10 Tips to Lose 40 Pounds in 6 Months

Are you about to embark on a weight loss journey? A great way to get started is to take advice from weight loss warriors and learn from their successes and mistakes. Indya Agos (@indyaagos) is a mindset, nutrition, and fitness coach and influencer who lost a whopping 120 pounds via natural methods. She has amassed over 344,600 followers for sharing helpful diet and fitness tips, many surrounding her own personal weight loss. In a few recent videos, Indya shares a compilation of tips on how to lose 40 pounds in the next six months.

Into a Caloric Deficit

"Number one, we need to put you into a calorie deficit because calories determine whether we gain, lose or maintain weight," she says. "Calorie counting gets a bad wrap, because most people obsess about it and do it incorrectly, but learning about calories and learning more importantly about macronutrients is what helped me create food freedom. I no longer restrict anything. I get to eat whatever I want and I still reach and maintain my goals."

Amp Up Your Protein Intake

"Tip number two, you need to start prioritizing protein over the next six months," she maintains. "Protein helps you build lean muscle and muscle burns fat. It also helps your metabolism function more optimally so that you can sustain fat loss, which means after you put in all this hard work over the next six months to lose 40 pounds, you will not be putting all of that weight back on." She says that a "good rule of thumb," is to consume one gram of protein per your goal body weight.

There is scientific evidence that consuming more protein than the recommended dietary allowance not only reduces body weight (BW), but also enhances body composition by decreasing fat mass while preserving fat-free mass (FFM) in both low-calorie and standard-calorie diets.

Measure Your Food

"Tip number three, you need to measure your food," she says, explaining that  "this doesn't mean that you need to be perfect. I know this is uncomfortable, but this is the most accurate way for you to reach your goals." She says there are various options, like using a food scale, "which is gonna be the most accurate, or even measuring cups."

She also notes that you need to "look at the nutrition labels and see what the actual serving size is and then try and eat that. And I know you can already tell this is gonna require a different level of discipline and dedication than you've ever had before. But babe, this is going to get you sustainable results that will transform your life."

Make Walking Part of Your Routine

Her fourth tip? Start walking more. "Walking is one of the most underrated forms of movement. When I first started my weight loss journey for the first year, all I did intentionally with exercise was walk. Not only does walking help you burn more calories, so putting you into more of a deficit, but it also isn't going to increase your appetite like interval training and or running will," she says.

"When we get into the mindset side of things when you're somebody who prioritizes a walk every single day, now you're reprogramming your brain to recreate this identity that you are somebody who prioritizes movement every single day, which means that it no longer feels like a chore and it becomes a habit and a routine." Most experts recommend walking 10,000 steps per day. Others swear by the 12-3-30 workout, which involves walking on a 12 incline at 3 MPH for 30 minutes.

Stop Overtraining

Next, "stop overtraining," she says. "Stop going to the gym. 5, 6, 7 days a week. Three to four times a week will suffice in the hierarchy of losing weight." She points out that when you "burn yourself out of the gym, you are only holding yourself back from seeing results because you are stuck in this vicious cycle of stopping and starting again. By limiting the amount of time that you spend in the gym, you limit the amount of burnout that you're gonna go through over the next six months."

Prioritize Rest Days

Tip six? "Prioritize your rest days just as much as you prioritize your training days," says Indya. "If you gotta work smarter, not harder, consistency is how we see results, and if you're consistently burning yourself out, then you are not going to get the results you need. Also, this journey needs to be sustainable if you want it to stick, and constantly burning yourself out is not sustainable. If you remember, you only fail if you quit."

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You Need to Have Real Motivation

Next, "you need to have a clear, compelling why," she says, noting that it "can't be something that's subjective or arbitrary" and "has to be so compelling that when you think about it, it makes you wanna get up and work towards reaching that goal. It can't be that you wanna look hot for summer, 'cause that obviously hasn't worked, and it can't be that you wanna get healthier for your kids because, unfortunately, that's not working either. It has to be something that's rooted in your sense of self and your identity like that. You want to prove to yourself that you can do it, that you're worthy enough and that you're good enough and you're badass enough to make it happen, and then follow through with that promise that you've made to yourself every single day."

Get an Accountability Buddy

Number eight, "get yourself an accountability partner," suggests Indya. "Whether that be a friend, a family member, and or a coach." Trying to do it independently might leave you. "constantly feeling like you have no idea what you're doing, if you're doing anything correctly, or that you feel like you're doing everything right, but you're not seeing any results. One of the biggest benefits to having a coach is having somebody who's there guiding you, cheering you on, and reassuring you every step of the way."

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Start Today

Tip nine? "Just start, babe. Stop waiting for the conditions to be perfect. It's never going to be a perfect time. You have to figure out what your main excuses are and where your most common points of failure have been, and then make a plan of action to work through that so that you are no longer standing in your own way," she explains.

Love Yourself

And finally, don't punish yourself. "Be kind to yourself and love yourself through this process," she encourages.

💪🔥Body Booster: Before you start counting calories or exercise, come up with a real motivation to get into shape.