Lose 3 Pounds In Just a Few Days - Is It At All possible?

A friend called me on my cell phone the other day, and she seemed in a panic. It isn't like her to get freaked out too easily, so I was surprised to hear that she was in such a frantic state. Clearly she must be experiencing some tremendous tragedy, and I was almost afraid to ask her just what was going on.

I braced myself for bad news, expecting her to tell me the worst, but once she calmed down she told me that the "big crisis" was that she needed to lose 3 pounds in 3 days. That is an extreme of the question How Can I Lose Fat!

For me, losing a few pounds isn't anything to get all worried about. So to lose 3 pounds in 3 days didn't really strike me as something that should be such cause for concern. But to be frank she is tremendously competitive, and she and her other friends have been dieting and exercising together, so they've been comparing their weight loss progress on a weekly basis.

They all work out at the same gym and weigh in together every Friday evening. Well, to date they'd been keeping even pace with one another, but ow she heard from one of the trainers at the gym that one of her friends had managed to drop 5 pounds while she had only managed to lose two, and only 3 days remained until the next weigh in. Naturally that means my friend simply had to lose 3 pounds in 3 days in order to keep in step.

I told her that she shouldn't try and push it. In my mind, it isn't safe if you don't have a plan. I was worried that she was simply so fixated on "I have to lose 3 pounds in 3 days" that she would throw all caution to the wind and proceed in an unsafe or unhealthy manner.

I was happy to learn that she consulted with her trainer at the gym on safely increasing her exercise regimen in order to burn a few extra calories at each workout. She added a little more weight training and more cardiovascular and did so only under the strict guidance of her fitness professional. She also modified her diet slightly in order to help achieve her plan to lose 3 pounds rapidly, but again she did so only after speaking with the physician's assistant at her doctor's office.

I have to say, she met her goal. In the end, she did what she needed to do to lose 3 pounds in 3 days, but thankfully she did it in a way that ensured she did no damage to herself in the process. Oh, and her friend? She ended up losing a total of seven pounds for the week and my friend's weight loss was five. So while she didn't match her friend pound-for-pound, she did well enough to feel happy about her own progress. I guess, in the end, that's all that really matters.