People often need to lose weight extremely rapidly. For example, you might have a wedding or other social event coming up and you want to look your best. A rapid weight loss diet can help you to meet a target weight and because it is only intended to be used for a limited period, you can take a few more risks than with a long term plan.

Calorific Deficit

To lose weight is a matter of obeying the calorie in and calorie out equation.

Your body loses weight when it uses up its fat reserves. It will do this when there is a calorific deficit i.e. when your body burns more than you are feeding it.

A normal and safe calorific deficit for losing large amounts of weight over a period of months is 500 calories per day. This will see you losing about a pound per week.

A rapid weight loss diet goes even further though. Typically, the calorific deficit is more like 1,000 calories per day which works out to a loss of two pounds (one kilo) per week. Any more than this is simply dangerous.

Rapid Weight Loss Diet

The objective of this diet is to have a calorific deficit of 1,000 calories per day. You can work this out depending on if you are a man or a woman. In general, a man uses up 2,500 calories per day and a woman around 2,000 calories per day. These are rough figures intended for the "average" person so you may need to readjust for your own situation.

How you choose to enforce this deficit is up to you. Some people find it useful to follow something like the cabbage soup diet. Cabbage soup is low in calories and somewhat filling. It is generally good advice to stick to healthier foods such as lean proteins and fibrous, green vegetables. Fruits are also a great addition. In general, fruits and vegetables are very low in calories and you need to eat a lot of them to meet your daily needs. Hence, they make for an easier way to stick to your 1,000 calorie deficit.

Exercise

The only thing that matters to lose weight rapidly is the calorific deficit. With everything else remaining equal, you also have another option for meeting this deficit and that is to exercise. In theory, you could easily go well over the 1,000 calorie deficit if you wanted to but this is not recommended.

Yo-yo Dieting

Remember, a rapid weight loss diet is only intended for a short period. If you have spent the last few years yo-yoing from one weight to another then you should really consider a long term solution to your problem. This will require a fundamental change in your way of life.