Can't Lose Weight Fast? Try These Two Proven Weight Loss Techniques

author avatar Dr. Eric Berg 08/31/2023

Can’t lose weight and frustrated with poor weight loss results? Worry no more because I’m giving you two proven techniques to help you lose weight effectively!

RELATED: Why Keto and Intermittent Fasting Really Works

In this article:

  1. Losing Weight Can Be Difficult
  2. Powerful Technique #1: Intermittent Fasting
  3. Powerful Technique #2: Ketogenic Diet
  4. The Power Behind Combining Intermittent Fasting with Ketogenic Dieting

Effective Techniques to Try if You Can't Lose Weight

Losing Weight Can Be Difficult

Working with more than 40,000 people over 27 years, I have seen the good, the bad, and the ugly in trying to lose weight. The absolute fastest way to get the weight off is to combine two powerful techniques: intermittent fasting and ketogenic diet.

Powerful Technique #1: Intermittent Fasting

Selective Focus Photography of Woman Clapping Her Hands Behind Her Back | Can't Lose Weight Fast? Try These Two Proven Weight Loss Techniques

If you can’t lose weight, intermittent fasting might be effective for you. Intermittent fasting is going for several hours without eating. It’s a hormone-friendly action that triggers the main fat-burning hormone and forces your body to use up your stored fat.

When people hear the word “fasting,” they think they have to go on a hunger strike rather than on a weight loss diet. Intermittent fasting simply uses strategic timing to cut caloric intake and burn calories and fat faster by passing on meals you don't need to eat in the first place.

For example, we were led to believe breakfast is the most important meal of the day as a result of an old marketing campaign from breakfast cereal companies. But when you eat in the morning, even if you’re not hungry, you basically stop the fat-burning process. Your body is not starving. It’s just eating up your stored fat — and that’s what we want, right?

The hormone that forces your body to burn fat is called the growth hormone. Most people associate the human growth hormone (HGH) with professional sports where it acts as a performance-enhancing substance and builds muscle mass. It also helps with healthy aging. HGH is the main fat-burning hormone of the body, and intermittent fasting triggers it.

Adjust your eating cycles and put intermittent fasting into action. You can choose from different intermittent fasting options picking the one that works best for you. This amazing pattern of eating forces your body to burn fat and to avoid a weight loss plateau since you’re constantly changing your pattern of eating. My system, as prescribed, follows three simple steps:

  1. Three days of eating only three meals, no snacking
  2. Three days of eating only two meals, no snacking
  3. Three days of eating only one and a half meals (the half meal being something like a kale shake)

If you do hardcore workout routines or some strength training, you may need to stick to the first two steps. Rinse and repeat until you hit your physical activity goal. All these meals should fall within a ketogenic diet. Not sure what that is? I’ll discuss more of that below.

RELATED: Why People Really Fail with Intermittent Fasting

Powerful Technique #2: Ketogenic Diet

Ketogenic diet concept | Can't Lose Weight Fast? Try These Two Proven Weight Loss Techniques

Ketogenic eating can also help you if you can’t lose weight. It refers to a moderate-protein, high-fat, and no-sugar diet. This means cutting out refined carbohydrates and sugars completely — no bread, no pasta, no rice, and no potatoes. You can, however, keep eating vegetable carbohydrates.

By cutting sugary and processed foods and adding fatty foods like eggs, nuts, avocados, and even cheese, you feel fuller and have fewer cravings. You can go longer without eating. When there are no sugars left to be used as fuel, your body is forced to burn its own fat reserves for energy, preventing you from gaining weight. 

The Power Behind Combining Intermittent Fasting with Ketogenic Dieting 

Most people have been stuck on the exact opposite strategy: frequent small meals (the opposite of intermittent fasting) and a low-fat diet/lean protein diet (the opposite of a ketogenic diet). Snacking and cutting out fat keep your Fat Storing Hormone high. In the presence of Fat Storing Hormone, you can’t achieve long-term weight loss! Adding intermittent fasting to a ketogenic diet can strategically get you to your goal fast.

This is not a low-calorie diet, and I don’t recommend low-fat food choices. You are simply switching your body into fat-burning mode and letting your body run on fat fuel, which is a healthy thing. 

Aside from that, combining the two diet plans can help achieve a smooth transition to a keto diet if you can’t lose weight. Intermittent fasting can aid your body in achieving the state of ketosis faster than doing a keto diet only. Ketosis is where your body starts to use fat as fuel for energy instead of your blood glucose. Reaching ketosis is faster when fasting since your body has to balance its energy by switching its fuel from carbs to fat.

The combination of intermittent fasting and keto diet may also help you lose fat faster than doing the diet only. Fasting aids in improving your metabolic rate as it promotes heat production, utilizing the stubborn stored fats. For those who are aiming to keep their muscle mass, intermittent fasting may help preserve lean muscle mass while helping you lose weight. 

It also stimulates autophagy, an internal process of cleaning your cells. When this happens, the cells in your body sift through their internal parts, get rid of damaged and old parts, and renew them. The cells are like reviving their own selves. This bodily process boosts longevity and reduces inflammation levels.  

Now that you have a clear understanding of how to get rid of excess fat if you can’t lose weight, you might want to start planning your fasting schedule and meals. It’s not about lowering the number of calories; instead, it’s about combining two powerful techniques into one highly effective weight loss strategy. Add exercise, change your eating habits, and see your body transform!

Disclaimer: Our educational content is not meant or intended for medical advice or treatment.

Editor’s Note: This post has been updated for quality and relevancy.

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