Losing weight may help you retain it. Changing your diet, exercise, and behaviors can help you lose weight safely.
Losing weight is challenging, whether you want to reduce 5 or 20 pounds.
It takes patience and food and lifestyle modifications.
Mixing established tactics can simplify and speed up healthy weight loss consistently.
Setting expectations: Losing weight safely
The loss of weight can occur at 1-2 pounds every week safely.
It would let you lose 20 pounds in 5 months at 1 pound weekly or 2 1/2 months at 2 pounds weekly. Workouts and a nutritious diet can help you maintain your weight loss.
Losing weight has advantages. Slow and steady weight loss may help people maintain it.
How to lose 20 pounds in a healthy way?
The 10 best strategies to lose 20 pounds rapidly and securely.
1. Count calories
For some, counting calories can help them lose weight.
Calorie counting works like this. Weight reduction occurs when you burn more calories than you eat or exercise more.
When mixed with other diet and lifestyle changes, monitoring calories can help you lose weight.
Tracking your calories might help you make healthier food choices by raising your awareness of what you eat.
You may find an app helpful for tracking calories and eating.
If you have an eating issue, tracking calories may increase symptoms. Overstrictive diets and food obsession are examples. Avoid counting calories if you fear or have had an eating disorder.
Using MyFitnessPal did not raise the likelihood of college-age women having mental health or eating problems when they did not have risk factors, according to a 2021 study.
For those trying to drop 20 pounds quickly and healthily, an app may be a safe, effective way to manage calories. More research is needed.
2. Drink more water
Increasing water intake may aid weight loss when replacing calorie-containing drinks with water.
According to a 2019 meta-analysis, many studies show that consuming more water helps lose weight. However, the authors found low- to moderate-quality studies with little to no follow-up, casting doubt on their findings.
The authors of the analysis do not support using water consumption to lose weight. Research on its efficacy is needed.
A 2021 study examined how adding water to Mediterranean seniors’ diets affected their weight.
Researchers found that drinking more water helped them lose and maintain weight. They replaced participants’ alcoholic and energetic drinks with water.
Water may help you feel fuller with meals, lowering hunger and intake.
3. Increase your protein intake
Eating more protein-rich foods may help you drop 20 pounds safely.
A 2020 study found that a high-protein diet can help lose weight for 6–12 months. Protein’s weight loss effects have not been studied long term.
The study suggests that protein may modify hormone levels and metabolic processes to keep you satisfied longer. It can also boost energy, aiding weight loss.
You may get protein from lean meats, seafood, poultry, beans, eggs, almonds, and seeds.
4. Reduce your refined carb consumption
Reducing refined carbs may help you lose weight quickly and healthily.
The manufacturing process removes fiber from processed carbs, raising their glycemic index. Glycemic index foods raise blood sugar quickly. A drop usually follows a surge, which might boost appetite and food consumption.
Many studies have supported weight loss with a low glycemic index diet. An older 2014 study found that a low-glycemic, low-energy diet controlled glucose metabolism and helped lose weight.
A 2021 study found that combining a low-glycemic index diet with a high-protein diet may help you lose weight.
However, not everyone agrees with high-glycemic index foods. In a 2021 review, researchers found little evidence that low-glycemic foods are better for weight loss than high-glycemic foods.
However, the Grain Foods Foundation and subsidiaries funded and wrote the first draft of the report. The study’s authors took notes on each draft and signed the final manuscript.
Start by replacing refined grains in pasta, bread, cereals, and pre-packaged products with whole grains like barley, quinoa, brown rice, or whole wheat.
5. Start lifting weights
Resistance training builds muscle strength and endurance by working against a force. It contains activities like:
- free weights
- exercising machines
- bodyweight activities like push-ups and pull-ups
Resistance exercise is advantageous. A 2021 study found that resistance training prevents lean muscle loss after weight loss.
In 2018, researchers examined the weight loss effects of food adjustments, resistance exercise, and both.
While all demonstrated weight reduction, resistance training enhanced resting metabolism modestly and contributed to the leanest muscle without dietary changes, the best weight loss group was resistance training with diet.
Start with a gym membership or resistance training class. If you have weights or resistance bands, use them. You can do bodyweight workouts at home without equipment. It includes activities like:
- squats
- planks
- lunges
- push-ups
- Start slowly and consult a personal trainer for safety.
Consult a doctor before changing your exercise routine, especially if you have health issues. They may suggest changes or a starting point.
6. Eat more fiber
Gut health, overall health, and weight loss may benefit from fiber.
Soluble and insoluble fibers exist. Both may help your health, and most foods include both.
Insoluble fiber makes up most of your stool, while soluble fiber boosts metabolism, according to a 2016 study.
Soluble fiber may prolong fullness.
In 2019, researchers observed that dietary fiber might help obese people follow their diets—this improved weight reduction in their test groups.
Fiber-rich fruits, vegetables, whole grains, whole nuts, and seeds are essential to a balanced diet.
7. Follow a sleep schedule
Switching up your food and exercise routine are the two most critical steps to losing 20 pounds quickly and safely, but sleep may also matter.
A 2022 study examined sleep’s effects on energy and weight loss. They found that better sleep hygiene prevents obesity and aids weight loss.
Sleep deprivation can lead to weight growth, just as enough sleep can help you succeed.
Tips to enhance sleep hygiene include:
- Sleeping 7 to 8 hours per night
- Soothing bedtime rituals include reading or having a shower.
- sleeping and getting up at the same hour every day, even on weekends
- restricting screen time before bed
- avoiding caffeine and eating big meals before bed
- reducing light and noise
- sleeping in a cold room
8. Set reasonable goals and stay accountable.
Starting with a realistic, sustainable weight loss goal can help.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) advises weight loss through nutritious food, frequent exercise, and stress management.
It may include eating healthy meals and establishing behavioral habits like eating when hungry, eating slowly, and not skipping meals.
Your aim should also be reasonable.
Losing 20 pounds in a month is dangerous and unsustainable. But reducing 4–8 pounds this month and matching it next month may be more realistic—set minor targets to reach your long-term aim of losing 20 pounds.
Finally, tracking your fitness progress may help you stay accountable. Record your fitness length or weights lifted. Some people weigh themselves regularly or monthly. Weighting yourself should be done if you have eating issues.
Body composition is not considered in weight loss. Losing fat and building lean muscle mass may not show on the scale, but your body composition may change.
Share your journey with a family member or friend to stay accountable. An exercise companion may motivate you in different ways.
9. Add cardio to your routine.
Cardio, or aerobic exercise, raises the heart rate and strengthens your heart and lungs.
It also burns more calories to help you lose weight.
The CDC advises 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of high-intensity activities per week.
Easy and fun cardio routines for weight loss and wellness include:
- walking
- running
- leaping rope
- rowing
- hiking
- biking
10. Eat slowly and mindfully
Mindfulness is making you mindful of your thoughts and feelings and focusing on the present.
Slowing down and being thoughtful can help you lose weight, eat less, and enjoy your food. Mindful eating may help you lose weight, but it’s not the goal.
Mindfulness requires self-acceptance and food awareness.
It can teach your brain to appreciate food without evaluating it by calories or constraints. Instead, enjoy the benefits of good food and your current meal. Could you not focus on eliminating our foods?
Slow down, enjoy your meal, minimize distractions, chew more, and drink water.
Changing your diet, exercise, and other habits can help you lose 20 pounds safely. Breaking this larger objective into safer ones, like losing 1-2 pounds weekly, may assist. People who lose weight faster than this are more likely to develop disordered eating and weight loss.
Thank you for reading…..
