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Weight loss is a long and difficult journey. Most doctors advise us not to lose more than 0.5 - 1kg per week to ensure a healthy weight loss process. However, if you need to shed weight in a short period, you can lose around 0.5kg of water weight daily by reducing salt intake, cutting back on carbohydrates, and drinking plenty of water. While this can lead to effective weight loss over a few weeks, the results will slow down as your water weight stabilizes. If you aim to lose fat in a short time, it is best to consult with a doctor about adopting a low-calorie diet for a few days.
Steps
Rapid Water Weight Loss
Limit your salt intake to prevent water retention. Consuming too much salt can cause your body to hold on to water, leading to weight gain and bloating. To lose water weight, you should minimize added salt in your meals. Reduce consumption of salty foods and drinks such as processed meats, salted snacks like chips, nuts, and sports drinks.
- To avoid hidden salt, cook your meals using fresh, unprocessed ingredients.
- Replace salt with other flavorful seasonings like pepper or garlic when cooking.
- Eating potassium-rich foods like bananas, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes can help your body flush out excess salt.
Reduce carbohydrates to quickly lose water weight. Eating too many simple carbohydrates can cause your body to retain more water. This is why many people see quick weight loss results when they switch to a low-carb diet. To shed water weight quickly, try cutting back on high-carb foods like white bread, pasta, baked goods, and potatoes.
- Consider replacing high-carb foods with fiber-rich fruits and vegetables such as berries, beans, and leafy greens.
- Following a diet with little or no carbohydrates for extended periods can be harmful to your health. Speak with your doctor about safe ways to adjust your carb intake.
Warning: While cutting carbohydrates from your diet can help you lose weight in the short term, a very low-carb diet is not recommended for long-term weight loss. A healthy diet should include complex carbohydrates, such as whole grain bread and brown rice.
Drink plenty of water to flush excess water from your body. It may sound strange, but drinking water actually helps your body retain less water. Adults should drink 8-10 cups (2-2.5 liters) of water per day to stay healthy, hydrated, and prevent water retention. However, you’ll need to drink more if you:
- Engage in physical activity
- Are in a hot environment
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Are sick, especially if experiencing vomiting or diarrhea
- Follow a high-fiber or high-protein diet
Choose hydrating foods to replenish water levels. Water is not the only source of hydration for your body. You can also help flush out excess water by consuming water-rich fruits and vegetables such as melons, strawberries, and leafy greens.
- Low-salt broth or bone broth is also a suitable option.
Exercise to sweat it out. Physical activity can help expel excess water and salt from your body, allowing you to quickly lose water weight. Make your body sweat by engaging in cardio exercises like cycling, running, or brisk walking.
- High-intensity workouts, like circuit training, are also a great way to help your body shed water and excess salt.
- Just remember to drink plenty of water during your workout. When you become dehydrated, your body will retain more water!
Consult with your doctor about using diuretics. If your body tends to retain water or you easily gain weight, you should discuss this with your doctor. They can help identify the cause and recommend appropriate treatment. Depending on the amount of water retention and its cause, your doctor may suggest medications or supplements that aid in water expulsion and help reduce water weight.
- Water retention is commonly treated with magnesium supplements and diuretics.
- If you gain more than 1kg per day or 2kg per week, seek medical advice immediately. Symptoms of water retention include swollen hands or feet, shortness of breath, coughing, nausea, and feeling full even after eating very little.
Quick Fat Loss
Ask your doctor if a low-calorie diet is safe for you. To lose weight quickly, you need to reduce your daily calorie intake. Most low-calorie diets provide around 800 - 1500 calories per day. Before starting such a diet, you should consult your doctor on how to reduce calories safely and for how long.
- Consuming only a small number of calories daily is unhealthy for many people and doesn't support long-term weight loss results.
- Most doctors do not recommend low-calorie diets (under 800 calories per day) unless you need to lose weight quickly for medical reasons (such as preparing for surgery or managing a condition like diabetes).
Warning: A low-calorie diet may be dangerous for pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, or individuals with certain health issues like eating disorders or malnutrition.
Track your daily calorie intake to determine how much to cut. The amount of calories you need each day to maintain your weight varies depending on your age, gender, and activity level. Generally, most adult women need about 2,000 calories daily, while men require 2,500. However, some individuals, such as a typical American adult, may consume about 3,600 calories per day. Before cutting calories, list what you typically eat each day and calculate the total calorie intake.
- You can find calorie information on packaging labels and many restaurant menus also list calorie counts. You can also use this website to check the calorie content of most foods: https://ndb.nal.usda.gov/ndb/search/list.
- If you consume 3,600 calories a day, you'll need to reduce 2,100 calories to limit your intake to 1,500 calories. However, keep in mind that this isn't enough to lose 0.5kg of fat per day.
- To lose 0.5kg of fat in one day, you'll need to eliminate 3,500 calories from your diet. For most people, this is not a safe approach unless you are already on an extremely high-calorie diet (around 5,000 calories per day).
Boost calorie burn by doing cardio exercises. In addition to reducing your food intake to lower calories, you can also burn calories by increasing your physical activity. For instance, if you're consuming 5,000 calories daily, you can burn 3,500 calories by cutting down 2,500 calories through your diet and exercising to burn an additional 1,000 calories each day.
- The number of calories you can burn through exercise depends on several factors, such as your current weight. For example, if you weigh 84kg, you could burn 1,000 calories by playing basketball for about 2 hours. If you weigh 70kg, you'd need to play basketball for about 2.5 hours.
- To learn how many calories various common exercises can burn, refer to the following page: https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html.
- Note that if you consume too few calories, you may not have enough energy to exercise safely.
Avoid staying on a low-calorie diet longer than your doctor recommends. A low-calorie diet is not a safe or effective long-term weight loss solution. If you need to lose 0.5kg of fat per day, you should not try to maintain this goal for several weeks. Your doctor can guide you in transitioning to a healthy eating plan without causing rapid weight regain.
- Remember, when on a very low-calorie diet, you are likely to lose water weight, fat, and muscle mass.
