How To Lose Weight In A Week

How to lose weight in a week is a query commonly asked by those who desperately need to lose weight fast or by anyone who wants to look good for some event, be it a wedding, going to a beach party and so on. The unfortunate thing is that one week is usually not enough to lose as much weight as one desires. Having said this, it is still possible to lose a certain amount of weight in one week. However in order to reach you aim, you need to be disciplined and determined. Unless you are ready to be disciplined and determined to reach your aim no matter what, you will falter.

Before I start with the tips, I would like to stress the point that crash dieting and skipping meals is not the correct way of losing weight. Crash dieting might work in the short term, but it is an ineffective and unhealthy way of losing weight. In actual fact it is recommended that you eat several times per day (see hint number 8). When you crash diet you slower your metabolism and with it the efficiency at which your body burns fat. The result is that when you stop crash dieting and return to your old eating habits, you usually regain all the weight you lost and most probably gain more weight then before you started your diet. By following the hints below, losing weight in one week would not be impossible.

How To Lose Weight In A Week Tips

1. Stop eating junk foods and any other high fat foods immediately. McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut or any other fast food chain are definitely a no go. Junk foods / fast foods are very rich in fat and if you want to lose weight in one week you should definitely forget about eating any such foods.

2. Avoid eating red meats. Most red meats are rich in fats and cholesterol so it is best to avoid them at least during the coming week. If you want to eat meat you should eat chicken breast since it is low in fat and high in protein. Fish is also good since it is low in fat. An important thing to note is that you should not accompany you chicken and fish dishes with any cream or cheese sauce. Sauces are usually fattening so you should avoid them completely. This also includes mayonnaise, tomato ketchup and so on.

3. Apart from chicken breast and fish, you should also eat a balanced diet of vegetables, legumes (peas, lentils, beans, soya beans), nuts, seeds and fruit.

4. Eat whole grain bread (brown bread), whole grain pasta and whole grain rice instead of processed (white) bread, pasta and rice. Processed wheat is usually fattening so it is best to avoid it. It is also best to eat unprocessed cereals if you are able to find from your supermarket or store.

5. Make sure not to fry your food. Food should be best boiled, grilled, roasted or baked. All fried food is rich in oil, fats and cholesterol. I cannot understand why some people say that they desperately need to lose weight fast but then they continue eating fried foods. If you insist in frying your food then forget all about losing weight in a week.

6. Stop eating chocolates, cakes, biscuits, doughnuts, sweets, candy, ice-cream and any other foods that are rich in sugars immediately. The body cannot consume large amounts of sugar and most of the extra sugar gets converted into fat. If possible you should also avoid having sugar with your tea and coffee.

7. Stop drinking soda / soft drinks and alcohol immediately if you want to lose weight in a week. A can of soda can contain 15 teaspoons of sugar and 150 calories. On the other hand alcohol contains 7 calories per gram and to make matters worse several types of alcohol have a significant amount of sugar content.

8. Eat 4 or 5 small meals per day. Eating small meals at regular intervals keeps your metabolism active and your body burns more fat then usual. Of course for this to work, you should only eat the healthy food choices I mentioned above. Eating small meals is the key here. You should never eat large food portions, the stomach cannot consume large amounts of food in the stomach and when you eat large food portions most of the unconsumed food will be converted into fat. Many people have the habit of eating till their stomach cannot store any more food. Other people have the habit of eating bread with their already abundant meals. Such bad habits should be avoided completely if you want to lose weight.

9. Drink lots of water (at least 8 glasses of water per day). Many people underestimate the importance of drinking water in order to lose weight. Water is used by the kidneys to get rid of the waste that is produced by the body's fat burning process. If you do not drink enough water your kidneys will not function at the maximum efficiency rate and the fat burning process is hindered as a result.

10. Start exercising now. Exercise helps in keeping the metabolism active and in doing so it accelerates the body's fat burning process. Exercise can be both aerobic (walking, jogging, cycling, swimming and most sports in general) and anaerobic (strength training, weight lifting, body building and so on) though anaerobic training usually burns more fat than aerobic training. Below are a few examples of the calories burns by some popular sports disciplines:

- football burns about 630 calories per hour

- soccer burns about 700 calories per hour

- swimming burns about 700 calories per hour

- singles tennis burns about 560 calories per hour

- basketball burns about 560 calories per hour

- martial arts (Karate, Kick Boxing, Tae Kwan Do, Jujitsu and others) burn about 700 calories per hour.

If you are not fit enough to do sports or if you are not into sports you can do any one of the following exercises, depending on you level of fitness:

- slow walking (2.0 mph or 3.2 kph) burns about 180 calories per hour

- brisk walking (3.5 mph or 5.6 kph) burns about 270 calories per hour

- very brisk walking (4.5 mph or 7.2 kph) burns about 440 calories per hour

- light jogging (5 mph or 8 kph) burns about 660 calories per hour

- fast jogging (6.2 mph or 10kph) burns about 880 calories per hour

- low impact aerobics burns about 410 calories per hour

- general aerobics burns about 560 calories per hour

- high impact aerobics burns about 610 calories per hour.

Given that there are 3,500 calories in 1 pound (0.9 kg) of fat, it is easy to see that if you want to loose weight in a week, doing exercise on its own is not enough. For a significant amount of weight loss to occur exercise has to be accompanies by a disciplined and healthy diet plan as mentioned above.

Whether you are desperately need to lose weight fast or weather you just want to look good for some occasion I can guarantee you that the above are some of the best hints you could ever read on how to lose weight in a week.