How to Lose Weight Fast

So you want to know how to lose weight fast? Perhaps you want to know how to lose weight in a week? Or maybe you've decided that you want to know how to lose weight in a month? 
Well, first the good news! You're not alone! 
If there's one thing I've discovered about weight loss it's that nobody wants to lose weight slowly. I've never sat down in my free initial consultation where a client says "I'd like to lose weight in a year please!" The questions is always: "How can I lose weight fast?" 
To which my response is always the same...
"How much weight do you want to lose and how quickly do you want to lose it?"
These may sound like obvious questions but you'd be surprised at how many people haven't thought about the answers to BOTH these questions. Someone may say "I'd like to lose 10kg, 20kg or even 4 stone". All of which is very possible but it can be completely impossible if the time frame isn't realistic or if the person wanting to lose the weight has beliefs, addictions and habits that sabotage or undermine that goal. 
But you've come here to learn how to lose weight fast right?
So, please write down the answer to this first question:
How much weight do you want to lose?
But this time don't answer it as a total amount please write it down as the weight that you want to arrive at. For example if you are 110kg and you want to lose 30kg then you would write down: I want to weigh 80kg. Or if you are 12 stone and you want to lose 3 stone you would write down: I want to weigh 9 stone. 
Now please don't just read on and say to yourself that you'll do this later. You've come here to learn how to lose weight fast and it starts with making a decision as to how much you do want to weigh. 
Congratulations - you've made the first step! Most people that wan't to lose weight don't do the most important thing which is to be crystal clear about what losing weight actually means to them. 
So now step number two! Write down the date that you want to be weighing your target weight and add it to your previous words. 
For example: I want to weigh 8 stone by the first May Bank Holiday weekend in 2016. 
So now you should have a goal and a time frame. But where many people go wrong is by setting a goal that is not just unrealistic but scientifically impossible. 

Is it possible to lose 10kg in a week?

So rather than the broad question of how to lose weight fast what about a specific time frame, how do we lose weight in a week? For example - if you want to lose 10kg (almost a stone and a half) this is fairly easy to do in a year, it's a challenge to do in 60 days, it's very challenging to do in 30 days and its impossible to do in a week. Now this isn't me being negative - it comes down to science. 
1 kilo of body fat or belly fat is about 7,700 calories. So to lose 10kg of fat you'd need to burn 77,000 calories more than you consume. Using very crude approximate numbers here, but an hour of exercise is about 600 calories and the average person burns between 1,500 and 2,000 calories a day just going about their daily life (so not exercising). So just by going about your daily life for a week would consume about 14,000 calories and assuming you didn't eat any food whatsoever (not recommended by the way) you would still need to do about 105 hours of exercise during that week - which is about 15 hours per day. ​So if you wan't to lose 10kg in a week here is the winning formula: don't eat anything and exercise for 15 hours a day! 
Now hopefully you can tell I'm being sarcastic, but you'd be surprised how many times I hear people tell me their weight loss goals that are equally unrealistic! So how do you lose weight quickly AND safely?

How to lose weight fast and safely

Well the key to losing weight fast and safely is having a challenging but realistic time frame. That 10kg weight loss goal is impossible in 7 days but let's look at the numbers again over 30 days. 
Now I don't encourage people to starve themselves but it's certainly possible to eat 1,000 calories a day of highly nutritious food without affecting health or feeling hungry (cravings are different by the way). 
So 30 days of eating 1,000 calories a day is 30,000.
2,000 calories a day of lifestyle burning is 60,000. 
This means that you've already lost 30,000 calories but it still means that there is about 43,000 calories remaining for you to achieve your goal of a 10kg weight loss. Assuming the 600 calories for an hour of exercise means about 72 hours of exercise to lose 10kg which works out at about 2 1/2 hour a day of exercise. 
Now I did warn you earlier on that to lose 10kg in 30 days was extremely challenging. But is it impossible? That depends on you, since you know yourself better than anyone else. But if you feel that you could live on 1,000 calories a day and do about 2 1/2 hours of exercise a day then losing weight fast (in 30 days) may be difficult but still possible. And if it seems too difficult when you think about how much weight you want to lose then just give yourself more time to do it. 

What stops people from losing weight fast?

Well this really is the million dollar (or pound) question! In my experience the key obstacle to losing weight fast is the individual themselves - yes that means you! So you like the idea of losing weight fast but you don't like the idea of 2 hours of daily exercise? You want to lose 10kg in a month but you don't want to give up chocolates, crisps, meals out with your partner and the treats you give yourself? Is it really surprising that diets or weight loss goals fail when you don't only have exercise and healthy eating to deal with but also yourself. Yes, there's a part of you that wants to be fit, healthy and go to the gym everyday. But there's also that other part of you that likes eating ice cream while watching a movie, that part of you that tells you that you deserve to eat that chocolate, the part of you that wants to snuggle under the covers in the morning when you've already told yourself that you'd go for a jog or a fast walk. 
So what's stopping you from losing weight fast? Chances are it's you!

So how do I really lose weight fast?

The first part you already know! It's about having a clear goal set in a realistic time frame. 
The second part is dealing with the four parts of your mind that will try to undermine your positive intentions. So who are these saboteurs?

1. Ignorance
2. Beliefs
3. Habits 
4. Addictions (anything you crave is an addiction).

Ignorance is the easiest of these to fix. Read, watch or listen to as much as you can on nutrition, health and exercise. A great place to start is the documentary Food Matters. Beliefs, Habits and Addictions are much more challenging though and is the reason why HypnoSlimming exists. Subscribe to our newsletter for future blog posts or if you would like help to lose weigh fast and you live in the UK then arrange a free consultation to discuss your weight loss goals. Remember our mission is to help you achieve the body you want and to love the body you have. Our philosophy is Change Your Mind. Change Your Body!