I have been getting this question so much lately. I know it’s partially because summer is coming up and the people who have been sitting around are realizing that bikini season is on the horizon.
“I need to lose weight FAST! I want to lose [x amount] of weight by [date] for [insert important event there]. Please help?!”
When I hear the phrase “lose weight fast” my mind immediately goes to crash/fad/starvation dieting.
People wonder why they lose all kinds of weight and then wind up gaining it all back plus more. Here is why…. The truth is, when you crash/fad/starve diet, you aren’t losing FAT, you are losing water and MUSCLE. As I have mentioned before, the amount of lean muscle mass you have on your frame will be a huge factor in how fast your metabolism is and how many calories you burn. The less you have, the less calories you burn and the slower your metabolism.
So basically, this is the common scenario: you starve yourself, your body eats up muscle and loses water weight. You wind up lighter on the scale but you look skinny fat. The big event happens, or you get sick of starving yourself, or you lose motivation, or you slip on your diet and give up or some other road block occurs and you wind up going back to your old eating habits… You have eaten away at the precious muscle that was helping burn off some of those calories originally and are now left with a slowed metabolism. Now, even the amount of food you could get away with before, you can no longer ingest without much of it being stored as fat.
The only way to lose fat without wrecking your body is to do so in a healthy way. Stop looking for shortcuts, “fast” routes and the easy way. There are no magical pills, powders or potions. It takes dedication, discipline, determination, patience and hard work. Aim to make a healthy LIFESTYLE change. You CANNOT starve, lose weight and then go back to your old habits and expect your body to remain in shape… it WON’T. You only need a mild caloric deficit to lose weight! Aim for 1-2 pounds of weight loss a week. Do so by decreasing your caloric intake by 300-500 calories below your maintenance, and increase your caloric expenditure through exercise! Make those calories count! In other words, choose healthy, natural foods…. Simple, yet effective! =)
I don’t know who this girl is but…. she has a killler ass body.