# Fastest way to lose fat **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 6, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669 "2012-08-06T22:54:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/1 "2012-08-06T22:54:25Z")
And no neither I nor anyone I know is planning on doing this. Suppose with a doctor’s help (so prescription drugs are on the table as is lipo which surprisingly does not take out a lot of fat), you are trying to lose 100 lbs of fat as quickly as possible. What would be the fastest way to do it? By your technique, how much lean muscle mass is lost too? ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/2 "2012-08-06T22:58:46Z")
Stop eating? ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/3 "2012-08-06T23:06:28Z")
2 problems 1. Body goes into starvation mode and slows down metabolism. 2. You die before you get to your target weight. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/4 "2012-08-06T23:23:25Z")
While there may be a factual answer, we’ll b\get too many opinions for General QUestions, so off to IMHO. **samclem** , MOderator ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/5 "2012-08-06T23:26:44Z")
1. Stop eating so much damn food. 2. Smoke cigarettes (optional.) ---
**Author:** ![Sateryn76](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e4f/32.png) [@Sateryn76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sateryn76)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/6 "2012-08-06T23:28:14Z")
Cardio. Heavy, heavy cardio combined with a low calorie diet. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2012, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/7 "2012-08-06T23:30:29Z")
Cremation. You’d lose 100% lean muscle as well, I’m afraid! ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/8 "2012-08-07T00:09:50Z")
Years ago I worked in an office where a group of people had a weight-losing contest. They all contributed 20 bucks, and whoever lost the most weight after six months got all the money. There were about forty people in it, so the prize was pretty good. Guy I worked with; Jim, joined the contest. He was just a normal sized guy, not fat at all. He waited until the last month or so, dropped forty pounds, took all the money, then put the weight back on. He looked like hell at the weigh-in, but he was $800 richer. Two years in a row he did this. The fatties were mad, so the next year they made some complicated scheme where you had to weigh in every two weeks or something. Jim still won. That was the last year of the contest. He told me he just quit eating so much. That was his secret. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/9 "2012-08-07T00:12:07Z")
High protein, very low calorie diet (maybe 500 calories a day) combined with various drugs to speed up metabolism. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/10 "2012-08-07T00:18:34Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > 2 problems > > 1. Body goes into starvation mode and slows down metabolism. > 2. You die before you get to your target weight. Some people claim they simply can’t lose weight, that even if they eat fewer calories than their body needs to consume. They’re completely wrong. People who claim that their body can go into “starvation mode” and not lose weight even though they’re not eating are equally wrong. Sure, your body can slow it’s metabolism slightly. But if you’re not eating anything or eating extremely low calories, you will rapidly lose weight, fat and muscle. You won’t die either if you eat lots of vitamins and consume some very nutrient packed foods. \*I’m not saying this is a healthy way to lose weight, but you said fast not healthy. The idea that your body can overcome no caloric intake by slowing down is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/11 "2012-08-07T00:29:29Z")
The fastest natural way seems to be stressing your body in some sort of emergency mode, like having to travel long distances such as a refugee may have to, this seems to bypass the metabolic slowdown that some claim happens in starvation mode. Also I have heard some people have a lot of lost weight, perhaps 50 lbs or more, overnight, due to God/angels/demons/satan/etc., so there is a supernatural possibility. FWIW it took me personally 4.5 MONTHS, yes 4.5 long MONTHS to lose 45 pounds supernaturally so YMMV - and I’m talking about angelic help here so I know more is possible. > [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](#): > > Some people claim they simply can’t lose weight, that even if they eat fewer calories than their body needs to consume. They’re completely wrong. Many many people will disagree with you, but you are entitled to your opinion. ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/12 "2012-08-07T00:39:37Z")
… ---
**Author:** ![ChickenLegs](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecc23a/32.png) [@ChickenLegs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChickenLegs)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/13 "2012-08-07T00:41:25Z")
If you stop eating, you will lose weight. It’s science, dude. ---
**Author:** ![Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/848f3c/32.png) [@Fuzzy\_Dunlop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuzzy_Dunlop)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/14 "2012-08-07T00:47:30Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > Many many people will disagree with you, but you are entitled to your opinion. People can have dissenting opinions about whether a shirt looks good on someone or makes them look fat, but their body’s metabolism isn’t an opinion based thing. Many many people are free to wish it worked a different way but none of them are able to change their bodies basic metabolic processes by disagreeing with me. ---
**Author:** ![Violent\_J](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5a626/32.png) [@Violent\_J](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violent_J)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/15 "2012-08-07T01:04:23Z")
Just smoke meth, I’m dead serious. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/16 "2012-08-07T01:09:12Z")
If losing fat quickly is the only concern, and loss of lean body mass isn’t, then I’d say a sharp reduction in calories along with strenuous cardio (along with thermogenic drugs such as clenbuterol) would strip the fat the fastest. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/17 "2012-08-07T01:31:59Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > If losing fat quickly is the only concern, and loss of lean body mass isn’t, then I’d say a sharp reduction in calories along with strenuous cardio (along with thermogenic drugs such as clenbuterol) would strip the fat the fastest. And meth. Can’t forget the meth. ---
**Author:** ![rsat3acr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a3d4f5/32.png) [@rsat3acr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rsat3acr)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/18 "2012-08-07T01:57:32Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > The fastest natural way seems to be stressing your body in some sort of emergency mode, like having to travel long distances such as a refugee may have to, this seems to bypass the metabolic slowdown that some claim happens in starvation mode. > > Also I have heard some people have a lot of lost weight, perhaps 50 lbs or more, overnight, due to God/angels/demons/satan/etc., so there is a supernatural possibility. FWIW it took me personally 4.5 MONTHS, yes 4.5 long MONTHS to lose 45 pounds supernaturally so YMMV - and I’m talking about angelic help here so I know more is possible. > > \*\*Many many people will disagree with you, but you are entitled to your opinion. \*\* There were no fat people liberated from Auschwitz. Everyone will lose weight if they burn more calories than they take in. No opinion to it. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/19 "2012-08-07T02:27:38Z")
I’m surprised it took a whole 18 posts to get to the godwin. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2012, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669/20 "2012-08-07T03:17:26Z")
> [@Rachellelogram](#): > > I’m surprised it took a whole 18 posts to get to the godwin. Ha! What’s the average around here for weight loss threads? For all threads?? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fastest-way-to-lose-fat/630669.md?page=2)