In a market full of fad diets promising quick results and miracle solutions to obesity, it's more important than ever to understand how to lose weight safely and for life. Achieving and maintaining a healthy weight has plenty of benefits, but losing it too quickly can be detrimental to your health and your long-term weight goals.
Rate of Weight Loss
While weight loss rates vary from person to person, you should aim for a realistic long-term goal of one to two pounds per week. If you have 20 pounds to lose, you should be able to lose it in two to four months. When you first start dieting and exercising, you may notice a significant weight drop early on. If you notice such rapid weight loss, it's most likely due to a loss of water weight, not fat weight.
Dangers of Quick Weight Loss
Losing one pound requires creating a caloric deficit of 3,500. The effort required to achieve weight loss quicker than the recommended one to two pounds per week is probably not sustainable over the long-term. When you lose weight quickly, your body begins to draw energy from your muscle tissue. When you stop dieting and gain back weight, you'll have more fat and less muscle than when you started. Most quick weight loss programs involve severely restricting your diet, but doing so puts you at risk of malnutrition.
Dealing With Plateaus
Your body naturally resists weight changes, so you'll probably encounter a plateau in your weight loss somewhere along the way. As you reduce calories and boost activity to burn fat, your body slows your metabolism to account for the change. If your weight loss begins to slow, you may need to adjust your diet or exercise program to continue seeing results. If you started your program with a moderate caloric reduction, you can further reduce your calories to keep losing weight. Alternately, you can boost the intensity of your exercise program or add more strength training, as building muscle also speeds your metabolism.
Tips For Success
The most successful members of the National Weight Control registry who lost weight and kept it off for more than five years shared a few healthy habits. Most reported that they ate breakfast, incorporated physical activity into their daily routines, didn't skip meals and monitored their weight regularly. To lose weight and keep it off, make sustainable changes to your diet and add both aerobic and resistance exercises to your fitness program.
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