How to Lose 40 Pounds in 100 Days

If your goal is to drop 40 pounds or lose weight in general, it's important to think big picture while implementing daily changes to make it a reality. One of the best ways to do so is by creating a 100-day transformation plan.

While there are dozens of diets and weight loss regimens on the web, it's important to remember that all bodies are different and, as such, everyone requires different food, in different amounts, consumed at different times, as well as different levels of exercise, to hit their target weight.

While no two bodies lose or gain weight in identical ways, there are some things everyone can do to promote weight loss.

In addition to maintaining a healthy caloric input from whole unprocessed foods, whole grains, healthy fats, and endless fruits and veggies, The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans state that people who want to lose more than 5 percent of their body weight (or keep a significant amount of weight off) need to exercise a minimum of 300 minutes of moderate exercise a week — this includes brisk walks, strength training, cycling, and more.

Whatever you do, try to avoid falling for a fad diet that tries to tell you that you need to consume less than 1,200 calories a day. Doing so may trick your body into starvation mode, and inhibit weight loss while causing endless frustrations. Additionally, remember that a healthy diet paired with physical activity is your best bet, as opposed to relying on just one or the other.

Read More: 6 Meal Kits That Support Your Weight-Loss Goals

In addition to working out and eating right, it helps to keep a record of doing so. While it may seem tedious to write everything down, research has shown that taking the time to record meals and workouts leads to better weight loss results over all.

According to Harvard Health Publishing when we take the time to self-monitor our health choices, we're less inclined to overeat and more inclined to make time for movement. It's no secret that this can be an eye-opener, as it makes people hyper aware of how they prioritize their health goals.

This idea was built upon in a February 2019 study published in Obesity: A Research Journal, where researchers found that participants who successfully lost 5 to 10 percent of their body weight were the ones who logged into a web portal most frequently to self-monitor their eating. What's more, they found that the longer you self-monitor, the less time it takes to actually focus on doing so to maintain a successful rate of weight loss.

Read More: Why the Satiating Diet May Be the Healthier Alternative to Keto

Since trying to lose 40 pounds in 100 days may be unrealistic without crash-dieting and potentially putting yourself in harm's way, it's important to create a more attainable goal that benefits your health. In fact, according to the Mayo Clinic, one of the six strategies for successful weight loss is to set realistic goals, aiming to lose no more than 1-2 pounds per week — or, in this case, 14 to 29 pounds in 100 days.

The best way to do this is to consult with your doctor. However, if you don't have the means to do that now, you can click over to the National Institute of Health's Body Weight Planner. There, you'll be able to enter your weight, sex, age, height, physical activity level, and an intention to improve that activity level by a specific percentage, to determine just how many calories you should be eating in a day. It will also tell you how many calories to eat to maintain your goal weight once you've reached it. What's more, using research-backed evidence, it will provide you with tips on how to eat healthy and stay active, while providing additional resources to aide in that process (like ChooseMyPlate).

Read More: What Is Reverse Dieting and Will It Help You Lose Weight?

Maintaining a healthy diet and an adequate exercise routine is essential in keeping weight off. That's why it's so important to lose weight with a diet, exercise, and self-care routine that you can follow.

Self-care? That's according to an article published by Harvard Health Publishing, which explains that many people consider a healthy lifestyle to involve not just food and exercise, but also the healthy head-space that results from those things when combined with stress management and therapy.

While feeling great about yourself and your weight loss accomplishment is reason enough to keep your routine going, the benefits of catering to your weight and its effects are also worth noting.

When you're overweight, you have a higher risk of developing serious ailments, such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, breathing problems and many others. As nobody willingly chooses to undergo the risks associated with those health issues, one of the best ways to avoid dealing with them is by putting work into your daily health routine. Whether that means embarking on 100 days of walking, trying to lose 40 pounds in 100 days, religiously logging your meals, water consumption, and workouts, or signing up for a 100 day challenge calendar — that's up to you.