Lose 10lbs in 10 days!! – I’d argue this isn’t that difficult to do. Take a massive hit on how many calories you’re eating, don’t drink too much water and feel great doing it. You’ll be starving (literally) but how sweet will that reward be when the scales say 10lb lighter? Sweeeeeet!
Then go back to actually living, replenish all your energy and water stores in your body and go back to where you started and then try to repair the damage you just did to your body.
1lb of fat equates to 3500 calories so to lose 10lbs of fat is 35,000 calories under what your body needs to function or burnt off through activity. 35,000!!
Average calorie consumption recommendation for a female is 2,000 so in 10 days that’s 20,000 calories. So if you restrict to 1,000 cals a day that gives you a deficit of 10,000…you still need to burn another 25,000 cals that week to get 10lb of fat loss. That is a little more difficult to do that losing 10lb of weight.
For the gents 2,500 is recommended so that’s 25,000 eaten, a deficit to 1,250 is 12,500 over the 10 days so that’s 22,500 you need to burn in activity…good luck!!
The point of all that above is that losing 10lb in 10 days is a false economy. You don’t really want to lose 10lb of weight. That number is irrelevant. You aren’t actually hunting for weight loss, or you shouldn’t be. You want fat loss. Fat loss is the goal and as you can see above fat loss is a more difficult task because it’s not smoke and mirrors like weight loss is. If someone says you can lose X weight in X amount of time they are purely after your money. Their whole business revolves around keeping you convinced it’s working when it really isn’t and keeping you hooked on their product. Anyone with your best interests will be honest about the journey of fat loss and the reality of how long it will take but you will get a genuine result and will ultimately end up healthier, happier and feeling great everyday.
Losing 10lbs in 10 days will feel great initially because when you’re starving your body gives you extra hormones to try and spur you to go and find something to eat, to give you extra energy to hunt. This is short lived and eventually will lead you to poor health.
Surely health and well being should factor into the equation also. Is your nutrition sustainable? Can you do it forever? If not then how is that the best approach?
A friend of CrossFit Tewkesbury over at Target Active Fitness said to me recently that he asks his clients, “would you put your children on the same diet/nutrition plan?”. I love that, if your answer is no then is it really the best way for you to be eating?!
The harsh truth is this:
Getting the body image you want, the fat % you want, the BMR you need isn’t easy. It’s long, slow and boring. It takes a genuine, deliberate and sustained effort. You need to consistently eat the right way to get the results you want and need.
Think about people you know that have a figure you wouldn’t mind having. Are they on shakes? Are they in diet clubs? Do they bounce from diet plan to diet plan? Or do they consistently eat a healthy, well balanced sensible diet with an understanding of how many calories they are eating and how much they are moving?
It really isn’t rocket science but you must stick with it. They are no quick results and only those out for a quick buck off you will try to convince you that quick, easy results exist.
Exercise isn’t the quick fix for fat loss either, often people join a gym but don’t get the quick fore results they expected. Exercise is a small part of the picture. What you’re putting into your mouth day in and day out is what has the largest effect on fat/weight loss. The average gym session burns 500 cals. If you’re over eating by 300-500 cals everyday then you won’t lose fat, it’s just maths. A sensible calorie deficit and moving your body 3-5 times a week will get you where you want to be.
Too big a deficit it too much stress on the body, it thinks there is a shortage of food and will resort to burning muscle for energy and holding on to it’s fat stores to keep you alive.
Clean, healthy eating doesn’t have to be bland though you can have truly delicious, varied and interesting meals every day and be healthy and lose fat, it isn’t chicken and broccoli every day.
On top of losing fat you will be healthier, live longer, have less risk for chronic disease, pick up less seasonal colds, sleep better, perform better at work and in the gym and feel great!
We will be doing more nutrition blogs to help educate you on how to approach nutrition and we will be running a 30 day clean eating challenge