How to Lose 10kg (20lbs) in a Month: An Ultimate Guide

You can lose 10kg (20 pounds) in a month with the help of a carefully planned weight loss diet plan and some intense fat-burning workouts. You can also achieve this goal without exercise, but this will require a much more controlled meal plan as well as many restrictions. Some foods must be avoided at all costs if your main goal is fast weight loss. You should also use some superfoods and perhaps even dietary supplements to achieve the best results.

But the most important thing to remember if you are trying to lose 20lbs  in one month is that you can succeed only if you stick to the changes in your lifestyle and diet. It might be possible to give yourself an occasional ‘break’ with a big slice of cake for dessert, but only after your goal is reached. You also shouldn’t forget that the results of rapid weight loss will not last if you revert back to an unhealthy diet or lifestyle from ‘before’. So if you want to lose 10kg  in 30 days and not get it back the next, you will need to keep your changed diet at the least. Although, you might be able to increase your calorie intake and diversify your meals a bit.

How to Lose 10kg (20lbs) in a Month: The Perfect Plan

Your perfect 30-day journey to a 10kg weight loss should start with the Body Weight Planner provided by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. This simple calculator will allow you to determine the exact amount of calories that you’ll need to consume to achieve your goal of 20 pounds weight loss in a month.

Note that this calculator requires you to choose a physical activity you will perform to get in shape faster. Combining diet and regular exercise is exactly what makes this the perfect way to losing 20lbs fast, because workouts will boost your efforts significantly.

Combining diet and exercise is key to healthy and efficient weight loss. But this doesn’t mean that you have to work your body extremely hard. Any kind of physical activity, even a light 30-minute walk, will be good for you. However, if you want to lose weight fast, you’ll need to choose more efficient workouts for fat burning.

The best exercise for fast weight loss are:

• Cardio
• HIIT (high-intensity interval training)
• Strength training

Note that these exercise groups are extremely versatile. For example, dancing, cycling, jogging, and aerobics are all types of cardio workouts. Swimming can also be considered one of its types. However, studies show that swimming has a host of weight loss benefits that far exceed regular cardio (MedicalNewsToday).

HIIT is basically a form of cardio but performed with a strategy in mind. You can do all your regular cardio workouts but boost the intensity for a few minutes to get your heart beating faster. This will enhance the fat burning result, claims the Journal of Obesity.

Strength training doesn’t require you to lift weights. Although, that is its most effective variation, so be sure to use dumbbells if you can. If you want to lose 10kg in 30 days, you should have at least three resistance workouts per week. At first, you can work with your own weight only and use elastic bands for added resistance.

In case you are into it, climbing is one of the greatest types of strength training. However, you should never try it without proper training, equipment, and supervision. If you are severely overweight or suffer from any chronic health problems, be sure to consult your doctor before you even try to do something so strenuous.

The ‘golden plan’ to lose such a weight should include at least 30 minutes of either of these exercise types 5-6 times a week. This should be supplemented with a diet that contains the minimal healthy number of calories (remember the calculator above).

That diet has to be healthy, well-balanced, and rich in proteins, which your new workout regime will require. Choose proteins over carbs and switch to the healthiest fats possible. This means eating less red meat and giving up on any processed and fried foods.

What Kind of Exercise Can You Go Without When Trying to Lose 10kg (20 pounds) in a Month?

Numerous studies proved that exercise is inefficient as a weight loss method without a diet. It’s your meal plan that’s directly responsible for about 80% of the fat you shed. Therefore, not working out at a gym won’t interfere with your plans to lose weight.

You also should understand that any physical activity is exercise. This means that you don’t have to get a gym membership or try to fit an hour-long workout into your daily schedule. However, you can boost your weight loss program by walking to the grocery store instead of driving or playing more active games with your kids, or cleaning the house more vigorously.

Any form of physical activity is good not only for burning excess fat but for your health as a whole.

How to Lose 10kg (20lbs) in One Month Without Exercise

If you want to lose 10 kilos in 30 days without exercise, you’ll be facing a challenge. However, as diet is the main component of any weight loss program, you can achieve this goal regardless of whether you start working out or not. But this will require a much more detailed diet planning as well as additional help from supplements and superfoods.

When you choose this route, you need to develop an efficient diet plan. You’ll need to cut your calories more severely and completely exclude some foods. You’d best stock up on spices as flavoring your meals with them will enhance their fat-burning effects (for example, ginger and chili pepper).

You should also create a diet chart. Plan your meals in advance and use the chart to monitor your progress and see if anything can be improved.

There is no ‘best diet to lose 10 kg (2o pounds) in one month’ so you’ll have an opportunity to work out your own meal plan by following healthy nutrition guidelines and your daily quota of calories. You should know that the majority of ‘ready to use’ plans have a few things in common. The most important is that all of them are either entirely vegan or mostly plant-based. That’s not surprising as research proves that vegetarian diets are exceedingly good for weight management and can be effective in obesity treatment and prevention.

How to Lose 10 kilos (20 pounds) in a Month: Low-Calorie Diet Considerations

The diet to lose 10kg (~20 pounds) in a month starts with determining how low you can go with your calorie count. It’s essential to understand that the number of calories you should consume depends on a variety of factors. The most important of them are:

• Health
• Lifestyle
• Physical activity level
• Location

You should consult your doctor first as restrictive diet plans can cause a variety of issues for your wellbeing. This is a mandatory step for everyone suffering from chronic conditions or at risk of developing them. You also need to take any meds you take regularly into account as they might affect your metabolism and other factors that influence your weight.

Those who have moderate-to-high physical activity levels, for example due to their jobs, will have to consume more calories by default. Remember that a low-calorie diet must provide sufficient nutrition to keep you healthy. Therefore, you need to count how many calories you realistically burn during the day and then determine how many you can safely cut from your diet. Use these formulas to do the necessary calculations.

A safe low-calorie diet plan should detract 550-1,000 calories a day from the number you require to maintain your current weight.


If you plan to lose 10kg (~20 pounds) in one month you’ll need to cut as many calories as you can. As every person’s reaction to this kind of weight loss diet is unique, you need to monitor your body carefully. If hunger pangs become too torturous or you develop symptoms like lightheadedness, dizziness, fatigue, etc., be sure to up the number of calories. It’s best to extend your weight loss diet plan than to risk your health.

Be Wary of Lowering Your Calorie Intake Too Much

You must understand that starving yourself will not help you lose weight fast. If you cut the calories too much, your body will believe it’s starving, which will trigger the release of hormones that will make it store fat in order to survive the ‘assumed’ disaster. This means you won’t be losing weight no matter your meal plan. You will also endanger your health with this action.

To lose 10kg (~20 pounds) in 30 days you need to focus not on cutting the calories as low as you can but on changing the quality of your meals. Studies prove that weight loss can be achieved faster depending on the nutritional value of food you consume. For example, you’ll be able to shed more pounds by eating a 500-calorie green salad than a pack of junk snacks of the same ‘value’.

Lose 10kg (20lbs) in a Month with the Help of These ‘Super’ Foods

The best weight loss diet is a healthy diet, which means that your meal plan should consist mainly of:

• At least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (one serving is 80g)
• Healthy starch (potatoes, rice, wholewheat pasta) should make up 1/3 of your daily food intake
• 1-3 servings of low-fat dairy or calcium-fortified substitutes
• 8-1g of protein per 1kg of body weight (Harvard Medical School)
• Healthy fats (from oils, nuts, and spreads) in extreme moderation

Notably, high-protein diets usually show a higher rate of weight loss fast. Therefore, consider maximizing your protein intake. Best healthy sources of protein are lean beef, poultry, legumes, eggs, and fish.

Eggs in the morning will help control your appetite, especially if you add a slice of wholewheat bread to them. You should make this food in particular filling as it must keep the hunger at bay and provide you with sufficient energy until lunch. Season your breakfast with a bit of chili pepper. It will also help suppress appetite during the day. And capsaicin in the chili will speed up your fat burning rate naturally.



The average weight loss diet aimed to lose 10kg (~20 pounds) in a month should have about 1,200 calories. Therefore, your breakfast should be about 300, lunch – 400, and leave 500 for dinner.

Best lunch options are salads and some light soup. Your salad should contain some grains or legumes in order to provide you with starch and more fiber. You will also need a serving of protein. A piece of chicken breast or some fish will work well.

Dinner is traditionally the ‘heaviest’ meal of the day because it should power your body through the evening and night. You’ll need to consume something that your body won’t struggle digesting. Baked and roasted veggies as well as some grilled chicken or fish will work well.

While on a fast weight loss diet plan you’ll need to forget about frying and deep-frying. Make your food as non-fat as possible. When you do need to use oil, choose extra virgin olive or sesame oils. These will provide you with a variety of healthy nutrients.

It’s imperative that you remove all unhealthy junk food, as well as foods high in saturated fats, ‘empty’ calories, and sugar from your diet if you want to lose weight fast (or at all).

Detailed Diet Plan to Lose 10kg (20 pounds) in a Month

1. Start your day with a metabolism-boosting drink

Many of the successful people drink water first thing in the morning, tells Business Insider. This boosts their health and brain power as well as jumpstarts the metabolism. It’s the latter factor that makes that morning glass essential for your 1-month 10kg (20lbs) weight loss program.

However, to get the best results, you need to get some extra metabolism kicker into that glass. For example:

• Water with lemon: squeeze ½ of a fresh lemon into the glass. You can add some homey if necessary, but remember that this will increase the number of carbs and calories.
• Water with ginger: add a teaspoon of ginger paste into a glass of lukewarm water. You can also soak a few slices of fresh ginger root in the glass overnight. Ginger is particularly beneficial for metabolism boosting, so this drink will be perfect for your diet plan.
• Water with cucumber and mint: make a drink from peeled cucumber, a handful of fresh mint leaves, and about a glass of water. You can add a bit of ginger both for flavor and for weight loss effect enhancement. This drink is the best for hot summer days as it will cool you down nicely.
• Water with apple cider vinegar: add a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a glass of warm water. Not only does apple cider vinegar has weight loss benefits, but it’s also a potent detox agent.

Your diet plan will require you to drink no less than eight glasses of water daily. It’s essential to stay hydrated in order to maintain your health and metabolism. If you work out, you might need more water to make up for the liquid you lose through sweating.

Note that you should drink ‘enriched’ water only in the morning as it’s imperative to keep your calorie intake down. The only exception is the cucumber drink if it’s truly hot outside. It will help prevent overheating and its calorie count is very low.

2. Breakfast: 300 kcal

Your breakfast on a 1-month diet plan to lose 10kg (20 pounds) shouldn’t have over 300 calories. It has to be filling with a fair amount of carbs and fiber. This is necessary to keep you satiated until lunch. Eat a high-protein breakfast as it will help with appetite control.

Best breakfast recipes ideas:

• Oatmeal with fresh fruits, berries, seeds, and/or nuts. See detailed delicious recipes here.
• An egg with a whole grain toast and a serving of veggies. Note that you should eat boiled or poached eggs to avoid adding cooking fats. Cooking the eggs is necessary as the protein in them are useless when they are raw as human bodies can only process a small part of them. However, be careful not to overcook them as this will destroy much of the nutrition value.
• A smoothie that combines fruits and/or vegetables with ice cubes and a few spices. Chili pepper and powdered ginger are best as they help speed up metabolism. Smoothies are extremely versatile and quick to make, so it’s the best breakfast for busy people. Get some ideas of delicious low-calorie smoothies here.

If you require a small snack before lunch, eat a small serving of fruit (1/2 of an apple or a cup of watermelon). You can also try to trick your body into believing it has eaten by drinking a cup of unsweetened green tea or plain water. Note that it’s best to get about 20-30 extra calories than let your hunger get extreme before lunch.

3. Lunch: 400 kcal

Lunch is a very important meal to keep your energy and blood sugar levels steady. You mustn’t miss it and you shouldn’t eat some unhealthy takeout or a protein bar. If you have little time in the morning, prepare your lunch in the evening so you can take it with you to the office.

The best lunch options for a diet plan to lose 10kg (20 pounds) in a month include:

• Soups are delicious, nutritious, and low in calories. Vegetable soups are best, but you can enjoy some options made with chicken or beef broth as well. This meal is also a great way to get your daily serving of legumes as chickpea, bean, and pea soups can be very filling and delicious. Check out these recipes of fat-burning soups.
• Sandwiches with an egg, salmon, or tofu are also good options. You can diversify your daily menu with a great number of sandwich variations. The most important rule is to use whole grain bread or rice paper for a spring roll. Forget about refined bread altogether as it has no place in your diet plan. Here are some tasty sandwich ideas.
• Salads are a perfect lunch for a fast weight loss plan. This meal should combine vegetables and a bit of grains or legumes. For example, try these recipes.

If you work out during the day, make sure to eat your lunch about 2-1.5 hours before this.

4. Snack

In case you feel hungry before dinnertime, be sure to get a small snack. This is perfectly acceptable for the diet plan to lose 10kg (20lbs) in a month. However, you’ll need to choose a healthy low-calorie option.

• A handful of nuts will give you a boost of energy. But stick to no more than a handful as they are high in calories and fats.
• Eat a serving of fruit if you need something light to keep your blood sugar up. It should be filling due to fiber.
• If you work out, make a protein shake to refill your body after exercising. Try these simple recipes.

5. Dinner: 500 kcal

You have the dinner to fuel you through the night, so it’s essential to make it big enough to fill you up. However, don’t exceed 500 calories to stick to your diet plan to lose 10 kilos (20 pounds) in 30 days.

Best dishes to eat in the evening are:

• Brown rice with vegetables
• Whole grain wrap with veggies and grilled chicken or turkey
• Grilled turkey with a quinoa salad
• Cooked legumes with veggies and rice (try recipes like dhal)
• Vegetable, chicken, or beef curry
• Grilled salmon with a serving of whole grains and veggies

You can try countless other variations of simple and delicious dinner dishes. The point is to stick to healthy low-fat recipes only. You also should ensure that your meal contains some meat or legumes for proteins, whole grains, and vegetables for fiber and valuable micronutrients.

It’s essential to make the dinner your last meal of the day. Midnight snacks will not only undermine the effectiveness of the program. They are harmful to your health overall, so says science.

1 Month Indian Diet Plan to Lose 10 kg (20 pounds)

If you don’t want to deal with bland diets, the Indian diet plan can be a great option for losing 10kg (20lbs) in one moneht. Indian dishes are flavorful, which makes them more filling and much easier to enjoy while on a rather calorie-limited diet.

Vegetables, legumes, and grains are the basis of the traditional Indian diet, and that’s where the bulk of your daily calories will come from. The diet is lacto-vegetarian by default, which means it includes only dairy and eggs from animal products. However, if you want to, you want to add some poultry.

Your main sources of healthy fats on this diet will be coconut oil, coconut milk, dairy (surprisingly, this diet meal plan call for full-fat dairy), peanut oil, peanut butter, custard butter, and sesame oil. Dairy products in this plan are milk, kefir, yogurt, and cheese. Note how two of them are also prime sources of probiotics, which boost the health of your gut and therefore the efficiency of the diet.



Main sources of protein, as meat isn’t included in the default plan, are tofu, seeds, nuts, and legumes. Indians are particularly fond of lentils and beans, which they include in a variety of dishes and eat in the form of hummus.

The Indian plan calls for sparing use of whole grains in your diet. The majority of those should be different types of rice, with brown and basmati being the favorites. Buckwheat and quinoa will also be a great addition to any weight loss diet that aims for fast results.

Indians also advise to consume small amounts of starchy vegetables to improve the health and function of your digestive system. Be sure to add a few servings of potatoes, turnips, yams, and sweet potatoes to your menu. Carrots also are a definite must.

As spices are very important in the Indian cuisine, they are also a major part of the one-month diet plan to lose 10kg (20 pounds). The main spices you should be using at this time are garlic, turmeric, black pepper, cumin, coriander, ginger, cardamom, paprika, basil, and fenugreek. Aside from giving all your dishes a rich boost of flavor, each of these herbs also benefits your health. Some of them help speed up metabolism, and others enhance your digestive health. Combined with the healthy low-fat foods listed above, these spices ensure maximum efficiency of the diet as well as generally boost your wellbeing.

The typical menu in the 1 month Indian diet plan should look like this:

• Breakfast should be light and contain dairy. It can be some yogurt with fresh fruits and seeds or porridge with fruits, milk, and almonds. If you aren’t a fan of eating something sweet in the morning, try dalia with vegetables.
• Lunch should give you energy with proteins and carbs. Eat some chickpea curry or salad with rice or quinoa. Be sure to try some lentil soup recipes, which are extremely popular and versatile.
• Dinner shouldn’t be too light, so be sure to eat earlier in the day. Again, curry is a popular option for dinner, so are grilled and baked vegetables and tofu. You can also make some lentil pancakes and serve them with veggies and tomato sauce.

Snacks should be limited and restricted to some seeds, nuts, or a few slices of fresh fruits. Be careful with the nuts as they are very high in calories. Therefore, only eat 3-4 a day or even less depending on your dietary guidelines.

Note that the Indian diet plan allows for drinking water, sparkling water, and green tea only. If you are looking for fast weight loss, you should forget about sodas, juices, and alcohol. Do not drink your calories, you’ll be getting enough of them from food and cutting them to the max is paramount.

I Want to Lose 10 kg (20lbs) in One Month, What Shouldn’t I Eat?

• Sweet beverages of any kind (it’s best to give up sugar completely or at least for this month)
• Candy, sweeteners, cakes, etc. (including honey)
• Sauces and salad dressings that contain sugar (better make your own)
• Deep fried, and preferably fried foods as well
• Refined oils
• Margarine
• Processed foods
• Junk foods
• Products made with refined grains (white bread, biscuits, etc.)
• Alcohol
• Coffee drinks high in calories
• Pizzas, burgers, etc.
• Ice cream

As you should know by now, an effective weight loss diet isn’t only about what you should eat but also about the foods you definitely need to avoid. When you aim so high as 10 kg (20 pound) weight loss in 30 days, it’s essential that you completely exclude the products listed above. They all prevent you from achieving your goal in different ways, like providing empty calories, messing up metabolism, or reducing the efficiency of digestion. If it’s important to you personally, you might try adding some of them back to your diet after achieving your weight loss goal. However, if you want to stay slim and lean, you should limit these to a very occasional treat.

Can I Lose 10 kg (20 pounds) in a Month with Exercise Alone?

You cannot lose 10kg in 30 days without changing your diet and exercising more instead. You can try, but the amount of exercise you’ll need to do every day will be at least double-the-load of a professional athlete. Overworking your body is extremely dangerous and can lead not only to injury but to cardiovascular problems.

The Telegraph has a great detailed piece that explains why exercising for weight loss doesn’t work. It cites multiple studies that basically prove the same thing, a regular human cannot burn off enough calories through exercise to make up for not cutting them from the diet.

It’s that simple, if you want to lose so much weight fast, you need to cut as many calories as you can without endangering your health. This means that diet will be the main focus of your weight loss plan. Exercising can be a good boost to it, especially if you use specialized fat-burning workouts. However, it’s your meals that will determine if you succeed or fail.

Conclusion: What’s the Best Diet Plan to Lose 10kg (20 pounds) in One month?

The best plan to lose 10kg (20 pounds) in a month is a personalized plan developed based on your current weight, activity level, and diet. After considering these factors, you need to calculate how many calories you need to burn in order to achieve your desired goal.

As this is a fast weight loss plan, you might need to cut your calories quite a bit, so adjusting to this program won’t be easy. Be sure to keep a weight loss journal where you will make notes on your meals, workouts, and achieved results. You’ll be able to use it for both, a boost of motivation and a guide on what needs to be improved in your plan.

If you strive to lose 10kg (20lbs) in 30 days, you should exercise as much as you can. This will increase the efficiency of your program as a whole. But most importantly, this will help you tone up so your skin doesn’t sag. That’s a common problem with rapid weight loss.



As cutting calories might not be enough, you might also consider supplementing your plan with superfoods that help speed up fat burning. Goji berries are quite popular for that, although their benefits for weight loss have no scientific proof.

Be sure to stick with your weight loss diet as this is what will truly determine if you can succeed. Flavor your foods with spices to trick your mind into thinking that they are more filling. But use the right kinds of spices to boost your metabolism and gut health at the same time.

As every person is unique, you should only trust a personalized plan. That’s the best way to ensure it works for you.

Do you agree? Do you have any experience of weight loss plans that didn’t quite work out as you wanted them to? Can you share your own experiences and ideas on how to lose 10kg (20 pounds) in a month?

Please, share your opinions and questions in the comments below!