How Long Does It Take to Lose Weight?

Whether you want to lose weight for a special occasion or improve your health, weight loss is a common goal.

To set realistic expectations, you may want to know what a healthy weight loss rate is.

This article explains the factors that affect how long it can take you to lose weight.

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How to lose weight

Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness.

Conversely, when you gain weight you regularly consume more calories than you burn.

Eat any food or drink that contains calories in your total calorie intake.

That said, the amount of calories you burn each day, known as energy or calorie expenditure, makes it more complicated.

Calorie expenditure consists of the following three main components:

Resting metabolism rate (RMR). This is the number of calories needed by your body to maintain normal bodily functions, such as breathing and blood pumping.

Thermal effects of food (TEF). It refers to the calories used for digestion, absorption and metabolism.

Thermal effects of activity (TEA). These calories you use during exercise These TEAs may include non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) which represents the calories used for activities such as yard work and fIdjeting.

If the number of calories you eat is equal to the number of calories you burn, you will maintain your body weight.

If you want to lose weight, you must create a negative calorie balance by consuming fewer calories than you burn or by burning more calories through increased activity.

SUMMARY:

Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness.

Ingredients that affect weight loss

There are several factors that can affect your weight loss. Many of them are out of your control.

Gender

Your fat-to-muscle ratio greatly affects your ability to lose weight.

Because women have a higher fat-to-muscle ratio than men, they have 5-10% lower RMR than men of the same height.

This means that women typically burn 5-10% fewer calories at rest than men. Thus, men lose weight faster than women on the same calorie diet.

For example, in a 6-week study of more than 2,000 participants on a 600-calorie diet, they found that men lost 1 %% more weight than women at a rate of 11.7%. And 10.3% among women.

However, although there is a tendency for women to lose weight faster than men, the study did not look at gender differences in the ability to maintain weight loss.

Age

One of the different body changes due to aging is changes in body composition: fat mass increases and muscle mass decreases.

This change contributes to a lower RMR, among other factors, such as reducing the caloric needs of your major organs.

In fact, people over the age of 70 may have a 20-25% lower RMR than younger people.

This decrease in RMR can make it harder to lose weight with age.

Starting Points

Your initial body mass and compositions can also affect how fast you can expect to lose weight.

It is important to understand that different absolute weight loss (in pounds) can be combined with the same relative weight loss (%) of different individuals. Ultimately weight loss is a complex process.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Body Weight Planner is a helpful guide to how much you can lose depending on your initial weight, age, gender, and how many calories you have eaten and expended.

Although a heavy person can lose twice as much weight, a light person can lose an equal percentage of their body weight (5/125 = 4% versus 10/250 = 4%).

For example, a person who weighs 300 pounds (136 kg) may lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg) after losing 1000 calories daily and increasing physical activity for 2 weeks.

Calorie deficiency

To lose weight you must create a negative caloric balance. The amount of these calorie deficiencies affects how quickly you lose weight.

For example, consuming 500 fewer calories per day for 8 weeks can result in greater weight loss than eating 200 fewer calories per day.

But make sure you don't burn too many calories.

Doing so will not only be unstable but will also put you at risk of malnutrition. Also, it can increase your chances of losing weight in the form of lean muscle mass.

Sleep

Sleep tends to be a neglected but important component of weight loss.

Prolonged insomnia can significantly impede weight loss and the rate at which you have lost weight.

A night of sleep deprivation has been shown to increase your desire for high-calorie, nutrient-poor foods such as cookies, cakes, sugary drinks, and potato chips.

The 2-week study randomized participants to a calorie-restricted diet to get 5.5 or 8.5 hours of sleep per night.

Those who slept 5.5 hours lost 55% less body fat and 60% more body mass than those who slept 8.5 hours a night.

As a result, chronic sleep deprivation is strongly associated with type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and certain cancers.

For other Factors

There are several other factors that can affect your rate of weight loss, including:

Medicine. Many medications, such as antidepressants and other antipsychotics, can cause weight gain or prevent weight loss.

Medical conditions Illnesses, including depression and hypothyroidism, are a condition in which the thyroid gland produces too few metabolic-regulating hormones, reducing weight loss and promoting weight gain.

Family history and genes. There is a genetic component associated with people who are overweight or obese and it can affect weight loss.

Yo-Yo diet. This method of weight loss and regain due to RMR reduction can make weight loss more and more difficult with each attempt.

SUMMARY:

Age, sex, and sleep are just a few of the many factors that affect weight loss. Others include some treatment conditions, your genetics, and the use of certain medications.

The best diet to lose weight

With countless weight-loss diets, with all the promised impressive and quick results, it can be confusing to know which one is the best.

However, although manufacturers and advocates think their programs are superior to the rest, there is no single diet for weight loss.

For example, a low-carb diet like Keto may help you lose more weight initially, but studies have found no significant difference in long-term weight loss.

The most important thing is the ability to follow a healthy, low-calorie diet.

However, following a very low calorie diet for a long time is difficult for many people and this is what most diets fail.

To increase your chances of success, reduce your calorie intake only moderately, personalize your diet according to your preferences and health, or work with registered dietitians.

Combine diet with exercise to maximize fat loss and prevent or reduce muscle loss.

By cutting out highly processed foods and combining healthy whole foods such as vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats and proteins, you can lose more weight and promote your overall health.

SUMMARY:

It is difficult for most people to follow a diet to lose weight. Regardless of your goals, choose a dietary pattern based on your personal preferences and health status.

The safe weight loss rate

While most people expect fast and rapid weight loss, it is important that you do not lose too much weight too quickly.

Rapid weight loss increases the risk of gallbladder, dehydration and malnutrition (28 trusted sources).

Other side effects of rapid weight loss include (29 trusted sources, 30 trusted sources):

Headache

Annoyance

Fatigue

Constipation

Wearing hair

Menstrual irregularities

Muscle mass loss

Although weight loss can be faster at the beginning of a program, experts recommend losing 1 to 3 pounds (0.45 to 1.36 kg) per week or about 1% of your body weight.

Also, keep in mind that weight loss is not a linear process. Some weeks you may lose more, other weeks you may lose less or nothing.

So if you lose weight or stall for a few days, don’t despair.

Using a food diary as well as weighing yourself regularly can help keep you on track.

Studies have shown that people who use self-management techniques are more successful at losing and maintaining weight than those who are not on their diet and whose weight is not recorded.

SUMMARY:

Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness. Experts recommend losing 1 to 3 pounds (0.45 to 1.36 kg) per week, or about 1% of your body weight.

BOTTOM LINE

Weight loss will be followed by fatigue and constant tiredness.

Many factors affect your weight loss rate, including your gender, age, starting weight, sleep, and calorie intake.

Trying to lose 1 to 3 pounds (0.45 to 1.36 kg) per week is a safe and sustainable way to reach your goal.