Lose Five Pounds in a Week Without Starving Yourself

What I'm about to propose to you isn't some wacky fad diet. I will show you how to effectively lose weight. This means being able to keep the weight off after this jump-start diet has ended. So, what are you waiting for? Let's get started!

Psst...What's the Secret to Weight Loss?

It's no secret that burning 3,500 calories means a weight loss of one pound. This knowledge is a good starting point. However, to lose five pounds in a week without going on a hunger strike while running back-to-back marathons, you need to be familiar with a few lesser-known dieting strategies (or what some marketing gurus would like you to believe are 'weight loss secrets'). Losing five pounds in one week is all about maintaining moderate eating habits and regular exercise.

We Eat How Many Calories?!

The 1999-2000 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, brought to us by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, found that the average person consumes 2,200 calories a day. Some other studies claim this figure is too low-that the average American consumes closer to 2,700 calories a day. Only you know for certain what your daily food intake is, but I'm going to take the conservative approach here and assume that it's closer to 2,700 calories. This actually isn't a difficult amount to chew (pardon the pun) when considering that the average fast food meal contains well over a thousand calories.

Cutting Back on Calorie Intake

You can safely shave a thousand calories off your daily menu without having your body go into starvation mode. What's starvation mode, you ask? This is when your body responds to extreme hunger by slowing down your metabolism. And keeping your metabolism raised is the key to losing those five pounds in seven days.

Mini Meals = a Mini You

The best way to keep hunger at bay is to eat several small meals throughout the day. Portion out your foods, make healthier choices, and aim to drink at least eight glasses of water a day. For a goal of 1,200 calories per day, this means eating six 200-calorie meals, four 300-calorie meals, or whatever plan works best for you. The best eating plan is one that's tailored for you, and not a celebrity, a friend, or even a twin sister. If eating twelve 100-calorie meals each day keeps you feeling satisfied and your energy levels up, then that's the right schedule for you.

A Whole Lot of Shaking Going On

To complete your quest of losing five pounds in seven days, you'll need to exercise. The goal is to burn a thousand calories by performing some sort of cardio every day. Vigorous weight training also counts as a calorie burning activity, as does any activity which makes you sweat.

So, how can you burn a thousand calories a day? The easiest way is to burn a little here, a little there throughout the day. How many calories you burn is determined by factors such as your weight, gender, physical shape, and how hard you push yourself. There are several websites that have calculators giving a rough estimate of how many calories you are burning, such as caloriesperhour.com. A typical woman weighing 150 lbs could expect to burn 400 calories in an hour if she walked at a rate of four miles per hour.

You Can Succeed

Your weight loss is within your reach. You control whether or not those five pounds are gone by the end of the week. And remember, you don't have to lose five pounds to be a weight loss winner-losing half that amount is still better than nothing. Cheers to a smaller you!