How to Safely Lose Weight in Under Two Weeks? Remember being a teenager and how much easier it was to lose weight from what felt like, one day to the next? Though it is true that the older we get, the slower our metabolisms become, it doesn’t mean there aren’t a few weight loss hacks for us adults. Shedding excess weight is all too frequently on our minds, especially when the holidays or a special event is approaching. Here are some of our tips to drop that excess weight in a healthy, effective and rapid way.
Workout Routine for Rapid Weight Loss?
If you have an event, date or holiday coming up and want to shed some pounds urgently, we recommend squeezing in at least 60 minutes of exercise a day. Wait, before you run away from this page, hear us out first! When we say a day, we’re talking only 5 days a week. If you feel motivated to work out 7 days a week, then all the more to you! Let’s just say, the more effort and hours you put in, the more weight you’ll put off. The most effective routine for losing weight is to find a healthy balance between resistance training and cardio exercises. Building muscle mass while burning body fat will tone the body to a desirable shape. Many people opt for High Intensity Interval Training, HIIT. HIIT involves very intense bursts of exercise with brief breaks in between each ‘burst.’ You can cut your exercise routine nearly in half, while burning a high number of calories.
According to ACSM, a great example of HIIT is sprinting for one minute and then walking for the next, alternating between the two for approximately 20-25 minutes. Then you can switch to squats, pushups, crunches, weights and/or lunges for another 25 minutes. Mixing up your routine with weight lifting and cardio is the best way to keep your routine dynamic and fun. As soon as you start noticing that adrenaline rush, you’ll understand why so many people are addicted to exercising! When you repeat the same exercise daily, your body adapts to the routine and the mind tends to escape into ‘robot-mode.’
Diversifying your daily workout not only tones and targets different parts of the body, but is also a workout for the mind as well! However, to lose weight effectively, according to an article in the Cleveland Clinic, Weight Loss: Can You Do It With Exercise Alone? it’s not enough to just work out. You will need to establish a wholesome diet from morning until night. We’ll get into the function of diet in weight loss next.
Food to the Trash… to Lose Weight Fast
It’s simply not enough to establish a rigorous workout routine if you don’t have a healthy diet in place. We know how challenging it is to resist that double chocolate fudge cake, all those fried foods, and high-carb ingredients. We’ve all been there! The idea is to find healthy alternatives to some of your guiltiest pleasures. For instance, why not replace a sweet-tooth pancake, toast, or waffle breakfast with a sugar-free yogurt? Adding fruit, seeds and nuts to your yogurt will not only supply you with protein and calcium, but heaps of vitamins and minerals to activate your body and mind. You will not only look better but feel more focused and lighter throughout the day.
Imagine eating a breakfast that has the power to keep you inspired until the next meal! Fried foods, processed foods, and sweet-tooth bombs should quickly be eliminated from your daily meal plan. Try swapping out fried chicken, potato chips, fried fish, unhealthy cakes, and cookies just for those two weeks. Then, when your date or event passes, you can decide if it’s worth it to wean those ingredients back into your life, or not. For a healthy alternative, opt for quinoa recipes, protein-rich salads without creamy dressings, baked fish, and dark chocolate with nuts and seeds to curb your craving. What may be challenging in the beginning, will propel you forward by the second week. You’ll start feeling beautiful and healthy in your body in no time.
This isn’t just about loving your body, but about feeling fantastic in your body all day long.
Studies conducted by Harvard University have shown how a low carb diet is the most efficient way to drop weight fast. As soon as you start burning more calories than what you intake, you will start to notice a reduction in your weight on the scale and in the mirror. When you consume excess calories, your body will store the fat, making it even harder to shed those pounds. Increasing your intake of lean proteins on the other hand, will give you long-term energy throughout the day. So, if snacking between meals is your thing, try to make a small handful of peanuts or even water, your thing instead. Sometimes drastic measures are needed to make drastic changes. These new habits will bring you remarkably closer to your goals by the end of week one.
Which vitamins and minerals should I include in my weightloss diet?
As stated previously, your diet is a crucial ingredient for a healthy and adequate weight loss routine. The essential vitamins and minerals to include in your diet are your B vitamins, Protein, Iron, and Magnesium.
B Vitamins
All your B vitamins are essential for keeping your metabolism functioning as it should. As you may know, individuals with extremely fast metabolisms have trouble putting on weight, so imagine what happens when your metabolism is having trouble running as it should. Right. Not exactly the look we’re going for. B vitamins aid in metabolizing fats, carbohydrates, and proteins into usable energy. Foods that have high B vitamin levels include:
- Potatoes (baked or boiled, not fried)
- Eggs
- Lean meats
- Legumes
- Nutritional yeast (for vegans)
Protein
A high protein diet helps reduce cravings, eliminate excess hunger, boosts the metabolic rate, replaces carbohydrates and fats, and assists the body in retaining lean muscle mass. In an article in JN The Journal of Nutrition, studies have shown how high-protein diets promote fat mass loss. Healthy examples of lean protein include:
- Soy
- Low-fat dairy
- Eggs
- Beans
- Lean meat
- Legumes
- Nuts
Iron
Iron aids in burning fat by transporting oxygen to the cells in your body. A typical symptom of iron deficiency is weaknesses, fatigue, and light-headedness. So, if your iron levels are low, your stamina and performance will suffer from the deficiency. Iron-rich foods include:
- Dark green leafy vegetables
- Lentils
- Red meat
- Iron-fortified cereals
- Dried fruits
Magnesium
Magnesium keeps your bones strong, regulates blood pressure, promotes a healthy nervous system, and controls blood glucose levels. Magnesium-rich foods include:
- Seeds, especially pumpkin seeds
- Nuts, more specifically peanuts and cashews
- Leafy greens
- Legumes
Though there are several other important vitamins and minerals to include in your diet, these select few vitamins and minerals mentioned above are especially important for healthy, holistic weight loss.
Does Sleep Affect Weight Loss?
Were you wondering how to balance out your sleep routine with your exercise routine? In an article in Annals of Internal Medicine, in an article titled, Insufficient Sleep Undermines Dietary Efforts to Reduce Adiposity, insufficient sleep has the power to undo all the efforts you put into your diet. Besides lacking the energy to exercise, not enough sleep can limit the amount of fat your body burns. Poor sleeping patterns lead to poor insulin levels, poor insulin levels lead to stored fat in muscles, cells, and tissue. But wait, there’s more.
Reduced sleep will also lead to lower leptin levels and higher ghrelin levels, which are responsible for giving you that feeling of satisfaction and craving more food. Have you ever noticed when you’re sleep-deprived, you pay less attention to what you put in your mouth? And then crave those salty and sweet antagonists to weight loss? Living a healthy and happy life has always been about finding the right balance in your day-to-day schedule. Setting yourself up with a healthy diet, sleep, and exercise plan will only increase your overall contentment while reducing your overall weight. Sounds like a worthwhile deal right? We sure think so!
Additional Habits to Include in Your Routine For Healthy and Efficient Weight Loss
Your diet doesn’t and shouldn’t be limited to your eating and exercise habits. Losing weight is about a proper mindset. Exercising and eating well lends you a feeling of empowerment. You are in control of how much weight you put on or put off. Though you may be feeling sluggish or tired some mornings, especially in the beginning, remind yourself of how you were feeling directly after working out the day before. Sometimes our fears kick in and try to manipulate us to take the easy way out. But, it’s up to you to achieve the body and life you desire. Ultimately, feeling fantastic in your body will have an extensive impact on your overall life.
Resisting those tempting foods and replacing those cravings for healthier options, will not only make you feel in control of your own life choices, but make you feel more focused and confident throughout the day. Like we said, it’s all about the mindset. We all need to remind ourselves every now and then why we chose to work on our bodies. Are you going to choose to enjoy your new life choices, or will you focus on the negative aspects and challenges? Once you confront that voice that nudges you to, ‘start tomorrow, take a day off,’ or that tries to trick you into breaking your diet, ‘just one hot fudge sundae won’t kill me…’ you will feel a world of a difference. But our efforts don’t end there!
It’s important to stay active throughout the day
If you work out for 45-60 minutes a day but remain stagnant the rest of the day, it may take more time to see the fruits of your labor. However, if you work out five days a week and remain active throughout the day, by walking around the office, building, and home, you will continue to burn calories without much effort. Another key factor for rapid weight loss is to drink more water! We can not stress this enough. Drinking a substantial amount of water will make a remarkable difference in how you feel in your body. Sometimes we confuse hunger with thirst. You know when you’re eating something like potato chips and they are so salty, you just can’t manage to stop? Instead of pausing for a glass of water, which in fact can kill the craving, we end up unconsciously sticking our hands in the bag for more.
Drinking water between meals can also help alleviate cravings, will aid in digestion, and significantly affect your skin, hair, and weight. If you find water, well, boring, try adding cucumber, fruit, lemon, mint leaves or basil leaves to your water to change up the flavor. And lastly, try your best not to eat after 7 pm, or even as early as 6 pm. Remember, it’s only two weeks of rearranging your old habits and replacing them with new ones. And don’t forget, you’re doing this for a reason!
Whatever the motivation is behind your decision to shed some pounds, just know, you are not alone!
If you’re prone to eating late into the night but change your habits, you will not only sleep better but lose weight much faster. In the end, these tips aren’t exclusively diet hacks, but in the bigger picture, life hacks. Maybe you wanted to shed weight quickly for a special event, but find an all-around change in your attitude and approach to life. Making positive changes, eating well, using your body’s energy to produce more energy, and rebooting your daily habits can directly impact how you feel, how you work, and how you interact with others.
Final Takeaway
If these options seem too challenging in the beginning, reassure yourself that you are only committing to two weeks of exercising and dieting. When the two weeks are up, you can then decide if it’s worth it to keep up your new lifestyle or not. Remember, all it takes is one hour a day of exercising and eliminating high-calorie ingredients and dishes from your diet. Try and eat food that makes you feel energized, clear-headed, and lightweight. Then you’ll have the energy and motivation to stay on your feet throughout the day. You’ll most likely sleep better throughout the night, which will only aid in achieving your weight loss goals. And yes, drink heaps and heaps of water. Water is life.
Are you finally ready to achieve your goals?