How Fast Do We Lose the Weight?

Now that we have set the goal as to how much weight to lose, we will set the rate as to how fast do we lose it. So what weekly weight loss do we try to set? We will try to lose the weight in a most reasonable rate. We do not want to do it too fast.

The trouble in setting a rate for a weekly weight loss is that most are not happy with a loss of just one pound a week. No, not even with a weekly weight loss of two pounds. They want to lose weight at a fast and furious rate.

Is it wise to lose weight as fast as one can do it? No, for the safe and healthy way to lose weight is a gradual loss of one or two pounds a week. Some people find this too slow but really if they lose one or two pounds a week, most will lose at least 5 to 10% of their weight in just six months.

Now, we have to admit that losing 5 to 10% of the body weight is quite remarkable. Let us just think of how long it took us to gain that weight. And let us also think of how many calories do we cut in order to lose that weight gain. Convinced? Not yet? Okay, just read on.

If we want to lose one pound per week, we need to reduce our food consumption by 500 calories a day, seven days a week. That's a total of 3500 calories per week. Why is that? For the simple reason that one pound of fat has 3500 calories of energy. Wait, I am not finished yet. We have another option.

We may elect to burn up those 500 calories per day by walking fast every day for five miles. How many of us can do this especially at the start of our weight loss program when we are used to the sedentary life style for so long? I'm telling you, this fact alone will make us want to quit before we even get started.

Okay, I know what you're thinking. We can expend this energy some other way. We can do it by combining some form of less energy consumption and more energy usage. That just makes me tired before I can even start trying to lose the weight I set.

And don't get me started on trying to lose two pounds a week instead of the one pound illustrated above. Why? Because then I will have to eat less than 1000 calories a day or walk briskly for 10 miles a day, both for seven days a week. Not on your life! I will not have time for anything else if I do it this way.

So you see, losing one or two pounds a week already requires a lot of effort. It is better for us to set our weekly rate of weight loss at one or two pounds a week. It is more sensible, healthier this way. Insisting on doing it faster will just set the stage for failure. And we do not want to fail. This is too important for our health to prevent or delay diabetes.