As long as you take in fewer calories than you use on any given day, you lose weight almost immediately. It may only be a fraction of a pound, but over time these fractions add up to a measurable amount of weight. All you need to do is generate what's known as a caloric deficit.
Caloric Deficit
A pound of fat is equivalent to about 3,500 calories. If you can reach this caloric deficit, you'll lose 1 lb. One of the most effective ways to create this deficit -- at least according to Donald Hensrud, M.D., a preventive medicine specialist writing for the Mayo Clinic -- is to make changes to your diet. This isn't to say exercise isn't an important facet of weight control, but your dietary habits likely are the main culprit behind your weight gain.
Dietary Habits
Though essential, dietary changes needn't be drastic to provide results. Start with portion size. Eating less at every meal helps cut calories from your diet while allowing you to continue eating your favorite foods.
Limiting portions sizes isn't always enough, though, especially when it leads to hunger. To combat this, add healthier foods to your diet. Eat fruits, vegetables and whole grains, which are all low in fat and calories, yet high in fiber and nutrients. This lets you eat more, yet limits your caloric intake enough to generate the deficit you need to promote weight loss.
Let's say your dietary changes help you reach a deficit of 300 calories a day. Each day, you're looking at a weight loss of about 1/12 of a pound. This may not sound like much, but you're going to eventually lose 1 lb. every 12 days.
Physical Activity
As you make changes to your diet, improve your results by increasing your level of physical activity. Exercise makes you expend more energy than normal. This increase in energy expenditure helps your body burn additional calories. Any physical activity is of benefit, so choose an activity you enjoy. Biking, swimming, jogging, walking, cross-country skiing and dancing can all serve this purpose. Playing a competitive sport, such as soccer, basketball, tennis, rugby, volleyball or racquetball, also works well.
If you're already generating a deficit of 300 calories a day through diet, burning an additional 200 calories through physical activity increases your weight loss results to about 1/7 of a pound every day. This translates to a loss of 1 lb. a week.
Goals
Looking at the changes in diet and physical activity to promote weight loss, you can see the length of time it takes to reach your target weight is all about doing the math. For example, a target weight of 150 lb. for someone weighing 180 lb. requires an overall deficit of 105,000 calories. Creating a deficit of 500 calories a day means you'll reach your goal in about 7 months, whereas a deficit of 750 calories a day helps you reach your target weight in roughly 4 ½ months.
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