How long does it take to lose weight

Evelyn Choi
Evelyn Choi Health

People often wish to get the maximum result in the shortest possible time. Thus, students often allocate the last night before the exam for preparation and talented artists struggle to keep up with deadlines. Many of us have had this habit since childhood and want to get the maximum as soon as possible.

However, is quick always synonymous with good? When it comes to health and appearance, this issue requires even more control and attention. Still, not many people are ready to work in the gym for 9 months in a row and count the calories eaten to show off a beautiful body in the summer.

Thus, they wonder if is it realistic to lose weight in a short period of time and how long can it take to lose weight. Is it also safe to achieve this goal quickly? Let’s try to understand this issue from the point of view of science and practice.

How long to lose weight: quick and safe ways

It’s almost impossible to achieve the maximum result in a short time. One still has to spend time to get the body of a dream. However, there are a few secrets that will assist you in improving your figure faster:

  • Clean up the everyday diet. Remove all sweets, fast food, fried and products with animal fats. This will help to get rid of excess swelling caused by them. Depending on the initial weight, the average weight loss is from 2 to 5 kg in just one week.
  • Switch to a low-carb diet. The basis of the diet should be proteins (1.4 g per kg of body weight) and fats (1 g per kg). Carbs can be significantly reduced, leaving only 0.5 g per kg of body weight for normal general conditions. Such a low level of carbs can be kept for no more than 2-3 weeks. Next, the process of metabolic adaptation will start and your progress will slow down.
  • Those for whom the above-mentioned methods are not enough can try the scheme used by professional athletes when preparing for tournaments, namely getting rid of water. This option will work if you need to prepare for a photo shoot or a certain day. First, you sharply increase the amount of water you drink per day. For women, a figure of 5 liters of water per day is suitable, for men it should be 7-8 liters. One should drink this amount of water for 3 days and then reduce it by 2 times on the 4th and 5th days. On the 6th day, we leave only 0.5 liters. Thus, the body will get rid of excess water and you will get a better version of your shape. However, this scheme works only when preparing for one specific day because the body will still return the water to the initial balance shortly.

How to choose the proper diet

Those who decide to lose weight on their own should select a diet that is not harmful. It should be to your liking and easy to tolerate. Therefore, one needs to focus primarily on his or her age, gender, level of physical and mental activity, as well as gastronomic preferences.

Any diet must provide a person’s need for proteins, fats and carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fiber. If a diet excludes some components, it is not balanced and can be harmful to your health. The main problem of modern human nutrition is excessive consumption of fat and refined carbohydrates accompanied by a lack of water, fiber, and protein.

In order to lose extra kilos more easily, one should increase the number of fruits and vegetables in the ration, and eat lean meat (mainly poultry) or fish daily. It is worth limiting the use of fatty foods and foods that have undergone deep processing (sugar, white bread, white rice, etc.).

The nutritionist also advises those who want to lose extra pounds not to consume any sweet drinks and store juices. Instead, one should consume dairy products and drink still water every day. One can drink a glass of low-fat kefir an hour or two before going to bed. It is also good to take a vitamin-mineral complex during the diet (especially in the spring) and try to walk as much as possible, although this is not necessary. It is crucial to eat foods with complete protein and with absence of too much fat at the same time.

Physical activity and obesity

It is possible to achieve a good result in a short period of time by adjusting only the diet. However, if you add physical activity to your daily regimen, progress will definitely go faster. You can start with daily evening walks for an hour.

  • If you have some free time, add strength training in the gym 2-3 times a week for 1 hour. Physical exercises have many advantages over diets. During them, the body works harder, the metabolism accelerates and fat is burned faster. The body is better saturated with oxygen, which plays a special role in the process of losing weight.
  • It is easier to achieve the desired effect if physical exercises are selected individually, taking into account the characteristics of your body. In any case, you should not start with a load that is too big for you. It’s better to increase it gradually. Furthermore, it is crucial to stick to a properly balanced ration during intense sports activities. It is better to eat several times during the day, a little at a time and not to be full in one or two meals.
  • If it is not possible to go to the gym, it is better to do physical exercises in the morning at home. You can take the easiest exercises and dedicate 15-20 minutes to it every day. It is very useful to maintain good shape and run for 20 minutes. However, it is worth remembering that physical exercises should be done regularly, only then will have the desired effect. One can’t do sports in order to lose weight before summer and then forget about physical exercises until next spring. This can have negative consequences. If you do sports and then stop, you can gain a lot of weight.
  • The muscles get used to a certain load. Thus, if you stop exercising, especially if not gradually, they lose their tone and begin to grow fat. That’s why it’s important to make sports not just a temporary means of losing kilos, but a way of life. It is also believed that if you do not like fitness or the gym, you will lose kilos very slowly. Therefore, it is crucial to choose a method that, in addition to the main goal, will also bring pleasure.
  • Thus, many people like to dance. Dancing also contributes to weight loss and has some other advantages. First, it’s not just a sport, it’s a certain drive, a feeling of something new. During the dance, more various movements are involved, which puts more stress on different muscles. Besides losing weight, one is able to learn to dance well. The only rule is not to overeat after the dance lessons. Keep in mind that it is impossible to achieve effective rapid loss of kilos with the help of physical activity alone. The above-mentioned diet hints are also of a great importance.

Healthy rate to lose weight: it takes time to get in good shape

Diets that help you lose kilos quickly in just a few days can cause a lot of damage to your body. Moreover, when you return to a normal diet after such diets, you will most likely gain even more weight than you had before.

The normal speed of losing weight is 0.5-1 kg per week. If the total number of kilos is significantly higher than the norm, then this indicator can also be higher. The general period of losing weight depends on individual characteristics and how many kilograms are planned to be lost.By regularly exercising in the gym, you can lose weight on average in three months. Although everything depends on individual characteristics. For some, less than two months is enough, but some need six months or more.

Altogether, it is necessary to think about good shape well beforehand some important events or summer. There are some quick helpful tips but they usually provide only temporary results. Thus, the way toward an ideal shape is the combination of regular exercise and a proper ration. This will not only help to reduce kilos but also improve overall well-being.