Can You Really Lose Ten Pounds in One Week?

No, not safely. But the proper question here should be, can you really lose ten pounds of "fat" in one week? And the answer is still no, but it is possible to lose between 2 and 4 pounds of fat in a week. The best way to succeed at your fat loss goals is to take 12 weeks to burn one half or 1 pound per week.

This method will help you avoid losing precious muscle, which is what you need to burn that unwanted "fat" in the first place. Can it be done easily? Well, yes and no. If your purpose for losing fat is to change the way your body looks; meaning accentuate its shape, and to improve your health in the process, you might not need to lose very much fat at all.

Your body fat is a percentage of your total weight, which is made up of muscle, fat, bones, organs, blood and water. It is then converted into pounds; if you want to take it that far. For example: let's say you weigh 200 pounds and have a body fat percentage of 20. If you wanted to drop 5 percent of your body fat, you would only need to shed 10 pounds of fat.

If you lost 1 pound of fat per week, you would reach your goal in 10 weeks. You would do so by reducing bad and excess calories along with increasing physical activity. You would look better during and after, because you will have retained more muscle, or shape. And you will have done it in the most healthy way.

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org-Aspen04

So the safest way to lose weight is to burn body fat at a rate of no more than 2 pounds per week,  so that you spare as much muscle as possible during the process. How do you figure out how much body fat you are carrying? Buy using a skin-fold caliper, which costs anywhere from $10 to $500.

If you are going to purchase a skin-fold caliper, shop around for a decent one. Consider it an investment in your future health. I own a cheap skin-fold caliper that I got free with the purchase of sports supplements. It's not the best, but it suits my needs. If I were to buy one, I would spend enough to get a decent one.

Now, back to the title of this post. If you did manage to lose 10 pounds in one week, most of it would be water and precious muscle. Otherwise, you would look like a ripped bodybuilder. But those that claim they have only look like a smaller versions of themselves with a higher percentage of body fat because they lost muscle mass.

The proper way to lose fat is to create a caloric deficit while increasing physical activity.You can use meal replacements to help you eat fewer calories, or buy foods that are sold in sensible portions. But that's another post. In the meantime, just cut the simple carbs from your diet, and exercise in order to burn fat over a realistic period of time. Let's go.