Sometimes, there are occasions when we need to drop a sudden pound or inch to get ourselves out of a jam. I know that at one point in time, I would’ve killed to lose a single pound so I could fit into my only pair of black dress pants when I was planning to attend a wedding. It’s instances like this when knowing
how to lose weight in 3 days time is helpful and almost crucial.
And since this goal is so demanding and time-constraining, you can forget about putting off exercise. It’s what you have to do to experience
weight loss 3 days in a row. This 3 day plan that I’m about to detail has 3 specific aspects:
Eating numerous small meals for one day
Depending on your current physical fitness, you might lose legitimate fat, maybe just water weight, or a combination of the two. But I’ll also explain why I would recommend consistent protein consumption all along the way for best results.
How Much Can You Expect To Lose In Only 3 Days?
The first question to get out of the way is how much you can expect to lose. Well, it actually depends on your current fitness and health standing. And guess what? If you’re in worse shape, you can lose more during these intense 3 days! Here’s really what you can expect based on your current physique
Currently overweight or pretty large – 5%-10% of your current weight
Currently moderate weight, but don’t exercise or diet – 2 pounds max
Currently fit and healthy – 1 pound max
The reason people of categories 1 and 2 can lose more weight is because the first thing they’ll drop (and it’s the easiest) is water weight. A more athletic and healthy individual will have a more difficult time losing weight so quickly because they’re body will be trying to eliminate stored fat.
Individuals in categories 1 and 2 might eliminate a little stored fat, but for them, the first thing that’ll go is just water. But if you’re significantly overweight, I can see this plan as an honest strategy on how to lose 3 pounds a week until your weight gets under control.
Day 1: Rev Your Metabolism Up With Multiple Small Meals
The name of the game for day 1 is to eat smaller meals all throughout the day. You should aim to consume at least 6 times. The reason for doing this is to create a steady stream of energy for your metabolism to work harder. So we’re not necessarily going to diet 3 days in a row, but the first day will be spent powering up your metabolic rate.
However, the only way that this can still allow you to
lose weight is by keeping your meals small. You should consume 500 calories less than you normally do for the day. I have a post about the most effective strategy to eating small meals throughout the day here: Diet To Increase Metabolism: 5-6 Meals A Day Exploited.
I would suggest today that you consume 3 servings of a protein shake in order to maintain your current muscle mass. I personally use a whey protein powder that’s sold at Rite Aid and the reason I use it is because it tastes good and it’s cheap. You can pick almost any kind like Optimum Nutrition Whey Gold Standard, BSN Syntha-6, or Twinlab for example.
Day 2: A Little Fasting And Exercise Does The Trick
Now, the ultimate factor in learning
how to lose weight fast in 3 days is eliminating calories from your system so your body is forced to use stored fat for energy. That’s what our goal is here and there’s two ways to achieve this. You can either burn calories that are already in your body or don’t put them there to begin with.
We’re going to do a combination of the two for the best results. Since your metabolism is already burning strong from the multiple meals the day before, if you cut out most of your calories today, you’ll make a killing in weight loss. That’s why you’re going on a fast.
When you fast for 24 hours (from dinner the night before until dinner today) your body starts going after more stored fat for energy because there are no new calories arriving. The signal that your body has begun this process is when you begin feeling hunger pains. People often mistake these pains for some sort of sickness because they’re just so darn hungry, but you have to realize that it’s OK to feel hungry!
One of the major points against fasting is the fact that you can lose muscle tissue and that’s absolutely true. If you don’t continue to supply protein to your muscles during a fast, they’ll begin to deteriorate. That’s why I highly suggest using a 20g – 30g protein shake as a meal replacement on a fasting day. So for today, I would have 2 shakes.
I actually have a more detailed post on fasting that you can check out here: Tricking Your Metabolism To Burn Stored Fat By Fasting.
For exercise, you can either use circuit training with weights if you think that’s more your thing, or try HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). HIIT is a routine consisting of short but very intense aerobics or exercise followed by a similar length to longer recovery period. It’s the length of the intense portions that ultimately increase your metabolic rate by substantially decreasing your glycogen levels and releasing more fatty acids into your blood stream.
There are a ton of popular exercise programs that utilize this method to burn calories like P90X, Insanity, and Visual Impact Training Phase 3. One of the most common routines is simply a mixture of sprint and jogging intervals. You might sprint for 15 seconds followed by a 45 second recovery jog and repeat the process 5-8 more tim
es. Of course you don’t just have to run. You can try burpees, high knee jumps, or any other similar full body exercise that really gets you sweating.
Day 3: Another Fast And Another Workout To Chisel It Out
I’m using the word “chisel” loosely because like I’ve said before, you might only lose up to 1 pound if you’re already in pretty good starting fitness. But there isn’t really anything new on this day. You’re going to fast until dinner, and exercise during the day with either weight circuit training or some form of HIIT and if you’re not sweating, then you haven’t hit the mark! It’s only 3 days so put some effort into it!
How To Lose Weight In 3 Days Isn’t A Walk In The Park
As you can tell, losing even 1 or 2 pounds in only 3 days isn’t care-free, but in order for this to happen I think you need a combination of strong calorie burning exercises and strategic fasting. If you’re focused more on
how to lose weight fast in a week, you can use watered-down versions of these strategies.
Yes, there are dietitians that’ll strong-arm fasting at every turn, saying that it’s pretty much a starvation diet. Obviously I don’t agree. Fasting is just another effective way to create a calorie deficit and see some real weight loss in a shorter period of time.
So many people are concerned about the carbs and the fat. Forget about it. It’s all calories in and calories out. But losing muscle is definitely something you need to worry about during a fast so don’t forget your protein.
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