How much weight can you lose in a month. During my time as a trainer I had a lot of clients who were not just A type personalities, but A+ (or maybe even A++ if such a designation even exists). If they set out to get fit, it wasn’t just about getting fit. It was about pushing their bodies to the extreme. Although they often went overboard when it came to fitness, there was nothing half-assed about them in general, ever.

Honestly, I’m not sure how I feel about it because I do believe in the statement “go big or go home,” but what happens when we apply that theory to something like weight loss? I’m not referring to individuals who are morbidly obese because the answer there is obvious (as you’ll see) but what about everyone who could stand to lose just a few pounds?

How fast can you lose the weight? How fast should you lose the weight?

HOW MUCH WEIGHT CAN YOU LOSE IN A MONTH

The Math

Unless you have another underlying condition, the math is pretty simple. 1 pound = 3500 calories. In order to lose 1 to 2 pounds in a week you’ll need to reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 to 1000 calories per day.

It’s that simple and that difficult at the same time. If we go by this math then it’s realistic that you can expect to lose between 4 and 8 pounds in a month.

The reality 

Try reducing your diet by 1000 calories a day and get back to me. I guarantee that you’ll be starving and cranky and that you won’t be able to sustain it for more than a day or two (please, don’t actually try it!). So naturally that deficit has to be made up by burning those calories another way and that’s exercise.

On paper, 4-8 lbs may not seem like much, but if you are looking for a lasting weight loss and habits that you can easily maintain then realistically you don’t want to lose the weight any faster and you probably want to lose it slower.

Crash Diets

Open any of your social media feeds and you will see headings like, “Lose 10lbs in 10 days” or “30 days to a bikini body”. They make me a little crazy because while it’s definitely possible to loose a significant amount of weight in a couple of days, it’s very unhealthy and there’s no way to make it last. What will happen is that you will successfully slow down your metabolism and probably lose valuable nutrients and vitamins that you need to look and feel your best. Read HOW TO BOOST YOUR METABOLISM

We live in a world of instant gratification and when losing weight takes longer than we want it to, it can be a tough pill to swallow.

Best Diet Plans

Everyone is different and everyone has their own food tolerances, likes and dislikes so there’s no one plan that will the best. There are, however, certain plans that should be avoided (assuming that you are a healthy individual with no food intolerances/allergies)

What to avoid

• Any plan that over-restricts your calories because starvation is never good
• Any plan that eliminates entire food groups because all you will do is successfully eliminate vital nutrients

As long as you aren’t over-eating and don’t live a sedentary lifestyle, the reality is that you should be able to keep a healthy weight.

IF YOU ARE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT

We live in a time when shows like The Biggest Loser proliferate. It seems as if every time I turn on the television there’s a new one, with a trainer screaming at their client, all in the name of motivation and some overweight individual killing themselves to lose as much weight as possible in a very short time.

I’m sorry, but what makes for compelling television does not translate to real life. There’s really nothing healthy happening there and perhaps even more importantly, these are habits that aren’t sustainable in any way. I’m always curious to see where these people wind up 2-3 years on when they are no longer being followed by cameras or in tightly controlled environments.

The truth is, if you are overweight it will be easier for you to lose weight at first. There are a couple of main reasons for this:

• Since there is so much of it, your body will naturally turn to burning fat as fuel first.
• Since you are carrying around so much weight, your body is burning a lot of calories (yes, you are burning calories even when you aren’t doing anything physical). The minute you start restricting some of them and moving more, you will find yourself dropping weight at a faster pace.

You know the saying, “slow and steady wins the race”? Well, that applies 100% to weight loss. Unless you want to commit yourself to years and years to yo-yo dieting, of wrecking havoc on your body then it’s best to adopt easy tweaks to your diet and fitness routines that you can do everyday.

YOUR PLAN

Fitness:

• Keep a mat by the tv
• Keep a mat by the bed
• Keep a workout on the fridge
• Move after you eat
• Do an urban hike
• Track your improvement
• Add walking to your day
• Get the tunes out
• Take along a jumprope
• Get a personal trainer

For the breakdown read: 10 EASY WAYS TO GET MORE FIT

Diet:

• Sunday is prep day
• Portion control
• Stay away from diet foods
• Enjoy a stir fry
• Add veggies to everything
• Reach for fruit first

Read: HOW TO EAT HEALTHY WITHOUT TRYING

Rather than thinking “how much weight you can lose in a month,” perhaps it’s better to think “how much weight should you lose in a month.” I know how tempting it can be to spend a few weeks under eating and over exercising just to quickly change your body, but if you really want to lose weight and keep it off then it’s best to make small changes that you can keep up with. Don’t over-stress, don’t over-think it and you’ll soon find yourself on a healthy path where you feel great about yourself.

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