Move more, eat less. That simply strategy is the key to losing weight. But how best to do that is unclear and varies person to person.
Now, a new study published in
The Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, suggests that minimal calories and maximal exercise can significantly reduce body fat in just four days — and the loss lasts for months,
The New York Times reports.
But there is a catch: Those four days are pretty grueling.
Special: These 5 Things Flush 40 lbs. of Fat Out of Your Body.
Researchers in Spain and Sweden had 15 overweight Swedish men restrict their calories to about 360 a day — a reduction of approximately 1,800 calories. What calories they did ingest came in liquid form: Some men drank mostly sugary carbohydrates, others a high-protein drink. They also exercised — a lot.
Workouts began with 45 minutes on an arm-pedaling machine, and then the men walked the Swedish countryside for eighthours, with only a 10-minute break every hour. They were allowed as much of a low-calorie, sports-type beverage as they wanted during their walks.
The study — led by José Calbet, a professor at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain, and Hans-Christer Holmberg, a professor at Mid Sweden University in Ostersund — found some men experienced "minor problems with pain in the joints" and blisters on their feet.
But after four days, the men had each lost almost 11 pounds — half of it from body fat. In addition, the men did not immediately put the weight back on after the study ended.
"We thought they would overeat and regain the weight lost," Calbet said. But when the volunteers returned a month later, most had lost another two pounds of fat. And a year after the experiment, they were still down five pounds, mostly in lost body fat.
Special: These 5 Things Flush 40 lbs. of Fat Out of Your Body.