How To Lose Weight Fast: 15 Expert-Backed Tips

People strive to lose weight for myriad reasons, and many fall into the fad diet trap promising real results fast. While there are certainly ways to accelerate your weight loss efforts, it’s important to understand that shedding pounds too quickly can actually backfire.

Why Losing Weight Fast Isn’t the Best Goal

Though the allure of the “lose 5 pounds in a week” diet myth is strong, there are many reasons why speedy shedding may actually work against your best weight loss efforts.

First, when people lose weight rapidly, especially via fad or crash diets, they are typically unable to maintain it because the weight they lose is often more muscle mass and water and less fat mass compared to people who lose weight gradually.

“Maintaining lean muscle is important in weight loss because it plays a key role in metabolism,” says certified health coach and author of Sugar Shock and Beyond Sugar Shock Connie Bennett. “Muscle helps you burn more calories. But when you lose weight too quickly, you lose muscle and your body slows down calorie burning. Fast weight loss can even cause permanent slowing of metabolism.”

Rapid weight loss often leads to the dreaded yo-yo weight cycling many chronic dieters experience. In fact, a study of former contestants on NBC’s weight loss television show “The Biggest Loser” found the more pounds dropped quickly, the more the participant’s metabolism slowed. The study also found that the contestants regained a substantial amount of their lost weight in the six years following the competition.

Another Australian study of 200 participants in The Lancet found that while dieters in the study lost the same amount of weight, the group that lost weight slowly lost 10% more body fat and 50% less lean muscle than the rapid weight loss group.

A study in Obesity reports our bodies prompt us to eat 100 calories more per day for every pound lost.

Popular fad diets also very often result in nutrient deficiencies. “And rapid weight loss especially when you cut carbs is often largely water,” says registered dietitian Ellen Albertson, Ph.D., author of Rock Your Midlife. “What’s more, if daily calories are low, the body may also use muscle mass as fuel, further reducing metabolism, as muscle mass is metabolically active.”

The bottom line: Shedding weight sensibly is the way to go. Experts usually say a safe rate is losing around half a pound to 2 pounds a week.

15 Tips for Safe and Sustainable Lose Weight Fast, According to Experts

1. Implement Long-Term Lifestyle and Behavior Changes

When trying to lose weight, ban the word “diet,” suggests Albertson. Dieting can be unpleasant and make you hungry, so you constantly think about food, which is exactly what you don’t want when trying to lose weight. Instead, she recommends thinking of weight loss as a part of getting healthier and concentrating on taking care of your body first.

“Weight loss is complicated and you don’t have total control over the number on the scale, but you do have control over what you eat, how much you move and other factors that impact weight, such as stress and sleep,” says Albertson. She suggests setting SMART specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-sensitive goals and rewarding yourself when you hit them.

2. Focus on the First 5% to 10%

“Set smaller, achievable targets,” suggests Bennett. “Losing only 5% to 10% of your total body weight can greatly improve your health and lower your risk for illnesses, such as type 2 diabetes, stroke, cardiovascular disease and certain types of cancer.”

3. Reduce Your Intake of Ultra-Processed Carbs and Sweets

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association reveals what you eat is most important for weight loss.

“One of the healthiest ways to shed weight is to reduce your intake of sugar and rapidly metabolized carbohydrates,” says Bennett. “In particular, you want to cut out or drastically curtail your intake of high-glycemic-load foods, such as sugary snacks, processed carbs and soft drinks. When you avoid or cut back on French fries, chips, crackers and the like, you’ll speed up your weight loss.”

4. Eat More Plants

Research shows a plant-based diet not only promotes weight loss, but is also easier to stick to than a low-calorie diet. Plus, it’s nutrient dense and has numerous health benefits.

“Produce supports weight loss because it’s rich in fiber and water, which are both calorie-free yet take up space in your stomach so you feel full,” says Albertson. In fact, a Brazilian study found a direct correlation between increased fruit and vegetable consumption and enhanced weight loss.

5. Pump Up Your Protein

Increasing your protein consumption can help reduce appetite and help prevent the loss of muscle mass.

“Eating around 25 to 30 grams of protein two scoops of protein powder or 4 ounces of chicken breast per meal can improve appetite control and manage your body weight,” says Dr. Albertson.

Albertson also says women older than 50 need significantly more protein than men and younger women. “Women need more protein after 50, especially as they approach menopause, because decreases in the hormone estrogen result in a loss of skeletal muscle mass, strength and regenerative capacity,” she explains.

6. Drink More Water

Research shows drinking more water is associated with weight loss independent of diet and exercise. Ample water intake can help increase satiety and combat sugar cravings. Water is also necessary for lipolysis, the body’s process of burning fat for energy.

Try drinking two cups of water before each meal. Studies have shown this simple move can increase weight loss as well.

7. Eat a Well-Rounded Breakfast Lose Weight Fast

Breakfast skippers, listen up. If you’re trying to lose weight, skimping on morning fuel is not the way to go. In fact, studies consistently show skipping breakfast is associated with overweight and obesity.

Additionally, a study in the Proceedings of the Nutrition Society found people who don’t eat breakfast tend to have poorer quality diets overall, and they skimp on nutrients, such as vitamin D, calcium and iron.

8. Stand Up and Move More

One of the easiest ways to shed weight is to up your non-exercise activity thermogenesis the energy expended for everything you do outside of eating, sleeping or exercising.

For example, if you weigh 160 pounds and alternate sitting and standing, you can burn approximately 35 additional calories an hour an extra 280 calories a day, 1,400 calories a week and about 70,000 calories a year.

9. Hit the Weights

Known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption, EPOC reflects how long oxygen uptake remains elevated after exercise in order to help muscles recover. The greater your RMR, the more you can eat and not gain weight.

“While cardiovascular exercise is often emphasized, strength training is key for dropping pounds and maintaining weight loss, especially after age 50 because muscle mass which burns calories declines at a rate of 1% to 2% per year,” says Albertson. “Strength training can slow down muscle mass decline.”

10. Don’t Go Overboard

Cutting calories too drastically or working out 24/7 may actually backfire when it comes to weight loss. Most people think shedding pounds requires draconian measures to get results, but allowing yourself adequate recovery time is more productive.

During the anabolic phase, the body builds muscle mass and loses fat mass while recovering from the stressor, explains Darnbrough.

11. Check in With an Accountability Partner

Research shows being accountable works. In one study, two-thirds of participants who joined a weight loss program with friends maintained their weight loss for six months after the meetings ended, compared to just a quarter of those who attended on their own. Of course, many organizations also suggest having a sponsor or champion on your path to weight loss.

“One of the best ways to consistently eat better and shed weight steadily is to check in every day with an accountability partner,” suggests Bennett. Just find someone with similar weight loss goals. Just text each other to share that you’re eating healthy foods and staying on track. If you’re tempted by junk foods, you can lean on your partner, too.

12. Watch Less Television

Couch surfers wanting to lose weight should turn off the TV in fact, the more television people watch, the more weight they gain.

Excess television watching is correlated with extra pounds primarily because it’s a sedentary activity that often also leads to mindless eating.

13. Reconnect With Your Satiety Cues

Speaking of mindless eating, you can reprogram your brain for weight loss by tuning back into your body’s natural “I’m hungry” and “I’m full” cues.

“Dieting combined with eating on the run or while multitasking driving, watching TV, playing with your phone can really disconnect you from your natural signals of hunger and satiety,” says Albertson.

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14. Get More Sleep

Studies show that poor sleep is associated with weight gain and other health disorders. Additionally, poor sleep increases cortisol and can result in harder-to-lose body and belly fat.

“I also encourage the 3-2-1 rule, which means stop working three hours before bed, stop eating two hours before bed and stop digital stimuli one hour before bed to improve your deep sleep and REM.”

15. Find Non-Edible Substitutes for Self-Soothing

There’s a reason it’s called “comfort food.” However, emotional eating can quickly derail all weight loss efforts.

“When you feel stressed, which raises cortisol levels, rather than reaching for food to feel better since eating triggers the release of the feel-good neurotransmitter dopamine raise levels of oxytocin, the love hormone, either by soothing touch, playing with a pet or getting a hug,” suggests Albertson.

Animal studies have found oxytocin reduces calories consumed and has positive effects on metabolism. A small human study also found that giving men oxytocin over an eight-week period promoted weight loss.

“Remember the acronym ‘HALT,’ which stands for hungry, angry/anxious, lonely and tired. If you are physiologically hungry, eat.