Lose 18 Pounds in 9 Days: Is It Possible?

A few days ago a reader sent us a request for a plan to lose 18 pounds in just 9 days. She says that she has a wedding to go to and that she needs to lose about 17 or 18 lbs to reach her "ideal" weight and look good in her dress. The problem is that she had only 9 days to drop the weight. So basically she wanted to know how to shed about 2 pounds per day!

First off, losing weight that rapidly is nearly impossible. And even if you go all out in terms of exercise and calorie cutting, much if not most of the weight is going to be "water" weight that you sweat out. That being said, there are ways to lose pounds extremely quickly using super-clean dieting techniques and intense workouts. In fact, it's possible to lose about 10 pounds in just 3 days if you really try!

The problem is, 10 lbs is about the limit for most people's bodies. After you've lost those initial ten things start to get a lot more difficult because your body goes into "starvation" mode and starts doing bad things like slowing down its metabolism and burning lean muscle tissue for energy!

Still, we know that people who are desperate to lose a lot of weight very fast are doing to attempt to do so no matter what anyone tells them. So, if we had to lose 18 lbs in 9 days -- and we wanted to do it as safely as possible with minimal side-effects -- here's what we would try...

1. Sleep: Get at least 7 hours per night. You're going to need plenty of rest and recovery during this intense weight loss program!

2. Energy: It's going to be a battle to keep your energy up. Besides getting enough sleep, drink at least a gallon of water per day. Also take a good multivitamin formula. Finally, consider taking a healthy energy booster, especially before workouts to increase their effectiveness.

3. Protein Shakes: Whey protein shakes should make up the majority of your calorie intake. This way you get plenty of high-quality protein to repair muscle and boost metabolism. More importantly you can carefully control the amount and quality of the calories you're taking in. All shakes should contain a high-quality whey protein powder, some fresh or frozen fruit, and a small amount of healthy fat like natural peanut butter or unrefined coconut oil.

4. Intense Circuit Training: About every other day you need to do an intense circuit training workout based around high-intensity intervals. Stick with bodyweight exercises and simple cardio options like jumping rope and hill running. Exercise for about 30 minutes and focus on quality over quantity. Base your workouts around resistance training but finish each one with at least 10 minutes of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) to maximize fat loss.

So there you have it: one of the best ways to lose up to 18 pounds in only 9 days. We can't guarantee that you'll lose that much weight in less than a week and a half but if you follow those steps you will lose pounds and you're body will look A LOT better. Good luck!