Figuring out how to lose weight fast without being hungry is the holy grail everyone is searching for...but is yet to find.
Well, your search is over. Read on.
A Word of Caution Before We Get Going
Before I give you the tips and strategies for how to lose weight fast without being hungry, let me preface all this by saying the following:
I do not generally advise people to try to either lose weight fast or for significant amounts of time without breaks and weeks at higher calories. Rapid weight loss approaches should, in my opinion, not be done for more than 3-6 weeks at a time maximum.
I’ll say it again because it’s that important: Rapid, accelerated fat loss protocols are not a long-term approach and are NOT sustainable.
You will be hungry (so I kind of lied to you ;) while undergoing a rapid fat loss phase. HOWEVER, there are several methods, principles and strategies which can be implemented to keep hunger in check while taking in super low calories and not be totally miserable.
Ok, now that the above has been established, we can get into this.
How To Lose Weight Fast Without Being Hungry
Even though accelerated weight loss protocols should not be done on a long-term basis and are not sustainable, there is a time and place for them, they can be very effective in terms of gaining self efficacy, and they can establish some momentum before transitioning into a more manageable and sustainable calorie deficit.
But they have to be done correctly.
All of the principles, strategies and tips presented below need to be implemented to make a rapid fat loss phase successful and tolerable (and, again, do not do this for more than 3-6 weeks at a time).
Here is what you need to know:
Set Your Calories At 8-9 Times Your Current Body Weight
If you want to know how to lose weight fast without being hungry , it all starts with getting your calories right.
You want to set a basement calorie intake (something you do NOT go under). 8-9 times your starting bodyweight is probably about right. This is low enough for rapid fat loss, but not so low that you are totally miserable and over-the-top hungry.
For example, if you are a 200 lb. male wanting to know how to lose weight fast without being hungry , start by setting your initial calorie intake at 1600-1800 calories per day. 150 lb. female? Same deal: 1200-1350. You might want to start on the high end, see how you respond, and gradually bring it down towards the lower end over 3-4 weeks.
You MAY go to 7x bodyweight at the very last week of a rapid fat loss phase, but, if you are losing about 1-1.5% of your body weight per week, this probably is not necessary.
You will definitely want an app to monitor and track your daily calories and macros. While there are MANY out there, I like the Nutritionix Track app as it has the most verified foods, is super easy to use, offers the ability to input custom foods, seamlessly copy, paste and adjust foods, scan bar codes, etc.
Eat About 1.2g of Protein Per Pound of Your Body Weight
Higher protein intakes relative to bodyweight are more crucial in a cut than in a muscle building phase (and more crucial in rapid fat loss than on a normal fat loss diet). Protein has an anti-hunger effect, provides greater satiety, protects lean muscle mass as you lose weight fast, and has a greater thermic effect of feeding (you expend more calories digesting and absorbing protein vs. carbohydrate or fat). All of that makes sense in a rapid fat loss phase.
Choose High Volume Foods For The Calories
It’s very important to select foods which offer a high volume and a low energy density. Rapid fat loss is NOT the time for an "if it fits your macros" mentality by trying to work non-satiating, calorie-dense "treats" into your diet.
Avoid simple carbohydrates , high fat foods, and liquid calories. Don’t even think about alcohol on calories this low unless you want to eat the entire neighborhood.
As discussed above, lean protein sources are a great idea as they offer a high volume of food for low calories. For example, 200g of lean white fish would provide only about 33% of the calories of 200g of fattier strip steak.
Furthermore, carb sources such as Jasmine rice, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, and fibrous veggies are a great idea for optimizing food volume. Taking it a step further, you might even experiment with plant-based alternatives to normal starchy carbs such as shirataki noodles, riced cauliflower and broccoli, and spaghetti squash. All of these plant based sources offer the same volume of foods like rice, potatoes, etc. but for a mere fraction of the calories (400g of shirataki noodles, for example, is only 60 calories).
Keep Dietary Fat Low (around 15-20% of total calories)
When you are trying to lose weight fast without being hungry (or at least not “10 out of 10” hungry), do not go out of your way to eat intentional dietary fat sources when your calories are this low.
Fat sources (cheese, oil, avocado, nuts, butter, etc.) are energy dense, low volume foods. For example, 12 almonds is around 180 calories lol.
Keep fat intake at or around 15-20% of your total calories (see above). Using the 200 lb. male example from above, if he is eating 1800 calories a day in a rapid fat loss phase, he’d want to keep his fat intake to no more than about 40g/day (fat has 9 calories per gram as compared to 4 calories/gram in carb and protein). Even trace fats coming from protein and carb dominate foods and taking daily fish oil would make sense during a 3-6 week rapid fat loss phase.
Backload A Higher Percentage of Your Overall Calories & Carbohydrates To The Evening
During my own recent rapid fat loss phase, I preferred to back load a higher percentage of my calories to the evening.That’s just me and might not be to your preference, but I think it’s worth trying.
I’d eat three meals a day. Two made up half my calories and the third was bigger, at night, and made up the other half. I also preferred to get most of my carbs at night: carbs raise serotonin levels and serotonin helps with better sleep.
If you want to keep your already extreme hunger under control, you absolutely need to get good sleep. A poor night(s) of sleep will wreck havoc with already pissed off appetite and hunger hormones and you want to avoid this at all costs.
Strength Train No More Than 4 Days/Week & Do No More Than 8-10 Work Sets/Workout
Don’t even think about high volume strength training when trying to lose weight fast without being hungry. Train 3-4 days/week and do 8-10 total work sets per workout.
Go heavy with a progressive mentality and push close to or to failure. Get in and get out. You might even get stronger despite the low fuel coming in.
Avoid ALL High Intensity Interval Training, MetCon Workouts, etc.
NO HIIT. Period. Good luck trying to do hard intervals on calories and carbs (by default) this low and live. Not to mention, HIIT doesn’t offer any benefit for added fat loss when compared to moderate-intensity, steady-state cardo (meta analyses have concluded this).
Let your diet do the work and focus on hard, low volume training to retain as much muscle as possible. You do not need to pile on more high intensity activity, nor will you have the energy or recovery ability to tolerate it. You’ll run yourself into the ground and make yourself totally ravenous, resulting in a binge eating session.
Focus On A Conservative Amount of Steady-State Cardio
Two or three 30-minute (moderate-intensity, steady-state) cardio sessions per week is more than enough. You can even tack 10-15:00 on post strength training-or later on in the day on a training day-and then recover fully on days off from strength work (this would be ideal).
Beyond the steady-state cardio and strength training workouts, it’s important to keep general activity (referred to as NEAT) as high as possible. This can be an uphill battle when you are consuming calories this low, as your body is in “defend and prevent” mode, and your metabolism will be adapting. Your body will be trying to get you to move as little as possible as it’s interpreting what you are putting yourself through as famine :).
So wear an activity tracker like a Fit Bit, and keep a tab on steps. Shooting for 8-10,000 daily is a good goal. It will be a tall task on low fuel, but make this a goal on most days of the week. Remember, this rapid fat loss phase is not going to last long and you need to essentially suck it up.
Transitioning Out Of A Rapid Fat Loss Phase
Well, you came to this page wanting to know how to lose weight fast without being hungry...so there you have it.
But...
...you need to know how to transition out of it and what to do next.
That topic is really an article in and of itself, but I’ll give you some brief advice on this.
Remember, a rapid fat loss phase should not go longer than about 3-6 weeks, and you should expect-if you follow all the guidelines I outlined above-to lose 1-1.5% of your starting weight per week (example, a guy starting at 200 lbs. can expect a drop of 12-15 lbs. in 6 weeks).
Once the extreme calorie deficit is over with, I recommend immediately bumping up your calories up to 11 calories per pound of your new body weight. For example, if you started at 200 and are now at 188, multiply 188x11=2068.
This will be about a 15-20% jump in calories from where you ended your rapid fat loss phase. From there, you can add in 100-200 calories/day/week until you start to see your weight spike.
A couple pounds showing back up on the scale when you raise your calories the first week or two is normal and this is not fat regain. There is just more food in your system, in your gut, and your carbohydrate stores are being topped off, leading to an increase in water weight. Not a big deal and you’ll see this level off.
Final Words
I hope you enjoyed this article on how to lose weight fast without being hungry. Yes, you can lose weight fast, safely, and, yes, you can do it without being over-the-top hungry (but intense hunger is inevitable). BUT... you have to follow the above advice and it can only be done for a short period before you transition to a more sustainable calorie deficit as you continue on your weight loss journey.
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