How I Lost 20 Pounds In 4 Weeks
Tips on how to lose weight quickly & effectively.
Once upon a time, I was fat… well, kind of. I took a trip to Ireland and I had put on over 10 pounds in less than 2 weeks.
Leading up to that, I was prepping for the trip by drinking Guinness for months and eating a lot of unhealthy food. That meant that within 6 months I had gained close to 30 pounds.
I needed to lose weight badly.
When I got back from Ireland, I was disgusted with myself. So, I put together a plan to lose weight.
In a matter of 4 weeks, I successfully lost 20 pounds. After 8 weeks, I was about 25 pounds down and feeling great.
Today, I will share with you the plan I created to help me lose weight.
First, I cut the bad.
The reason why I put on weight in the first place is that I was eating and drinking the wrong things. That made the first step obvious.
I had to cut out all the bad.
Here is what I cut out:
Alcohol
All grains and potatoes
All fruits (except avocado)
Caloric beverages (bubble tea, juice, etc)
By cutting these major things out, I was stopping the cause of my problem in its tracks.
So the first step to losing weight is simple.
Cut out the cause.
Step two. Decide what to eat.
Now that I had taken out what was causing me to gain weight, I needed to pick what I could eat and drink to help me lose weight.
I need to clarify, I’m not a health expert or coach, but over the years I’ve fluctuate my weight a lot, and have got to know what works with my body, and what doesn’t.
This will vary from person to person, of course, but for the most, this diet should work for you.
Breakfast:
3 scrambled eggs with spinach and mushrooms
1 avocado
Lunch & Dinner:
Vegetables (peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, bok choy)
Black beans
Almonds
Drinks:
Water
Tea
Supplements:
Lactose-free whey protein shake (2 scoops a day)
Fish oil pills
Vitamin D
Snacks:
Hummus
Vegetables
That’s it. This is all I ate over the course of a month.
For my second month, I started to add chicken and shrimp for meats, and quinoa for grains.
And last, the workout routine.
I had my diet under control with something I knew would help me lose weight, so now I had to make sure I was doing a good workout routine.
Picking the best workouts will also vary from person to person, the same as the diet.
The workouts I picked based on what I enjoyed doing and what had worked for me in the past.
Here is what I did:
2-3 times a week I went to Muay Thai classes
Every morning I went for a 10-minute run or skipped in my garage for 10 minutes
3-4 times a week I lifted weights at the gym for about 75 minutes, and I warmed up by doing 10 minutes of cardio.
What I was told in the past is doing a little physical activity when you first wake up, before you eat, helps burn fat and speed up your metabolism, so I did that.
I’ve been training in Muay Thai for around 14 years, and it burns a lot of calories. Naturally, this is what I do when I want to lose weight.
And hitting the gym and lifting weights, creates the perfect balance for me.
This worked well for me, but you should pick your exercises based on what you enjoy doing, that will still burn enough calories. That way you will look forward to it, and it will still be effective.
Don’t forget the little tricks.
There are always a few little tricks that I’ve used to help me lose weight quickly. Every trick below is supposed to help you lose weight.
Whether they work or not, you can decide, but they’ve always worked for me.
The little tricks:
Add lemon to your water
Get enough sleep (7-9 hours)
10-minute walks every hour or 2
Drink 2-4 litres of water every day
Chug ½ litre of water when you wake up
Add hot sauce, or cayenne pepper to everything
10 minutes of cardio before you eat in the morning
Intermittent fasting (I did 16 hours without food and 8 hours of food)
Intermittent fasting was key in this process. It was the first time I had ever tried it, and I had to say it must be one of the main reasons I successfully lost 20 pounds in 4 weeks.
A lot of these little things don’t seem like much, but when you do all of them together, it makes a big difference.
Lastly… be consistent.
The most important thing is to be consistent. Once you make your plan, you got to stick to it and not veer off, because it’s so easy to lose momentum.
Some people take cheat days. I did not. I knew my goal, and I wasn’t going to do anything aside from work toward it.
This is where some people fail.
They end up cheating for one meal, cheating for a day, and then cheating for a weekend.
Don’t make it complicated. Make your plan, and stick to it until you hit your goal.
Conclusion
Anytime we put on weight, we want to lose it fast, but the truth is, you can only lose it so fast.
The nice part is that if you figure out what works for you, and stick to it, it might not take you much time. It might even be enjoyable.
This plan has worked for me several times and has worked for friends of mine as well.
If you are looking to lose weight, I recommend you try it and then you can make adjustments based on what works better for you.
Thanks for reading!
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