Everything you need to know about How to lose a stone

Your Ultimate Guide on How to Lose a Stone. Looking to shed some weight?

This guide is packed with expert tips to help you lose a stone safely and effectively. Discover how to lose a stone in just 4 weeks, smart shortcuts to speed up your progress, breakfast tips to kick-start your day, and meal plan ideas to keep you on track.

How to lose a stone?

Losing a stone (14 pounds or ~6.35 kg) in a safe and sustainable way involves a balanced combination of healthy eating, regular exercise, and positive lifestyle changes.

Weight loss is not always easy. Shedding the extra pounds gained from indulging in your favourite treats or spending too much time on the couch binge-watching shows can be harder than it seems. It is natural to feel discouraged when faced with the effort required to shift stubborn weight, but with the right mindset and motivation, achieving a slimmer, healthier version of yourself is entirely possible.

To succeed, it is important to follow strategies that keep you committed to your weight loss journey long enough to see real progress. Some diet and fitness plans are so strict that they leave you feeling constantly hungry and drained, making it all too easy to fall back into comfort eating. Others may be too relaxed and fail to deliver noticeable results, leaving you frustrated.

The most effective weight loss programs strike a balance: they challenge you to step outside your comfort zone without making the process feel overwhelming or the goals unrealistic. With the right plan and consistent effort, real and lasting change is within reach.

How to lose a stone in 4 weeks

1. A Calorie-Controlled Diet:
Nutrition experts agree that to lose 1 pound of fat, you need to create a calorie deficit of approximately 3,500 calories. Since one stone equals 14 pounds, creating a weekly deficit of 3,500 calories through diet alone could lead to a 4-pound weight loss over four weeks. If your current diet is high in sugar, saturated fats, and low in nutrients, simply cutting out these foods may increase your weekly deficit to as much as 7,000 calories, potentially doubling your weight loss.

To make this sustainable, replace high-calorie, low-nutrient foods with healthier options such as fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. Drinking more water can also help control hunger and support your body’s natural detox processes, making you feel fuller and more energized.

2. Natural Diet Supplements:
Herbal diet pills made from 100% natural ingredients may offer additional support when used alongside a healthy eating and exercise plan. These supplements work as fat burners and can help speed up your metabolism and reduce bloating. While not a magic solution on their own, they may enhance your efforts to lose a stone within a month when paired with lifestyle changes.

3. Exercise:
Combining cardiovascular activity with strength training is one of the most effective ways to accelerate fat loss. For example, running at a pace of 6 mph (10 km/h) for an hour burns around 557 calories. Doing this five to six times a week could burn roughly 3,900 calories weekly, or about 16,000 calories over four weeks, resulting in a potential 5-pound weight loss from exercise alone.
Strength training helps build lean muscle mass, which increases your resting metabolic rate. This means your body becomes more efficient at using calories for energy rather than storing them as fat. To maximize your results, consider a fitness routine that combines both cardio and resistance exercises for the greatest calorie burn and metabolic benefit.

  • Savvy shopping

    The more processed food you eat, the more you pile on weight. Why not chose wholemeal as opposed to white bread. White bread has a high GI (Glycaemic Index), which converts to energy quickly, leaving you feeling hungry again in no time.

  • In your face

    Try putting a ‘fat’ photo on your fridge or wherever it is likely to get in your face. It’s a great motivator to help you lose weight or to keep up healthy habits.

  • Do you eat slowly?

    Gulping down food does not give the brain the chance to tell your body it’s feeling full. Researchers at Rhode Island University found that if you are a fast eater you consume 67 more calories at every meal. Chew slowly to lose 1-2lbs a month.

  • Dear diary

    A food diary can be the first step to successful weight loss. It shows you exactly what you have eaten. (We’ve all done a bit of lying to ourselves about the amount we’ve ate!) Once you can see patterns or triggers, you can cut them out and slim city here you come!

  • Know your labels

    If you can’t get the hang of reading nutrition label, some supermarkets have simplified the whole thing by using a traffic light system; green for go, amber for moderation and red for treats.

  • Portion distortion

    Have you seen the Eat Well Plate? Roughly, it splits your plate into a third for carbs (potatoes, pasta, bread) a third for fruit and vegetables and a third for dairy (milk or cheese), meat/fish and high-fat treats. Why not stick it on the fridge.

  • Get some shut eye

    Scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden have found that missing just one night’s sleep can slow your metabolism by up to 20%. Never a better excuse to hit the sack then!

  • Stress and pressure is the enemy

    Paying bills, jobs, family relationship – these can all cause stress. Have you noticed when you feel tense you opt for convenience meals or can’t resist treats like crisps and sweets? Swapping to low-fat meals and snacks could see you lose a stone in a month.

  • Booze is a baddie

    A nice glass of wine may look like your friend after a tough day – but back away from the bottle. Drinking alcohol regularly racks up the calories without you even realising. If you cut out a large glass of wine on week nights you could lose a stone in a year.

  • Burn baby burn

    Whether you want to walk around the block or you’re a proper gym bunny, it’s all activity and the more you burn the more the new, slimmer you will emerge.

The bigger the breakfast…the more weight you lose!

Research shows the bigger your breakfast, the more weight you lose! So, we hear you ask, how big is big? Well…It’s a massive 700 calories! You can then eat around 500 calories for lunch and just 200 calories for dinner.

To maximise your weight loss, keep as active as you can throughout the day and do at least three 30 minute exercise sessions per week. Make sure you stick to zero calorie drinks like water, diet drinks, herbal tea and black coffee. After the month is up, it’s ok to keep to the same regime if you’re enjoying it, as it’s a balanced plan. If you want to maintain your weight loss while continuing to eat the big at breakfast time, double your dinner calories and, if you keep losing weight, add an afternoon snack.

If you’re not a big breakfast fan, try halving the breakfasts and having one part first thing and the second an hour or two later. There are no snacks allowed on this plan – but with such a big breakfast, you shouldn’t be hungry enough to snack.

Meal Ideas to Help You Lose a Stone Quickly

Breakfast ideas:
1. Two poached or scrambled eggs; 1 low fat sausage, 200g of baked beans, 1 slice of toast with a little spread, grilled tomatoes.
2. 50g of low sugar muesli or other low sugar cereal with 150ml of semi skimmed milk, 1 banana, 2 pieces of toast, each spread with 1 tsp of peanut butter.
3. 1 croissant with a little spread. Fruit salad made from 1 banana and 2 other types of chopped fruit. 125g pot of low fat yoghurt or 200g of no fat greek yoghurt.
4. 200g of no fat greek yoghurt, 1 tsp of honey, 1 piece of chopped fruit, 40g of walnut halves, 2 pieces of toast with a little spread.
5. 1 bagel spread with half a mashed avocado. 2 slices of bacon, sliced tomatoes.

Lunch ideas:

1. 200g jacket potato, 120g of tuna and 1tbsp of low fat mayonnaise with a green salad.
2. Any sandwich with less than 350 calories; 100 calorie bag of crisps along with a piece of fruit.
3. Large salad with 100g of ham, 1 boiled egg, 10 small olives and 150g of baby potatoes.
4. 75g of pasta spirals mixed with chopped cherry tomatoes and cucumber and 150g of prawns.
5. 150g of roast chicken, 1 large roast potato, unlimited vegetables, 1 tbsp gravy.

Dinner ideas:
1. 200g can of any vegetable soup with 100g of canned beans, green salad.
2. 100g of prawns with 200g of stir fried vegetables.
3. 125g of grilled white fish with unlimited sautéed leeks and spinach.
4. 100g steak with a large green salad.
5. Sticks of raw vegetables (e.g. carrots) with 60g of low fat hummus. 10 small olives.