While it's easy to be swayed by fad diets, quick promises, and cleanses, it is actually possible to lose 5 pounds in two weeks through healthy eating and exercise.
But do you really know what's realistic? Over the long term, it's smart to aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week. Generally to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular physical activity.
How long should it take to lose 5 pounds? It generally takes 2-3 weeks to lose 5 pounds in a healthy and sustainable manner. So it's important to know why this is important to you.
Okay, so you can't - and shouldn't - undergo a major transformation in two weeks, but you can shed a little excess weight, firm up slack muscles, overhaul your posture and get your body firing on all cylinders - thereby ridding yourself of sluggish digestion, bloating, poor circulation and flagging energy levels.
Drinking Water Can Make You Burn More Calories
Drinking water increases the amount of calories you burn, which is known as resting energy expenditure ( 4 ). In adults, resting energy expenditure has been shown to increase by 24–30% within 10 minutes of drinking water.
For some people, the first noticeable change may be at the waistline. For others, the breasts or face are the first to show change. Where you gain or lose weight first is likely to change as you get older. Both middle-aged men and postmenopausal women tend to store weight around their midsections.
When you're trying to lose weight, it's natural to want it to happen very quickly. But people with gradual and steady weight loss (about 1 to 2 pounds per week) are more likely to keep the weight off.
“On a day you don't eat for 24 hours, you're guaranteed to be losing a third or half a pound of non-water weight that's mostly from body fat,” Pilon told Global News.
Cut Calories
To shed 1 pound of fat, you need to eat about 3,500 fewer calories than your body uses. So to lose 5 pounds, you'd have to eat 17,500 fewer calories than what you need, which, over two weeks, translates into a 1,250-calorie daily deficit.
Drinking at least 64 ounces (eight cups) of water every day may help with weight loss. Downing liquid is not the only way to meet this goal. About 20 percent of your hydration needs can be met through your diet, says Caroline Susie, RDN, a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
Lemon water can promote fullness, support hydration, boost metabolism, and increase weight loss. However, lemon water is no better than regular water when it comes to losing fat. That being said, it is tasty, easy to make, and can be used as a low-calorie replacement for high-calorie beverages.
Five pounds per week is an aggressive, unrealistic, and potentially unhealthy weight-loss goal. You did not put all the weight on in one month, so you should not expect to lose it all in one month either! As a general rule, you should aim for 1 to 2 pounds of weight loss per week.
Reducing calorie intake drastically can reduce your weight by 5 pounds a week. However, this weight loss is not just from fat loss. Our body weight is composed of muscle, water content, and fat, which vary as per our diet, lifestyle, and the physical activities we perform.
A very low calorie diet is a clinically supervised diet plan that involves eating about 800 calories a day or fewer. They are sometimes considered for obese and severely obese people who are managing diabetes, going to have surgery or preparing for fertility treatment.
"Women and men of average height need to gain or lose about three and a half and four kilograms, or about eight and nine pounds, respectively, for anyone to see it in their face.
You can drop a dress size (anywhere from 10 to 15 pounds, or about an inch or two from your bust and hips) and be special-occasion slim in only six weeks. The secret? Twenty minutes of cardio 4-6 times a week, skipping diet saboteurs, and an effective strength training routine.