No More Diets

How Fast Can I Lose Weight?

This can vary a great deal. Those who starve themselves and take strenuous exercise like those on shows like the Biggest Loser can drop a huge amount of weight quite quickly but of course they are doing that under very special circumstances and with medical supervision.

A lot depends on how much you have to lose. If you are very overweight you can lose weight faster than someone who only has a few pounds to go but much of the weight loss in the early weeks will be water.

The problem with losing weight too quickly is that

a) you tend to lose muscle along with the fat. Muscle is needed to keep your metabolism running high. Lose muscle and you will start and burn fewer calories each day (muscle burns calories even when you are not doing anything). Muscle is also needed to keep your body and your skin firm and taut. So you want to preserve your muscle tissue as much as possible. This is why the Biggest Loser contestants have to keep up their exercises - not just to burn calories but also to preserve their muscle tissue.

b) you tend to give yourself a weight loss program which you just can’t keep up and live a normal life. If you are trying to lose a pound a week you can do that without affecting your life too much. If you try to lose a lot more than that it’s very difficult to eat at parties and weddings, business trips or weekends away and much of your free time will be given over to exercise. Result - you will probably give up too soon to make any lasting difference to your weight.

c) you tend to put the weight back on much quicker. This is especially true if you have lost muscle (due to burning fewer calories) but it is also because you will probably not have learned a way of eating which you want to keep going for the rest of your life. Strict diets are usually followed only until you get to your target weight (if you keep them up at all). As soon as you go off your strict weight loss program, you will pile on the pounds if you go back to eating the food and the quantities which made you overweight in the first place. In fact over 95% of people do exactly this after reaching their target weight.

In my Diet Exit Program I show you a different approach to losing weight. The best way to lose weight is to make small gradual changes to your lifestyle and habits which you are prepared to live with for ever. These changes accumulate to make a significant difference to your weight without taking over your life. Result - you lose weight steadily pound by pound and stay slim forever.

How Do I Lose 15kgs?

If you have weight to lose - whether it’s 10lbs or a hundred - there’s only one way to do it - one ounce or one gram at a time.

It’s all about creating a deficit in the calories you eat compared to the calories you use up each day. If you eat 100 calories less than you use every day you will lose a pound of fat in 35 days - and it will take you 1155 days to lose 15kgs.

If you want to lose weight faster than that you need to do more - by eating fewer calories and moving more to create a greater deficit - just be aware that a deficit of more than 500 - 1000 calories a day is not recommended by most weight loss experts (and most recommend 500 giving a weight loss of 1lb a week). More than this and your metabolism tends to slow down.

Now you can create this deficit and lose weight the hard way by going on a strict diet and exercise regime and STICKING TO IT - you will find these types of weight loss programs in every book store and all over the internet. Look for one which suits your lifestyle and/or preferences so that you have the best possible chance of sticking with it.

I don’t like diets - although they may work for some and do a good job on a temporary basis.

I don’t like them simply because they don’t work forever. Unless there is a maintenance option, they don’t teach you to permanently modify your eating habits - and even when there is a maintenance option are you prepared to live with that kind of restriction forever?

In any case we tend to see diets as temporary. We go on a diet, and then we come off it and put all the weight back on by going back to “normal” eating and activity levels. At least the statistics show that 95% of us do - and they are not good odds.

What to do instead?

Examine the habits which made you 15kgs overweight. What do you do which slimmer friends do not? And what do they do which you don’t? What do you eat? How much? How often? What do you drink? How much? How often? What kind of exercises do you take? What are you doing differently to them? What do you need to change?

Gradually change your “fat habits” one by one at a rate which is comfortable for you. Change those which are easiest for you to change first before tackling the ones which are more difficult. Lose weight by starting to live a healthier lifestyle one small step at a time.

Even if you insist on dieting work on your habits too - each small habit you change permanently will reduce the rate of weight gain after you stop dieting.