What Is The Best Way To Lose Weight?
The main mistake of those who are eager to lose weight is that they try to do it very fast. Thus, many people overstrain and starve themselves in pursuit of a beautiful body, which often backlashes at them. Hence, drastically restricting yourself in food and concurrently engaging in hard physical work might disrupt your body functions with different health problems ensuing. Read this article to find out everything you want to know about 90-day weight loss. 
Therefore, you should take it slow, step by step. If you have decided to start a 3-month weight loss program, you should start from simple drills, then gradually increase the difficulty as your body gets used to the new lifestyle. Likewise, it is better to approach weight loss comprehensively. That is why your weight loss program has to comprise 2 parts, which are the meal plan and the workout plan. If you focus on only one aspect, you will lose not as much weight as you could and will experience difficulties keeping it off.
Weight Loss Meal Plan
As for the weight loss meal plan, it has to be nutritious. You should eat at least three meals a day, each having the nutrients necessary for your proper body functioning. In terms of the workout plan, you should not overestimate yourself in the beginning. It is recommended that you begin with easy activities and then incrementally make them more difficult to avoid putting your body under stress.
Ideally, you are expected to lose 1-2 pounds a week (7). If you lose more, it might mean that you are losing weight too rapidly, which can eventually lead to weight regain.
Read More: Different Types Of Diets: The Lowdown On The Most Talked-About Weight Loss Strategies
What To Eat To Lose Weight On The 90-Day Meal Plan?
Increase Your Protein Intake
Protein is one of the essential nutrients of your meal plan. It is vital for the human musculoskeletal system since it participates in building and repairing muscles and bones. Besides, protein is one of the main components of hair, skin, nails, blood, and hormones (9). Besides these important functions, protein can assist people in weight loss as well. Multiple studies have shown that high protein intake has a positive impact on slimming down.
Eating enough protein can help people preserve their lean body mass while burning fat, which prevents an excessive reduction in resting energy expenditure. This is particularly important for those who engage in physical training (10). Additionally, substituting fat with protein can reduce the total energy intake, thus facilitating weight loss, because protein contains fewer calories per gram than fat (1). Protein also boosts your metabolism and effectively curbs your appetite, as a result of which you feel the need to eat fewer calories (11). This helps you cut down on your calorie intake naturally, without forcing yourself to starve.
High-protein products include mainly animal-based foods such as meat, eggs, seafood, and dairy, among others. However, if you are a vegetarian, you are free to replace these with plant-based foods like soya, beans, lentils, nuts, etc.
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Eat Plenty Of Fruits And Vegetables
Undoubtedly, fruits and veggies are very low in calories, which makes them a perfect choice for those who have set off on their weight loss transformation journey. It is strongly recommended that you eat them fresh, the way nature provides them to you. Nevertheless, you might try cooking your fruits and vegetables, for example, by steaming them. What you should not do is fry the fruits and veggies, or add fatty and sugary additives to them. If you do that, you will increase the number of calories in them, which consequently breaks your 90-day weight loss meal plan. Also, you are allowed to include canned fruits and vegetables to your diet but you should ensure that these do not contain sugar, cream, syrups, and other condiments that can increase the calorie content (4).
Remember, if you prefer eating processed fruits and vegetables, like juice and fruit drinks, you will miss out on fiber. The latter will be very useful for you on your 90-day weight loss plan because it creates the feeling of satiety. Indeed, under the conditions when you have to avoid caloric foods, you will still need to curb your hunger. By drinking juices instead of eating fresh fruits, you will want to eat more, increasing the likelihood of giving up on your weight loss transformation (4).
Reduce Your Salt Intake
There are two common nicknames for salt – “white gold” and “white poison.” Indeed, while salt can make any food taste better, however, too much of it can harm your health and add some pounds to your body. Therefore, for most people it is recommended to consume less salt. People whose salt intake is rather low tend to lose weight faster than those who eat plenty of it. Moreover, by facilitating weight gain, salt in great amounts may induce metabolic syndrome, subsequently increasing the risk of getting type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases (3).
People have a propensity to be thirsty after eating salty foods. However, it does not mean they actually drink much water. It turns out that people who eat salt in moderate amounts drink more water than those who indulge in salty foods. Furthermore, eating a lot of salt increases hunger, which forces people to eat more, even though they have had a meal recently. As a result, people tend to overeat, which eventually might lead to undesirable weight gain (8).
Limit Your Carb Intake
While it might be unreasonable to refuse carbohydrates at all, it is quite useful to cut down on them while on a 90-day weight loss plan. Eating too many carbs leads to weight gain by increasing your insulin and glucose levels, along with your fat percentage. Likewise, eating an excessive number of refined carbohydrates may cause an imbalance in your gut bacteria, eventually resulting in weight gain (14). Accordingly, if you are willing to shed pounds, avoid eating sugar, refined grain products like white rice, white bread, white pasta, and other high simple carb foods in large amounts. Instead, choose whole grains, legumes, and starchy vegetables. The fiber in these foods will help you feel fuller faster, leading you to eat less overall. However, do not remove carbs from your meal plan because they are an integral part of a nutritious diet. If you refuse to eat carbs, there is a high probability that you will eventually start gaining weight very fast.
Eat Less Fatty Foods
Carrying aromatic compounds and flavoring foods, fats are not good at reducing your hunger. Fatty foods are scrumptious, and you can never get enough of them (2). Fatty foods are high in calories. Consequently, including these in your diet during a 90-day weight loss transformation journey may not be the best option. Choose lean meat, skim milk, and other low-fat foods instead of high-fat ones. For the fats you do include in your diet, select healthy ones like plant-based oils and fish.
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90-Day Weight Loss Workout Plan
Resistance Training
Training with additional equipment helps you not only build muscle but also shed pounds. As you exert yourself, for example, by lifting weights, you boost your metabolism, thus chiseling your body. Nevertheless, you should remember to regulate the difficulty of your exercises. Although the motto “no pain, no gain” sounds motivating, you should not suffer from working out. If you do, lower the intensity and work with lighter weights/looser resistance bands/etc. until you get strong enough to increase the difficulty (12).
Cardio
Cardio workouts are those when you not only sweat a lot but also lose several calories. Broadly speaking, aerobic exercises are said to maximize your fat oxidation, which is great for weight loss. Here are some examples of aerobic activities for weight loss:
Read More: Cardio On Leg Day: Should You Do It? Proper Ways of Doing Cardio
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HIIT
This one is the most intense form of cardio, which, correspondingly, results in burning more calories. Also, during a HIIT workout, your levels of epinephrine and norepinephrine, also known as fat-burning hormones, are soaring (13). A meta-analysis of 77 studies demonstrated that with interval training, participants lost over 28% more body fat than with moderate-intesity continuous training (5). In HIIT, you have to alternate between the periods of intense exercises and rest. You can adhere to the following pattern: engage in moderate level exercises for two minutes, and then drastically increase the intensity for 30-60 seconds. Repeat these cycles several times (13). Although this type of workout might be extremely hard to do, especially for beginners, it is worth the pain. HIIT will set your muscles on fire and make your fat melt away in no time.
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Walking
As simple as that, walking is a cardio activity that makes you lose weight. You can burn up to 400 calories during an hour of walking at a moderate pace. This type of physical activity will be of great use at the beginning of the 90-day weight loss program, when you might not be as strong as, say, in the middle of it. Walking is a great place to start for someone who isn’t able to perform more intense exercises (13).
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Running
After an hour-running session, you might end up burning 600 calories. The main advantage of running, compared with walking, is that it increases your metabolic rate for up to 24 hours afterward. It can also make an effective weight loss activity for a HIIT session (13).
Takeaways
What you need to remember on your 3-month body transformation journey is that:
- You should lose weight steadily, that is, about 1-2 pounds a week.
- Your weight loss program should consist of both the nutrition and physical activity parts.
- It is not advised to restrict yourself much in foods. If you refuse to eat carbs, fats, or protein, you are likely to break your weight loss plan.
- You should lessen your calorie intake.
- You need to engage in resistance and cardio training.
Overall, a 90-day weight loss program is not scary in reality as it might seem at first glance. All you need is perseverance and consistency to finish this plan and not yield to the temptations to eat high-calorie food or skip a workout.
FAQs
How Much Weight Can You Lose In 3 Months?
Since it is recommended that you lose 1-2 pounds a week, you are expected to shed up to 24 pounds by the end of the 90-day weight loss program.
Can I Engage In Juicing During The 90-Day Weight Loss Program?
You are strongly advised to give preference to fresh whole fruits and vegetables. Juice leaves out the fiber, which is great for gut and metabolic health and effective at promoting weight loss. Juicing, especially as a replacement for nutritious meals, for such a long period can be dangerous for your health and should not be practiced without a doctor’s supervision. With juices alone, you do not get enough nutrients, which will make you feel hungry and tempted to eat something from the list of excluded foods (6).
What Diet Is Recommended To Stick To On The 90-Day Weight Loss Program?
Any diet that does not make you forgo the essential nutrients. One such is the Mediterranean diet.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on to make decisions of any kind. A licensed physician should be consulted for diagnosis and treatment of any medical conditions. Any action you take upon the information presented in this article is strictly at your own risk and responsibility.
SOURCES:
- A high-protein diet for reducing body fat: mechanisms and possible caveats (2014, researchgate.net)
- Diet, nutrition and the prevention of excess weight gain and obesity (2004, who.int)
- High salt intake causes leptin resistance and obesity in mice by stimulating endogenous fructose production and metabolism (2018, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- How to Use Fruits and Vegetables to Help Manage Your Weight (2020, cdc.gov)
- Is interval training the magic bullet for fat loss? A systematic review and meta-analysis comparing moderate-intensity continuous training with high-intensity interval training (HIIT) (2019, bjsm.bmj.com)
- Juicing for Health and Weight Loss (2012, webmd.com)
- Losing Weight (2020, cdc.gov)
- Salt-weight connection (2017, webmd.com)
- The Benefits of Protein (n.d., webmd.com)
- The role of higher protein diets in weight control and obesity-related comorbidities (2015, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The Role of Protein in Weight Loss and Maintenance (2015, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Want to Lose Weight at the Gym? Follow This Plan (2019, livestrong.com)
- Which Cardio Methods Melt Fat The Fastest? (2020, bodybuilding.com)
- Why Do Carbohydrates Make You Gain Weight? (2019, livestrong.com)
