Tips on how to lose weight by changing what you
eat
How to Lose 20
Pounds in 2 Weeks
Twenty pounds is a lot to lose in two short weeks. While
surgery and weight loss pills are among the options many people use to drop
such a large amount of weight so quickly, making changes to your diet and
lifestyle can help just as much and is much, much healthier. It is important to
note that a diet that drops so much weight is highly unconventional, though, and
you should talk over your plans with a doctor before continuing.
Part 1 of 3: Changing What You Eat
1.
Switch to drinking only water. Water flushes out
your system, removing unneeded toxins, making it easier to lose weight.
Moreover, water is free of calories, making it a much better choice than sugary
drinks. In fact, if you can limit yourself to only water, your odds of losing
the weight will increase. If you need something flavored from time to time,
choose unsweetened tea.
This should be 24/7, apart from right before a workout. Then
you can feel free to chug a cup of black coffee (or with a splash of skim
milk). The caffeine blast is reported to give you a kick, making you work out a
little bit harder.[1]
It turns out drinking water can up your metabolism, too, in
addition to making you feel full. Recent studies show that drinking two glasses
of cold water can up your metabolism about 40% for 15-20 minutes. Participants
in these weight loss studies reportedly lost 15 pounds in three months, largely
by drinking only water.[2]
2.
Cut junk food from your diet. Cut it out
completely. Someone following a standard diet can usually afford to fall off
the junk food wagon once or twice without suffering major repercussions. For
more extreme, short-term weight loss goals (like this one), however, junk food
must be completely avoided.
Stay away from greasy, fatty foods as well as those with a
high sugar content. Anything battered, fried, covered in chocolate, packaged,
or loaded up and preserved with sugar is a no-go.
Be sure to read your labels. Even things like yogurt and
granola bars can be powerhouses of sugar. While many people think of these as
healthy, they're actually not.
3.
Cut out the white carbs. Everything from pasta
to cookies is full of simple carbohydrates that are actually sugars in
disguise. These little villains spike our insulin levels, upping our fat
stores, and ultimately increase our body weight. To lower the spike, cut out
the processed carbs – that means white rice, bread, and potatoes, in addition
to cookies, cakes, donuts, chips, pretzels, and ice cream.[3]
You may be better off cutting out carbs in general. Let's
face it: 20 pounds in 2 weeks is a tall order. To put your body in ketosis,
where it's feeding off your fat stores and not your glycogen stores (because
those have been depleted), you'll have to go completely low or no carb. In
addition to no sweets, you'll have to cut out starchy vegetables (potatoes,
squash, and carrots), whole grains (including quinoa and brown rice) and sugary
fruits, like bananas, oranges, and apples.
What's more, being hungry makes the temptation to cave to
your old habits all the more powerful. Consistently eating good-for-you,
healthy foods keeps the other cravings at bay. When you're fuller, you make
better decisions.
4.
Munch on "negative calorie" foods.[4]
Whether or not negative calorie foods are truly negative is up for debate. As
the theory goes, some foods take so much energy to digest that eating them
actually burns more calories than the foods contain. Even if you do not burn
calories eating these foods, though, you will not gain many calories from them,
either.
In the way of vegetables, eat more asparagus, beet root,
broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, garlic, green beans, lettuce,
onion, radish, spinach, turnip, and zucchini.
As for fruits, gravitate toward blueberries, cantaloupe,
cranberries, grapefruit, honeydew, lemons, limes, oranges, mangoes, papayas,
raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes, tangerines, and watermelon.
5.
Choose leaner proteins and load up on
vegetables. Instead of beef and pork, opt for leaner meats like chicken or
fish. Consuming fish is especially helpful because the fatty acids in fish give
your body the beneficial oils it needs, and may help subdue the urge to consume
greasy or fattening foods.[5]
And as for vegetables, go for it. Breakfast, lunch, and
dinner – pile 'em on. They're nutritious, generally not full of calories or
sugars (again, no potatoes), and keep you full. They're the shortest track to
losing weight there is.
6.
Consider a fad diet very carefully. The fact of
the matter is that in the short term, fad diets can work. If you're looking to
lose weight very quickly and don't care if you gain it back, then a fad diet
could be okay for you in this situation. Just realize that, in general, they're
not healthy and their effects do not last for long.
One of the most common fad diets right now is juicing.
Another contender is the Master Cleanse diet – both of which are liquid-based
diets. These offer quick results, but are hard to adhere to and are not wise to
stay on for long. If you're desperate, look into them, but take their advice
with a grain of salt.
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