Clearly, losing 10 pounds in a week is not the ideal goal for healthy, sustained weight loss. Most experts suggest a weight loss goal of about 5-10 pounds per month or no more than 5% of your starting body weight in a month. For reference, 10 pounds is 5% of 200 lbs. However, with that caution in mind, there may be times when a quick drop of 10 pounds is desirable; for example, a last minute black tie affair and you need to fit into your one and only tuxedo. There are ways to do it this without seriously risking your health or putting the weight back with the first meal after the goal is reached. Here are a few sensible ideas.
Diet
It is possible to lose 10 pounds in a week. It is by using the ‘Soup Diet’. This is a diet used by hospitals to get weight off high-risk patients, quickly and in a healthy way. It can also be known as the Cabbage Soup Diet.
When following the dietary instructions of the soup diet, it’s very important you stick to it. One problem with the soup diet is that it becomes a very bland diet for seven days, and it must be adhered to. The other problem, and the main problem with the soup diet is that it only encourages loss of water from the body. This is why we can lose so much weight with it so quickly.
But it does cleanse the body of impurities and you can lose 10 pounds easily.
So if you’re interested in losing 10 pounds in a week and you don’t mind eating soup, here are the ingredients and instructions for the soup diet.
MAIN INGREDIENTS OF SOUP
- 1/2 cabbage chopped or sliced
- 2 cans of chopped tomato’s
- 1 bunch of celery, sliced
- 4 carrots, sliced or grated
- 2-3 capsicum/pepper-red or green diced
- 2 onions diced
- 1 pack of onion soup
Direction:
- Make a big batch of this soup by boiling all ingredients together.
- To add more flavors, season with salt and pepper. I also add some chili flakes or some curry powder to give it more taste and bite.
7 DAY MENU (ALONG WITH SOUP)
Remember to eat as many bowls of soup as possible. The idea is the more soup you eat the more weight you’ll lose. But you also must stick to the following diet to avoid malnutrition, loss of interest in the diet and some fuel for the body.
Day 1: Eat only fruit and as much soup as possible. Only drink black tea or coffee with no sugar, and lots of water.
Day 2: Eat raw and cooked vegetables all day, along with the soup. Try not to have corn, peas or beans. For dinner cook a large baked potato in the oven. Wrap a potato in foil and bake for 50 minutes in 200 degree Celsius oven. Take the foil off and bake potato a further 20-30 minutes to make it crispy on top. Enjoy your baked potato with a big dollop of butter. No fruit on this day.
Day 3: Combine day 1 and 2, but don’t include the potato. Along with eating all the soup you can, eat as much fruit and vegetables as possible too.
Day 4: Today you can have up to eight bananas. Eat as much soup as you can, and you can also have some skim milk too.
Day 5: Along with the soup, you can also have a meal that consists of 300-500g of beef, chicken or fish. Today you also need to have a large tin of tomato’s or 6 fresh tomato’s. Try and incorporate that into your meat meal.
Day 6: Today you are allowed to have 2-3 beef steaks incorporated into any meal. Include the soup too. Drink plenty of water. Have your meat with fresh salad ingredients or vegetables.
Day 7: Brown rice and fresh vegetables is on the menu today. Eat as often and as much as you like, including the soup too. You can also have unsweetened fruit juice today as well.
Well there you have it. Looks enticing doesn’t it. But if you want to lose that 10 pounds in one week, the soup diet is the way to do it. May I suggest you also include a vitamin supplement to be taken when you are on this diet too. Always consult your doctor if you have any concerns.
Personal Experience with Other Diets
Following are few that I’ve tried:
1. Mayo Clinic Diet
Eat three meals a day:
1) eggs and bacon cooked anyway you like and a glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice.
2) A huge salad loaded with as much lean meat as you can stand and a large glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice.
3) Meat, any kind cooked anyway and vegetables- no bread, no white or starchy veggies such as potatoes, cauliflower or yams and have a large glass of unsweetened grapefruit juice.
The first couple of days, you will feel hungry, around the third day the hunger pangs subside. Drink plenty of water in between meals. Supposedly you will lose twelve pounds with this one. The most I’ve ever lost was seven.
2. Slim Fast
Drink two pre-mixed shakes and eat a sensible dinner- repeat this routine for three days. I would suggest taking a Friday off so that you will have a three day weekend. The side of affect of Slim-Fast is gas. The most I’ve ever lost was five pounds.
3. Lemonade Diet
2 tbsp of organic maple syrup, 2 tbsp of pure lemon juice, 1/10th tsp or more of cayenne pepper mixed with 8 oz of purified or spring water is mixed and drunk 6-10 times a day, with no food whatsoever for at least ten days. I lost 15lbs but felt sluggish and lightheaded day one.
4. Calorie Count
A woman of five feet eight inches with a desired weight of 140 pounds eats what she likes as long as the caloric intake is 1500 or less. I lost the weight quickly with this one but gained it back rapidly because I was starving!
The best diet and most successful is the one I made up myself with the help of my doctor. Eat sensibly, if you are a snacker (which I am); eat six small meals a day. For breakfast I have a granola bar, for lunch a small salad with meat, first snack is fruit, dinner consists of meat, veggies and sometimes bread, second snack maybe be a small bag of chips or a couple of cookies. My last meal is usually skipped because I have drunk at least 32oz of water. I’ve done this for the past two years and have maintained a healthy weight.
Now almost two years since I’ve started the healthy eating habits, I still indulge during the Holliday’s opting to go on one of the above fad diets right before therefore my weight doesn’t fluctuate much.
Try Other Tips
EAT!
Starving yourself might work for the first few days, but your body then goes into famine mode and slows your metabolism to a near halt, preparing for an expected scarcity of food. You need to eat a lot of very low calorie foods, primarily vegetables. Prepare to eat four to five medium sized salads a day. Keep celery, baby carrots or carrots sticks with you to munch on at all times. While fruit is generally a healthy snack, for the sake of your quick weight loss, keep fruit to a minimum because the sugar content slowing the fat burning process.
EXERCISE!
Whatever you do, do more of it. Even if you have a regular exercise routine, like walking or lifting weights, try something new this week. If you already jog, get a new aerobic video. Ride the exercise bike instead of the elliptical machine. A shift in your routine can wake up your body and your metabolism. Whatever you do, plan on doing it everyday, especially if you already work out 2- 3 times a week.
An aerobic exercise is one that keeps your heart rate at 80% of your maximum heart rate for at least 20 minutes. This is what triggers your body’s fat burning cycle. Your maximum heart rate is calculated as 220 – (your age). For example, at age 45, your maximum heart rate is 175. Your training heart rate target is 80% of that, or 140 b.p.m. If you haven’t been exercising at all, its okay to take it a little slower than this for the first couple of day, but after that, try pushing yourself up to the target rate.
AVOID SALT
Excess sodium will make you retain water, hindering your reaching your goal weight, even if it is easily shed later. So avoid foods high in sodium. However, do not overdo this idea as your increased exercise will likely make your body get rid of some sodium and other useful electrolytes. At all cost, do not resort to using diuretics to loss water weight as these can cause dangerous levels of dehydration. You do not want to try losing ten pounds of water!
WATER
Speaking of water, you need to drink plenty of it. Lots of water is always a good idea, but if you are trying to lose weight quickly and increasing your physical activity, you need to make sure that your body has plenty of fluid to stay hydrated. Water also helps to flush your system of all the waste generated by the physical activity and fat metabolism.
Ten pounds in a week can be obtained with planning, hard work and determination, but keep in mind, for continued health and weight loss, a long-term shift toward healthier eating and moderate exercise is your best bet.