If I Had To Lose 20+ Lbs Fast, I’d Do These 7 Things

Summary

JJ Virgin’s central message is to focus on losing fat while preserving muscle and strength, rather than chasing rapid changes on the scale. A sudden drop—especially after sharply cutting carbohydrates—may largely reflect water and stored glycogen. She suggests steady progress, often around 1–2 pounds per week for people who have 30 pounds or less to lose, while noting that individual rates vary.

Seven strategies

1. Make protein the foundation of meals

   • Aim for about 0.7–1 gram of protein per pound of target body weight per day.
   • Include roughly 30–40 grams at breakfast and dinner, and build meals around quality sources such as fish, poultry, lean meat, eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, or well-balanced plant proteins.
   • Track protein and calories. She recommends using a kitchen scale because serving sizes can be misleading.
   • She describes essential amino acids as a possible supplement when food protein is insufficient, not a replacement for protein. She uses collagen for connective-tissue and skin support, not as a high-quality protein source.

2. Strength train and monitor strength

   • Do full-body resistance training at least twice a week, or otherwise work each major muscle group at least twice weekly.
   • Include pushes, pulls, squats or lunges, hip hinges such as deadlifts, and loaded carries.
   • Use a challenging load with good form, finishing sets close to your limit—about one or two reps in reserve.
   • Track progress with exercises, a hand-grip dynamometer, or other strength markers. She advises building strength training into a plan before cutting calories.

3. Move more throughout the day

   • Increase non-exercise activity (NEAT): stand more, take the stairs, walk during breaks, and add walks after meals.
   • Track daily movement and build toward 7,000 or more steps a day, increasing from your current level.
   • Spread movement across the day rather than trying to make up for inactivity all at once.

4. Add high-intensity interval training (HIIT)

   • Consider about two sessions per week, after an appropriate warm-up.
   • Alternate hard efforts with easier active recovery—for example, one minute hard and one minute easy, or a longer interval such as four minutes hard followed by three minutes easy.
   • Work hard enough that you need to slow down at the end of an interval, but keep recovery periods easy and moving.

5. Replace ultra-processed foods

   • Reduce sugary drinks, chips, packaged snacks, pastries, and other highly processed foods, including products marketed as “healthy” that contain refined ingredients.
   • Plan satisfying alternatives, such as real meals or protein-and-fiber mini-meals. For drinks, she suggests sparkling water, unsweetened tea, or other low-sugar options.
   • Keep tempting foods out of the house. She distinguishes ultra-processed foods from useful processed foods such as frozen vegetables and canned beans.

6. Get fiber from varied whole foods

   • Aim for at least 30 grams of fiber daily for women and 40 grams or more for men, with roughly 10 grams at each meal as a practical target.
   • Include a variety of plants, such as vegetables, berries, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, herbs, and spices. She suggests aiming for around 30 different plant foods per week.
   • Increase fiber gradually, drink enough water, and consider tracking fiber alongside protein.
   • She recommends eating protein first, then fiber-rich foods, and notes that fiber-containing carbohydrates can also help fuel training.

7. Use caffeine strategically

   • Coffee or green tea may be useful before a workout, but avoid adding sugary, high-calorie extras.
   • Pay attention to how caffeine affects you and stop early enough that it does not disrupt sleep. Virgin says she limits her own coffee to around 2 p.m.

What to track

Virgin recommends looking beyond scale weight: monitor body composition, waist circumference, strength, nutrition, and daily steps. She mentions bioimpedance scales for estimating body composition, while noting they measure more than muscle as “lean mass.” She also suggests tracking how clothes fit and using a dynamometer or repeatable exercises to check that strength is not falling.

Presenters and sources mentioned: JJ Virgin (presenter); Dr. Howard Lieberman (exercise anthropologist, cited in the discussion of stair use); an unnamed controlled NIH study on ultra-processed foods.