How Much Weight Can You Lose In A Week?

The truth we should all bear in mind is that it takes quite some time to lose weight. The process of losing weight depends on a number of factors that ranges from what you buy and consume, your basal metabolic rate, and your sleep schedule. This also applies to losing just a pound, as you need to take note of your starting weight as well. The main aim of the article is to give an insight to how much weight you can lose in a week. There is really no straight-forward answer to this, however it is not difficult. According to Lauren Slayton, MS, RD, what you can lose and what you should lose are two different things, she says you should do the one to two weeks pounds per week to lose weight and keep it off. Adopting this method will make it easier for you to stay on track as well as maintain it, rather than going too extreme to lose three pounds in a week as this might cause the weight to come back.

On the internet, there are a lot of write ups and pictures you will find on weight loss transformation, as many obese people view this, it makes them think losing about five pounds of weight in a week is very easy. We should be informed that shedding that amount of weight in a week is unhealthy and for some people, it is impossible. It is good to want to know how much weight you can lose in a week, but bear in mind no one can be exact with the numbers as there are a lot of factors that can affect how fast you can shed weight as started earlier.

An associate director of the Bariatric and Metabolic Weight Loss Center at Stony Brook University- Konstantinos Spaniolas, M.D., says “losing one percent of your body weight in a week is considered rapid but within a reason”. However, he states that losing weight quickly has some consequences, which is muscle loss, and nobody would like to have a muscle loss. For this reason, many experts usually recommends that you take a little longer to lose weight and have a weight loss plan that can be easily sustained.

FACTORS THAT DETERMINES HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU CAN LOSE IN A WEEK

1. YOUR STARTING POINT: This determines how much weight you can lose in a week.  For instance if you start at 300 pounds, and your aim is to lose one percent of fat per week, this means that you will lose three pounds in a week. This finding is backed by a study carried out by a researcher at the national institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases- Kevin Hall, Ph.D., who says the more amount weight you have to lose, the larger the percentage of lost weight will come from fat.
2. TYPE OF WORKOUT: The type of workout you engage in determines the amount of weight you will lose. For instance, medical practitioners say Resistance training is the best if you want to retain your muscles burning fat.
3. YOUR PROTEIN INTAKE: Consuming protein greatly helps to shape your body composition, as protein supplies the body with essential amino acids that your body needs to make muscles. If you skip protein, you tend to lose muscles. There are different ways to get protein; you can even get it from your hearty vegan meals since it contains more protein. According to Dr Spaniolas, it is advisable to eat about 8 to 1 gram of protein for every pound you weigh in order to retain muscle.
4. SLEEP SCHEDULE: Always try to have a good sleeping habit as it also affects how much weight you can lose in a week. If you do not get enough sleep, it awakens your hunger and metabolism hormones such as ghrelin and leptin and you tend to consume anything you see that will satisfy that hunger. A study which was conducted in Annals of Internal Medicine, some volunteers who were on a low calorie diet slept about 5.5 or 8.5 hours every night, later on in two weeks, those who slept more lost twice as much as those who did not.
5. HOW MUCH WEIGHT YOU HAVE ALREADY LOST MATTERS: Research has it that people who had lost weight before, burn fewer calories than those who had not. This also means that you tend to lose weight faster at first than your continuous trial. Also, your size determines how fast you will burn calories, if you are smaller, you will burn fewer calories. However, there are more complex hormonal and metabolic changes which make it difficult to burn fat if you had been losing weight for quite some time.
6.  YOUR DIET: This is another factor that affects how much weight you can lose in week. You need to choose a diet plan that fits you best. Please note that it is not every plan that is right for every patient. The keto diet may work for you if you prefer to eat high-fat foods.
7. CALORIE INTAKE: it is quite complicated to correctly estimate how many calories you should consume, but you can use a chart or calculator like the one provided from the National Institute of Health. You can cut down 500 calories per day to lose weight, but it shouldn’t be lesser to start with.

HOW MUCH WEIGHT CAN YOU LOSE IN A WEEK?

Here is the simple arithmetic, the determinant of how much weight you can lose in a week is dependent on how many calories you burn than the calories you take in. when you consume 3500 calories more than you burn, you tend to accumulate a pound of fat. So if you consume 3500 calories in a week less than you burn, you will lose about a pound. But if you try harder by losing about 7000 calories, you will lose about two pounds. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, it is safe to lose about one to two pounds in a week if it is done steadily and gradually.

TIPS TO HELP MAXIMIZE YOUR WEIGHT LOSS IN A WEEK

• Try not to eat late at night: eating later in the night slows down your food metabolism. It is preferable to eat at a certain time frame as it is very beneficial for losing weight.
• Do some workouts: strength training is very important when maintaining the muscle that is needed for fueling workouts and to burn down calories. It is recommended that you do 45minutes strength and weight training exercises for about 3 to 4 days a week and have a 60 seconds rests in between these exercises. These training exercises should include (free weights, machine, workouts, and so on).
• Take lots of water often: our bodies need water to survive because our body is two-thirds water. If you are not hydrated often and you are faithful to lifting weights, cutting down calorie intake and protein meals, you will not get results; your efforts may just be futile. Dehydration will twist the goal from fat weight loss to water weight loss. If you don’t drink water often, the weight lost will be temporary.
• Pay attention to your calorie deficit: weight lose apps have been created for this purpose, they can help you keep an eye on your calorie intake, they will help count the calories, they can aid to improve curb eating late at night, they can remind you to drink more water and help monitor your sleep, and they can proffer different ways to keep up with your weight loss plan.
• Consult an expert: it is also good to consult a doctor if you realize that all you have tried is not working i. e your calorie intake, sleep and diet. You should visit your nutritionist so that he/she will be able to identify what is wrong and prescribe possible solutions, he can develop a plan that will be specific and that your body can easily adapt to.

SIMPLE WEIGHT LOSS PLAN FOR RESULTS IN ONE WEEK

To lose weight in a week, we have a two step plan that you can follow, it is simple but requires focus and commitment. This plan doesn’t require spending money on expensive drugs/supplements nor special diet pills.

1. FOR SEVEN DAYS, HAVE A DIFFERENT DIET: You do not have too much time to count calories and micronutrients to sustain your energy balance if you are aiming to lose weight in just a week. You should rather adopt this approach as it is simple. Do away with the following things from your diet for a week, they include:
2. Baked goods: you must avoid sweet and savory baked goods which mean you have to do away with cookies, muffins, cakes, bread and bagels. Avoid salty snack foods as well like baked chips, pretzels or tortilla strips. It is better to go for fresh fruits if you are the type that likes sugary things. You can also replace these baked foods with raw vegetables.
3. Sauces and spreads: sauces and spreads contain high amounts of calories and it has a lot of salt content which are not needed for your one week weight loss plan. To replace these foods, consume lean protein like eggs, pork, and fish, chicken or lean beef, they should be grilled without oil and no sauces and spreads should be added.
4. Fried foods: avoid fried foods like fried fish, or poultry meat that is fried or breaded because fried foods are very high in calories and have high salt content. This means you have to skip snacks like French fries, potato chips, chicken nuggets, battered or fried vegetables. Some frozen foods are fried before they are frozen like the frozen French fries.
5. Drinks high in calorie: Avoid drinks like juice, flavored coffee drinks, sport drinks wine, beer and cocktails and sweetened teas as they are full of calories. Drink lots of water instead. You can replace sweetened drinks with fresh lemon juice or another fruit if you don’t like plain water.

BREAKFAST

-You can have fruits, low fat yoghurt and oats which can serve as a healthy breakfast. You can have them in any form you like. You can put all of them in a bowl or blend them all together to create a smoothie.

-You can also have eggs and greens for breakfast if you want to lose weight in the space of one week. You can have scrambled egg, omlette and avocado.

LUNCH

You can have a salad of anything you fancy, to spice it up, add small portion of protein, which can be chicken or tuna. You can take oil olive and lemon as well. You should avoid fats such as pasta and cheddar cheese. You can have avocado and sweet potato, they are great. Another option you can consider is whole-wheat wraps, you can also have protein and a full salad. For days when the weather is really cold, you can have homemade soups.

DINNER

You can have salad with a lot of avocado or beetroot. You can add more protein for your dinner, like chicken breast or a can of salmon. You can add very few carbs as at this time, try rice dish, simple chicken or a sweet potato and salmon meal. Having fish at night is also a good choice, but make sure to always choose a fresh fish.

• DO MORE EXERCISES: If you want to lose weight in a week, engage in exercises more frequently for the whole seven days to burn down calories. Asides burning down calories, exercises help improve your sleep and also reduce stress, which helps contribute to weight loss.  You can take part in fun exercises like walking, swimming etc.

A short note: do not compare your weight loss journey with that of anybody’s because it will not be like any body’s journey. Do not focus on your friend’s weight loss plan that you see on social media to start yours. Many people get really frustrated when they have spent 5 days working out and dieting and they do not see results. We should bear in mind that weight loss takes time and it requires consistency.