How do you lose 10 lbs in 2 weeks?

Healthiest? Not likely.

Let's see..500 a pound times 5 for 5 pound loss a week..yeah you need to cause a calorie defict of 2500 calories a day. Now some could be water weight or natural reduction..

You don't have to do extremes for kickstarting your weight loss.
 
Yeah, you can eat almost nothing and exercise like crazy (all day), but there is no need. It's healthiest to lose weight at a rate of about 1% of your body weight a week. So, in my case, at 206 pounds, I should lose up to 2 pounds a week.

Now, you probably will lose a little more the first week or two anyway because of water weight, but don't go to crazy, unhealthy lengths to get there. Like everyone says "It's a marathon, not a sprint."
 
And the healthiest way is to make sure you get enough protein & veggies. 1 gram of protein for every pound of lean body mass. And then eat truck loads of leafy or fibrous veggies for the nutrition. You know, like on garbage can sized plates ;) And take fish oil capsules to get your EFAs.
 
I'm going to have to ask..how sure are you that you are only eating 1400 calories? It is really easy to underestimate calories. I just don't know if it is so much a plateau that you reached rather than lessing up on focus?
 
Also, sometimes a calorie increase can provide a kick start.

Sounds counter intuitive, but sometimes it happens that way.
 
This has happened to me.

sometimes, you get into a pattern and believe you are doing everything right but you add a little here, a little there. You eat just a bit more here and there and suddenly, it's not 1400 but 1600 or 1800 or more. It happens.
 
It's interesting that you mention this because years ago I noticed this in my ability to lose weight easily. I'd diet all week long and then on the weekends I ate what I wanted within reason. I lost three pounds a week this way for quite some time. The reason I'm even rememering this, is that I recently came across some information on the web about calorie shifting. I've never heard of it before today, but as I was reading, I realized that's probably what I was doing years ago by dieting all week and eating normally on the weekends. I'ts an extremely interesting theory.

I feel that my Weight Watchers program incorporates this because I am allowed 20 points daily and 35 extra points to use throughout the week. I usually save my 35 points for the weekend and during the week I will drop down to 17 or 18 points and use the extra points for the weekend as well. It's been working for me so why not give it a try for a couple weeks and see if it works for you. I noticed someone else on here says they do this as well with calories - Monday 1200, Tuesday 1200, Wednesday 1600, Thursday 1200, etc. you get the point. I don't think the result will be 10 pounds lost though - still probably only 1-2 unless you start exercising morning to night.
 
It doesn't have to. You learn over time. Eventually you start making the choices without realizing it. It is about experience and time.
 
Hi,

I definitely understand the desire to lose weight rapidly... it gives you the motivation and determination to continue working hard when you see the results. The worst feeling is eating right and exercising and not seeing the scale move.

1400 calories a day is not enough for me - I'm a moderately active, 5'9 female. I aim for 1500-1800 calories daily.

I think the best way to lose weight fast is not to reduce your calories - "starvation mode" is a bad place to be. Switch to mostly vegetables and lean protein - cut out processed foods, sugar, dairy, red meat... etc. It is more difficult but it feels great to eat really clean for a couple of weeks.
 
Hi,

I definitely understand the desire to lose weight rapidly... it gives you the motivation and determination to continue working hard when you see the results. The worst feeling is eating right and exercising and not seeing the scale move.

1400 calories a day is not enough for me - I'm a moderately active, 5'9 female. I aim for 1500-1800 calories daily.

I think the best way to lose weight fast is not to reduce your calories - "starvation mode" is a bad place to be. Switch to mostly vegetables and lean protein - cut out processed foods, sugar, dairy, red meat... etc. It is more difficult but it feels great to eat really clean for a couple of weeks.

1) Starvation mode is a myth.

2) You do not have to cut out any of those things. All you have to do is watch your calories. Look, I could eat 1500 calories of sugar a day and still lose weight as long as I burn more than that each day. People believe this myth cause it gives them an 'evil target' to blame.
 
I seem to have been wrong about "starvation mode" - I've always heard about it and assumed it to be true. My apologies for not looking into it but I have read it in weight loss books... reputable books but perhaps outdated.

However, I do have to disagree that "a calorie is a calorie" - not all food is equal. You can eat 1500 calories of sugar, and I'm sure you would lose weight but you would lose more weight eating 1500 calories of balanced and healthy foods.

There are numerous articles in scienific journals refuting the "a calorie is a calorie" myth. Most center on the fact that the method of measuring calories (combustion) is not equivalent to how our bodies utilize food. Proteins, fats, and carbohydrates are handled differently by our bodies. Fibre is another great example since many calories in fiber are not digested. Plus, I could eat the exact same granola bar as somebody and we might not get the same number of calories from it - digestive system health and natural flora can affect ability to absorb calories.

NewScientist has some good articles as does PubMed - peer-reviewed scientific articles.
"Thermodynamics and metabolic advantage of weight loss diets."
Feinman RD, Fine EJ.
" "A calorie is a calorie" violates the second law of thermodynamics."
Feinman RD, Fine EJ.

I found this interesting since there is a commercial going around where I live about high fructose corn syrup and how it is no different than table sugar:

-A Princeton University research team has demonstrated that all sweeteners are not equal when it comes to weight gain
: Rats with access to high-fructose
corn syrup gained significantly more weight than those with access to table sugar, even when their overall caloric intake was the same.
 
CONCLUSION

We conclude that a calorie is a calorie. From a purely thermodynamic point of view, this is clear because the human body or, indeed, any living organism cannot create or destroy energy but can only convert energy from one form to another. In comparing energy balance between dietary treatments, however, it must be remembered that the units of dietary energy are metabolizable energy and not gross energy. This is perhaps unfortunate because metabolizable energy is much more difficult to determine than is gross energy, because the Atwater factors used in calculating metabolizable energy are not exact. As such, our food tables are not perfect, and small errors are associated with their use.

In addition, we concede that the substitution of one macronutrient for another has been shown in some studies to have a statistically significant effect on the expenditure half of the energy balance equation. This has been observed most often for high-protein diets. Evidence indicates, however, that the difference in energy expenditure is small and can potentially account for less than one-third of the differences in weight loss that have been reported between high-protein or low-carbohydrate diets and high-carbohydrate or low-fat diets. As such, a calorie is a calorie. Further research is needed to identify the mechanisms that result in greater weight loss with one diet than with another.
 
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