The good news here is that YES, it is absolutely possible to lose a stone in a month! However, there is not one method that will work for everyone and although some people will find it relatively easy to lose those 14lbs, others will find it much, much harder.
And although there is no one size fits all to help you all lose weight, I have listed a few things below that you can do over the next 4 weeks that will help 99% of people lose weight in a month.
- Understand your starting point:
Your success in losing a large amount of weight in a month is dictated largely by your current size, health conditions and ability to exercise.
If you are currently a struggling to ‘pinch and inch’, have a low BMI, low body fat and are not really overweight then obviously losing a stone in a month is definitely going to be test!
On the other hand if you are sitting 10 stone over weight, sit down all day in an office and car and come home in the evening to sit on the sofa eating ready made dinners and snacks then losing weight is likely to be very easy for you.
- Do I need to exercise to lose weight?
Im not going to lie, exercising is going to be a massive help here. Not only for the weight lose but also your long term physical, mental and emotional health. If you live a current sedentary lifestyle (ie, you don’t move about a great deal) then even the smallest amount of exercise here will help you towards your goal. Walking to the shops, walking to work, taking the stairs rather than the lift and running after the ice cream van are all going to help.
If you are able to be a little more active then some strength training (essentially weight training) will help build muscle which in turn is going to help burn the fat away – and strength training has great long lasting effects too!
On the other hand, you can still lose weight without exercise. It does mean you have less room for error in the kitchen and you will have to be super, super focused and consistent but it can definitely be done.
- Work harder – in the kitchen!
The saying goes, ‘Abs are made in the kitchen’ but to me this conjures images of buff gym goers prepping boxes of chicken, rice and broccoli for the whole week. What I suggest we focus on is knowing how many calories we should be eating everyday and the correct breakdown of our macros (our carbs, fat and protein). Once we know these numbers, all we have to do be consistent and stay within 5% of these numbers 6 days of the week. Relax (but don’t go mad) on the 7th day and get ready to start again the following week. Consistency is what is going to help you reach your target.
One of the hidden reasons we pile on the pounds is stress. Stress caused largely by our busy lives. We never let our minds or body’s rest because as soon as we finish we one task we are straight onto the next one. At the end of the day we crash into bed exhausted from the day. We are emotionally and mentally drained as we have spent most of the day with elevated stress levels, high anxiety and our hormones are all over the place. We need to let ourselves recover and heal at bedtime but we rarely give ourselves the time to do this as we need to get up early to go through the whole cycle again. 74% of UK adults don’t get enough sleep so make sure if you want to lose weight you are not only getting a minimum 7 hours sleep but that it is good quality, peaceful sleep. (I will write a post shortly on how to do this)
- Lastly, focus on yourself for 1 month!
Imagine how different you will feel in a months time if you eat better food, the correct amount of food, move a little more, get more and better quality sleep and lower your stress levels!
If you are serious about making this change and losing 1 stone, then give the cause 100% focus. Don’t allow people to distract you or discourage you. Have laser focus on your own health and well being for the next 31 days and you will be amazed what you can achieve!
If you would like more detailed help, please check out my FREE taster week of the HealthBuddy Academy and start losing weight and setting strong healthy foundations and habits from day one!