How to Jump Start Your Weight Loss

If you are looking for how to jump start your weight loss, then you are at the right place!

Have you been stuck at your current weight for weeks, even though your diet and exercise plan are spot on? 

Maybe you’re at the beginning of your weight loss journey, and just need to see that scale go down to get the encouragement you need to keep going.

You’re not alone!  We all need a boost to our weight loss success now and then, and there are a few strategies you can try when you want to shift that fat fast.  Don’t try them all at once though.

Pick one strategy, then go back to your regular plan.  You can try another one later, if you need another jump start.

#1. Shake Things Up!

Skip spending hours in the kitchen prepping your meals for the week.  Instead, choose a nutrition-packed protein loss shake for your breakfasts and lunches.

Many of us don’t get the protein we need on a daily basis, and your protein needs are even higher on a weight loss diet.

Your body knows when you’re not getting enough, and you’ll hold on to that excess fat even if you keep your calories low and spend hours at the gym if this need isn’t met.

Look for protein shakes that have at least 20 grams of protein per serving.  Some people have a hard time digesting shakes that are whey or dairy based, even though these tend to have the best nutrient density.

One way to avoid this is to look for shakes that include enzymes to help you with digestion.  Another way is to look for shakes that are vegetarian, which have a base of pea, rice, hemp, or other plant proteins.

Shakes are generally pretty low in calories, so you might feel a little extra hungry for the week or two you choose to go this route.

That’s ok, this isn’t a permanent plan!  Stick it out for up to a month and your results will be clear.  Make sure to choose a shake that doesn’t have artificial flavors or sweeteners, since these things can disrupt your metabolism.

#2. Refeed!

Sometimes we drop our calories TOO low in our diet plans, and our bodies react by thinking we’re starving…so we hold on to every calorie we eat. 

This can make us tired and unwilling to exercise, and can disrupt our focus and productivity.  If you’ve been cutting calories for a few weeks, give yourself 1 or 2 days of a refeed.

Don’t eat everything in the house, but DO eat 1.5-2 times the amount of food you would normally eat.

Don’t go TOO crazy.  A whole pizza and a 6 pack of beer is excessive.  But do allow yourself some treats.

A few slices of pizza, a small bowl of ice cream, wings or ribs.  This is your day to enjoy your treats.  You can expect to gain 1-5 pounds the next day, but this isn’t fat!

You’re still digesting all of this food, and you’re holding on to a lot of water while this happens.

Give it a couple of days back on your regular plan, and you’ll see that come right off, and likely some extra with it.

Weight loss isn’t a linear process, and sometimes we need the extra calories to remind our bodies to keep that fire burning hot.

#3. Get Juicy! How to Jump Start Your Weight Loss with Juicing

Cleanses are all the rage, and a well formulated juice cleanse can provide you with nutrition while kicking your fat loss into high gear. 

Juice cleanses aren’t a sustainable way of eating, so plan on 3-7 days only for taking this approach.  You’ll essentially be replacing your meals with nutrient dense juices that you make yourself.

This is one of those cases where you need some special equipment, and you don’t want to skimp here.

A high quality masticating (aka chewing) juicer will run you between $100 and $200, but it will be a valuable investment into your health.  Check Amazon for the best prices.

You can freely choose any vegetables and fruits that you want for your juice, which makes the flavor options endless. But note that fruits are very high in sugar, so you want to use them sparingly.

Your juice bases will be veggies, with lots of green leafies like kale, chard, and spinach.  Celery and cucumber are great, and some superpowers to add are beets, asparagus, and carrots.

Since you’re taking all the fiber away, expect your bathroom habits to slow down during this short phase.

Don’t worry, they’ll pick back up to normal when you get back to your food plan.  You can also expect to feel lighter and less bloated after your juice cleanse, just don’t binge on junk food when it’s over.

#4. Go Raw!

Raw foods are a great addition to almost every eating plan, and should be a focus on any nutritious weight loss journey.

It’s easy to skip out on them because they may not have the satisfying sensations that many other foods might have, and we can get stuck in patterns that don’t involve fresh foods.

Raw vegetables and fruits contain enzymes and nutrients in their whole, natural state, and so are the best foods to support our bodies.

When we use exclusively these foods, we’re refueling our reserves of these enzymes and minerals that can easily become depleted in our tissues.

This is another approach that isn’t sustainable long term, but is an excellent short term way to get us to eat more of the good stuff.

Take one week, up to a month, to eat nothing but raw veggies and fruits.  Focus on the veggies for the same reason as you do with the juices, too much sugar from fruits can sabotage your weight loss.

There are a ton of raw food recipe cookbooks and lots of sites dedicated to creative raw food recipes. So pick some that look fun and try them out.

You can incorporate them into your regular way of eating, too, since they’re so packed with nutrients.

#5. HIIT it Hard!

Getting stuck in the same workout patterns get your body used to those exercises, and you get more and more efficient at them.  This is a bad thing!

Efficiency in this sense means that you burn FEWER calories while doing the same exercise.

This is especially true of steady-state cardio, like using treadmills or ellipticals.  If you want a zero-equipment way to shake up your calorie burn, try sprints instead.

Sprint full out for a minute, then walk to recover for 2 minutes.  Do this 10-15 times and you’ll be drenched in sweat.

You’ll also have been burning carbohydrates AND fat. And this kind of workout creates a longer and stronger afterburn effect. So you’ll be burning more calories after the workout too.

Vary any weight or resistance training in the same way.  Using light weights with more reps doesn’t burn more calories, it just makes you spend more time.

Use higher weights and lower reps to burn more calories during and after your workout.  Don’t worry ladies, you won’t get beefy, you don’t have enough testosterone for that.

Kickstart your weight loss with these tactics, and remember that the core of every good weight loss plan includes solid nutrition and healthy movement.

Cutting back on calories or spending hours at a time at the gym can be harder on your body in the long run, so remember that it’s a process.  You won’t instantly see the results you want, but you can definitely see progress faster with these strategies.  Stick with it, getting healthy and in shape will be your reward for all your efforts, and you really will get there.