How long does it take to loose weight ?

Be it a for a friend’s wedding, your own wedding or your health as a primary goal, being in shape has always been a matter of discussion. And when it comes to weight loss, there is no hard and fast rule for how much time does exactly the weight loss process takes. The number of weeks and months taken to loose weight depends on various factors such as your health goals, calorie deficit, diet, age and gender which are discussed below :-

1. Health Goals

Do you want to loose weight faster or do you want to adopt weight loss as a part of the health goal of physical well-being. The duration of loosing the extra kilos depends primarily on mindset by which you have started to loose weight. Is it that you want your friends to notice you slimmer or is there something really worth putting the effort that is making you want to loose weight. The time can differ from one month to more than a year. One may get slim in a period of 6-8 weeks and when combined with the goal of gaining muscle mass, it could take a period of over a year. It is always better to keep short term and realistic goals. People who aim to loose 1 to 2 kilos per week are more successful at keeping their routines on. The smart choice is in realizing that weight loss is a journey that depends on your health goals and that you need to find your own path and ways that fits the best for you.

2. Calorie deficit

The simple funda of weight loss is that you burn more calories than you consume. Your calorie deficit is a major factor when loosing weight. Your calorie balance should be negative, that is consumption of calories should be less that the calories burnt. This decides how quickly you loose weight. This is possible through increased activity like cardiovascular exercises or any type physical activity that promotes calorie burning. A person consuming more food than the other person who eat less could loose weight faster if the activity hours are longer and the calorie deficit is larger.

3. Diet

‌If you are expecting to loose weight without analyzing what you eat, then weight loss is not going to be easy for you. Exercising without a favorable diet isn’t going to give you results. With numerous diet plans available, do not get confuse. Rather choose the one that fulfill your nutritional requirements. Rather than starving yourself, you should know which things you need to eliminate and which you need to add and which foods need to be limited. For example:- adding more protein rich food in your diet, adding healthy fats but in a limit, eliminating fried and processed foods, refined carbs and sugar, avoiding packaged fruit juices and preservatives.

4. Age

As we age our body doesn’t respond to weight loss efforts the same way. There are various changes that takes place within body while aging. The weight loss becomes difficult with age as the fat mass increases and the muscle mass decreases. After age 30, our body’s lean muscle mass starts to drop half a pound every year. This is the reason people do not see a change when they step up on the weighing scale, and it’s simply because the lean weight you lost is often replaced by fat. Although it is possible to loose weight at any age, several factors make it difficult to loose weight with growing age.

5. Gender

Although the studies didn’t realize gender based differences in weight loss ability. There are factors that depict that gender also plays a crucial role during weight loss. The fat to muscle ratio of women are greater than men, and this is the reason they burn 5-10% fewer calories than men. Apart from that, the number of lean muscle tissues present in men are more that helps in burning more calories than fat even at rest. Therefore, on cutting the same number of calories, men usually loose more weight as compared to women although it is for shorter period.

Some other factors that decide how much time does it take to loose weight are metabolism, sleep, medications, medical conditions, daily routine etc.

Takeaway

Although speedy weight loss might sound fascinating and of course who would not like to fit in the favorite clothing that he/she was not able to wear because the body fat have grown out if it. Well, remember! that slow weight loss journeys not only helps you maintain body weight but brings patience that helps you to adopt healthy lifestyle for longer period of time. With patience, habits like mindful eating and consistent cardio exercises and workout becomes no more self deceiving. And on top of that, slow weight loss not only leads to fat burning but brings benefits like improvements in blood sugar levels and blood cholesterol along.

So don’t be in a rush to shed those kilos, stay little patient and be consistent.

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