14 Simple Ways Women Lose 15 Pounds or More Quickly

Maintaining a healthy weight is essential to healthy living. Fighting obesity may not be simple but it is possible.

A little effort on your side to change your routine lifestyle can do a miracle.

Shedding 5 pounds or 15 pounds can be equally difficult. The number of pounds you lose directly depends on your efforts behind it.

The secret to lose weight faster lies in strictly following the regime. Also, remember that weight loss is a journey and it requires patience to see visible results.

Here are 14 simple ways to help you lose 15 pounds or more quickly.

1. Go for Strength Training

Strength training involves a lot of energy that your body produces by vigorously burning calories. With this increase in the rate of calorie expenditure, your body will burn accumulated fat to help you lose 15 pounds or more.

Strength training has been proved to work effectively to fight obesity (1). Following are the benefits of strength training:

Builds lean muscle: Muscle mass is important in maintaining a healthy metabolism. While other forms of workouts like cardio decreases muscle mass, strength training can counter it to accelerate healthy metabolism.

Increases base metabolic rate: Strength training helps to accelerate body metabolism that speeds up calorie expenditure. This burns stored fat to help reduce obesity in women.

Boost energy level: Strength training generates energy in the body to promote the calorie-burning process. The more calories you burn, the more pounds you lose.

Improve heart health: Strength training has proved to be beneficial in preventing cardiovascular diseases (2, 3). This form of workout also helps in lowering body fat, cholesterol level, and fasting glucose.

Take away: Strength training is effective in weight loss as it builds lean muscle mass to promote body metabolism. This form of workout requires a lot of energy that is created by burning calories which in turn burns stored fat.

2. Try Aerobics/Cardio Alternatively

A combination of aerobics and non-aerobics like weight trainings has proved to promote weight loss in women (4). Aerobics/cardio workouts increases calorie expenditure while maintaining a balanced heart rate.

Following are the benefits of Aerobics/cardio exercise:

Increase calorie expenditure: Cardio workouts burn high levels of calories that the body compensates by burning stored fat. This hastens the process of weight loss.

Stimulate metabolism: Aerobic or cardio workouts demand a higher level of oxygen intake in the body. This boots body metabolism naturally that promotes calorie burning process.

Burns stored fat: Aerobics stimulates the burning of accumulated fat in women as it increases calorie expenditure.

Increase muscular endurance: Activities like walking, swimming, running, cycling, etc. engages large muscle groups. This process helps to build muscle strength and also tones up muscles to give proper shape to your body.

Apart from promoting weight loss, aerobic or cardio workouts are also beneficial for cardiovascular health, blood pressure, blood sugar, and muscle pain.

Take away: Aerobic exercises accelerate the calorie expenditure process that stimulates the burning of stored fat. Apart from aiding weight loss, aerobics has proved to be beneficial in heart diseases, muscle pain, blood pressure, and  blood sugar.

3. Consume Fewer Calories

Calorie expenditure is directly proportional to weight loss. The simple trick to lose 15 pounds or moreis to burn the same amount of calories that you consume or consuming foods that are low on calories (5).

While exercise will help you to burn calories, it is a good idea to keep your calorie intake in check to avoid weight gain. Low-calorie food is beneficial to your health in the following ways:

Weight loss: Keeping your calorie intake in control will help your body to burn calories. Stored calories often lead to the accumulation of fat.

Improved physical performance: The purpose of physical training is to stimulate body metabolism to burn calories without storing it as fat. With low-calorie intake, it will be burnt faster improving exercise results.

Easy to follow: It is simple to keep track of your calorie intake. It does not mean you have to sacrifice on something you are craving. You need to count the calorie value of the food you are consuming and balance it with other foods for the day.

Greek yogurt, berries, oats, eggs, fish, cottage cheese, legume are low-calorie healthy foods to help you lose 15 pounds.

Take away: Keeping calorie intake in check will help your body to burn calories without storing it as fat. Low-calorie intake will improve your exercise result by burning it faster.

4. Increase Protein Intake

A high protein diet is emphasized for healthy weight loss. Studies have suggested that by increasing the amount of dietary protein you can lose 15 pounds faster in a healthy way (6).

Protein prompts certain changes in your fat regulating hormones to help you lose excess fat. Dietary protein is also effective in preventing the accumulation of body fat.

Following are the ways on how a high-protein diet can help you lose weight:

Curbs appetite: High protein diet gives you a fuller feeling for a longer time so that you don’t crave for any unhealthy food (7). This also involuntarily controls your calorie intake helping you lose 15 pounds quickly (8).

Triggers metabolism: Adequate proportion of dietary protein boosts body metabolism to burn more fat cells. This helps you to lose fat faster.

Accelerate calorie expenditure: Protein hastens the calorie-burning process in the body by triggering metabolism. The body uses stored fat to burn calories, helping you to reduce pounds easily.

Foods like eggs, chicken breast, milk, broccoli, tuna, lentils, Ezekiel bread, shrimp, peanuts, almonds, etc. contains an adequate amount of dietary protein.

Take away: High protein diet stimulates fat regulating hormones to prevent weight gain. An adequate amount of protein intake can boost metabolism to burn calories, and also curbs appetite to help you lose weight faster.

5. Limit Carbohydrates

A low-carb diet has several benefits apart from helping you to shed extra pounds. Lower amount of carbohydrates in your meals can limit your appetite (9).

Researchers have proved that people following a low-carb diet are likely to lose more weight than people on a low-fat diet (10).

High protein and low carb diet can be more effective in losing fat at a faster rate. This diet acts as a controller on calorie consumption and stimulator for calorie expenditure.

Following are ways on how a low-carb diet can help you lose 15 pounds:

Control appetite: A low carb diet is effective in restricting appetite. This makes you feel less hungry and you end up consuming fewer calories in a day.

Accelerate natural metabolism: A high amount of carbohydrates can disturb our digestion slowing down body metabolism. A low-carb diet is easily converted into energy by our body which helps break down fat cells.

Prevent fat accumulation: As carbohydrates are difficult to digest, most of it settles down as fat in our body. A low-carb diet will ensure that the complete meal is digested properly without storing it as fat.

Carbohydrates are necessary fuel for our body, but it should be consumed in a lower amount to lose weight faster. Apart from weight loss, a low-carb diet is beneficial to lower blood sugar, blood pressure, and bad cholesterol.

Take away: A low carb diet helps natural body metabolism to burn fat and also controls appetite. Carbohydrates in lower amounts get digested completely by our system preventing it from settling down as fat.

6. Add more Fiber

Fiber aids in our natural digestion process. While insoluble fiber can act as a laxative, soluble fiber helps to lose fat by strengthening natural metabolism.

Soluble fiber is effective in shedding pounds faster by taking care of your gut health (11).

Here are a few ways in which soluble fiber can speed-up healthy fat loss in women:

Nurture gut bacteria: Soluble fiber is difficult for your stomach to digest. So, it reaches our gut almost undigested and stimulates our gut bacteria responsible for breaking down fat cells into energy.

Reduce belly fat: Gut bacteria convert stored belly fat into energy that burns calories (12). Soluble fiber nourishes our gut bacteria to increase calorie expenditure reducing visceral fat.

Controls appetite: As dietary fiber is not completely digested by our stomach, it gives a fuller feeling. This reduces our appetite helping us in consuming lower calories.

Besides aiding weight loss, dietary fiber is also helpful in chronic inflammation, metabolism, and reducing cholesterol.

Take away: Soluble fiber takes care of your gut health by stimulating gut bacteria to break fat cells into energy. Dietary fiber also decreases appetite to help control calorie intake thus reducing body fat faster.

7. Hydrate for a Healthy Body

Adequate water intake has several benefits for your body apart from weight loss. Studies have proved that increase in body hydration has a significant effect on body weight (13).

Amount of water consumption varies according to several factors like age, temperature, body weight, activity level, and health condition. However, irrespective of all, a hydrated body is the primary requirement for a healthy weight.

Following are ways in which water intake helps to lose weight faster:

Reduce hunger: Drinking water before every meal will subdue your appetite to a good extent. This will result in lower calorie consumption and also better digestion.

Substitute for fluid calorie: Drinks or beverages contain added sugar which adds up to the calorie intake that accumulates as fat. Replacing your beverages with water can satiate your thirst without increasing calorie intake.

Remove toxins: Waste or toxins that the body produces during metabolism needs to be flushed out. A dehydrated body feels bloated due to toxins which also affect kidney functions.

Boost calorie-burning process: Research has indicated that water helps to burn calories faster (14). Hydration also increases the expenditure of resting energy in the form of burning stored fat.

Better workout effect: Exercise involves large muscle groups and core organs. Water helps to hydrate the whole body including muscles, tissues, and organs to help burn calories better during workouts.

Take away: Water effectively flushes out body toxins that induce swelling and poor metabolism. Water also aids weight loss by suppressing appetite to curb calorie intake and boosts calorie burning process improving exercise results.

8. Never Skip Meals

Lower calorie intake can be a good idea to lose weight faster but not by skipping meals. Studies have proved that skipping meals like breakfast is correlated to unhealthy weight gain (15).

There are other factors also, that are associated with skipping meals that promote obesity. Let’s take a look at those factors:

Increase appetite: Skipping one meal will either make you hungrier for the next one or increase your craving for unhealthy snacks. You might end up consuming loads of calories for a day that will add fat to your body.

Nutrition deficiency: Balanced meals that include protein, fiber, vitamins, and other micronutrients are necessary for proper metabolism. Skipping meals will bring down your metabolism resulting in poor calorie expenditure.

Low energy level: Meals cater to the nutritional requirement of our body which is digested to provide us energy. Skipping a meal will reduce your energy level resulting in burning fewer calories and fats.

Sleep disorder: Skipping meals can mean you are going to bed hungry. This will disturb your sleep cycle with mid-night cravings for unhealthy snacking.

Take away: Skipping meals may lead to a higher intake of calories that will increase stored fat. Avoiding meals will result in inadequate nutrition that will harm natural body metabolism by burning fewer calories than consumed.

9. Avoid Sugary Beverages

Sugar is packed with calories lacking any nutritional value. Consumption of sugar may increase your calorie intake more than your body’s ability to burn calories. This will result in obesity.

Studies have proved that sugar consumption is associated with obesity and several other diseases (16). While foods having natural sugar like fruits can be healthy, processed foods containing added sugar can increase body fat.

Here are a few ways on how sugar increases body fat:

High in calories: Sugar has no nutrition but comes laden with calories. Added sugar will secretly increase your calorie intake making it difficult for your natural metabolism to burn it.

Create hormonal imbalance: Processed foods having added sugar have lower nutritional value and acts as a replacement to your nutritionally balanced meals. This nutrition deficiency affects hormonal balance diminishing your metabolism.

Cause overeating: Sugar does not curb your appetite. Consumption of sugar may lead you to overeat (17). This disturbs your calorie-burning process and assists in fat accumulation.

Take away: Sugar is high on calories with little or no nutritional value that can lead to increased calorie consumption exceeding your body’s capacity to burn it. Sugar intake can also slow down metabolism and affect hormonal balance resulting in the accumulation of fat.

10. Cut down on Alcohol

Alcohol has proved to increase weight gain in already obese women if consumed in high amount (18). High level of alcohol combined with fatty foods can induce obesity in women faster (19).

Although the consumption of alcohol in moderate or low amount has proved beneficial for women to maintain a healthy weight, there are certain determining factors (20). It depends on your age, the amount you are consuming, the type of alcohol, and how frequently you are consuming.

Having said that, the following are some of the reasons behind avoiding alcohol to lose weight faster:

High in calories: Alcohol contains calories in high amounts. So, a higher level of alcohol consumption may feel light on your stomach but is heavy for your body to burn. It finally accumulates as visceral fat.

Stimulate unhealthy appetite: Consumption of a high amount of alcohol may stimulate eating resulting in a higher intake of calories. It can also increase your craving for unhealthy snacking.

Lower metabolism: As alcohol is high on calories, your body ends up consuming more calories than its capacity to metabolize. This reduces body metabolism to slow down the process of burning fat.

Take away: Alcohol contains a high amount of calories that reduces metabolism, burning fewer calories. Higher intake of alcohol also triggers unhealthy cravings which further increase calorie consumption.

11. Practice Mindful Eating

Mindful eating will help your brain know how much calories you are consuming and in what form.

Conscious eating has several benefits on your cravings, body mass index, calorie control, and body weight (21).

Mindful eating comprises of the following eating behaviors:

Eat slowly, chew more: Eating fast may save your time, but eating slowly will save your metabolism. Fast eaters generally consume more food than required. Chewing food properly aids digestion and also signals the brain on the portion you are consuming. 

Focus on your food: It is important to keep distractions away while eating. The more you focus on your food the better you can balance your hunger and calorie consumption.

Portion control: You have to differentiate between emotional and physical hunger. This will help you to understand when you are almost full and you should stop. It gives a better control over the portion on your plate.

Nutritionally balanced meals: Your meal should contain a balanced proportion of proteins, vitamins, fiber, minerals, and other micronutrients to boost your metabolism. Mindful eating will help you to track the nutritional value of your meals.

Read the label before purchasing food: Processed foods may be deceiving in nutrition facts. Try to limit the purchase of items with added sugar, artificial color, trans-fat, artificial sweeteners, fructose, and sodium nitrite.

Take away: Mindful eating will help you to control your calorie intake as per your physical requirement. Adapting this eating behavior will also help you balance your meals nutritionally to maintain a healthy weight. 

12. Weigh Yourself Frequently

Weigh yourself regularly or at least thrice a week to keep your weight gain in check. Studies have proved that regular self-weighing is effective in losing weight and controlling weight gain (22).

Early morning is considered to be the ideal time to weigh yourself as your weight fluctuates least during that time.

Here are the benefits of frequent weighing:

Keep track of your weight gain: Daily self-weighing will help you know how frequently your body weight changes. A small house party or a little sugary indulgence can weigh heavily on that bathroom scale.

Know your physical changes affecting weight: Your health condition can also impact your weight gain. An increase in weight due to conditions like the menstrual cycle, constipation, water retention, or unhealthy snacking will be exposed on the scale.

Motivate to follow a health regime: Your weighing scale can best judge the effectiveness of your health regime. You can assess how efficiently your workout sessions and meal plans are working to help you lose weight faster.

Take away: Weighing yourself frequently can prove to be an effective tool to lose weight quickly. Regular self-weighing helps to monitor weight gain due to any health condition or unhealthy habit, motivating self-control.

13. Live Stress-Free

Stress and anxiety have several ill effects on women’s health, the primary one is weight gain (23). Stress management has proved to be effective in fighting obesity and maintaining a normal BMI (24).

Following are the reasons why stress management is necessary to lose weight faster:

Stimulate unhealthy craving: Stress and anxiety will make you seek mental pleasure in unhealthy foods. This will result in high-calorie intake, which eventually settles down as fat.

Causes sleep disorder: A stressed mind will never let you sleep sufficiently. Improper sleep cycle results in weak metabolism that is incapable of burning body fat.

High level of blood pressure: Stress slows down body metabolism creating a hormonal imbalance. This gradually leads to hypertension in women causing high blood pressure. 

Increases blood sugar level: Metabolism breaks down our calories to create energy that burns fat. When metabolism is reduced, the body fails to burn calories which results in increased blood sugar levels.

Take away: Stress can cause overeating, sleep disorder, and other health conditions that lead to obesity. Stress management is necessary to follow a disciplined life to help you lose 15 pounds.

14. Adequate Sleep is Important

Sleep disorder and obesity are proved to be interrelated (25). Studies have suggested that a healthy sleep cycle can help you to lose weight faster (26).

A healthy sleep cycle results in stronger metabolism that burns fat at a higher rate. Here are the benefits of following a healthy sleep cycle to lose weight faster:

Maintain hormonal balance: Adequate sleep balances body hormones that are responsible for regulating fat. This hormonal balance can prevent the accumulation of excess fat.

Healthy metabolism: Proper sleep cycle leads to strong metabolism that helps to burn calories faster. This breaks down existing fat cells in the body and also stops the formation of new fat cells.

Suppress appetite: A sound sleep suppresses your midnight cravings for unhealthy snacks reducing your calorie intake. A healthy sleep cycle also aids in burning calories involuntarily while no calorie is consumed.

Increase energy level: As adequate sleep boosts metabolism, it creates more energy in the body to increase activity level. Proper sleep cycle will reduce fatigue and improve your workout results.

Take away: Adequate sleep balances fat regulating hormones and also boosts body metabolism to burn stored fat. It helps to reduce fatigue and increases body energy to enhance your level of physical activity.

The bottom line on simple ways to lose 15 pounds or more

Weight loss is not magic. It is the result of your efforts. You have to set realistic goals and follow a disciplined regime to lose 15 pounds or more quickly.

You should remember that your health regime includes minor changes in your lifestyle and food habits and each of them is inefficient without the other.

This means you have to follow each of them as a method to strike a balance between workouts, diet, daily activities, and relaxation.

These 14 ways mentioned above are easy to follow and can be included in your daily lifestyle. With these simple changes you can maintain a healthy weight as well as a fit body.