It makes sense why people want to lose 20lbs in 1 month orrrr 7 pounds in a week orrr any substantial amount of weight in a short period of time….
In our current society, you want things done fast.
You can Google a question & get our answer in less than one second.
You can walk into Chipotle and be eating a fantastic lunch in 2.5 minutes.
You can share where you are & what you're doing with your friends, through social media, at any time.
We live in a world where we want everything right now.
We also live in a world, and country, where money rules. Capitalism can be cool. For fitness stuff, it normally blows. Companies and Instagram influencers will tell you anything to make money.
"Drink this protein shake every day immediately after your workout & gain 15lbs of muscle in 2 months"
"Take this fat burner & lose 10 lbs of fat in 1 week"
“OMG. This skinny tea is making me lose pounds so fast”
And they know damn well those things aren’t where progress is made. Buttt they’re making money so that’s not a concern.
Next, the fitness stuff ties directly to your physical and mental well-being. Obviously building some muscle & losing some weight will likely make you look better. However, feeling good about how you look & enjoying your own journey is huge from a mental standpoint as well.
Combine your own goals (that impact you physically, mentally, emotionally) with wanting to accomplish these goals ASAP along with influential people (IG accounts, companies, news) telling you that you need to (and can) get in shape really, really fast....
You're going to think that's the only way to do it. And also think if you don't lose 20 pounds in 30 days (or some other absurd numbers to hit), that you're a complete failure.
And my friend, that's not the case.
Based on all of that, I understand why you want to lose weight really fast.
Seriously, I get it.
But let’s go over why it’s a bad idea to aim for losing a buttload of weight, really quickly.
I won’t dig into the super science-y, in depth terms. I’ll keep it understandable.
Here are the main reasons:
1. It’s not realistic.
2. It’s not sustainable.
3. You won’t look (as) good (as you want).
4. It’s not enjoyable.
1. Not Realistic:
The scientific reason that you lose weight is from the total calories you’re taking in and the total calories you’re burning throughout the day.
You have a baseline level of calories that if consume each day (through food & drinks), you will remain the same weight.
In order to lose weight, you need to be below that baseline. The lower below that baseline, that faster you will lose weight. This is known as a ‘calorie deficit’.
You can be in a calorie deficit by eating/drinking less calories or exercising more.
Normally, the recommended amount of weight loss is 1-2 pounds per week. Not 1 pound per day.
For most people, a calorie deficit (through diet and/or exercise) of 300-700 calories per day is a realistic approach because:
You only have to make a few tweaks to the foods you’re eating (eating a bit less calories with each meal)
It’s more enjoyable to have more food to work with each day anddd it’s easier to maintain your progress (two areas we’ll talk about next).
Your energy isn’t going to be completely drained.
You’re not going to be super hangry (hungry + angry)
It will allow you to lose around 1 (or more) pound per week.
The small amount of calories you would have to eat along the amount of exercise you’d have to regularly do is unrealistic.
It would consistent of severely restricting your eating & working out an epic buttload more than an adult with a life, job, and friends should be doing.
To do that for weeks on end, let alone a few days…not super realistic.
2. Not Sustainable:
Let’s say you actually go to the extremes needed to lose a buttload of weight quickly: Taking in minimal calories & exercising for 2+ hours every day.
Are you going to do that forever?
What happens when you reach your extreme weight loss goal?
Are you going to continue eating minimal calories & spending a large portion of your day working out?
No, you’re not.
After someone reaches an extreme weight loss goal, they end gaining alllll of that weight back (and more).
They went to these extremes to accomplish this weight loss goal but never actually built any habits to maintain this progress.
It’s like taking a college class. You go a whole semester where you’re supposed to earn & retain information so that by the time the big exams come around, you have accumulated knowledge. However, you pay zero attention through the semester then memorize everything for the exam and get a good grade.
Sure, you accomplished your momentary goal of getting a good grade. But you didn’t learn anything. Nothing from that class is going to stick in the future.
If you are dieting to lose weight & don’t build habits that you can realistically do for life, then you went about it in the wrong way.
To think in the shorter term: If you don’t know what your next step is after you lose allll of that weight in order to maintain that progress…..you’re kinda screwed.
After being uber strict & going 1000% against what you were used to doing, you’re likely just counting down the days until you can revert back to your old ways to finally get some pizza & ice cream.
Finding a sustainable approach to your weight loss/fitness goals is necessary.
3. You Won’t Look (As) Good (As You Want):
Most people overrate the scale when it comes to their fitness goals.
You want to look a certain way, not weigh a certain amount.
Sure, the scale can be a good way to measure progress when you’re accessing it correctly.
But….
If you’re a male, would you rather only lose 10lbs but build muscle, get stronger, and have yours abs starting to show?
OR
Lose 20lbs but lose most of the muscle you had and still not have the abs showing?
You want the first option.
The scale isn’t everything. How you look and feel is most important.
When most people aim to lose an absurd amount of weight in a short period of time, they:
Do mostly cardio, not much lifting.
Are cutting calories from any and all foods, including protein sources they normally are eating
By doing both of those, you will lose fat buttt you’re also losing a substantial amount of muscle.
This isn’t what you want. Losing muscle takes away your curves/best looks, decreases strength & slows down your metabolism.
Not ideal. You don’t want to get skinny fat. You want to lean, sexy, and have some muscle showing.
4. Not Enjoyable:
Being unrealistically strict with nutrition while doing endless cardio only to not look how you want once you lose your set amount of weight…Yeah….That’s as un-enjoyable as it gets.
Imagine your friends are going to get Happy Hour drinks on a warm, sunny, Friday early evening. And you make up an excuse to not go but it’s because you don’t want to mess up your diet.
Sounds rough right?
You’re going to be:
Hangry from not eating much food.
Force yourself to not go do fun things that involve any excess calories (drinks, dinner, etc).
Bored from doing endless treadmill work.
Mad as hell when you still don’t look too great
Your weight loss & fitness goals are absolutely achievable. I have full faith that you can make it happen.
Buttt trying to lose an a buttload of weight in a few weeks or a month isn’t the way to go about it.
I created a Free Seven Day Email Course that goes over realistic, sustainable, and enjoyable ways to achieve your fitness goals (losing weight, getting lean, looking sexy, building some muscle).
Sign up for it here: Free Seven Day Course To Look & Feel Your Best
Again, it’s completely free.