how to lose weight in week

If you want to lose five actual pounds by next weekend, listen up: Losing weight fast, though possible, is almost always unhealthy. That’s because aiming to lose five pounds in a week can set you up for binge-eating and fluctuations that interfere with long-lasting results, which basically defeats the whole point, right?

1. Choose quality not quantity.

“If you expend more calories than you take in, you should lose weight,” says Alicia Romano, RD, LDN, a clinical registered dietitian at the Frances Stern Nutrition Center at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts. But you don’t want to be so hyper focused on calories that you skip out on a wholesome diet, she says.

If you focus on the quality of food, there’s a good chance you’ll eat more nutrient-dense options that leave you satiated, .

2. Make super small food swaps.

The best way to support sustainable weight loss is to incorporate small changes into existing habits, according to The European Journal of Obesity. So instead of giving up your daily BLT bagels in favor of an egg-white wrap, try ordering your sandwich on an English muffin. Or say you eat a snack bar every afternoon: Swap your 300-calorie bar for a 150-calorie alternative. “When we commit to small food swaps, we actually adapt new behaviors.

Whatever you choose, just make sure your focus is on “small manageable changes,” that way you’re more likely to follow through for an extended period of time, rather than just a few days or weeks,

3. Don’t skip meals.

Eating at regular intervals during the day optimizes your blood sugar control, meaning you avoid the spike and crash that comes with eating a big meal on an empty stomach,  When you avoid eating when you’re hungry, you’re welcoming hunger pains, food cravings and drowsiness—all of which can lead to snacking on foods high in fat and sugar.

Plus, when you run out of calories before going out to dinner with friends or satisfying a bedtime craving, you’re more likely to fall victim to what —when you break one “rule” and give up for the rest of the night.