By Marc Perry on July 5th, 2010
Are you looking for that silver bullet that will melt all the fat off your body quickly and effortlessly? I wrote this article specifically for you, because I want you to know the truth about what many will claim is “The Best Way to Lose Weight Fast.” By the end of this article, you will feel refreshed with honest, factually correct information that you can use to achieve the lean, healthy body you desire.
Let’s separate “The Best Way To Lose Weight Fast” into three pieces:
1) The Best Way
The “best way” assumes there is one amazing method that works for everyone that will help you lose weight quickly and safely. Your body is totally unique! If some celebrity goes on a whacky diet and exercise program and loses weight, doesn’t mean it will work for you, or me.
In my opinion, the best way to lose weight for you is some combination of strength training, cardio, and eating healthy foods while keeping a calorie deficit (eating less calories than you burn). At the same time, this fitness program must keep you engaged and motivated. What is that special combination? That’s part of the fun of tracking your progress to see what works for you. You may be able to lose weight exercising only a couple times a week with the right nutrition intake. A good baseline is full body strength training 2-3x per week along with some cardio. From there, you can make changes in your program and continue to track your progress.
2) To Lose Weight
The term “weight” does not differentiate between fat and muscle. So do you want to lose weight if you are losing just muscle? I hope not. The more muscle you lose, the less metabolically active you will be, which means you burn less calories. In addition, you will never look toned if you lose a lot of muscle. Your focus should be on losing only fat.
3) Fast
So how fast can you really lose weight? Can you lose 10 pounds in a week? The answer is yes, you can. You can even lose 20 pounds in a couple days, but it will be almost all water weight (like when wrestlers dehydrate themselves to make weight before a competition – not very healthy).
Mountains of research has proved a realistic and healthy pace of fat loss is about 0.5% to 1.0% of your body weight per week, which comes out to about 1-2 pounds for most people. So if you lose much more than 1% of your body weight per week, you are most likely losing muscle and/or water weight (I know, I wish it weren’t true, but it is – If you don’t believe me, call the Harvard School of Public Health, or another reputable organization). So a 200 pound man could lose roughly 2 pounds of fat per week on the high end, which in 12 weeks is a solid 24 pounds! That’s a major body transformation.
I would be remiss if I did not strongly emphasize the tortoise wins the fat loss race every time. I admit I am not the most patient person (in fact I’m an extremely impatient New Yorker). When I’ve tried to lose fat very quickly by working out a ton and eating less food, I messed up my metabolism, lost muscle, and felt terrible. Changing your body takes time and requires patience.
In addition, permanent changes in your body only come through permanent changes in lifestyle habits. Please don’t forget this! If anyone tells you otherwise, you should keep a tight grip on your wallet. If there was a fat loss miracle product, or some extremely fast and easy way to lose fat, would 60% of Americans still be overweight? Definitely not. Losing fat is NOT easy, but it’s achievable and we all can do it.
So in summary, the best way for you to lose 0.5% to 1.0% of your body weight in fat per week is to find the combination of strength training, cardio, and healthy nutrition that keeps you motivated and works best for you.
Marc Perry is the Founder of BuiltLean.com. He is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist and an ACE Certified Personal Trainer. You can learn more about Marc right here: About Marc Perry.
