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In a world where a headline like “Lose 10 kilos in 10 days” gets millions of clicks, it is clear quick fixes are still very tempting.
And I will not lie to you. All of us have, at least once, wished for a magical weight loss diet that melts the kilos off overnight. But as a nutritionist, I feel a responsibility to say clearly that very fast weight loss can be risky.
My job is to guide you away from short term tricks and toward healthy, sustainable habits. Still, if we are already talking about quick changes and “diets”, it is always safer to do it under professional supervision.
So the goal of this article is simple: to give you a plan and ideas for faster weight loss that can actually work, and also save you from harmful advice.
A few important fast weight loss precautions
In nutrition and training there is rarely a one size fits all solution. What helped your neighbour lose 5 kilos in ten days might do nothing for you, or it might cause hormone issues.
Every body has its own rhythm, metabolism, stress level, diet history and specific needs. That means the exact same approach to losing weight can work very well for one person and not at all for another.
That is why sharing generic weight loss tips, without any nutritional analysis or insight into your health status, can easily become a problem. This is exactly why, before I create a meal plan, I always go through a detailed questionnaire and ask for bloodwork.
So before you use any of these general tips, keep this in mind:
⚠️ Warnings you should pay attention to:
- If you are chronically exhausted, under a lot of stress or not sleeping enough, strict “quick” regimes can make things worse, not better.
- Rapid weight loss in a very short period often means losing water and muscle, not body fat.
- Sudden, drastic changes in your diet can disrupt digestion, blood sugar levels and hormones.
- Diets that “skip breakfast” or cut out entire food groups are not a good choice for your health or long term success. I already wrote about this for readers on Bljesak.
- Losing weight without enough protein and micronutrients can lead to low energy, mood swings and a weaker immune system.
- If you already have a diagnosis like PCOS, hypothyroidism, insulin resistance, etc., tips from articles like this are not a replacement for an individual meal plan.
- Constantly comparing yourself to others and obsessing over how many kilos you lost in a week can easily pull you into a yo-yo cycle and emotional eating.
Use the ideas below as inspiration that you can gently include in your routine (ideally with professional support) not as strict rules that must apply to everyone.
1. Start your day with a protein breakfast
If you want to “lose up to 5 kilos in a short time”, the most important meal for a fresh start to the day is the first one. In other words, breakfast. And not just any breakfast.
Protein is key for successful weight loss because it helps regulate appetite and blood sugar. When you start the day with quality protein, you avoid a sharp insulin spike and the energy crash that usually follows. Try to keep carbohydrates a bit lower in that first meal.
Later in the day, as a result, you usually have fewer sugar cravings and more desire to move, because you do not feel heavy and sluggish.
If you need ideas, take a look at my article on healthy breakfast for weight loss and my article with diet meals for weight loss.
A higher protein intake in the morning also helps prevent evening overeating. Over time, with a good balance of nutrition and training, that can mean up to 10 kilos less over a longer period.
2. Cut liquid calories from your routine
Calories you drink often slip under the radar. Juices, iced coffees, alcohol and even “healthy” smoothies can quietly sabotage your progress.
Liquid calories do not keep you full like food, but they still affect insulin and blood sugar and add a lot to your total daily calorie intake.
Swap them for water, tea or low-calorie drinks. Coffee is also completely fine. In fact, coffee is actually one of the proven “tricks” for weight loss. This simple switch helps you lower your total calorie intake without feeling deprived.
Zero sugar cola is also OK if those few sweet sips help you stay on track. Just avoid drinking it late in the evening because of the caffeine.
3. Add a walk or light activity after meals
It sounds almost too simple, but a short walk after breakfast, lunch and especially dinner helps with blood sugar control and digestion. It is a small habit that can support weight loss, and it especially helps with late night snacking.
If you are at work, get a bit creative. Walk to wherever you eat. If you share a kitchen, offer to wash the dishes, take out the trash or “quickly grab something” from the car.
In almost seven years of working with clients, I have seen very clearly that leaner people are “micro active”. They do the little things. They walk to the shop two or three times. They vacuum, clean, cook and constantly move from one task to another. All of those small activities keep the metabolism active, raise daily calorie expenditure and often distract people from mindless snacking.
Adding these micro habits to your routine means you activate your body exactly when it is most likely to store energy.
4. Fill half your plate with vegetables
If you are looking for a short term weight loss plan that actually works, one of the easiest tricks is this: let vegetables take up about 50% of your plate.
Compared with most other food, vegetables are high in fibre and water and low in calories.
Adding more vegetables helps you feel full and lowers the calorie content of the meal without feeling like you ate less. This is a great choice if you want to lose a certain number of kilos in 7 days, and also if you want to maintain your results later.
That is exactly why I regularly include vegetables in every meal plan I create for people who want to lose weight.
5. Start planning your meals ahead of time
Meal planning is your friend if you want to control your daily calorie intake without stress. Whether you want to lose 10 kilos or simply heal your relationship with food, prepared meals make it much easier to stay consistent.
Spontaneous choices often end in snacks and “whatever is available”. When you plan meals, you know exactly what is on your plate, roughly how many calories it has and whether you got enough protein and vegetables that day.
6. Increase light aerobic activity
If you want to lose weight faster, adding light aerobic activity can be one of the best moves you make.
If you look at aerobic activities for weight loss, you will see that, unlike anaerobic training, your body mainly uses fat for energy during these types of movement. In everyday language: you are literally burning “fat calories” without exhausting yourself or risking injury.
What counts as light aerobic activity?
A brisk walk (for your fitness level), cycling, housework, hiking, easy rowing, gentle jogging, a home Pilates flow, Pilates exercises, swimming at a steady pace. Let it last. The longer, the better.
If you have a smart watch, the ideal heart rate zone here is about 50–70% of your max heart rate (for many people that is roughly 115–135 beats per minute).
The more time you spend in this zone, the more you help your body use fat stores. And the best part is that these activities are safe and kind to your joints, so your body tolerates them well.
Compared with very intense workouts, which are great in their own way, this can be a more effective method for faster weight loss without extra stress on the body. Long term, of course, strength training and other forms of exercise are more than welcome.
7. Remove all sweets from the house (for now)
If your goal is to reduce sugar cravings for faster weight loss, you will probably not win that battle through willpower alone. Here is a trick that really works: remove sweets from the house.
In my article on weight loss tricks, I already wrote about how much better it is to avoid temptation than to constantly test your self-control.
We are all human. On Monday we are highly motivated, and by Wednesday at 9 pm we are suddenly tiny in front of a huge chocolate bar.
In that situation it is much better to remove the problem than to rely only on mental strength.
So if you know sweets are your weak spot, move them out of sight and out of reach. For successful weight loss it is often more important not to see the chocolate than to “heroically resist it” every evening.
8. Drink more water (but skip detox myths)
Water is your best ally when you are trying to lose weight. It supports digestion, reduces appetite, hydrates the body and helps reduce water retention. Many times when we think we are hungry, we are actually just thirsty.
Please avoid marketing traps. Detox water for weight loss sounds attractive, but as I already wrote, that is a myth without real scientific backing. Instead of expensive “magic” water, drink ordinary tap water and you will be fine.
Aim for around 2–3 litres per day, and in summer up to 5–6 litres, depending on your body weight, activity level and the temperature outside. Add a slice of lemon or some mint if you want more flavour, but do not expect miracles. What really makes a difference is consistency, not a pinch of ginger or some “fat burning” chilli.
9. Cut processed food and refined sugar
If you decided to lose weight in 7 days or your goal is to drop up to 10 kilos in a short time, you need fewer compromises.
For sustainable, long term weight loss there is room for dessert here and there in your meal plan. For short, intensive phases, the goal is complete elimination. In that period, and I say this from experience with clients, the best choice is to focus on whole, natural meals and smart alternatives that help you control sugar cravings.
If you truly feel you need something sweet, it is much better to have a small dessert right after your main meal than to starve all day and then “snap” and eat a whole chocolate bar at midnight.
And yes, if you want to lose weight, zero calorie sweeteners can help. Personally, erythritol often appears in my recipes. It has no calories, does not raise blood sugar and works very well in many dishes.
One more tip: powders, instant puddings and processed “fit snacks” will not save you. Good, simple food and a realistic meal plan are much more useful.
10. Celebrate every day you stayed consistent
Fast weight loss is a challenge because it is made up of many small decisions. Without mini goals, it is hard to stay motivated, especially if you tend to be strict and critical toward yourself.
That is why it is so important to celebrate every day you managed to stick to your plan. Even if you gave in and ate dessert, celebrate the fact that you did not let that one moment drag you into a whole chain of bad decisions.
Trust me, for people who “never manage” to lose weight, the problem is not one chocolate. The problem is the avalanche that follows: skipping the walk, takeaway dinner, low energy and the story in your head that “nothing works anyway”.
So set small, clear goals for each day. “Today I will not snack between meals.” “Tonight I am going for a walk.” “Today I will increase my protein intake.” These are the steps that actually lead you to bigger results. Every day you manage to do this goes in the success column.
11. Sleep enough and sleep well
If you want up to 10 kilos less and you are not sleeping properly, it is really time to work on that. Sleep is one of the main tools for regulating hunger hormones (leptin and ghrelin), blood sugar and daily energy. I also talk about this in my article on 10 weight loss tricks.
When you do not sleep enough, your body will look for quick energy sources, usually in the form of sugar and fast food. At the same time, your motivation to be active, focus and ability to make healthy choices all go down, and every next step feels harder. For successful weight loss, sleep is just as important as nutrition.
Ideally, you want 7 to 9 hours of sleep in a calm environment and without distractions. Try going to bed earlier, because deep sleep for most people happens roughly between 10 pm and 2 am. After that, you are mostly in REM sleep.
Even in a “fast” weight loss phase, sleep can be the factor that finally makes the difference compared with your previous attempts. Make quality sleep part of your routine and you will see how your body starts to cooperate instead of resisting. You get more energy, fewer cravings and better results as the process continues.
What you should not do if you want to lose weight fast
When the goal is fast, it is normal to look for the shortest possible path. But in that rush we often do things that hurt us more than they help.
These are the most common mistakes I see in people who want to lose a lot of weight in a short time.
Do not fall for expensive products
Pills, teas and powders that promise “overnight weight loss” all sound very tempting. In reality, most of these products just drain water from your body. You end up with fewer kilos and fewer euros.
No serious nutrition expert will recommend a product that promises to “speed up your metabolism” or similar magical effects.
Do not rely too much on “superfoods”
Coconut for weight loss, apple cider vinegar for weight loss, chilli in every meal… In theory it all sounds interesting, in practice the effects are tiny compared with the real steps you need to take.
If you want to lose weight, you do not need a list of “fat burning foods”. You need a realistic way of eating and more physical activity than you currently have.
The time you spend researching “magic” ingredients is better spent going for a walk or planning tomorrow’s meals.
Do not join a gym if your plan is to lose weight in 14 days
This might sound counterintuitive, I know. I am a personal trainer and this would be the perfect moment to invite you to the gym, but I will not.
If you have not trained before, suddenly starting intense workouts in the gym often means very sore muscles, a drop in motivation to train and then quitting.
If you want quick weight loss, light aerobic activity like walking, gentle cycling or swimming is a much better choice. The gym is fantastic when you want long term, sustainable results over months, not in two weeks.
Do not keep sweets in the house
If you know you have a sweet tooth, do not keep chocolate or biscuits “for guests” or “just in case”.
One of the tips I shared in my article on weight loss tricks was exactly this: do not test yourself unnecessarily.
It is much easier not to see chocolate at all than to resist it every day. If a strong craving really hits, it is better to have a small dessert after a big meal, when your blood sugar is more stable and you are less likely to overeat.
Do not change too many things at once
We all love the feeling of a “fresh start”. But trying to cut sugar, gluten, alcohol, bread and dinner, plus adding 10,000 steps in one day, usually ends badly.
Your body and mind need time to adapt. Even if you have a strict 14 day weight loss meal plan, choose two or three key changes and stick with those first. That is how you build stability, not stress.
And yes, most important of all: good luck, and use your head.
