4 Healthy Tips to Lose Weight Fast

Easy ways to cut calories and lose weight fast.

To lose weight, you need to cut calories. To lose weight fast, you need to cut more calories. For every 3,500 calories you cut, you lose 1 pound. (So minus 500 calories a day equals a loss of one pound a week).

How low can you go? Generally, not lower than 1,200 calories per day, say weight-loss experts, including Jean Harvey-Berino, Ph.D., chair of the University of Vermont’s Nutrition & Food Sciences Department and co-author of The EatingWell Diet. But for a quick fix, you could shave off a few more—going absolutely no lower than 800 calories—for up to three days (no longer), Harvey-Berino told nutritionist and EatingWell advisor Rachel Johnson, Ph.D., R.D. Harvey-Berino also suggests creating rules that add structure—essentially creating your own diet plan.

At a loss for where to start creating your diet plan? Here are some of my personal tricks for slimming down in a hurry.

—Nicci Micco, M.S., Content Director for Custom Publishing & Licensing

Trick 1. Nix alcohol »