Losing 10 lbs in one week is attainable, but it’s important to note that the weight loss won’t solely come from body fat.
Safely burning 10 pounds of pure body fat in just one week is not feasible due to the calorie deficit required.
However, this does not mean you cannot lose that much weight and still appear leaner. You will lose weight by reducing excess water weight, along with body fat.
Additionally, there may be a decrease in weight due to less undigested food and fiber in the digestive system.
If you want to know how to lose 10 pounds in a week, follow these seven steps.
1. Eat Fewer Carbs and More Lean Proteins
You can lose several pounds by following a low-carb diet for just a few days.
In fact, lots of research has shown a low-carb diet is a very effective way to lose weight and improve health.
A short-term decrease in carb intake can also reduce water weight and bloating.
This is why people who go low-carb often see a difference on the scale as early as the next morning after starting the diet.
Additionally, making sure you eat plenty of protein can help reduce your appetite even further while boosting your metabolism.
Try eliminating or drastically reducing all starchy carbs and sugars for the week. Replace these with low-carb vegetables, while also increasing your intake of eggs, lean meats and fish.
2. Eat Whole Foods and Avoid Most Processed Junk Foods
When you’re trying to lose weight quickly then it can be helpful to eat a simple diet based on whole foods.
These foods tend to be very filling, and make it easier to eat fewer calories without getting too hungry.
During the week, you should make sure to eat mostly whole, single-ingredient foods. Avoid most foods that are highly processed.
Eating mostly lean proteins and low-carb veggies can be incredibly satisfying even if you’re not getting that many calories.
3. Reduce Your Calorie Intake by Following These Tips
Reducing your calorie intake may be the most important factor when it comes to weight loss.
If you aren’t eating fewer calories than you expend, then you will not lose fat.
Here are a few simple tips to reduce calorie intake:
- Count calories: Weigh and log the foods you eat. Use a calorie counting tool to keep track of the amount of calories and nutrients you are taking in.
- Eat only at meals: Reduce all snacks and don’t eat anything after dinner.
- Cut your condiments: Eliminate calorie-dense condiments and sauces.
- Fill up on veggies: Fill your plate with vegetables and limit starchy carbs and added fats for the week.
- Choose lean proteins: Choose lower-fat proteins, such as chicken and fish.
- Don’t drink your calories: Instead, opt for water, zero-calorie drinks, tea or coffee. Protein shakes are fine if you count them as a meal.
4. Lift Weights and Try High-Intensity Interval Training
Exercise is one of the best ways to burn fat and improve your appearance.
Resistance training, such as weight lifting, can lead to a similar amount of weight loss as regular aerobic training. It also helps you add or maintain muscle mass and strength.
Full-body resistance training workouts are also a great method to lower your body’s carb stores and water weight, which can lead to a sharp decline in weight.
Lifting weights can also protect your metabolism and hormone levels, which often decline during dieting.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) is another very effective training method.
Research suggests that 5–10 minutes of HIIT can lead to similar or greater benefits for health and weight loss as five times that amount of regular exercise.
Like weight lifting, it can quickly reduce muscle carb stores and also boost other important aspects of weight loss, such as your metabolism and fat-burning hormones.
You can perform HIIT three to four times a week after a workout or as part of your normal training regimen. It is very important to do this with 100% effort or intensity. Most sprints should not last more than 30 seconds.
5. Be Active Outside of the Gym
In order to burn extra calories and lose more weight, you can also increase your daily activity.
In fact, how active you are throughout the day when you aren’t exercising also plays a very important role in weight loss and obesity.
For example, the difference between a desk job and a manual job can account for up to 1,000 calories per day. This is the same as 90 to 120 minutes of high-intensity exercise.
Simple lifestyle changes such as walking or biking to work, taking the stairs, going for walks outside, standing more or even cleaning the house can help you burn a lot of calories.
6. Try Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is another effective and proven tool for dropping fat.
It forces you to reduce your calorie intake, since you are limiting your eating to a short window of time.
There are many different protocols, such as a 16-hour fast with an 8-hour feeding window, or a 20-hour fast with a 4-hour feeding window.
If you’re combining fasting with exercise, it may be wise to do the fasting at a different time than your workout.
7. Get Proper Sleep
Numerous studies have shown that getting less than 5–6 hours of sleep per night is associated with increased incidence of obesity. There are several reasons behind this.
Research suggests that insufficient or poor-quality sleep slows down the process in which the body converts calories to energy, called metabolism. When metabolism is less effective, the body may store unused energy as fat. In addition, poor sleep can increase the production of insulin and cortisol, which also prompt fat storage.
How long and how deep someone sleeps also affects the regulation of the appetite-controlling hormones leptin and ghrelin. Leptin sends signals of fullness to the brain while ghrelin tells your brain you’re hungry.
Without a properly functioning leptin and ghrelin, you’re constantly hungry and nothing you eat will ever make you full.
So, sleep more and sleep well.