Nothing is worse than killing yourself by following a miserable diet, especially through the holidays, trying to live on grapefruit or cayenne pepper powder, all for that one wedding or high school reunion, and then as soon as it’s over you gain all the weight back. Sometimes even more than you had before. But so it is with crash diets. If you deprive your body for so long, there is no way it won’t switch into starvation mode, meaning that as soon as you step one toe out of line, your body is going to squeeze every last calorie out of whatever food particle you finally do eat.
But isn’t crash dieting our only real choice if we want to lose a lot of weight fast? Other diets make you commit to a year of dieting and exercise just to drop even a pant size, much less see results like Jared Fogle.
The truth is that you can lose a lot of weight fast, the old fashioned way. Michael Dansinger, MD is the medical doctor for NBC’s reality show, The Biggest Loser, and he, more than almost anyone else, understands what it means for people to lose large amounts of weight fast. With weekly weigh-ins on the show, it is not uncommon for contestants to lose 10-15 pounds per weigh-in.
Although the amount of weight you lose does depend on how much weight you have to lose, it is possible for you to see results like this without throwing out everything in your kitchen except your water glasses. In fact, Dr. Dansinger recommends that those who are looking to lose about 3-5 pounds per week should follow a 1050-1200 calorie diet and do about an hour of exercise per day.
On top of those guidelines, Dansinger suggests limiting starches and salt intake as these will help you reduce your fluids and fluid retention. This can even result in up to 5 pounds of fluid loss when you are starting out. Eating plenty of low-calorie vegetables will help keep you feeling fuller longer. Also be sure to drink plenty of water so that you don’t confuse your body’s signals for thirst with hunger. Lastly, make sure to eat three meals and one snack a day. Even though it might seem contrary to common dieting that you will lose more weight if you don’t skip meals, it is a proven fact that by eating sparse meals throughout the day, you can make sure your metabolism keeps working and burning calories throughout the day.