Spring is almost here, which means that the warm season is about to begin. Most people gain weight during winter, especially since this year we spent a lot of time indoors due to the pandemic.
However, regardless of what made you gain weight, losing it will not just make you look and feel good, but will also promote better health.
When you have the right weight for your height, the risk to develop a series of illnesses drops significantly. Not to mention you’ll become more active.
Losing 80 pounds in 3 months is not an easy challenge, as you’ll have to look into your lifestyle and embrace changes. However, the goal is achievable and you still have sufficient time to make it until the weather will be warm enough for pool time.
Contents
How To Lose 80 Pounds in 3 Months
Process
Losing 80 pounds fast and effective takes a lot of determination and it means realizing that your current lifestyle is not working for you.
Most certainly you gained weight because you’re eating the wrong foods, at the wrong hours, and in the wrong quantities, while not exercising and probably not resting properly at night.
In most cases, a bad diet and lack of physical activity lead to weight gain, but there are other factors such as missing sleep at night, frequent alcohol consumption, and a poor level of hydration that can add up and trigger weight problems.
Achieving the loss of 80 pounds in 3 months is an ambitious plan and you need to be determined to make it, no matter how hard it feels at first.
But you need to bear in mind that you don’t need to feel discouraged if things don’t work out according to plan.
You could need more time to lose the desired weight and you should not stop the process, especially if you manage to obtain results.
Prepping for a weight loss program
Stop postponing and don’t procrastinate
- If you want to lose weight and you want to see it happening as soon as possible, you need to stop postponing the day you’ll actually take action.
- Doing this on your own may be hard, as you may sometimes lack the motivation you need to keep going. So, find someone that understands you and can be supportive throughout the entire process.
Get ready to embrace a healthier diet
- Since diet will play an important role in your journey, you’ll need to clean up your fridge and pantry, removing any kind of food that is not good for you.
- By this, we mean unhealthy food, foods, and drinks high in sugar, and any other kind of food and snacks that don’t bring a proper nutritional value to your diet.
- Ditch all of them out, including the little reserves you may have stacked in the office drawer consisting of chocolate bars and pretzels. Instead, fill your fridge and pantry with healthy and nutritious foods.
- Not having any unhealthy food around will keep you from cheating. Also, meal prepping for the entire week will ensure a healthy meal throughout the day.
- During the weight loss process, you will experience various cravings and you’ll be tempted to think that “one bite won’t be that bad”. Well, in this case, do consider that you’re actually cheating on yourself.
- Taking that bite won’t do you any good and will only provide gratification for a few seconds. After that, are you sure you can stop?
- Are you ready to jeopardize all your work and efforts for one bite?
- You will be able to enjoy that bite once you’re in full control of your life and diet and once you’ve achieved your desired weight loss goal. Until then, find healthier alternatives for your cravings.
- Make room for exercising in your schedule
- Since a diet alone won’t help with losing weight fast, you will also need to include exercising in your weekly routine.
- Again, if you can’t find motivation on your own, find a friend with who you can go to the gym or subscribe to group classes.
- Physical exercises can speed up weight loss and allow you to enjoy visible results in a very short period. So, don’t rely entirely on a diet. Working out constantly and properly will bring a wide range of benefits to your weight loss process.
Meal plan
When it comes to losing weight fast, the Internet is full of restrictive, crash diets that allow you to eat just several foods for a while.
No wonder most people can’t lose weight like this and also lose their faith in weight loss diets. Starvation is not the key to losing weight fast.
On the contrary, it will make you feel bad and the likeliness of you going back to your bad eating habits is extremely high.
On the other hand, a balanced diet, with regular meals throughout the day, consisting of healthy, highly nutritious foods will keep you away from feeling hungry and will help you lose weight.
Use apps or an agenda to keep track of calories
- These days you can find a wide array of apps that can help you keep track of calorie intake during the day.
- This way, you’ll make smarter choices regarding foods, out of the desire to fit within a desired number of calories.
- Directing your attention toward foods that are rich in fibers and are highly nutritious will help you feel fuller for longer.
- Keeping track of everything you eat and drink helps control both your diet and eating habits and allows you to make better choices while observing what doesn’t work for you.
Do not embrace a low-calorie diet
- The reason is the fact that you won’t be able to get sufficient vitamins and minerals when using such a diet. Thus, even if you will lose some weight, you’ll start experiencing the negative part of low-calorie diets.
- More precisely, you will have headaches, low energy throughout the day, dizziness, confusion, you’ll lack the ability to focus, feel physical weakness, and even go through episodes of stomach discomfort and pain.
Don’t skip breakfast
- One of the biggest mistakes people do is to skip breakfast, thinking it is not such an important meal. In reality, breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day.
- Because you slept during the night, not offering any kind of nutrients to your body, it is essential to have breakfast in the morning.
- This meal will provide enough energy to go through the first part of the day without problems.
- Breakfast is only the moment when you can have some carbohydrates, as you’ll have plenty of time to use them as you go with your daily activities.
Go for three meals per day with snacks in between
- If you eat the right foods, you can easily enjoy three meals per day and go for some healthy snacks in between as well.
- This way, you will not feel hungry as you’re trying to lose weight. You can even have five meals per day if you’re feeling hungry more often.
- But this means splitting the number of calories per day into smaller portions of food.
- Thus, you’ll eat less but more frequently. Ideally, you should have your meals at the same hours every day.
- Plus, the snacks should be healthy choices, like slices of fruits and veggies, a smoothie, or a handful of nuts and seeds.
Not all diet foods are good for your diet
- Many people fall into the trap of diet foods when they’re looking to lose weight. There are many food products in stores that say they’re “diet”, “sugar-free”, “low in fat” and so on.
- All these so-called “diet” foods are far from being healthy because they contain sugar in certain quantities or synthetic sweeteners, flavors, preservatives, and all kinds of ingredients that are not good for your health.
- Nothing beats healthy, whole foods, so it’s best to stir away from diet foods, diet pills, and magical diets.
- What should a meal plan look like?
- If you want to lose weight fast and effectively, you simply need to replace unhealthy foods with healthier versions.
- Below you will find examples of what you can eat to get the nutrients you need while helping your body lose weight.
Breakfast
Ditch regular bread or bagels and go for a slice or two of whole-grain bread. A boiled or poached egg is a much better option than an omelet or fried egg.
Adding vegetables and leafy greens to the plate will secure the fibers you need to feel full for longer periods. Avocado is a good choice in the morning because it’s filling and provides a good amount of healthy fats.
Breakfast can also consist of plain Greek yogurt with a couple of banana slices, blueberries, raisins, and almonds. You can also have a portion of oatmeal, if you prepare it yourself, by using low-fat milk and other healthy ingredients.
Lunch
For lunch, you can easily opt for soup or a salad. Soups fill your stomach fast while providing a good amount of hydration.
Just pay attention to the ingredients of the soup and try not to add bread to the serving. Also, resist the temptation to add dressing to the salad. A bit of vinegar and a tablespoon or two of olive oil should suffice.
Dinner
In the evening, you can have steamed veggies with fish, turkey, or chicken, as long as the meat is roasted and not fried and doesn’t contain fat.
Are you in the mood for some fries? Replace them with sweet potatoes and choose to cook them in the oven. They are a much healthier option.
A weight-loss diet doesn’t have to be restrictive, tasteless, or boring. There are so many foods out there, like veggies, fruits, seeds, cereals, and legumes you can enjoy in tasty recipes.
Don’t hesitate to use various herbs and spices to add flavor to your food and you’ll soon see that eating healthy is delicious and nutritious at the same time.
Do’s
- Do drink plenty of water throughout the day. Staying hydrated is the best way to ditch extra pounds and prevent the sensation of hunger. So, you should always have water around you.
- Do stick to your workout routine, no matter how you feel. Even if you’re not in the mood to push yourself today, it’s always better to do something than do nothing. Tomorrow will be a much better day for sure.
- Do embrace meal prep if you’re afraid that feeling hungry will make you go for bad food options? Taking the time to prep healthy meals for the entire week is extremely helpful when you’re trying to follow a healthy diet.
- Do pay attention to the foods you’re buying, making sure they are capable of providing what you need to be healthy and lose weight.
Don’ts
- Don’t rely entirely on a scale when looking to lose weight. Most people tend to reach a plateau when losing weight, which means the scale will tell them they’re stuck. Instead, go for measuring yourself, like measuring your waistline, thighs, and bottom.
- When you’re exercising, you’re losing fat by gaining muscle mass, which is heavier than fat. This explains why the scale can’t see your weight loss.
- Don’t indulge in unhealthy foods, thinking one bite won’t hurt. There are slim chances you’ll stop at one bite only, so there’s the risk of ruining everything you worked for.
- Also, unhealthy foods don’t offer anything in return.
- Don’t be discouraged if you gain some weight back at some point. It is possible, due to changes in your life, to gain some weight back. If this happens, don’t feel discouraged.
- Go back to your weight loss plan and keep on going, and you’ll soon lose that weight once more, getting back on track.
FAQ How To Lose 80 Pounds in 3 Months
How can I lose 80 pounds in 3 months?
Losing 80 pounds in 3 months means losing a good amount of weight in a rather short period. To make this possible you need to be highly motivated, stick to your plan, especially your workout routine, and eat only the right foods.
Subscribing to a weight loss or fitness program can help you achieve your goal since you’ll be monitored by a specialist.
But the idea is that you need to remain faithful to your plan if you want to lose weight fast and you need to be prepared to work hard to get there.
More precisely, constant and consistent exercising will boost the process of weight loss that is triggered by a healthy diet.
What can promote fast weight loss?
A healthy diet based on a lower number of calories can help you lose weight, but a diet alone won’t do much.
Without physical exercise weight loss may not happen as fast as you’d wish.
Also, starving so you won’t eat too much and avoiding working out won’t help, as depriving the body of nutrition can lead to serious health problems.
So, it is always a good idea to exercise, push your limits, and adopt a healthy diet instead of choosing drastic, low-calorie diets.
Will my skin sag if I lose a lot of weight?
This depends on how much you weigh when you start your weight loss program and how much weight you manage to lose.
According to specialists, losing 20 pounds, for instance, won’t cause the skin to sag.
But if you lose more than this, you may notice skin sagging in some areas, more or less. You can help your skin with natural remedies and massages to regain its elasticity and retract.
However, if your weight loss is considerable, then you may require surgery for the removal of excess skin.
It is safe to lose 80 pounds in 3 months?
Weight loss is safe if you’re in a good state of health. Thus, it is always a good idea to talk to your doctor before embarking on a weight loss journey and have some tests done, just to be sure.
If you’re breastfeeding, for instance, you should wait until this phase is over before you consider a weight loss program.
Also, if you’re on treatment and you’re taking meds, losing too much weight at once may not be a good option, unless your doctor says otherwise.
In this case, talk to your doctor about the safest way to lose weight while staying on track with your treatment.
Verdict
Losing weight is not that easy because it assumes changing your lifestyle, by changing your diet, eating habits, and daily routine.
So, it’s not losing weight that makes things hard but accepting and embracing the new changes.
Even if at first the changes may seem easy, the most challenging part is to adopt them in the long term, because losing weight and staying fit means accepting a new and healthier lifestyle instead of the old lifestyle.
However, it is not impossible to make this happen and the obtained results are worth the effort.
References:
https://www.livestrong.com/article/39530-lose-pounds-quickly/
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/best-weight-loss-programs
Working out is my life. I love to help others see the potential of their bodies as they transform into their best selves.