How to cut 20 pounds in a week

“One to two pounds a week is what’s recommended and is considered a safe amount of weight loss,” Dr. Rogers says. “It’s a more feasible and healthier approach, mentally and physically on your body, too.” Following that rule of thumb, two to four months is a reasonable time frame to lose about 20 pounds.

But remember not to eat less than 1,200 calories daily, so that your body doesn’t retreat into starvation mode. A reduction of at least 500 calories a day means you could lose a pound every week or 20 pounds in about five months.

While losing 10 pounds (4.5 kg) in a week is technically possible, it is not recommended. Short-term, intense eating plans are considered crash diets — meaning that your weight is likely to rebound after you finish the program.

May lose the wrong type of weight

Because a water fast restricts calories, you will lose a lot of weight quickly. In fact, research shows that you may lose up to 2 pounds (0.9 kg) each day of a 24- to 72-hour water fast ( 7 ).

May aid weight loss

A 48–hour fast once or twice per month will reduce your calorie intake by up to 8,000 calories per month, which can promote weight loss. Just make sure you don’t overcompensate for these lost calories during your periods of eating.

Fasting for short periods

Fasting, or going without food, can help a person achieve a state of ketosis. Many people can actually go into ketosis between meals. In some controlled cases, a doctor may recommend a longer fasting period of between 24 and 48 hours.

The rationale behind a weekly 24–hour fast is that consuming fewer calories will lead to weight loss. Fasting for up to 24 hours can lead to a metabolic shift that causes your body to use fat as an energy source instead of glucose ( 10 ).

A 48–hour fast is an extended form of intermittent fasting. It involves not consuming any calories for a full 2 days. While the fast involves eliminating foods that contain calories, it is still important to drink plenty of noncaloric fluids, such as water, throughout the fast to keep the body hydrated.

Like doing cardio session, lifting weights while fasted might decrease your strength in the short run, as your body adapts to being a “fat burner.” For this reason, you may want to save your weight-lifting sessions for periods after you have eaten (in which case you can fast for two to three hours post-workout), and

A key finding in this research is that you have to fast for several days to get any benefit: basically, you have to fully deplete your energy reserves (in the form of glycogen), and it takes your body at least 24 hours, and probably 48 hours or more, to do this.

For those 2 days, you eat 2 small meals of 250 calories each for women and 300 calories each for men. The 5:2 diet has been found to be effective at helping with weight loss . The 5:2 diet, or the Fast Diet, involves eating 500–600 calories for 2 days out of the week and eating normally the other 5 days.

Fasting for a certain number of hours each day or eating just one meal a couple days a week, can help your body burn fat. And scientific evidence points to some health benefits, as well. Johns Hopkins neuroscientist Mark Mattson, Ph. D., has studied intermittent fasting for 25 years.

Fast for 12 hours a day

According to some researchers, fasting for 10–16 hours can cause the body to turn its fat stores into energy, which releases ketones into the bloodstream. This should encourage weight loss. This type of intermittent fasting plan may be a good option for beginners.

Fasting in the evening and overnight, then eating early in the day is the pattern that has the most profound benefits. The research is clear that people who eat in the morning and afternoon have healthier blood lipid profiles and better blood sugar control and tend to weigh less than those who eat late in the day.

Fat burning typically begins after approximately 12 hours of fasting and escalates between 16 and 24 hours of fasting.

“Evidence is accumulating that eating in a six-hour period and fasting for 18 hours can trigger a metabolic switch from glucose-based to ketone-based energy, with increased stress resistance, increased longevity, and a decreased incidence of diseases,” says the study.

Well, we all know that any diet takes some time to show results. The same is with intermittent fasting. Experts suggest that a person needs to follow the basic rules for at least 10 weeks to witness some positive results.

A 2017 study suggests that intermittent fasting leads to greater weight loss and fat loss in men with obesity than regular calorie restriction. Research from 2016 reports that men who followed a 16:8 approach for 8 weeks while resistance training showed a decrease in fat mass.

A full fast every other day can seem rather extreme, so it’s not recommended for beginners. With this method, you may go to bed very hungry several times per week, which is not very pleasant and probably unsustainable in the long term.

Its main rule is that you can eat anything you want for 10 hours a day, and then fast for the next 14 hours. Studies have shown that such an approach is quite effective and can help you not only slim down, but also improve your health, lowering the risk of different diseases.