Losing a significant amount of weight requires consistent exercise and utilizing healthy eating habits over a period of time. With an aggressive but safe weight loss program, a person can lose 20 lbs. in about five months, though weight loss rate will vary between individuals. Recruiting a partner who's also interested in losing weight to team up with may help with your motivation.
Weight Loss
In order to lose body fat, you must burn more calories than you consume. For every pound of weight loss, 3,500 more calories need to be burned than consumed over a period of time. Therefore, losing 20 lbs. would require that you create a total caloric deficit of 70,000. You build up this deficit over time, ideally at a rate of 500 calories per day. This equates to 1 lb. of weight loss per week, or 20 weeks to lose 20 lbs. Losing 20 lbs. requires a combination of both consistent exercise and healthy eating habits.
Exercise
Participating in consistent cardiovascular exercise increases the total number of calories that you burn per day, thus contributing to body fat loss. The Mayo Clinic states that running, rollerblading and jumping rope are the most effective exercise for burning calories, though choosing an activity that you enjoy is important in ensuring that you will be consistent with your workout sessions. The American Council on Exercise recommends that you complete 60 minutes of cardiovascular exercise most days of the week to lose weight.
Healthy Eating
It's much easier to limit your daily caloric intake by 500 calories than it is to burn it through exercise. Eating low fat, low calorie foods will also contribute to the caloric deficit necessary for weight loss. To determine the number of calories you should consume per day, use an online calorie calculator, which will tell you how many calories would allow you to maintain your current weight. Once you have that value, subtract 500 to determine the number of calories to eat to support weight loss.
Considerations
Losing 20 lbs. at a healthy rate will take about five months. It's important to approach the weight loss plan with this long-term goal in mind, focusing simply on the day to day activities and goals that need to be met in order to create a daily caloric deficit. Cutting pounds with healthy eating habits and exercise will allow your body to better adapt to the changes. With the habits you're creating, you are more likely to keep the weight off.
Member Comments