Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Lose Ten Pounds in Ten Days

Is it really possible to lose ten pounds in just ten days? Yes, actually, but it's not always easy, or the healthiest choice. And sometimes it's not very smart.

A healthy rate of weight loss is about one to two pounds each week. Many people want to lose much more than that, and much faster. Maybe they're getting married soon, or their high school reunion is coming up next week, and they've waited till the last minute to try and shed a few extra pounds.

Regardless of why you want to do it, let's look at a few tactics that work.

1. Go on a juice fast. Pick one that's known to work such as the lemonade diet or the hollywood diet, and follow the instructions to the letter. You can't always just pick your favorite fruit or vegetable, mix it up with some ice in the blender, then drink only that every day. In many cases this might work, but in most it won't. Often the fruits we love most are the highest in sugar content, and if you're drinking that fruit as a juice you're probably drinking almost pure sugar. And that won't help you lose weight. Following a fast that's known to work is your best bet for weight loss success.

2. If a juice fast sounds too drastic or difficult for you, try dropping your calorie intake dramatically instead. If, for instance, you know you need 1500 calories a day to maintain your current weight, you could try limiting yourself to just 1000 or 1200 calories instead. This is also difficult to do, and you have to be very careful about what you choose to eat (avoid junk foods, of course). Doing this is not as drastic as a juice fast, but it's still a huge burden on your body. Be sure to take a good multivitamin or, even better, a nutritious super green food during this time. Once again, use your calories wisely. Eat good healthy foods.

3. Hike cross-country. Or do something similar and equivalent in your local neighborhood. Seriously, if you spent all day long walking, jogging, or doing other active exercising, there's a very strong chance you'll lose the weight you want quickly. Now this is not an overly reasonable or feasible option for most of us. If you have to work 8 hours a day, you can't be out somewhere exercising your tail off. And if you're not in great shape to begin with, you probably won't be able to last even one hour doing intensive exercises.

4. Go on a low carb diet. Unlike the first two options above, this might be the easiest and safest way for most of us to lose ten pounds in just ten days. Choose a diet plan that really restricts your carb intake such as the infamous Atkins diet, and stick with it. Most people lose 5-12 pounds just in the first 5-7 days of being on this diet. That weight loss is usually water weight more so than fat, but it's weight none the less.

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