Wondering how to lose weight in a month? These eight tips are a sure way to drop those unwanted pounds for effective, yet sustainable weight loss.
Recommended Amount of Weight Loss in A Month
Although you may want to tip the scale quickly, most health experts encourage losing no more than a pound or two each week, equating to to four to eight pounds monthly, for safe and sustainable weight loss.
Though calories are not the only focus for successful weight loss, the basic premise is that you must restrict or burn more calories than consume to shed fat. A pound of fat equals approximately 3,500 calories, which would mean you need to burn about 3,500 calories to lose a pound per week. So to lose two pounds per week, you would then need to double calorie burn or restrict 7,000 calories.
Though it may seem daunting to cut out such a large number of calories, there are simple tips to lose weight in a month.
How to Lose Weight in a Month
1. Make "SMART" Goals
Making goals is an effective method to increase focus, accountability, and inspiration, which helps ensures compliance and motivation to achieve the sought out task. But rather than simply stating "I want to lose weight," make SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely) goals. To illustrate, a SMART goal might detail, "I will lose one to two pounds per week by exercising at least five times per week and increasing vegetable intake to five servings daily."
2. Monitor Progress
After identifying goals, it is important to monitor progress towards them. There are a number of ways to do so, including tracking weight status and food intake. In fact, keeping track with a food diary doubles diet weight loss according to research from Kaiser Permanente's Center for Health Research.
More specifically, the participants lost an average of 13 pounds over a six-month timespan, which equates to losing two pounds per month. Ultimately, those who kept daily food records lost twice as much weight as those who kept no records!
3. Focus On Whole Foods
Diet is paramount when it comes to weight loss and should ideally be comprised of wholesome foods, incorporating whole grains, fruits and veggies, lean and plant-based proteins, and healthy fat sources.
A general recommended framework of a meal plate includes filling at least half the plate with veggies, a quarter with a lean or plant-based protein, and complementing with a whole grain and healthy fat source.
4. Reduced Refined Products
While focusing on whole foods is key for weight loss, so is reducing the intake of products laden with refined sugars, flours, and oils. These sort of products may seem desirable initially, but are truly nothing more than empty calories and weight gain instigators.
Reducing the intake of cookies, donuts, chips, soda, and other products of that nature can naturally cut hundreds of calories from your day and thousands per week depending on how frequent they are consumed.
5. Ensure Adequate Water Intake
Water is not only the elixir of life, but an effective approach to losing and regulating weight. Staying hydrated helps keep hunger at bay, controls calories when swapping out sugary soft drinks, and supports a healthy digestive system and metabolism.
While there is not a specified amount of water for weight loss, the general population should consume at least 64 ounces of water daily. Ensure adequate intake by choosing a large cup and challenging yourself to finish a set amount throughout the day, using flavor enhancers, making water convenient to drink, ordering it with meals.
6. Increase Exercise
While weight loss is keen with diet, increasing aerobic exercise is one the fastest ways to lose weight in a month while lending other benefits, including improving cardiorespiratory fitness, managing diabetes, strengthening the immune system, and supporting mental health.
Cardio exercises include jogging, running, biking, rowing, swimming, HIIT-style workouts, and really anything that revs the heart rate. Though cardio will help shed the weight quickly in a month, the incorporation of strength training at least two or three times per week reinforces sustainable weight loss by supporting a healthy metabolism. When weight lifting, focus on the major muscles, including the chest, back, shoulders, arms, and legs.
7. Rest and De-Stress
Though diet and exercise laydown the foundation for weight loss, the importance of resting and de-stressing should not be slept on. In fact, going without the nightly Zzz's and experiencing chronic stress increases the risk of obesity, depression, anxiety, and numerous chronic diseases.
Get a handle on successful weight loss by sleeping the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep each night. Struggle with sleep? Building and implementing a healthy bedtime routine by staying consistent with bedtime and wake hours, powering down from electronics leading up to bedtime, evaluating your sleep environment and modifying as needed, taking a bath to warm up the body and induce appropriate sleep cycles, and practicing relaxation techniques, such as breathing exercises and guided imagery.
Speaking of practicing relaxation, implement stress-relieving techniques to keep stress minimized, including by exercising, practicing yoga, meditating, listening to music, watching a funny YouTube video, and reaching out to a loved one.
8. Try A Weight Loss Meal Delivery Service
With hectic lifestyles, it can be challenging to make enough time to get to the grocery store, unload them into the kitchen, and whip up a delicious and healthy meal. Fortunately, weight loss meal delivery services make losing weight feel effortless.
So rather than believing in fad diets, gimmicks, restrictions, and bland foods, confide in a meal delivery service that is backed by real science and supported by a team of weight loss professionals!
A superior meal program also places high standards on using ingredients from responsible sources, along with ensuring entrees are devoid of trans fats, artificial colorings, MSG, chemical fillers, nitrates, added sulfites or the artificial sweetener aspartame.
Truly, with a top-notch meal delivery service, you will never have to sacrifice flavor for adequate nutrition!
