working 50% more is a pretty difficult plan for most people.
Two other factors will affect this process. As nature has it, once you enter a calorie deficit, metabolism slows to ensure you are not starving to death. This will make it a little more difficult to burn calories.
But by the same measure, as you introduce more exercise to your weight loss plan, metabolism is increased. If done just right, you can also enjoy the side effects of thermogenesis which increases calorie burn after exercise and boosts the metabolism as well. These are very important factors in the weight loss equation and we will bring them up again in our closing comments — don’t miss the exciting conclusion!
So, “physically” it is possible and even “safe” to drop as much as 20 pounds in a month! But this is only one-half of the equation. Experts advise against setting strict timelines for your weight loss goals until you fully understand your capacity for weight loss. Taking the intuitive approach means always pushing your boundaries without extending your limitations.
Here are the important details you should keep in mind when planning your quest for quick weight loss:
1. Reduce Calories
As mentioned, a calorie deficit is the cornerstone of your weight loss efforts. While it is simply about reducing calories consumed and increasing calorie expenditure, there is a right way and a wrong way to do this.
First of all, calories are the units of energy that the body uses to provide power for all kinds of activities. The best way to begin losing weight is to target stored fat because this can be readily turned into energy. The first step is to allow the body to enter a kind of “starvation” where the calories you consume are insufficient to maintain the efforts required of your body.
As the body sees the deficit it begins to engage the stored fat supplies to allow the body to maintain its regular activities. It is always best to initiate changes to the body’s demands and resources gradually because this reduces the shock to the system.
Furthermore, it is important to understand that calorie counting is more or less a guideline to follow, and a very helpful one for sure. Your most important metrics will be provided by your body and this is where keeping a journal and taking an intuitive approach will allow you to make important gains for the long term.
Finally, the changes brought about in the body can be negatively impacted by the presence of cortisol in the blood. The body responds to stressful situations by releasing cortisol into the blood, this stress hormone signals the fight or flight response and one of the directives is to alter the energy used to power the body — and reserve fat supplies for further emergencies.
Time constraints can sometimes cause strain and this is a good reason to not place time limits on your weight loss plans.
2. Exercise
Begin with exercise. The first step will be to begin introducing an exercise plan into your routine. The best option is the one that allows you to comfortably burn the most calories in the shortest amount of time. If you are planning to drop 20 lbs in a month, you will need a considerably high level of physical fitness to make such high demands of your body.
But no matter your physical condition, your fastest plan for weight loss lies within finding your daily capacity for physical output and consistently reaching this level output. You can then take the intuitive approach to increase your capacity as you see fit.
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A good rule of thumb is to increase physical exercise by between 10% to 20% of calories burned each week for beginners. After this, you should have a better grasp of your capacity for calorie burn.
HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and resistance exercises are some of the best ways to burn calories fast. Better still, they provide that afterburn that allows calories to be burned after exercise is complete. This is the best because it allows you to eat a bit more.
For example, if you complete a 750-calorie exercise routine, you can double that figure in calories burned. This allows you to enjoy the benefits of higher metabolism and eat some more too.
3. Eliminate Unhealthy Foods
Once you have settled into an exercise routine you are comfortable with and have reduced your calorie count to manageable levels. It is time to enter the next phase. This is where we fine-tune the calories we are using to support our exercise routine.
You will find that highly-processed foods that are high in sugar and carbs are also very high in calories. These are not very high-quality calories because they don’t provide the energy you need for high-performance exercise and only leave you hungry again in a few minutes.
Swapping out all the unhealthy calorie intake for some HIGH-OCTANE body fuel is what you need to achieve healthy weight loss in the shortest time. It would be superfluous to barrage you with the definition of “healthy” food in this short writ — the topic has been covered extensively and in greater depth in other articles.
Keeping a food journal is the best way to keep track of the foods you choose, the alternatives you would like to make, and how these alternatives affect your physical and mental function. Once you have completed your diet plan in which every highly nutritious bite is geared toward weight loss and high-performance exercise — watch out! Weight loss is not only possible, it is inevitable.
Don’t forget to counter this with the need to enjoy what you are eating. Food has an important mental function that allows the body to leave the “fight and flight” response and enter the “feed and breed” or “rest and digest” mode which is the best condition for losing weight.
3. Increase Water Intake
The element that brings life is also the one that purifies and washes the body clean. Water is essential to every activity from sleeping and eating to exercising and losing weight. Many people find themselves facing a severe uphill climb in making healthy changes to the body simply for lack of proper hydration.
Drinking a proper amount of water allows your basal metabolic rate to function optimally. Because the basal metabolic rate is responsible for more than half of your total calorie expenditure each day this must run uninterrupted. Furthermore, studies show that drinking a cup of ice water at room temperature can burn an additional 8 calories.
Make sure you are drinking a full 3 to 4 liters of water each day.
4. Intermittent Fasting
If you have followed steps 1 to 3 you are already on a fast track to rapid weight loss. As soon as you have comfortably established yourself in your routine of healthy diet and exercise, it will be time to begin introducing smaller adjustments to enhance your plan. Make sure that all adjustments and additions to your plan for healthy weight loss are being recorded and monitored in your journal.
For example, intermittent fasting has been found effective at eliminating fat, especially visceral fat. Visceral fat tends to accumulate around the organs of the gut and can be especially difficult to target. To target that enlarged gut, the metabolism can be increased through intermittent fasting.
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This is done by taking a period of eating, followed by longer periods of not eating. One common example would be the 16:8 ratio, or 16 hours of fasting, followed by eating for an 8-hour time frame. For best results, this should only include healthy foods that are especially high in fiber. This technique could be applied after you have attained a routine and are seeking to get over a plateau.
5. Sleep
Last but certainly not least, it is essential to get a good amount of rest and sleep to ensure that your weight loss efforts are not hampered. The need to take an intuitive approach will require having clean and serene senses and this only comes from plenty of sleep.
Lack of sleep can cause anxiety, cravings, lack of energy, hormonal imbalance, and many other small conditions that can throw off your smoothly planned campaign for weight loss. Make sure you have a well-defined plan for high-quality sleep to ensure your weight loss plans are optimal.
Final Notes on Losing Weight in 30 Days
If you can include these 5 important aspects of weight loss into a 30-day plan, then you will be in good health and in a good position to maintain your healthy weight.
But for best results in your weight loss plan, try to space them out with as much time as you need to establish your losses well before moving on to the next step, this will increase the long-term success of your healthy life choices.
