Questions such as these are quite common over the internet, and I often perceive an aura of a person seeking validation around them - I might be wrong though. However, safe for dietary restrictions, nothing should be really restrictive about the number of pounds you can shed in a month. But before you throw caution to the wind; it's important that you have a healthy weight-loss routine - losing 5 pounds a month falls within this range.
So, yes, you can lose 5 pounds - and more without endangering your health - in a month. While some persons, who love to see their weight loss happen fast, may feel shedding 5 pounds a month is meager, you should focus on your plan and take things easy. Moreover, 1 - 2 pounds of body weight is what CDC recommends that one should aim to lose weekly. And, setting a goal of shedding 5 pounds in a month would mean losing 1.25 pounds per week - provided we're sticking to a 4-week window. In terms of calories; you will be looking to burn 4,375 calories per week.
Though you may not attain that trim figure doing this for just one month, your health/fitness is bound to improve if you sustain the tempo. However, on my part, as I would always do, I will like to urge you to build on whatever result you get and slip out of the overweight/obese BMI range. This may take between 3 - 6 months [or even more], but you'll certainly be the better for it in the long run.
How to lose 5 pounds a month
It has been established that you will need to burn up to 4,375 calories a week to successfully shed 5 pounds at the end of the month. To achieve this most effectively and sustainably, you will have to map out and subscribe to a combination of dietary interventions and physical exercises. Besides this, you should learn to manage stress as it has been implicated in multiple instances of weight gain.
Moving on; let me now buttress the approaches you should take towards your 5-pounds a month weight loss plan under the following subheadings:
Dietary intervention
This is quite broad as it encompasses being mindful of one's calorie intake and abiding by a healthy dietary habit. As such, you should consider the following observances to establish a viable dietary routine for your weight-loss objective:
Creating calorie deficit: What you need to understand is that one of the major reasons you may have been finding it hard to lose weight is because you keep eating the same type and quantity of foods you've always been used to. To curtail this, you will have to create a calorie deficit. This means consuming fewer calories than you burn daily. Your body system will get to react to this by resorting to stored fat - which is basically unused calories - to make up for the deficit. In essence, you will need to be more mindful of the caloric composition of your foodstuff. Your pantry may need a revamp, by the way.
So, let's assume that you currently consume meals with a daily calorie average of 2750, you can attempt to reduce this by 350 calories. However, you will have to burn more calories - as you aim to get rid of 625 calories. You can look to burn the remaining 275 calories through physical exercises - this will be discussed later.
Eat regularly: A lot of people fall into the trap of skipping meals while on a weight-loss program. Though you can reduce your portion size, you should endeavor to eat (nutritious) meals regularly - get to take your breakfast on time; eat lunch, and then dinner 2 - 3 hours before going to bed. A good or regular eating habit will help you check snacking on some rather unhealthy sugary treats that could spike up your calorie intake level. This should inform you about the need to cut down on junk [and processed] goods as you work towards a healthy body weight.
Eat foods with good protein and fiber contents: Your choice of foods should also tilt more towards proteins and fiber. Fiber, for one, has this satiating effect that can last for a relatively long time. So, you don't get to feel those hunger pangs very frequently.
Snack on fruits and vegetables: You should not be overtaken by your cravings if you're feeding on fiber-rich foods - well, discipline will be key here. However, if that rush to munch on something comes probing, you can reach for fruits or chopped veggies to quell it. Fruits and veggies generally make good additions to the list of anyone observing a weight-loss routine.
Keep a bottle of water even closer: Your best drink during the weight-loss program should be water. This should replace all those sweetened drinks or juice with added sugars. More so, as the tendency to get dehydrated during weight loss - most especially due to exercises - is increased, the need to drink water regularly is yet more profound. Therefore, your water bottle should never be far from you or left empty while dropping the extra pounds.
Physical Exercises
You can engage in different exercises daily to burn off the remaining 275 calories. However, you can just work around expending a weekly calorie measure of 1,925 if you won't be able to a flat 275 calories burn rate per day.
Nevertheless, permit me to paint a scenario with the 275-calories-burned-per-day option. Given that you're 150 pounds, you can give off 187 calories by running slowly at 6 miles per hour for 20 minutes and 84 calories can then be burned by swimming moderately for 12 minutes. Cycling at a moderate pace for 24 minutes can, however, help you burn 280 calories at once. The list of physical exercises you can do is quite massive and you can use this tool to find one that would suit you.
References
Finer N. (2001). Low-calorie diets and sustained weight loss. Obesity research, 9 Suppl 4, 290S–294S. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2001.133
Sharp, D. E., Sobal, J., & Wansink, B. (2014). Using plate mapping to examine portion size and plate composition for large and small divided plates. Eating behaviors, 15(4), 658–663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eatbeh.2014.08.022
Stookey, J. D., Constant, F., Popkin, B.M., & Gardner, C.D. (2008). Drinking water is associated with weight loss in overweight dieting women independent of diet and activity. Obesity (Silver Spring) 16(11), 2481–2488.
