If you are looking for a diet to lose weight fast, I am so glad you landed here. Looking for a quick weight loss diet online can be a minefield of very bad, and sometimes dangerous information. Even if you are just looking for a few quick weight loss tips, what you find may lead you down a path that you really shouldn’t follow.
All of us have been there – wanting to know how to lose weight fast. My wife and I recently came back from a Caribbean cruise. I always weigh myself each morning, just to keep tabs on things. Well, I don’t know if you have ever been on a cruise, but one thing there is no shortage of on a cruise is FOOD. There is food available 24/7, literally. Yes, they do have salads, fruit, yogurt and things like that available, but who wants those things when there’s 24/7 pizza, ham and cheese panini sandwiches, ice cream, hand carved roast beef, mashed potatoes, hamburgers…anyway, you get the idea.
Ok, back to the morning after. The morning after we got home, I weighed myself, expecting to have gained a few pounds. I did indulge in
the pizza and ice cream a few times, after all. I stepped on the scale and did a double take. That number could not be correct since it was the BIGGEST number I have ever seen on my bathroom scale, EVER! After stepping off and re-weighing myself several times, I finally resigned myself to the fact that at that moment, I weighed more than I ever had in my entire life! Things like “Ok, no problem, just run downstairs and do a search for the fastest way to lose weight, and then get on the treadmill!” began racing through my mind.
I did run downstairs and get on the computer and searched for quick ways to lose weight before hopping on the treadmill, and that’s when I got a little concerned about what I was finding.
Rapid Weight Loss Diets
“How to Lose Weight Fast! Like 20 Lbs. in 2 Weeks!”
“Fast Weight Loss Diet – Lose 14 Lbs in 5 Days!”
“Crash Diets Work Best”
“hCG Drops for Weight Loss”
Really?? hCG, Human Chorionic Gonadotropin, the hormone made by women when they are pregnant? Ok, I’ve never used it, so I can’t comment on it, but….SERIOUSLY?
Wow, those are the kinds of things I was finding on the first page of Google for rapid weight loss diets. I quickly realized that what I was finding was not going to be what I needed. Come on, think about it, haven’t all of us gone on one of those starvation diets for a week or so, and lost 5-6 or more pounds only to be so starved that the following week we gained those six pounds back and a few more to boot? For me, diets to lose weight fast have never worked out well, since the weight I lost quickly seemed to creep back on as soon as I stopped following the “lose weight fast diet”.
As I walked 15 minutes on the treadmill and then did 15 minutes on my elliptical machine, I thought about those headlines screaming at me and how I was feeling the need to lose weight fast. Somehow instinctively, I realized that when I did those searches, I was in a panic mode, looking for some miracle diet plan that would show me the quickest way to lose weight so my scale wouldn’t be showing me that nasty number ever again.
My Epiphany about How to Lose Weight Easily
I had to laugh at myself a little bit as I realized that my panic was leading me down one of those paths I really didn’t want to go down again. Walking on my treadmill and getting some nice moderate exercise helped me to clear my head, which made me realize that the way I was going to lose the extra weight I gained on the cruise was to stay level-headed and not go rushing out to find fast ways to lose weight.
The way I have always been able to lose weight in 2 weeks (or sometimes a little more, depending on how much I wanted lose) is to stay focused on my exercise routine, and to make sure that I am eating well . By eating well I mean eating five small meals each day, and making sure I am drinking lots of good water.
Here’s my “Eating Well to Lose Weight” plan:
Morning – A bowl of quick-oats made with low-fat milk and maybe a little brown sugar and cinnamon, or another high-fiber cereal with low-fat milk. I usually eat oats because I like them a lot. :o)
Mid-Morning – 6-8 oz, yogurt or a small piece of fruit, sometimes both.
Lunch – A Shakeology shake, or a chicken sandwich and a bowl of my wife’s homemade vegetable soup, or a frozen “lean” meal.
Mid – Afternoon – an ounce of almonds or another serving of fruit, sometimes both.
Dinner – Either broiled, grilled, or baked chicken or fish, a serving of non-starchy vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower or asparagus, and a good healthy grain like brown rice. Or, whole wheat pasta (I have a real passion for pasta, lol!) with marinara sauce and some non-starchy veggies. Dinner could also be vegetable soup or a Shakeology shake if I didn’t have that for lunch.
Take a look at the USDA Plate Guidlines to the right, and try to keep your plate looking like that at dinnertime, especially.
Why I Think My Plan is Better than the “Fast Weight Loss Diets”
My plan is better because it’s balanced, and I am eating real food. I do substitute a Shakeology shake for one meal a day because they are highly nutritious and so I know if I miss any nutrients for the day in the actual food I am eating, the shake will more than make up for it while still being a low calorie meal.
I think eating “real” food is important when you are trying to lose weight. Also, making sure you know that the garlic bread being served with your pasta at dinner is not off-limits totally. That way, you will not have that same “I’m being deprived of the yummy foods I love” feeling that comes along with most diets. If the garlic bread is calling you and you just can’t make it stop then have a piece. The trick is to not have 3 pieces, or 4. You will not lose the weight quite as fast if you have the garlic bread, but you won’t get that desperate feeling of not ever being able to have your favorite foods again.
This plan is a fast way to lose weight for me, although my definition of fast is about 2 pounds per week. Losing weight any faster than that is really not healthy in my opinion, because the amount of calories being taken in to lose weight any faster is so small that there’s no way you can get all of the nutrients you need each day. Some of the supplements being sold to suppress your appetite or help you to burn fat faster are questionable, and could be harmful in the long run (again, in my humble opinion).
You Know Me, Gotta Talk About Exercise at Some Point
Of course, I am the Fitblogr and I do have to mention the importance of getting some physical activity in each and every day, especially
if your are trying to lose weight. Physical activity not only burns calories, but it helps give you a mental “boost”. After you work out, no matter what you do or for how long, you will feel a sense of well-being and pride because you know you have done something good for yourself. Even those among us who don’t like to exercise (coughcough like my lovely wife!) have to admit that after doing some exercise, there is a good feeling inside from knowing you’ve done something that will make you feel better in the long run. (By the way, check out what my wife has discovered about exercising for those who hate to exercise in her article about her recumbent exercise bike.)
So By Now You Know You’re Not Going to Find Out “How to Lose Weight Fast” in This Article
Sorry, this article did not give you a list of “40 Diets that Work Fast”. It’s my humble opinion that those kinds of things don’t work – at least not in the long run. You may lose 10 pounds in a week, but I’m betting that the week after that, you will gain most of them back. We’re all in this life for the long run, right, so why not do things the right way? Losing weight is serious, and shoudn’t be taken lightly. If you have a lot of weight to lose, always consult with your doctor and/or a dietitian to get their opinions on the best way to lose weight for YOU.
If you are like me, and you just need to lose that excess cruise weight, then sticking to my “Eating Well” plan above or one like it can help you achieve that goal. It might take a month or two, but at times like these, there is a line I remember from an old Disney book I used to read to my kids. Poor Goofy was trying to win a race with Donald Duck, and was always being outwitted and out-raced by Donald. His mantra throughout the book was “Slow and steady, steady and slow, that’s the way we always go!” Well guess what? Old Goofy finally won that race. He had many setbacks and it looked for all the world like he was gonna lose that race, but he never quit.
So there you go, my answer to the question of how to lose weight quick: Don’t!
Slow and steady, steady and slow, that’s the way we always go…
I’m impressed, I must say. Actually not often do I encounter a blog that’s each educative and entertaining, and let me let you know, you might have hit the nail on the head. Your idea is outstanding; the difficulty is something that not enough persons are talking intelligently about.