Although losing 15 pounds in two months is a lofty objective, it is doable with the right diet, exercise program, and lifestyle adjustments.
When you break it down, you’ll need to lose around 2 pounds a week, which, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is at the upper end of the range for safe weight reduction.
Read on to find out how to accomplish it.
1. Establish the proper caloric deficit.
A calorie deficit, often known as weight loss, is the outcome of consuming fewer calories than you expend. To lose 15 pounds, you must reduce your overall caloric intake by 52,500 calories, as one pound of body fat corresponds to around 3,500 calories.
You need to make this shortfall of roughly 6,563 calories each week, or about 937 calories per day if you divide this amount by two months or eight weeks. Eating fewer calories or exercising more are the two methods to produce a calorie deficit (or, ideally, both).
It might be tough to reach this deficit just by consuming fewer calories. The 2020-2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans state that many adults require between 1,600 and 2,100 calories per day to maintain their current weight.
They would fall below the 1,200-calorie threshold each day if they restricted themselves to 937 calories, the number of calories required for sufficient nourishment. Such a low-calorie diet would likely result in weariness and a loss of muscle mass, as well as a sensation of deprivation that would make it difficult to remain with the diet for two months.
The majority of people need to increase their daily caloric expenditure by engaging in greater activity. In fact, randomized research published in the August 2012 issue of Obesity indicated that those who combined diet and exercise dropped the most weight. For the record, this study concentrated on post-menopausal women who were overweight or obese.
Calorie Calculation
To produce a calorie deficit, take the following two actions:
Utilize a calorie-tracking app like Livestrong or MyPlate to determine your daily caloric requirement, or roughly how many calories you burn each day. The software estimates this figure based on your age, sex, and amount of activity.
If you want to lose 15 pounds in two months, use the app to help you calculate how many fewer calories you need to eat each day and how many calories you need to burn through activity.
2. Make exercise a priority
In order to maintain good health, individuals should strive for at least 150 minutes per week of moderate-intensity cardio (think: brisk walking or biking) or 75 minutes per week of vigorous-intensity cardio (think: running). Consider this your minimum amount of weekly aerobic activity if you’re aiming to lose weight, especially if your goal is aggressive, like dropping 15 pounds in two months.
Your size, intensity, and length of exercise all affect how many calories you burn when exercising. According to Harvard Health Publishing, a 155-pound person can burn 450 to 500 calories by swimming laps, walking, or playing tennis for an hour.
Once more, a calorie-tracking app can be useful for keeping track of how many calories you burn during each session.
Incorporate Strength Training
Because it increases your ability to reduce weight and counteracts the loss of muscle during weight reduction, strength training is essential for weight loss. Why? Because adding muscle to your physique will help you burn more calories overall, muscle burns more calories than fat.
The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that people complete at least two total-body strength-focused workouts each week. These could be weight-bearing workouts with machines or free weights, such as push-ups and squats (or a combination).
Although weightlifting doesn’t immediately burn as many calories as cardio does, it does have the advantage of excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC), which means your body will continue to burn calories after your workout.
Think about HIIT
High-intensity interval training will help you burn more calories in less time if you’re pressed for time (HIIT). HIIT is a workout that mixes cardio and strength training and alternates periods of intensive exercise with rest intervals.
3. Increase Your Daily Activity
You can burn more calories by moving more throughout the day, which can help you lose 15 pounds in two months without having to drastically alter your diet.
Work in more of the following commonplace activities that burn calories in your leisure time rather than watching TV or browsing through your phone, do some yardwork and gardening, household duties such as dusting and vacuuming, cleaning your automobile by hand, parking further away from shops will allow you to walk more.
You may possibly burn hundreds of extra calories each day by engaging in more of these activities.
4. Emphasis on Healthful Foods
You’ll probably need to cut approximately 500 calories each day to generate a deficit big enough to help you lose 15 pounds in two months, even with more movement and activity. Cut back on processed and sugary foods. Reduce your intake of processed foods first, especially those that are heavy in added sugars and fats.
In the American diet, refined grains and sweets are a major source of calories but are also poor suppliers of nutrients.
Foods to steer clear of include:
Desserts and other baked products.
White spaghetti and bread (choose whole-wheat, and keep portion sizes in check)
Candy
Soda
Breakfast cereal with sugar
Chips and crackers for snacks
Select lean proteins.
Avoid marbled steak and processed meats like sausage and luncheon meats in favor of leaner cuts of meat.
Other high-protein, low-calorie foods include:
Brown beans
Chicken thigh
Cheese cottage (plain, low-fat)
Eggs
Grecian yogurt (plain, low-fat)
Halibut
Salmon
Shrimp
Tempeh
Tofu
Tuna
Fill up on fruit and vegetables
Include a lot of fruits and vegetables in all of your meals. Produce has a high fibre content and fewer calories by nature. Because it makes you feel full and keeps your digestive system functioning properly, fibre is essential for weight loss.
Although all fruits and vegetables are healthy options, the following are the best fruits for weight loss:
Apples
Watermelon
Berries
Avocado
Mangoes
Pineapple
Grapefruit and oranges are examples of citrus fruits.
Snack Sensibly
Choosing a healthy snack includes:
A couple of handfuls of nuts
Low-fat yogurt
New Fruit
Sliced veggies
Crackers made of whole grains and low-fat cheese
5. Obtain Enough Rest
To support a healthy weight, the National Sleep Foundation advises adults to get seven to nine hours of sleep per night. Following are some ways that sleep deprivation can impact weight loss:
Leptin, the hormone that tells your body when you’re full, can be decreased, which could lead to overeating.
Your body might start storing more fat as a result.
It may weaken your willpower, which will make it harder for you to stick to your diet and exercise routine.