Can You Lose Weight Fast Before Your Wedding, But Safely?

I was playing soccer with friends and after the game a friend of mine came over and told me he was getting married next week. I was super excited for him and I thought he was going to invite me to his wedding. I should have known better, it was a week away.

It turns out, he actually wanted to lose 30 pounds by next week. What? Yes, that was actually his question. So I told him he could easily do that, we just have to amputate his right leg above the knee.

I get this question a lot from soon to brides and grooms, or people planning on going on vacation or going to their high school reunion. Sure, you can lose weight quickly, but is that safe?

Realistically, you should plan 6 months ahead if you want to lose weight for an event. Rapid weight loss can be done safely and effectively with enough lead time. But if you try to rush it the last few weeks, that's when disasters happen.

What to avoid?

Intermittent fasting and super restrictive diets are not necessary. A lot of people people start a super restrictive diet that they can't maintain. It's not a good idea. These diets are not even good short term diets. They don't teach you how to actually lose weight. It's just a manipulation to lower your caloric intake. But you learn nothing and can't maintain this long term.

Should I weight train?

Adding some physical activity helps attenuate appetite regulation better. If you are overweight, your satiety and appetite signaling are way off. You never know when you are full or when you are hungry. Adding some walking or weight lifting will help correct your appetite signaling. Multiple studies have been done on this now.

Don't sleep on weight lifting and strength training. Strength training increases your lean body mass and therefore increases your metabolism. So you can lose more weight even while sleeping. Strength training not only helps with weight management indirectly, but it directly helps improve your body composition. You will lose fat and gain muscle so that when the fat comes off, you will look better underneath!

If you add resistance training (weights) you will build muscle mass. Increased muscle mass has been shown to reduce cardiovascular mortality and shorten length of stay in the ICU (if you are ever hospitalized).

While exercise itself does not cause weight loss, it can help some of your chronic medical conditions and help with appetite. Weight loss purports a long list of health benefits. For example, your blood pressure, diabetes, cholesterol, and body weight all improve.

The best way to lose weight fast!

The best way to lose weight in the short term and long term is to learn good habits and develop a good relationship with food. You can not always be fighting against food. Food is neither good nor bad. Food is food. It's a different combination of macronutrients (protein, fat, carbs). You will need all of these macronutrients in varying proportions depending on your goals.

You don't want to lose weight too quickly, because you will be losing lean body mass. You want to lose weight as slowly as possible. But not so slow that your results are imperceptible and you lose interest.

But today we are talking about rapid weight loss. So how do you lose body fat quickly? How can you increase your metabolic rate? Should you do a keto diet? Do insulin levels even matter? What about low-fat diets? What about crash low-carb diets? While crash diets may work, are they conducive to good health?

After you have lost all this weight quickly, how do you prevent weight gain? What should your food intake be? Should you eat more or fewer calories? What are the essential nutrients? How important are lifestyle changes? You want to develop long term habits and develop a healthy relationship with food.

Questions to consider

As "The Doctors' Doctor" and weight loss expert, I get asked a lot of questions at conferences after I give my medical weight loss talks. I have doctors from all over the world asking me how to lose weight properly. Even though they have access to my slides and the main randomized controlled trial (and all the studies) that I present, they still want more and have more questions.

The good news is that anyone can do this pretty easily and you don't have to be a doctor.

Some questions and considerations from physicians and patients:

Should you follow one of the many gimmicky fad diets? Can you just avoid water, not drink much, and lose mostly water weight? How can you make better choices when it comes to eating out or parties? What's the best diet plan? Should you eat carbs? What about whole grains? Does high glycemic index versus low glycemic index really matter?

If you are diabetic, should you worry about your blood sugar or insulin sensitivity? What's the easiest way to lose weight quickly... and keep it off? How do you burn off the extra calories? Is it all calorie intake?

Should you eat fatty or lean protein? Do leafy greens contain calories? How many calories from healthy fats should you eat? Is a low-carb diet necessary or does it just have to be a low-calorie diet?

Follow the steps below for safe, fast weight loss. This is the next best thing to taking my weight loss masterclass. More on this below.

First things first

If you have metabolic syndrome or heart disease then you should probably seek medical supervision first. Don't start a new diet or exercise program without talking to your doctor. I am not your doctor and I don't know you. My advice and programs can not be taken at face value unless you are quite healthy and have no risk factors.

If you are younger, healthier, don't have metabolic disease, and never smoked you can follow these general guidelines.

A systematic review of the literature and studies surrounding weight loss has revealed how humans can lose weight reliably, sustainably, and the most easily for an upcoming important event.

Fast Weight Loss Plan

If you can plan 6 months ahead and have about 20-50 pounds to lose, here's what you should do.

First, download a calorie tracking app like MyFitnessPal and start tracking your calories for a week. It's the best app and it's free. If you don't mind paying $10/month, download the Carbon Diet App and let it do the work for you. It has a few unique features and can adjust your calories and macros based on weekly progress.

After downloading MyFitnessPal, create a free account. Enter your age, weight, height, sex, goal weight, and your target date. It will calculate your calories for you over this time period.

Change the carb/protein/fat ratios under "goals" in the settings menu to 40/40/20 for carbs/protein/fat. This is the best eating pattern and macronutrient ratio for most people.

Starting eating and tracking calories. Don't over eat your calories. You need to be strict on your caloric restriction in order for this to work. It's the most important thing. Try not to veer off course by too much. You can be off by a little, but don't string together too many days of excessive caloric intake.

Do you have to eat healthy foods?

No, not really. You just have to be within your calorie limit. Sure, eating healthier foods helps you feel satiated, but it is not absolutely necessary. The only thing that matters is total calories. A close second is making sure you get enough protein. That's the bottom line.

When you are counting calories, you need to learn "about what 1800 calories looks like", and 1800 is just an example. You will eventually be able to eat the correct amount of calories without really tracking. Human studies and randomized control studies have shown that humans are pretty bad at estimating their caloric intake, so you may need to track for a few weeks. Eventually, you will have it figured out. You need to be "close enough" and stick to your caloric goals more so than anything else.

If you start gaining weight again or plateau, you will have to go back to tracking for a week or so. It maybe that you just became more complacent and aren't as strict.

Fat loss will happen daily, but that doesn't mean the scale will go straight down every day. There will be ups and downs, but the general trend will be down. Don't get worked up over little fluctuations in weight. Use MyFitnessPal to track your weight daily and look at the graphs and charts. Logging your weight daily will help you stay accountable and keep you motivated.

Eat foods you enjoy!

No one is going to eat kale and quinoa for the rest of their lives. No one is going to avoid bread, pasta, and rice forever either. No one is going to intermittent fast forever either. Studies show that most people can only do a restrictive diet for 3-6 months.

By the 7th month, most have quit and are back to eating the way they used to eat. But they did not learn how to eat what they enjoy within a calorie limit. So they gain back all their weight.

If you enjoy white bread, pasta, rice, and pizza, you can eat those things! Don't deprive yourself and constantly be at war with food! This will help you develop eating habits that you can adhere to long term!

This is part of developing a good relationship with food and the proper mindset around food and eating to sustain yourself and your goals.

Hormone levels and metabolism resetting

If anyone is selling you a diet program or plan to reset your hormones and metabolism, you really need to run in the other direction very fast! There is no evidence that resetting hormones or metabolism is helpful when dieting.

Sure, if you have hypothyroidism or a testosterone deficiency, you can see your doctor and they can treat you for it. But there is no diet that will fix "adrenal fatigue" or metabolism or your hormone balance. Please don't fall for these scams. The science is very clear on this. Just run away!

Unfortunately, these hormone balance scams target women and have fancy, slick marketing and many people fall for this. I wrote an entire book on weight loss and how to lose weight without all these scare tactics and gimmicks.

You do not need a fancy hormone reset or naturopathic, homeopathic nutrition coach to help you. You just need to stick to this plan for a long time.

Diet Adherence

Diet adherence is the most important factor when it comes to log term weight loss results. If your diet is unsustainable or too restrictive, it will be hard to stick to this for a very long time.

There are 5 characteristics to people who lose a lot of weight and have kept it off for more than 5 years.

1. Cognitive Restraint in some form- this is some type of restrictive diet plan that causes you to reduce caloric intake. This can be any diet.

2. Self monitoring- this is track your steps (non exercise activity thermogenesis), tracking calories, tracking weight, etc

3. Regular Exercise (formed good habits)- mainly because it keeps you consistent, not because the exercise causes a ton of weight loss. It shows commitment and desire.

4. Structured Programs- again showing dedication and devotion to healthy living and never going back

5. Ability to focus on long term goals- this is obvious. Giving up instant gratification for long term goals.

Body Image

In my weight loss mindset class I talk about body image a ton. Don't let your outward appearance define who you are as a person. You are not your body. You are your character, your accomplishments, your education, your career, your family values. Not "the guy with acne" or the "short girl". You are you! Self love and self care are a top priority!

Quick Fix

There are no "good" quick fixes to weight loss. In fact, you want the exact opposite of a quick fix. The slower you lose the weight, the more permanent the weight loss will become. What you lose quickly, you gain quickly. If anyone promises you a quick fix, you should politely decline. There is truly no reason to try and lose weight quickly, even if it's before your wedding in a few weeks. You will just lose water weight. Or worse, lose muscle and look fluffier and less toned. Do it the right way without shortcuts. A severe calorie restriction will cause more damage and will not lead to better results. Some of that damage can take years to overcome.

What Should You Eat? What's The Best Diet?

The Mediterranean Diet is the healthiest style of diet. Not only is it the only diet that lowers cardiovascular mortality, but it also reduces the risk of 12 different cancers. Eating this style diet is wat we consider "healthy eating" and a very healthy way to lose weight.

The Mediterranean diet isn't a specific diet. It's just a loose collection of eating habits. People in and around the Mediterranean Sea live longer and some of that is due to their dietary habits. They usually eat lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, lean meats, whole grains, black coffee (or some variation), beans, legumes, and olive oil. 

Eating in this way will help you lose weight, reduce your mortality, reduce inflammation, and reduce the risk of cancer. Plus, you are actually eating real food and mostly whole foods. Your registered dietitian friends would be proud!

More Resources

I have a YouTube Channel full of videos and lectures on Weight Loss. I have been teaching weight loss for nearly 30 years.

I have a book on weight loss that you can buy below or from Amazon or local book stores.

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