What is the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast?
Just what is the best way to lose weight fast?
Is it a certain concoction of pills, powders, or supplements?
Should you be using a certain workout program you saw on TV or read about in a magazine?
Or maybe the best way to lose weight fast is to use that piece of exercise equipment you keep seeing commercials for?
Actually, the answer is none of these.
You see, while these all have their place (to an extent), and should be a part of your overall program, none of them by themselves are the the best way to lose weight fast.
This is because they are all touting themselves as the ultimate ways to lose weight individually.
As in all you need is *insert product here* and you’ll be on the path to weight loss success.
And this just isn’t true.
The true best ways to lose weight fast are rooted in adhering to the right principles.
Why the “Old Standby” is the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast
Believe it or not, if you’re really interested which is the best way to lose weight, then you might be surprised to find out that you already know the answer:
Diet and Exercise.
Yeah, yeah – I know. Not exactly sexy or glamorous, is it? Too bad – because that’s what works.
If you’re truly serious about getting in shape and getting rid of your love handles, then diet and exercise are what you have to get in check.
It’s honestly not that complicated. In fact, it’s really pretty simple. (Notice I didn’t say ‘easy’.) The best way to lose weight fast is to eat clean and stay active. The rest are just details.
Actually, one of the best – though not overly elaborate – quotes I ever read about what the best way to lose weight was by a friend of mine named Leigh Remedios. Leigh is a professional MMA – mixed martial arts (think UFC) – fighter. I’m paraphrasing him, but it went like this:
Do strength training to get strong.
Do cardio to be fit.
Eat right to keep your bodyfat low.
Simple, right?
Best Way to Lose Weight Fast Factor #1 – Exercise
I know you don’t want to hear this, but everything all the fad diet and supplement companies tell you about never needing to exercise in order to lose weight is just flat out wrong.
Sorry.
The truth is that you will need to exercise, and honestly, for more than one reason. You see, exercise isn’t just one of the best ways to lose weight fast – it also keeps you healthy, vibrant, and feeling good.
A good exercise program really does need to include the elements I noted that Leigh talked about above, namely both strength training and some form of cardio.
Strength training is necessary because it:
- strengthens muscles
- improves muscle elasticity (or ‘toning’ as many call it)
- strengthens bones
- promotes joint health
- leads to stronger and healthier organs
- improves vitality and health to other parts of the body including skin, hair, nails, and more
Strength training is also one of the best ways to lose weight fast because it burns a fair amount of calories, revs up the body’s metabolism (so more calories are burned after the workout – though don’t fall into the trap of overstating this fact), and that extra muscle on your frame burns more calories naturally during the day than fat does.
A smart strength training program need only be done 2-3x each week, using compound (multi-joint) exercises with free weights, done with moderate volume and moderate weight.
Oh – and if you’re a woman, don’t worry about ‘getting big’ overnight. A lot of women are afraid of this, and it simply doesn’t happen – women don’t have the hormones to build muscle like a man does.
Cardio can and should be done 3-4x per week at a moderately high intensity (not too hard, not too easy) for 25-45 minutes at a time. This will do wonders to burn calories and improve your heart and lung health.
Probably the best mix of the two (as well as one of the smartest and best way to lose weight fast) is intense circuit training. This is when you go from one exercise to another to another with either very short or no breaks between. This is so beneficial because it burns more calories than either strength training or cardio by themselves, and it revs up the metabolism like strength training. You get the cardio benefits because you’re breathing hard the entire time, and you get to drastically cut down how much time you have to spend working out.
Best Way to Lose Weight Fast Factor #2 – Diet
As beneficial as strength training is, and as much as it’s one of the best way to lose weight fast (not to mention one of my favorite), the old saying rings true – you can’t outwork a bad diet.
As much as I just praised intense circuit training, it won’t do you any good at all (let alone be the best way to lose weight fast) if you’re eating ‘supersized’ meals from your local fast-food place a couple times per day.
You don’t need to get overly critical with your diet, though. Consume primarily protein sources and leafy green vegetables. Limit processed food, or anything that’s made with white flour.
FILED UNDER – BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST
Tim Ferriss’ Ideas on the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast
Who would have thought Tim Ferriss has some of the coolest ideas I’ve seen about the best way to lose weight fast.
In case you’re unfamiliar with Tim Ferris, he’s the guy that wrote the critically acclaimed book “The 4-Hour Workweek” – a book about simplifying your lifestyle and being more a manager of your life than tending to every detail.
He followed it up with a book that applied many of the same principles he used in “the 4-Hour Work Workweek” to how you should approach fitness, how to get strong, and the best way to lose weight fast in a very extensive (and somewhat controversial) book called “The 4-Hour Body”.
Ferriss has some pretty wild ideas fitness, and the best way to lose weight fast as they pertain to diet. And you don’t have to buy his book to read them.
Tim Ferriss’ Best Way to Lose Weight Fast – Lose 20 lbs of Fat in 30 Days
On Ferriss’ blog, he has a pretty interesting article called “How to Lose 20 lbs of Fat in 30 Days…Without Doing Any Exercise“. The premise of the article is that the best way to lose weight fast is to make changes to your diet.
And really – he’s right. Weight loss generally comes about the most (and easiest) when you make changes to how you eat.
But Ferriss’ recommendations are sort of ‘off the wall’. For instance:
Rule #1: Avoid “white” carbohydrates
Avoid any carbohydrate that is — or can be — white. The following foods are thus prohibited, except for within 1.5 hours of finishing a resistance-training workout of at least 20 minutes in length: bread, rice, cereal, potatoes, pasta, and fried food with breading. If you avoid eating anything white, you’ll be safe.
Now this isn’t too out of the ordinary. In fact, this topic was discussed already on this site, as it came up in a weight loss article in Cosmo magazine I had forwarded to me – “Cosmo’s Tips on the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast (Part 1)“.
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast is to Eat the Same Thing Everyday?
Ferriss then gets a little drastic:
Rule #2: Eat the same few meals over and over again
The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. Mix and match, constructing each meal with one from each of the three following groups:
Proteins:
Egg whites with one whole egg for flavor
Chicken breast or thigh
Grass-fed organic beef
PorkLegumes:
Lentils
Black beans
Pinto beansVegetables:
Spinach
Asparagus
Peas
Mixed vegetablesEat as much as you like of the above food items. Just remember: keep it simple. Pick three or four meals and repeat them. Almost all restaurants can give you a salad or vegetables in place of french fries or potatoes. Surprisingly, I have found Mexican food, swapping out rice for vegetables, to be one of the cuisines most conducive to the “slow carb” diet.
Most people who go on “low” carbohydrate diets complain of low energy and quit, not because such diets can’t work, but because they consume insufficient calories. A 1/2 cup of rice is 300 calories, whereas a 1/2 cup of spinach is 15 calories! Vegetables are not calorically dense, so it is critical that you add legumes for caloric load.
Now to most, I’m sure that sounds a little strange. The food choices are spot on, but would eating the same few meals over and over again really be the best way to lose weight fast?
You know, I know it sounds strange, but I think he’s onto something. I’ve had periods in my life (especially when I was overseas in the Middle East doing govt contract work) that I ended up eating mostly the same thing day in and day out. While it certainly lacked variety and could get a bit boring, I found that it ended up making sticking to a smart diet plan much easier, and I stuck to it for much longer periods of time.
In fact, when I was eating right, I found that for me – at least at the time – it was indeed the best way to lose weight fast, as I lost weight rather quickly. Now whether or not this is because your body learns somehow to process the food in a better manner and you lose weight that way, or it’s just easier to stick to a smarter diet, I don’t know. Probably some of both.
I just know it worked.
I think that if you could put together a few meals that you really liked like Ferriss says, that it could give you some great benefits. Personally, I’d change up the meals every few weeks to try and stave off some element of boredom.
You Should CHEAT to Get to the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast!
Yes…Ferriss recommends cheating:
Rule #4: Take one day off per week
I recommend Saturdays as your “Dieters Gone Wild” day. I am allowed to eat whatever I want on Saturdays, and I go out of my way to eat ice cream, Snickers, Take 5, and all of my other vices in excess. I make myself a little sick and don’t want to look at any of it for the rest of the week. Paradoxically, dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate (thyroid function, etc.) doesn’t downregulate from extended caloric restriction. That’s right: eating pure crap can help you lose fat. Welcome to Utopia.
I know – sounds counter-intuitive. But he’s right on the money.
I know that again, in my own personal history, that when I’m pretty strict with my diet all week, I’m looking forward to that cheat day like crazy. And because I’m only making myself wait a week, it’s not that hard to stick to it. I mean, what can you not do for just a week?
Then my cheat day comes around and I go nuts…almost making myself a little sick like Ferriss says. I find that I get all my cravings taken care of, and the next day, I’m more than ready to eat clean again. (In fact, I’ll actually miss it.)
FILED UNDER – BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast is WHAT!?!
In my day, I’ve seen some really strange advice on just what the best way to lose weight fast is. But I’m not sure any of them hold a candle to the website I just read.
And crazy enough – it’s ‘supposed’ to be a reputable site.
(Evidently they don’t have enough ‘quality control on this page…or at least not on the url about the best way to lose weight fast, anyway.)
I’m talking about Answers.com.
I know they let the public add their own answers, but the fact that it doesn’t seem to be moderated – or at least not by anybody that has the slightest idea of the best way to lose weight fast – is just sort of mind-blowing.
Let me show you what I mean.
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast Question
In case you’re unfamiliar with the Answers.com site, it’s basically a website where people can write in, ask questions, then visitors to the site can provide answers. I would assume that the site would have some sort of support staff to ensure that bad information wasn’t passed along, but now I’m just not so sure.
Here’s a question about the best way to lose weight fast that was posted to wiki.answers.com:
What is the best way to lose weight quickly if you are 19 and weigh around 250 pounds?
Too bad that’s not what happened…Now, this is a question that while not overly complicated, could certainly have more than one answer – and they could possibly all be correct.
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast Answers
Take a look at some of what was posted in response:
Answer
Try to avoid food that contains a lot of “fat” (Trans fat, total fat).
Ok, that makes sense…
That diet (I made 5 so far over the last 18 years, lost and gained 30-40 lbs each diet) was the only one that helped me lose 42lbs (and much more important: to keep it off!!).
If you keep gaining your weight back, are you really the best person to advise the best way to lose weight fast?
Also, try to do a little bit exercise (whatever makes fun: swimming, walking, jogging). 10-15 minutes a day is a good start.
Sound advice.
Please DO NOT avoid all “fat” in the food. You may get gall problems (gallstones).
You might? Uh…ok.
There is no way to lose weight fast. The faster you lose weight, the faster you will gain it back.
Um…only if you screw up the changes in your life in the first place. While people re-gaining weight they’ve lost can be common, wouldn’t it be smart that if you’re going to strive for the best way to lose weight fast, that you should not only implement those changes in your life, but keep them going long-term?
Oh, and speed has nothing to do with it.
Give yourself 1/2 year to lose 20 lbs maximum, 1 year to loose 40 lbs and so on.
So a person should strive to lose just over 3 pounds per month? Do you realize how little it would take to lose 3 pounds per month? 40 pounds in a year (especially for somebody that’s as drastically overweight as the person writing in) is an insanely slow rate…to the point that the person will likely give up due to lack of results.
Answer
The other posters are most certainly correct, but one little culprit many of us forget is “yeast!” Yes, women are loaded with this and why do you think many women have yeast infections.
I don’t even know what to say to that.
Most of us love sweets, so if you absolutely have to have something sweet here is a trick I learned. I’d buy a chocolate bar (preferably with squares) take two and suck on them in my mouth. I’d hide the rest of the chocolate bar. Now that I think of it I must have a dozen or so hidden in nooks and crannies around my house. Ewww!
This is HORRIBLE advice. While temptation to succumb to eating something sweet can be very tempting, which one do you think is a better way to lose weight fast (and will be the easiest for you to achieve):
- buy the chocolate bar and just not eat it all
- avoid buying the chocolate bar in the first place
Anybody that thinks they’ll buy the chocolate bar and only eat a little bit is fooling themselves.
Some GOOD Advice on the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast
While there was a TON of horrible advice on that page (I only posted *some* of it!), there was also some very good advice on the best way to lose weight fast:
Answer
The best way to lose weight, no matter what your age or how much you weigh, is to live a healthy lifestyle by eating properly, getting enough exercise, and also getting good sleep every night (an aspect that is often overlooked).
Spot on – GREAT advice. More from the same person:
Secondly, the faster you realize that you cannot, cannot, cannot lose weight sitting on your butt all the time and eating whatever you feel like, the faster the weight will come off. If fat people put half as much energy into a healthy lifestyle change as they do into finding a miracle diet, we would all be much smaller! I will tell you this, too: eating healthy and exercising are not mutually exclusive. What I mean is you can’t just exercise all the time so you can continue eating whatever you want, nor can you eat so little or so healthy that you never have to exercise. It doesn’t work that way, trust me!
More spot on advice. Very good information.
Answer
Do loads of sport! Try and eat less stuff with fat, sugar and all that…I mean you can have a treat once in a while but try going towards a healthy lifestyle! It’s never too late!
Great advice – actually something I saw quite often, myself.
While we know that exercise is one of the best way to lose weight fast, the truth is that it’s not about the exercise itself per se – it’s about the activity. If working out is not your ‘thing’, but you do have vigorous activities (various sports being a *great* example) that you really enjoy and will keep you as active as an intense exercise program would, then by all means – go for it!
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast – Simply Put
When all is said and done, the best way to lose weight fast might not be glamorous or sounds exotic, but it’s the most effective – get your nutrition and diet in check. Eat the right foods, and keep bad stuff out of your diet (though having a little every now and again won’t kill you). Keep yourself active and burn up more calories than you take in.
Be consistent and remember that this isn’t a patch to cover up something you don’t like. These are long-term lifestyle changes.
FILED UNDER – BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST
Cosmo’s Tips on the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast (Part 2)
In “Cosmo’s Tips on the Best Way to Lose Weight Fast (Part 1)”, I looked at an article on the Cosmopolitan Magazine website.
This article was titled “Drop 5 Pounds in a Week” and had several tips that Cosmo said would help you drop pounds and inches quick, and could be considered some of the best way to lose weight fast.
The article actually started out very good, and gave two really great tips that I consider some of the best way to lose weight fast, and that was to drink nothing but water and to eliminate all foods out of your diet made from white flour. Exchanging them for whole grains is a better idea, and even better than that is just eating vegetables instead.
One thing I like to tell people is that can pretty much eat all the leafy green vegetables you want. Some – like broccoli – even have ‘negative calories’. (You can read more in this article – “Broccoli – The Ultimate Food to Lose Weight?”)
Let’s now take a look at the rest of that Cosmo article…
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast – Cosmo’s Tips (The Bad…Continued)
Next, the article turned sort of odd by recommending a few things that weren’t ‘bad’, but weren’ particularly helpful, either…
Drink Coffee an Hour Before Working Out
This is the one exception to the stick-to-water-only rule: Just as a coffee run makes your morning at work more productive, a pre-exercise cup of java with a splash of skim milk (about 11 calories) or black (just 5 calories) will energize your workout, explains Dr. Klauer. ”You’ll burn more calories without realizing you’re pushing yourself harder.”
The only reason why you would work harder would be that coffee has caffeine and could help fuel your workout. This has nothing to do with coffee specifically, as any source of caffeine would do the same thing.
Some have said that using caffeine appropriately can be one of the best way to lose weight fast because dosing with caffeine can speed up lipolysis (the breakdown of fat). However, this happens due to the body secreting large amounts of adrenaline, and the levels of caffeine recommended to do this aren’t that healthy for you – especially long term.
Do 36 Push-Ups and Lunges Every Other Day
These gym-class staples will help sculpt muscle, so you’ll sport a more streamlined appearance. Do three sets of 12 of each exercise every other day. “Push-ups target your upper body, while lunges work your butt, hips, and thighs,” says Larkin. Quick tip: Make sure your back and legs remain in a straight line during your push-ups; it’ll improve muscle tone. Also, you can build even more muscle with the lunges if you hold free weights in each hand while doing them.
This was one of those things that just didn’t make any sense, really.
While the basic idea and principle is a good one, in practice, this isn’t any kind of best way to lose weight fast. And honestly, the amount of exercise is so little overall that unless you’re really out of shape, it’s just not going to do that much for you.
Later on in the article, there was:
Do Squats and Sit-Ups
Bodybuilders use this technique before competitions because it adds definition to muscle. Do three sets of 12 of each exercise to tighten your abs, butt, and legs temporarily.
The same comments apply here.
If you wanted to do something like this, I would first recommend that you do it each day as a sort of 10-minute daily ritual. Think of it as your ‘best way to lose weight fast every day’ workout. The extra work will add up over the long-term, and that’s a good thing.
Just don’t think it’s a replacement for your normal workouts, as it was (more or less) presented here.
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast – Cosmo’s Tips (The Confusing)
Up next in the article were a variety of things that…well..while might make you temporarily look thinner (guess that would be good for my friend who has that date coming up that sent me this article), they don’t really help you lose any weight.
(So I’m not sure why they were in an article called “Drop 5 Pounds in a Week”…)
Don’t Let the Camera Add Pounds
Push your chin forward, hold your arms away from your body, and turn slightly sideways from the camera with one foot in front of the other.
GET THINNER IN HOURS
Really. These slenderizing effects may not be permanent, but they’ll help you look hotter in your skinniest jeans on very short notice.
Eat Salmon for Lunch
It’s packed with nutrients that build muscle tone and give your skin a healthy glow. Some nutritionists claim that consuming a portion (doesn’t matter how it’s cooked) may immediately make your face look a bit more contoured.
Stand Up Straight
Keeping your spine rigid and your shoulders back while sucking in your belly toward your spine gives you a slimmer, more streamlined middle.
Pop an Antigas Pill
Take one of these chewable tablets, sold over-the-counter at drugstores, to relieve bloating in your abdomen and break up gas bubbles in your digestive track, leaving you with a flatter tummy.
If you want to look better for a few hours, then I guess some of these things might be a good idea. But they’re just not anything that’s going to sustain any permanent loss of pounds. They’re certainly not the best way to lose weight fast.
Cosmo’s Tips on The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast…A Verdict?
Honestly, while there were a couple things this article mentioned that were a good idea, for the most part, the ideas presented were a waste of time. Sorry Cosmo.
If you’re really interested in the best way to lose weight fast – and keeping that weight off – then you’re going to need a sound diet and exercise program.
FILED UNDER – BEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT FAST
Cosmo’s Tips on The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast (Part 1)
Ok, so a friend of mine is trying to find the best way to lose weight fast.
You see, she’s got a new guy that she’s been talking to, and evidently their first date is right around the corner. Being that she wants to look her best, she started looking around for tips on the best way to lose weight fast online.
She soon came across an article titled “Drop 5 Pounds in a Week” on the website for Cosmopolitan magazine.
Since she knew that I was an expert and fitness and nutrition, she forwarded me the article and wanted my opinion. She wanted to know if the tips in the article could help you actually lose 5 pounds in a week (she hoped they would) and if any of these tips were something I’d consider the best way to lose weight fast.
Let’s take a look…
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast – Cosmo’s Tips (The Good)
At first, I was very impressed with the article, as it mentioned a number of things that I would consider on my list of the best way to lose weight fast. Such as:
Drink Mainly Water
A sports or energy drink, fruit smoothie, or light beer — each serving contains about 100 calories. Yet these beverages don’t satisfy you the way 100 calories of food does, so they’re a waste. Other liquids may be high in sodium and carbohydrates, which trick your body into retaining water, puffing you out.
Water, on the other hand, has zero calories and carbs and little to no sodium, making it the perfect slim-down drink. And strangely, it actually helps flush out excess water weight as well as jump-starts your metabolism. If it’s just too boring, add lemon wedges or mint leaves.
This is great advice. Most people simply don’t drink enough water. In fact – being adequately hydrated has even been known to boost and speed up metabolism so that you actually burn more calories during the day.
And honestly, 100 calories for most drinks is usually cutting it fairly slim – most have more than that. If you drink a lot of soda, energy drinks, or even fruit juices (take a look at how much sugar they have), you’d be surprised just how many additional calories you’re taking in.
Ban White Bread and Pasta
Cutting out all white grain products — such as white rice, spaghetti, sandwich rolls — will instantly slim you down because the simple carbs in these foods cause bloating, especially around your belly. “Simple carbohydrates wreak havoc on your weight because they’re digested very quickly, leaving you hungry and more likely to overeat later,” says Jana Klauer, MD, author of The Park Avenue Nutritionist’s Plan.
To go a step further, instead of replacing them with healthier yet still bloat-triggering whole-grain bread products, substitute vegetables for the week. This way, a chicken sandwich becomes chicken salad, and chips and dip turn into carrots and dip. The complex carbs from vegetables are digested more slowly, so you remain full longer. And because veggies are mostly water, they also help flush out excess water weight.
Another great tip. One of the quickest and best way to lose weight fast is cut out anything that contains flour in your diet for the very reasons mentioned above. You’ll find that you might crave the carbs at first, but once you get over that tough spot, you’ll soon find that you don’t miss them.
In fact, you’ll find that if you can mostly eliminate them out of your diet, that when you do eat them, you likely won’t even enjoy them. (And this will help you keep them out of your diet that much longer and easier.)
The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast – Cosmo’s Tips (The Bad)
As good as Cosmo’s article started out, it honestly didn’t take long before it went downhill. The first couple tips on the best way to lose weight fast were great.
But I soon found myself shaking my head at what they had to say…
Do Cardio 30 Minutes a Day
Any workout that gets your heart rate up will burn calories. But you’ll use more calories if you pick a cardio routine that engages multiple muscles simultaneously, says Wendy Larkin, personal-training manager at Crunch’s Polk Street gym, in San Francisco.
Three to consider: spinning, cardio kickboxing, and boot-camp workouts. Half an hour of each torches 200 to 300 calories while toning up your arms, legs, and core so everything appears sleeker and tighter
You’ll burn even more calories per session if your workout incorporates interval training: alternating short bursts of intense cardio with slower activity. Experts aren’t sure why it works, but trainers swear by it.
There’s honestly so much wrong with this, that I could write an entire article on it alone. (I just might – let me know if you want me to.)
First of all, burning 200-300 calories just isn’t that significant. I hate to tell you that, but it’s not. This topic has already been covered pretty thoroughly in the article “Doctors Don’t Know the Best Exercise for Weight Loss? (Part Two)”.
And saying that ‘experts aren’t sure’ why interval training ‘works’ so off the mark, it’s not even funny. It’s pretty common knowledge by anybody that’s studied or read about the issue that interval training doesn’t burn as many calories during the workout itself as longer, slower cardio does. However, because the exercise itself is so intense, it produces an ‘afterburn’ effect that has your body burning excess calories for up to 48 hours after the workout is over. This has been printed, published, and said more times than I can count, and is why interval training is considered one of the best way to lose weight fast.
Yet ‘experts aren’t sure why it works’?
More of Cosmo’s “Tips” on The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast Upcoming…
This covers only roughly half of this article, so stay tuned, and in a few days, I’ll take a look at the rest of this article. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get much better. In fact…there ends up being tips that aren’t only not the best way to lose weight fast, but don’t even help you lose weight.
More soon.
