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how can i lose 20 pounds in one month?
i know its possible and i just wanted to know some good food suggestions and mild excersize suggestions. i might get a gym membership and wanted to know which is the best way to shed pounds on which piece of equipment? (i do not enjoy running lol)
thanks!
18/f
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Maybe give some free advice about: Fitness?
Alin75 is right. PLEASE listen to him.
Having had experience with this, I have to add my two cents:
No, don't do it.
You can't lose 20 pounds in a month healthily. The normal rate for healthy weight loss, even in an obese person, is about 2-3 pounds a week. If you aren't obese, 1-2. I've done fad diets - like, ALL of them. I've tried speed diets, I was also anorexic at one point. Now I'm happy, and at a good weight. Losing weight and being healthy is a lifestyle change, and a worthwhile one at that.
You need to retrain your body to absorb nutrients and use the food you put into it more quickly and effectively. Eat small portions 3-4 hours apart. Depending on when you wake up and go to bed, it should amount to 5 or 6 small meals a day. This will kickstart your metabolism. Eat healthy food - low sodium, low in fat, low in sucrose. Fructose and glucose (the sugars in fruit and breads) are fine.
Here are some tips to make healthy food tastier:
Fruits - try nonfat whipped cream on these if they're not sweet enough for you. It'll help kill your sweet craving. And hey, keep some sugar free candies around. That way, if you really just want one, you can have it.
Veggies - Dip is my best friend. As long as you just use the dip for a little flavor, and you're not using your carrot to scoop up as much dip as you can, you don't even have to have fat free dip. Though you can go that route if you like, and it's just as tasty. Also, switch to baked chips. They're not great for you, but they're a little better.
Grains - Whole grains. You need carbs. They keep your body going, they give you energy. Whole grains make your body work harder to digest them, and when your body works harder, you lose weight/inches/fat/etc.
Lean proteins - Eggs, turkey, chicken, fish. Protein bars, protein shakes (be careful with these last two, they're often sugar-laden. You gotta get the ones that are low-carb/low-sugar. Pure Protein bars and shakes are great, and taste great. These are NOT, however, meal replacement bars. You can nibble those as snacks between meals to keep you going, and after workouts.) Protein helps your body build muscle - lean protein = lean muscle, but you HAVE to be working out for that to work. If you don't, the protein will store as fat.
Alin75's right about losing the wrong kind of weight. What you really want is to lose fat, not muscle. Keep in mind that muscle weighs more than fat, and you might consider paying more attention to your size than your numbers.
Example: I weigh 120 pounds, and I'm 5'4". But I'm skinny because I run, and I have a lot of muscle. When I was 110 pounds, I was actually bigger because I didn't work out.
That brings me to my next point:
Cardio. Just like Alin75 said, cardio is important. It doesn't mean running, and you can definitely get your heart rate up using an elliptical machine, a wave-walker-thing, stairs, recumbant biking, etc. Cardio burns fat, which is exactly what you want. I won't go into detail with the exercise because it was pretty much covered in the previous answer.
I hope you take these facts to heart.
Good luck.
Siren
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It is certainly possible... but it wont be just fat. This is the problem with speed diets.
You always have people that share their amazing stories but in reality 40% of the weight they lost was probably muscle. At the end of the day they are smaller, but their metabolism is not running optimally, they no longer have the same energy level, and the chance of re-gaining the lost weight is sky high.
Extremely obese adults should sometimes come close to the sort of weight loss you are talking about, not an 18 year old girl.
Anyway, here is some weight loss advice.
Exercise:
The most important thing is cardio. The best machine at the gym is the stair machine (assuming it is an independent action stair climber- but they mostly all are these days). You can do it almost every day, but you dont have to. Health wise doing about 4 cardios a week of at least 20 mins is very good. They should be done at a steady and moderate pace.
Weight lifting is very good for preservation of muscle mass during a diet. One of the best things for weight loss is a weight lifting- cardio combo. If you end up doing this, get someone who really knows what they are doing to help you with a program.
Sports can also be extremely good and so can interval training. Sports like soccer are particularly effective and I have read several studies where soccer was shown to be better than cardio for weight loss (do note that cardio has many other health benefits though).
Food tips (cut pasted from a previous answer to make life a bit easier for me):
- Create a calories deficit, i.e. eat about 500 calories a day less than you burn (this is of course too little for the goal you set). Practically this should leave you feeling a bit hungry, not starving.
- Eliminate empty calories from junk foods, anything with sugar added to it, etc.
- Stick to wholesome non processed foods. This means that you should make the food yourself whenever possible and avoid pre-made meals.
- Eat carbs moderately in general. Also do not eat many/ any carbs before periods of inactivity- typically late in the day.
- Minimise saturated fats. These are found in animal products. Whenever possible stick to low/ no fat animal products and lean meats.
- Include small daily sources of essential fatty acids, particularly omega 3. Good sources include oily fish, flax, canola, walnuts, etc (a quick search online will give you more detailed info). The amount needed is quite small (e.g. a serving of fish or a handful of walnuts usually covers your daily requirements). Supplements are also ok here.
- Eat several portions of vegetables and fruit throughout the day.
- So, a sample meal might be something like skinless chicken breast (lean protein), 50g whole wheat pasta (good carb source- moderate amount), and a salad made with canola (very light carb source high on vitamins etc & a good source of essential fatty acids).
Thats pretty much it. Good luck.
Alin 34/m
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