Are you wondering how to lose 40 pounds in 2 months? The search for quick weight loss tips and tricks is something that most people do, especially if they have a big event coming up. But is quick weight loss all it’s cracked up to be? Is losing such a large amount of weight even possible in this timeframe?
In this article, we will tackle how to lose weight fast and naturally, diets that can help with this, exercises that can push your efforts into high gear, in addition to exploring whether it’s possible to lose 40 pounds in just 2 months.
What Is the Fastest Way to Lose 40 Pounds in 2 Months?
Losing weight is never an easy thing. Trying to lose a large amount of weight in a very short timeframe makes the process that much harder. For proper, safe, and sustainable weight loss, you need to eat well, work out, and exercise patience.
When it comes to how to lose 40 pounds in 2 months male or female, the unfortunate truth is that this number may be a little too high for what’s possible and even healthy for you and your body.
Remember that the healthy amount of weight to lose per week is anything between 1 and 2 pounds, which translates into 4 to 8 pounds a month and 8 to 16 pounds in two months (11). This is still much lower than your goal of 40 pounds in 2 months. Even if you lose water weight instead of fat (or even water weight and fat), you will still be unlikely to achieve this goal.
Is it Healthy to Lose 40 Pounds in 2 Months?
No, it’s not healthy to lose 40 pounds in 2 months. In fact, trying to do this will most likely cause you more harm than good, not only in the short term but also potentially in the long term too.
If you were to look up quick weight loss tips, some websites and videos that promise quick results would probably advise you to try some pretty unhealthy weight loss methods in a bid to help you shed this large amount of weight.
Some of these unhealthy weight loss tips include options such as (8, 22, 23):
- Over-exercising – Can include working out all days of the week with no rest or super long exercise sessions every day
- Cutting out certain food groups, most probably carbs
- Diet pills to suppress your appetite
- Trying crash diets such as doing a juice cleanse, the cabbage soup diet, celery juice diet, the grapefruit, or even the military diet.
- Taking laxative teas or purging after your meals
- Smoking to suppress your appetite
Such advice is unhealthy and also incredibly dangerous to your mental and physical health. Some side effects of these methods include:
Diet pills
While they may suppress your appetite making you eat less in a day, they’re also known to cause a number of negative side effects.
These include increased blood pressure and heart rate, insomnia, nervousness, headache, nausea, cough, dizziness, fatigue, dry mouth, constipation, tremors, hot flushes, anxiety, and a dependence on drugs that can cause withdrawal symptoms and weight regain if you choose to stop using them (17, 21).
Betterme will keep you laser-focused on your weight loss journey! Nutrient-packed meal plans, fat-blasting workouts, galvanizing challenges and much more. Try using the app and see for yourself!
Laxative teas
Commonly known as detox teas, cause stress to your digestive system and lead to issues such as abdominal pain and discomfort, cramps, bloating, gas, and nausea (21).
In worse cases, they can cause severe health damage such as chronic diarrhea, acute liver failure, low blood sodium (hyponatremia), low blood potassium (hypokalemia), cathartic colon, and much more (25, 1).
Crash dieting
Cutting out food groups can lead to nutritional deficiencies. A study examining the pros and cons of popular extreme weight loss diets found that while such diets do lead to short-term weight loss, they’re unsustainable and very unbalanced – not giving your body all the nutrients it requires (16). The weight is generally regained soon after the diet ends.
A more recent study looking at the micronutrient intake in long-term fad diets (specifically in a high‐fiber diet [HF] and a low‐carbohydrate diet) found that after a year of following the diets, both groups consumed less than the recommended amounts for certain nutrients (2).
Over-exercising/overtraining
In the name of weight loss can lead to negative hormonal changes and imbalances, reduced immunity, fertility issues, and amenorrhea, among other issues (13).
How to Lose 40 Pounds in 2 Months Without Exercise
As mentioned above, there is no healthy way to lose 40 pounds in 2 months. Some unhealthy diet methods such as cutting out carbs and healthy fats or using diet pills or detox teas will probably make you miserable long before you achieve this goal.
However, if you were to adjust your goals to something more achievable, you could lose up to 16 pounds in two months. The best weight loss plan often involves both exercise and a proper diet. A good moderate calorie deficit diet will help you eat less than your body burns, leading to weight loss. Exercise, on the other hand, helps the body burn more than the usual number of calories it burns a day, which boosts fat and weight loss.
However, if you can’t work out for one reason or the other, diet alone can go a long way in helping you achieve your goal. Here are some lifestyle and diet-related tips and tricks to help you lose a significant amount of weight in 2 months:
Visualize it as a long-term plan
As previously stated, weight loss is not an easy thing. However, many people tend to see it as the opposite. If you’re wondering how to lose 40 pounds in 2 months, chances are that you’re looking at weight loss as a short-term plan.
Doing this is what causes many people to fall off the wagon. Visualizing your goals as a long-term plan, adjusting your timeline accordingly, and making proper and healthy food and dietary choices are what will help you achieve your goals.
Make a commitment
Whether making a commitment to yourself or to someone close to you, it can help you stick to your goals and see them through as it makes you accountable to yourself and those around you who know what your plans are.
Decrease your daily caloric intake
There’s no easier way to lose 40 pounds with or without exercise than by reducing your calorie intake. Reducing your calorie intake by 500 to 1,000 calories a day (4) will help you do this over time, preferably longer than just 2 months.
Remember that in order to lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume. Cutting down your food energy intake, even without working out, can help you do this. After all, we burn calories all day. Simple bodily functions such as breathing, blinking, or even chewing burn calories – the same as simple household chores or even typing at your computer.
The maximum daily calorie deficit that is usually recommended is 1,000, but even this is too extreme for many people. Eating too little can lead to nutritional deficiencies and other physical and mental problems. While the recommended calorie intake differs from person to person, women are advised to not consume less than 1,200 cals a day while men should not go below 1,500 cals a day (3). Again, these blanket recommendations are still too few calories for many people. For individualized recommendations, talk to your healthcare provider or a registered dietitian.
To help determine what your food energy intake should be, you can use a reliable and reputable calorie-counting app such as the BetterMe Health & Fitness app.
Add more protein to your diet
Reducing your food energy intake will most likely have you feeling hungrier than normal, particularly in the first few days/weeks. This could lead to you snacking excessively, which may even cancel out your calorie deficit. A quick fix to this is increasing your daily protein intake.
This macronutrient has been shown to help increase satiety, which keeps you fuller for longer and helps you eat less through the day and maintain a calorie deficit.
Your body also uses more energy to digest proteins which goes a step further in slightly increasing how many calories you burn in a day (20, 5). When combined with strength training, it can also help build muscle mass over time, which takes more energy to maintain than fat tissue. This is why anyone who is looking for tips on how to reset their metabolism is generally advised to consume a high-protein diet.
Try to get most of your protein from lean sources such as salmon, chicken, eggs, lean meats, beans, and legumes rather than high saturated fat sources such as processed meats, cheese, and fatty red meat.
Up your fiber intake
As with protein, increasing the amount of fiber you consume in a day will help you lose weight as it helps reduce your daily food intake (19). When consumed, it takes a while to be digested and keeps you feeling fuller for longer.
Some high-fiber foods you should add to your diet include (7):
- Fruits such as berries, pears, apples, and bananas
- Vegetables like carrots, beets, broccoli, kale, and spinach
- Whole grains, beans and legumes, and seeds and nuts such as lentils, beans, chickpeas, quinoa, oats, almond, and chia seeds
Sleep more
With our busy schedules today and everyone trying to win in the rat race that is life, many people have started foregoing sleep. While working hard is great, getting enough sleep is also quite important and not only for your mental health,
For those who may be unaware, there’s a close relationship between sleep and weight. Not getting enough sleep has been linked to higher risks of obesity (18).
When you don’t sleep enough, you’re more likely to feel more hungry and it’s more likely that you’ll forgo your carefully meal-prepped healthy meals in favor of high-fat, high-carb foods that are full of unhealthy fats, refined carbs, and a lot of calories.
To avoid this, always aim to get between 7 and 9 hours of quality sleep each night (9).
Avoid ultra-processed foods and refined carbs
Contrary to popular belief, not all processed foods and carbs are bad for you. Only those that have been ultra-processed and highly refined are discouraged. The reason is because these kinds of foods are often stripped of their nutrients and fiber while still being high in calories. They provide a lot of calories, but don’t always keep you full for very long.
Such foods are also often full of added sugar and salt, which most of us get too much of in our diets and are often recommended to limit for optimal health and reduced risk of weight gain and chronic disease (15).
Read more: How To Lose 3 Pounds a Week According To Experts
What Are the Best Diets to Lose 40 Pounds in 2 Months?
If you’re looking for a ‘how to lose 40 pounds in 2 months diet plan’ then you’re out of luck as no such plan is likely to be effective. As seen above, a healthy balanced diet with a moderate calorie-deficit diet is one of the best ways to lose weight. However, it’s important to note that such a diet won’t help you lose 40 pounds in 2 months.
Consuming healthy wholesome foods at a calorie deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories a day should help you lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, which with patience and consistency will translate into 8 to 16 pounds in 2 months.
Even with such information at hand, the temptation to try diets that promise quick and easy weight loss is high. Examples of such dangerous fad diets include options such as the smoothie diet, a juice diet, and the soup diet.
While the promise of quick weight loss could make you want to try such eating plans, please be aware that you could be putting yourself at risk of the following:
- Constantly thinking about food – Thinking about your next meal or snack is quite normal. However, if you find yourself spending minutes or hours fantasizing about your next meal, or stressing out about what you’re going to eat and whether it fits into your strict diet, then your diet could be doing more harm than good for you.
- Lowered immunity – Reducing your caloric intake too much means that you’re not consuming as many nutrients as your body needs.
When you lack enough nutrients in the body, your body becomes more vulnerable to illness. What’s worse is that if you become ill, it could knock you down even more because your body doesn’t have the necessary tools to fight against it.
3. Hair Loss – According to one study published in 2013, lack of proteins, minerals, essential fatty acids, and vitamins in your diet and body can lead to decreased hair quality, changes in hair color, or even hair loss in some cases (12).
4. Feeling cold more often – According to the findings of one study published in 2011, long-term calorie restriction drops the core body temperature in humans. Excessively restricting your calories may have you bundling up more even on warmer days/months (10).
5. Fertility issues, especially in women – Underweight women have been known to suffer from amenorrhea – the disappearance of periods – and have a harder time getting pregnant.
Men are also not exempt from this. Lack of enough nutrients can hinder the production of the main male sexual hormone, testosterone, which can cause side effects such as low sperm production and quality and decreased sex drive.
6. Chronic fatigue – When you eat, your body turns any food consumed into energy through its metabolism and uses it to help you get on with your daily activities.
When you eat too much, your body just takes what it needs and the rest is turned into fat and stored in the body. When you do the opposite and severely restrict your calories, your body has nowhere to get its energy for you and you may end up feeling tired all the time.
7. Starvation mode – Also known as metabolic adaptation, is the body’s natural and physiological response to long-term calorie restriction.
When you eat too little for too long, your body responds to this restriction by reducing how many calories you expend throughout the day. It does this to help maintain the energy balance between calories in and calories out to prevent death from perceived starvation.
If you’re looking for the best diets to lose 40 pounds and you’ve increased your timeline to more than 2 months, some great eating plan options include the Mediterranean diet, plant-based diets such as veganism and vegetarian diets, and a simple balanced diet. You could also try intermittent fasting to accompany your diet of choice.
While there is no scientific research that names the best diet for weight loss, eating plans that are focused on the consumption of whole-grain products, eating at least five servings per day of fruits and vegetables, consuming only moderate amounts of dairy and meat products, and limiting the consumption of foods that are high in saturated fat or sugar are considered to be the best (24).
Trying a no-sugar diet while practicing the above tips in your diet could also help increase your weight loss, or at least make the process smoother. Not only have diets that are high in added sugar been linked to obesity and other chronic illnesses, reducing your added sugar intake has been suggested to improve overall health and help with weight loss and management (6, 14).
BetterMe app will kick you out of the mental funk, shake off your extra weight, rid you off your energy-zapping habits, and help you sculpt the body of your dreams. Intrigued? Hurry up and change your life for the better!
Will I Have Loose Skin If I Lose 40 Pounds?
Not necessarily. Loose skin from weight loss is often a result of rapid weight loss. Relying on unhealthy diets and extreme exercise routines can lead to losing fat too quickly, which won’t allow your skin to shrink back in time, thereby leaving you with loose skin. Remember that skin is elastic – it stretches to accommodate a larger size thanks to weight gain (or pregnancy) and shrinks back down to accommodate a smaller size when you lose the extra weight.
When you lose weight gradually, the skin has time to also shrink gradually with you (and replenish its collagen stores). Lose the extra weight too quickly and the skin doesn’t have enough time (or nutrients, most likely) to do this, leading to loose and unsightly skin.
While some topical treatments can help with this issue, more often than not surgery is required for extreme cases. Instead of risking this through unhealthy weight loss strategies, practice patience and your body, skin, and overall health will thank you for it.
How to Lose 40 Pounds in 2 Months with Exercise
As previously stated, while a healthy balanced diet with a moderate calorie deficit will help with weight loss, adding regular exercise to your routine will help you kick your results into high gear. So what are the exercises to lose 40 pounds in 2 months?
Sadly, there are no workouts that can help you burn that many calories in a day or a week to help you figure out how to lose 40 pounds in 2 months – not even when combined with a healthy diet or even working out several times a day.
Working out several times a day, or for hours on end, won’t lead you to burn extra calories. Instead, it will only lead to overtraining.
Overtraining is a terrible condition that’s accompanied by undesirable symptoms such as decreased performance during your sessions, plateaued progress, a loss of appetite, insomnia, lack of energy, lowered immunity, increased injury and pain in muscles and joints, irritability and unexplained mood swings, depression, insatiable thirst, and chronic fatigue (13).
The best exercises for weight loss include:
- Cardio workouts such as running, walking, hiking, and swimming
- Calisthenics such as push-ups, crunches, jump rope, chin-ups, pull-ups, lunges, squats, bear crawls, mountain climbers, and sit-ups
- Weight lifting
All these types of exercise help burn calories during and even after the workout, help build muscle (which also contributes to burning calories), lead to weight loss, and make you stronger. That being said, you’ll still need more than 2 months to lose 40 pounds. Most public health recommendations suggest aiming for 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week.
How Many Calories Do I Need to Lose 40 Pounds in 2 Months?
Calorie intake for each individual is determined by multiple factors such as age, sex, height, weight, activity level, and genetics. Due to this, we can’t give you a blanket number regarding how much you need to eat to lose 40 pounds.
However, it’s important to note that the recommended calorie deficit for both men and women is 500 to 1,000 calories a day. The ideal deficit within this range for an individual will vary. Anything more than this could lead to the above-mentioned side effects such as lowered immunity, hair loss, fatigue, and weakness.
While this deficit won’t help you lose 40 pounds in 2 months, it’s healthy and sustainable. Anyone who promises a deficit that can help you achieve this goal is lying to you and probably using it as a gimmick to take your money.
Read more: Lose 20 Pounds In 2 Months With This Expert-Approved Guide
FAQs
How long does it take to lose 40 pounds?
We can’t say. In the same way that different factors affect calorie intake and burning, different factors (not just diet and exercise) affect weight loss. However, as stated above, a safe and sustainable rate of weight loss is 1 to 2 pounds a week (4 to 8 pounds a month).
If we use this as the margin for weight loss, we could say that you can expect to lose 40 pounds in 20-40 weeks, which is roughly 5-10 months.
Is 40 lbs weight loss noticeable?
Yes, it can be. Weight loss doesn’t always have to be noticeable while on the scale. You can notice 40 lbs weight loss change through your facial appearance (slimmer face), the fit of your clothes (what was snug before feels looser), and lost inches on the hips, thighs, arms, and waist.
Remember that while outside validation of lost weight (when putting in the effort to do so) can be a good thing and even motivational, it shouldn’t always be your goal. Your weight loss journey should first and foremost be about you, not others and their opinions.
What are the foods to avoid to lose belly fat?
When trying to get rid of belly fat, try to avoid or limit the following:
- Pastries and sweets
- Deep fried foods
- Sugary beverages
- Breads and pastas made from refined (white) flour
- Ultra-processed fast food and snacks
- Processed meats
- Alcohol
What does losing 40 pounds do to your body?
Losing a large amount of weight like 40 pounds can help your body by:
- Reducing your blood pressure and cholesterol
- Giving your joints a break from supporting the extra weight
- Reducing the risk of chronic illnesses such as diabetes, cancer, and heart disease
- Increasing energy levels, which makes everyday tasks easier
- Improving balance and mobility
The Bottom Line
Is there any possible way to lose 40 pounds in 2 months? No, there isn’t.
Losing 40 pounds in 2 months is highly unlikely, unless you were to do it through some form of weight loss surgery and a healthy diet afterward. Please remember that weight loss calls for patience and dedication and that quick fixes never truly work, particularly in the long term.
DISCLAIMER:
This article is intended for general informational purposes only and does not serve to address individual circumstances. It is not a substitute for professional advice or help and should not be relied on for making any kind of decision-making. Any action taken as a direct or indirect result of the information in this article is entirely at your own risk and is your sole responsibility.
BetterMe, its content staff, and its medical advisors accept no responsibility for inaccuracies, errors, misstatements, inconsistencies, or omissions and specifically disclaim any liability, loss or risk, personal, professional or otherwise, which may be incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and/or application of any content.
You should always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or your specific situation. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of BetterMe content. If you suspect or think you may have a medical emergency, call your doctor.
SOURCES:
- Acute Severe Hyponatremia Following Use of “Detox Tea” (2021, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Are long‐term FAD diets restricting micronutrient intake? A randomized controlled trial (2020, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Calorie counting made easy (2020, health.harvard.edu)
- Calories (2022, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Clinical Evidence and Mechanisms of High-Protein Diet-Induced Weight Loss (2020, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Cutting down on sugar has a small but significant effect on body weight, study finds (2013, sciencedaily.com)
- High Fiber Diet (2023, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Identifying the ‘red flags’ for unhealthy weight control among adolescents: Findings from an item response theory analysis of a national survey (2012, ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com)
- Insufficient sleep undermines dietary efforts to reduce adiposity (2010, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Long-term calorie restriction, but not endurance exercise, lowers core body temperature in humans (2011, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Losing Weight (2023, cdc.gov)
- Nutrition and hair: deficiencies and supplements (2013, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Overtraining Syndrome (2012, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Practical Strategies to Help Reduce Added Sugars Consumption to Support Glycemic and Weight Management Goals (2021, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Prevalence of abdominal obesity and its association with cardiovascular risk among the adult population in Burkina Faso: findings from a nationwide cross-sectional study (2021, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Pros & cons of some popular extreme weight-loss diets (2018, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Side Effects of Weight Loss Drugs (Diet Pills) (2023, drugs.com)
- Sleep and obesity (2013, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The Health Benefits of Dietary Fibre (2020, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- The role of protein in weight loss and maintenance234 (2015, ajcn.nutrition.org)
- Toxicity of Weight Loss Agents (2012, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Trends and correlates of unhealthy dieting behaviours among adolescents in the United States, 1999–2013 (2018, bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com)
- Unhealthy Weight Control Practices: Culprits and Clinical Recommendations (2015, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Weight-Loss and Maintenance Strategies (n.d., ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
- Yogi Detox Tea: A Potential Cause of Acute Liver Failure (2017, ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
