How can you lose another 5-10 lbs from a healthy weight to achieve a better physique? First, let's determine if you are at a healthy weight. The simplest way to verify this is to take a simple BMI (Body Mass Index) test to understand your body's condition.
Formula: BMI = Weight (lbs) ÷ Height (inches)² × 703
< 18.5, Underweight
18.5 – 24.9, Normal weight
25.0 – 29.9, Overweight
For example: 5 feet 6 inches tall and weighing 145 pounds, BMI = 23.4. This falls within the "Normal weight" range, a healthy and desirable weight range. If you are at a normal weight, then the next focus should be on reducing body fat percentage, increasing muscle mass, and improving posture.
However, if you maintain this weight for a long time, your metabolism and endocrine system will also remain relatively stable. This is called the "weight set point theory." This means that regardless of whether you lose weight or not, your body tends to fluctuate within 5%-10% of your current weight. Therefore, don't always focus on the scale, concentrate on body fat percentage and changes in appearance.
This requires a complete overhaul of your previous lifestyle, eating habits, exercise habits, and sleep habits. Replace old habits with new, healthy ones, and gradually adapt to them. This will help you develop a lean physique.

Change 1: Eating Habits

Maintain a regular diet for all three meals and avoid consuming high-calorie foods. Do not eat after 6 p.m. Your daily diet should include moderate/high protein, low fat, and low carbohydrates. Simply starving yourself won't work, it's unhealthy and may lead to rebound weight gain. If you're already on a high-carb diet, increasing protein will significantly improve weight loss and boost metabolism. However, if you're already on a high-protein diet, this improvement won't be as noticeable; you'll need to maintain the results and rely on exercise for weight loss. You can try the 16+8 diet 1-2 times a week, a diet publicly endorsed by many Hollywood stars.
Most Common Mistakes:
  • Dieting and eating less
  • Completely eliminating carbohydrates
  • Sudden exercise without eating
  • Blindly choosing short-term, quick-fix diets
  • Constantly weighing yourself
Regarding snacks, moderate amounts of black coffee and tea are acceptable as they can boost metabolism, but other snacks are best avoided. A low basal metabolic rate means you need less energy from food, and snacks can easily lead to excessive calorie intake. If you enjoy snacking, gradually give it up. Cutting out snacks can really help you cut off a significant portion of your calorie intake.

Change 2: Consistent Exercise

Aerobic Exercise

If your body fat percentage is high and you feel you have excess fat, focus on aerobic exercise initially. Once you've burned off most of the fat, then move on to anaerobic exercise. Recommended aerobic exercises include jogging, swimming, brisk walking, aerobics, and HIIT. Yoga is not recommended because it burns fat relatively slowly. After exercising, you can use it as a stretching exercise to improve flexibility and prevent muscle injury.
HIIT is highly recommended because it can quickly burn fat and achieve weight loss. However, it is not suitable for people with no exercise background, those who never exercise, or those with high blood pressure or heart conditions. These individuals should start with low-to-moderate intensity training. With persistence, you can still lose weight. Here's a very simple and easy-to-implement method to slightly increase the intensity of your workout: The next time you go for a run, sprint hard for 30 seconds, then jog slowly for another 30 seconds. Keep repeating this process of fast and slow running. This is also a simple HIIT exercise.
It's also important to vary your exercise routine periodically. Otherwise, your body will become accustomed to a fixed routine, and calorie burning will slow down. If you simply don't like exercising, you can start by increasing your daily activity level, such as walking more, climbing stairs, or doing occasional light exercise—just avoid sitting for extended periods.

Anaerobic Exercise

If your body fat percentage is relatively normal but you still feel overweight, it's mostly because your muscles aren't toned enough and your body lines aren't smooth. Alternatively, once you've completed the aerobic exercise phase and burned off most of your fat, you can start doing anaerobic exercise. For those of you, weight isn't as important as you think; shaping your body is the key. Do some strength training to increase your muscle mass. Imagine you weigh 106 pounds but look thinner than someone of the same height who weighs 96 pounds, and your basal metabolic rate is higher. Which would you choose?

Change 3: Regular Lifestyle

Make sure you get 8-9 hours of sleep every night. Staying up late not only affects your basal metabolic rate but also makes you more likely to eat late-night snacks, leading to excess energy and weight gain.
Remember to drink about 2000ml (8 glasses) of water every day, sip it slowly and frequently. Water can accelerate fat breakdown and promote metabolism. Not drinking enough water not only affects our metabolism and slows down fat burning, but more importantly, it can cause internal heat and inflammation. Buy yourself a nice mug, a beautiful mug can be one of the little things that enhance your quality of life, reminding you to drink more water!
The most important thing is to make a suitable exercise plan for yourself. Do it three or four times a week, combining aerobic exercises with strength training. You don't need to do it every day, but make it a regular habit to do it weekly. This will increase energy expenditure, create a calorie deficit, help boost metabolism, and accelerate weight loss.

Change 4: A Positive Mindset

Many people exercise for a long time but find their weight hasn't changed much, causing great anxiety. A plateau is a nightmare almost everyone trying to lose weight experiences. This is because the body has memorized and adapted to this weight, if you want to lose more, you must persist long enough.
Persistence and patience are crucial. Regulate and control your emotions, and remember not to give up. Healthy weight loss means having a healthy body, don't excessively pursue "thinness." The number isn't important; a good mindset and healthy vitality are. Positive emotions can help with weight loss, but not significantly. Negative emotions, once they take hold, can not only completely prevent you from losing fat, but they can also take away any weight loss you've already achieved.
Losing weight is actually very simple, you just need to find the right method and stick to it regularly. Good luck!