How can I lose weight quickly?

how can  i lose weight quikly?

Richard Lam, B.Sc Biotechnology, Massage Therapy Diploma

Let’s face it, everyone could do a little bit better to take care of themselves, and I would argue most people have wanted to change the way their body looks at some point. I have, my friends, family, coworkers, classmates and more have. It’s always good to feel good in your own skin, but if you want something else I encourage that as well. Supplement stores and ads on TV or whatever will sell you useless products that apparently help with fat loss. Listen. Let me give it to you straight. There’s no damn shortcut. Weight loss is an arduous process that requires a buttload of effort, discipline and a strict diet/training program. If you think there’s a product on a shelf you can order that will magically change the body you’re in, you are absolutely wrong.

This change didn’t happen overnight, it came from hard work and perseverance.

What I’m going to talk about is based on our current understanding of weight loss science. Diet and exercise will play a massive role in your weight loss journey.

The Almighty Caloric deficit:

Calories are taken in and used by all the time. We burn calories even when we sleep, when we breathe, and just by existing. We can burn more calories by exercising through resistance training, cardio, playing sports or even going for a brisk walk.

Basically what we want when someone goes through weight loss is more calories being used up than the amount of calories that we take in. Let’s use a simple calculation for caloric deficit: Calories burned from exercise + Calories burned in general + Basal Metabolic Rate. If you can keep track of how many calories are burned from exercise from let’s say a 5 kilometer (or 3.1 miles for our imperialists) walk through an app or device, you can add it to the amount of calories you generally use up in a day from eating and existing. We’ll talk more about calories burned from eating, and the Basal Metabolic rate later.

Let’s talk diets for a second.

Lots of people will advocate for a certain diet, and others might never consider that same one. Some people like the ketogenic diet where you mainly eat fats and a bit of protein, and never touch carbs (I’d never be able to do this, I love pizza like no tomorrow).
 Others like intermittent fasting where they only have a small window of time to eat and the rest of the time they’re just fasting and refraining from food.

See how it doesn’t matter what diet you choose as long as it works for you?

At the end of the day, the best diet is the one that works for you. As long as you can maintain a caloric deficit and you can stick to that diet, you’ll be golden. Try experimenting with different diets and see what can help you achieve your goals and while still maintaining a healthy, well-balanced lifestyle. Trying to switch up your current diet to whatever one you want to try probably won’t work well if you go too fast and don’t adapt well. You’ll end up cheating and probably won’t be able to keep up anymore. Remember to take your time easing yourself into the diet. Set specific, reasonable goals for yourself and you will get there. Discipline isn’t achieved in a day.

Remember when we were talking about how you burn calories from just existing, or even eating? A lot of energy is used up for just existing. Our muscles need energy to move, the digestive system needs energy to power through and obtain all those nutrients we’ve collected from our food, and our brain needs lots of energy (specifically glucose) to keep our bodies going. So all of this, and more is part of our basal metabolic rate. It’s the rate of metabolism that we have from all non-exercise activities that are fundamental to us just being alive. Unsurprisingly, existing is hard work, so kudos to you person who’s existing right now! The basal metabolic rate or BMR eats up anywhere between 50% to 70% of our energy a day. Measurements of this can only be accurately done in a lab, but rough estimates using a BMR calculator work too.

You can use this formula or google a BMR Calculator.

So now that we have all these calculations thrown in together, just remember that the key to losing weight comes from a caloric deficit. If your calorie intake is less than your BMR combined with the calories you lose from exercising, you will lose fat and weight period. A lot of things can affect your BMR, like your sex, age, genetics and more. Most of these factors are things you can’t really control but don’t let that bog you down. Willpower and discipline is what will make the difference to transform your body into the one you want to have.

In whatever diet you choose from, make you sure you have high protein intake. Of all the macronutrients there are (Carbohydrates, Fats, Nucleic acids and Protein), protein uses up the most energy in digestion. So because of this, a high protein diet will promote fat loss and muscle building!

Fats take the least amount of energy to break up, but proteins take the most!

So for exercise, a vast majority of people head straight for the treadmill when it comes to weight loss. Cardio isn’t the be all and end all when it comes to weight loss and fat loss. Resistance training like lifting weights will no doubt help in muscle building, increasing your bone density (which is very important as you get older) and of course fat loss. Incorporating some type of resistance training in your life is only going to help you achieve your goals quicker.

Cardio or aerobic exercise. I hate it. Everyone hates it unless you’re some weirdo (Just kidding, kudos to you!). But I only hate it because I don’t like treadmills or running, I personally don’t like it because I find it boring. Finding alternatives and finding what works for you is so important because it’s the only way you’ll be able to stick to a weight loss program. Try biking, rollerblading, swimming, skipping, or any something else when it comes to finding what you like. Keep in mind at the end of the day that the higher intensity your aerobic exercise is, the more you’ll benefit.

A study conducted in 2014 by Damon L. Swift., et al called “The role of exercise and physical activity in weight loss and maintenance” has shown higher intensity workouts can result in greater weight loss if the workout session is equally long compared to a moderate intensity workout. Of course you’re going to have to start out slow and steady, but when you get have a workout going, start upping your intensity to increase energy expenditure to help with your caloric deficit.

Here are some numbers from the same study by Damon L. Swift., et al that showcase the amount of time you need to exercise depending on your current goals:

So 225 to 420 min/week is the recommendation based on this study. That’s about half an hour to an hour of exercise per day. The higher intensity your workout, the less time you have to spend working out. For people who have little time I would advise doing your best to increase the intensity of your workout to match a moderate intensity that you might’ve done in a longer period of time.

That’s essentially it! Work on calculating a decent estimate of your caloric deficit. You don’t need to achieve one immediately. Work on cutting down your surplus (which would make you gain weight) first before heading for a caloric deficit.

Stay away from this if you want to lose weight!

Make sure your diet works for you and that you can stick to it as well. Your diet should be balanced, you need all of your macro nutrients including carbohydrates and especially protein (Go for complex carbs, avoid white rice and bread and processed sugar) to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Choose a workout plan that works for you that you know you can abide by. Resistance training and cardio both contribute to fat loss, whereas cardio can promote even greater weight loss. Up your intensity to maximize the effects, especially if your daily life is time crunch.

There’s no easy way to lose weight. Understanding the science of it and understanding yourself will help you achieve your goals. Hope my long answer helps!

I wish you luck on your body transformation journey. Believe in yourself!