10 Things To Avoid If You Want To Lose Weight In A Week

There's nothing worse than seeing the Facebook pictures after an event and promptly untagging yourself in all of them – do I really look like that? If you've got a big event coming up then you might only have a week to lose weight and prepare for it. We've put together a list of the top ten things that you should stay away from this week in order to shed the pounds.

Processed foods

It might seem obvious, but if you need to lose weight in a week then processed foods are the worst thing you can eat. They're full of trans fats and high fructose corn syrup, which pile on the calories without adding any nutrition. They're also low in fiber, which is one of the things that makes you feel full.

Stick to buying single ingredient foods – fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, butter, cheese, eggs, nuts and honey are all great, and taste much better than a ready-made meal that you stick in the microwave. Remember, if your grandma wouldn't recognize it then it's not real food.

Fake health food

We all think we know what's healthy or unhealthy – salad is good for you, right? But if you actually look at what's in your food you see a different story. For example, McDonald's California Cobb Salad contains a whopping 360 calories, while a cheeseburger has only 310 calories.

Make sure to check the ingredients before you eat something and think about whether it's really healthy. If you only have a week to lose weight then avoid anything high in fat like heavy salad dressing or fried food, and choose things that have as many fresh and unprocessed ingredients as possible.

Drinking your calories

It doesn't matter how healthy you're eating, you can't lose weight in a week if you're drinking a ton of extra calories. A 12oz can of soda usually clocks in at around 150 calories, and a can of beer is about the same. The best thing you can drink is water, which has absolutely no calories and keeps you hydrated better than any other drink.

If you need a bit of flavor then unsweetened black coffee also has no calories, and with a little skim milk is only 15 calories. Tea is also pretty much calorie-free, and green tea is especially beneficial to rapid weight loss because of the huge range of antioxidants it contains.

Skipping meals

It might seem like a good idea to eat fewer calories by just not eating a meal, but the chances are you'll get back the calories somewhere else. People who skip breakfast or lunch are more likely to find themselves snacking a few hours later to keep them going, or they will feel hungrier and eat more at the next meal.

When you skip meals your body has fewer opportunities to get the nutrients it needs, which leaves you feeling tired both physically and mentally, and makes you less likely to work out or do something active.

Unconscious eating

If you keep a food diary before you start your diet, it might surprise you just how much you eat. A handful of peanuts at the bar, a couple of scoops of ice-cream in front of the TV, eating a snack at your desk without even tasting it. Cues in your environments can prompt you to eat almost without realizing it, and if you only have a week to lose weight then you need to cut out these mindless calories.

Don't snack in the evenings – have a drink or chew some gum instead. Don't keep junk food in the house so that if you want to eat it you have to consciously go out and get it. And while you're eating, concentrate on really tasting the food instead of paying attention to your laptop or smartphone.

Eating too fast

Many of us learn to bolt our food in childhood when we just want to be finished so we can go out and play, and sometimes the habit persists into adulthood. But it takes 15 to 20 minutes after you start eating for the signals of satiety to reach the brain, and in that time you can eat way more than you needed.

When you need to lose weight but only have a week or two, slowing down every meal will make you feel fuller, faster, help you digest your food better, and cut down on the number of calories you eat.

Big plates

Even if you're eating healthy, you won't lose much weight if you're eating too much. Most of us judge our portion sizes by the size of our plates, which means a smaller plate is an easy way to cut down on the amount of food you eat without even noticing.

Research shows that people with smaller plates estimate they're eating the same amount of food even when it's actually less, and feel full when they're finished and throughout the day just as if they had eaten more. Try to use reasonably sized plates and smaller portions, and see how hungry you feel.

Too much exercise

Believe it or not, too much exercise can sabotage your weight loss goals. Doing endurance exercises like long runs or a long session on the bike will cause your body to try to lay down more fat reserves to keep you going longer. Cardio doesn't burn a huge number of calories but it makes you hungry, and it only takes a couple of snacks to put back everything you lost.

To lose weight in only a week, replace your cardio with strength exercises. These build up muscle, which in turn increases your metabolism, but don't make you ravenous after you've finished.

Television

It's just about one of the most sedentary things you can do, and all those commercials for pretzels and soda only encourage you to snack more. No surprise, then that the more television people watch the more likely they are to be overweight.

Cutting back on TV is one of the best things you can do to lose weight in a week – hobbies like gardening, cooking and photography all burn more calories than sitting on the couch. If you're feeling active then taking a dance class or playing golf are fun ways to keep fit.

Stress

When you're stressed your levels of the hormone cortisol go up, which increases your appetite and makes you crave junk food even more. There's also some evidence that stress lowers your metabolism, and if you want to lose weight in a week you need to burn as many calories as possible.

Breathing in slowly and deeply for a few minutes is the best way to relieve stress, so every time you feel your stress levels rising take a minute to concentrate on your breath. You might also want to cut back on how much coffee you drink, since fueling your days with caffeine ultimately makes you more stressed.