How Long Does It Take to Lose Weight?

Weight loss is a frequent aim, whether you want to lose weight for a specific occasion or simply better your health.

You may want to know what a healthy weight loss rate is in order to set reasonable expectations.

The factors that influence how long it takes to lose weight are discussed in this article.

How weight loss occurs

Weight loss occurs when you consume fewer calories each day than you burn.

Weight gain, on the other hand, occurs when you consume more calories than you expend.

Any calorie-containing food or beverage you consume counts toward your total calorie consumption.

However, calculating the number of calories you burn each day, also known as energy or calorie expenditure, is a little more difficult.

The three major components of calorie expenditure are as follows:

1-Metabolic rate at rest (RMR). This is the number of calories your body requires to perform basic   physical activities like breathing and blood pumping.

2-Food's thermogenic impact (TEF). The calories used to digest, absorb, and metabolise food are   referred to as "digestive calories."

3-Activity's thermogenic impact (TEA). These are the calories burned during physical activity.           Non-  exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) is a type of TEA that accounts for calories used when  doing things like yard maintenance and fidgeting.

You maintain your body weight if the number of calories you consume equals the number of calories you burn.

If you want to lose weight, you need to produce a negative calorie balance by either eating fewer calories than you burn or increasing your activity level.

Factors affecting weight loss

Several factors affect the rate at which you lose weight. Many of them are out of your control.

Gender

Your ability to reduce weight is heavily influenced by your fat-to-muscle ratio.

Women have a 5–10 percent lower RMR than men of the same height because they have a higher fat-to-muscle ratio than men.

This means that at rest, women burn about 5–10 percent fewer calories than men. Men, on the other hand, tend to lose weight faster than women on a calorie-balanced diet.

For example, an 8-week study involving nearly 2,000 people on an 800-calorie diet indicated that men dropped 16 percent more weight than women, with men losing 11.8 percent of their body weight and women losing 10.3 percent.

Despite the fact that males lost weight more quickly than women, the study did not look into gender differences in the ability to maintain weight loss.

Age

Alterations in body composition — fat mass grows and muscle mass decreases — are one of the many physical changes that occur with ageing.

A reduced RMR is caused by this alteration, as well as other variables like as the declining calorie needs of your primary organs.

In fact, RMRs in persons over 70 can be 20–25 percent lower than those in younger adults.

With age, this drop in RMR can make weight loss more challenging.

Starting point

The speed with which you lose weight may be influenced by your beginning body mass and composition.

It's vital to remember that differing absolute weight decreases (in pounds) can correspond to the same relative weight loss (percentage) in different people. Finally, losing weight is a difficult task.

The Body Weight Planner from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will help you figure out how much weight you can lose based on your starting weight, age, gender, and how many calories you consume and expend.

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

For example, a 300-pound (136-kg) individual could lose 10 pounds (4.5 kg) after cutting 1,000 calories from their daily diet and increasing physical activity for two weeks.

Calorie deficit

To reduce weight, you must produce a negative calorie balance. How soon you lose weight depends on the size of your calorie deficit.

For example, losing weight by eating 500 fewer calories per day for 8 weeks is more likely than losing weight by eating 200 fewer calories per day.

Make sure your calorie loss isn't too large, though.

Not only would this be unsustainable, but it would also put you at risk of vitamin deficiency. Furthermore, it may increase your chances of losing weight as muscle mass rather than fat mass.

Sleep

Sleep is an often-overlooked yet critical aspect of weight loss.

Chronic sleep deprivation might stifle weight loss and slow down the rate at which you shed pounds.

Sleep deprivation for just one night has been shown to enhance your craving for high-calorie, low-nutrient items like cookies, cakes, sugary beverages, and chips.

Participants on a calorie-restricted diet were randomly assigned to sleep for either 5.5 or 8.5 hours each night in a 2-week trial.

Those who slept 5.5 hours each night shed 55% less body fat and 60% more lean body mass than those who slept 8.5 hours.

As a result, persistent sleep deprivation has been related to type 2 diabetes, obesity, heart disease, and some types of cancer.

Other factors

A number of other factors can influence how quickly you lose weight, including:

1-Medications. Many drugs, including antidepressants and various antipsychotics, can cause weight gain or reduction.

2-Medical problems. Weight loss can be slowed and weight gain can be encouraged by illnesses such as depression and hypothyroidism, a disease in which your thyroid gland produces too few metabolism-regulating chemicals.

3-Genetics and family history There is a well-established hereditary component related with overweight or obesity, which may influence weight loss.

4-Dieting in a yo-yo pattern. Due to a decline in RMR, this pattern of losing and regaining weight might make weight loss more difficult with each effort.

Best diet for weight loss

It might be difficult to choose the ideal weight loss diet from the numerous options available, all of which promise amazing and speedy results.

Despite the fact that proponents and designers believe their regimens are superior to others, there is no single greatest weight reduction diet.

Low-carb diets like keto, for example, may help you lose weight faster at first, but studies show no meaningful changes in weight reduction over time.

What counts most is your ability to maintain a low-calorie, healthful eating plan.

However, many people find it difficult to stick to an extremely low calorie diet for an extended length of time, which is why most diets fail.

Only modestly lower your calorie intake, individualise your diet based on your preferences and health, or work with a qualified nutritionist to maximise your chances of success.

To maximise fat reduction and avoid or minimise muscle loss, combine nutrition with exercise, including both aerobic and resistance training.

You can boost weight loss and overall health by avoiding overly processed foods and replacing them with more healthy, whole foods like vegetables, fruits, whole grains, healthy fats, and proteins.

Safe rates of weight loss

While most individuals want to lose weight rapidly, it's critical not to drop too much weight too quickly.

Gallstones, dehydration, and starvation are all risks of rapid weight loss.

The following are some of the other negative consequences of rapid weight loss:

1-headaches

2-irritability

3-fatigue

4-constipation

5-hair thinning

6-difficulties with menstruation

7- muscle wasting

Though weight loss may be quicker at the beginning of a programme, doctors recommend a weekly weight loss of 1–3 pounds (0.45–1.36 kg), or roughly 1% of your body weight.

Also, keep in mind that losing weight isn't a straight line. You may lose more some weeks than others, or you may drop none at all.

So, if your weight reduction slows or plateaus for a few days, don't become disheartened.

Keeping a food journal and weighing yourself on a regular basis will help you stay on track.

Self-monitoring measures, such as tracking your nutritional intake and weight, have been shown to be more effective at losing weight and keeping it off than those who do not.

The bottom line

When you eat less calories than you burn, you lose weight.

Gender, age, beginning weight, sleep, and the size of your calorie deficit are all factors that influence how quickly you lose weight.

Aiming to drop 1–3 pounds (0.45–1.36 kg) per week is a safe and long-term strategy for achieving your objectives.