Many factors can affect how long it takes someone tolose weight they want, and the timeline can also depend on how many calories are eaten versus how many are burned.
Whether losing weight for a special event, a health or medical reason, or just to get healthier, the bottom line is you need realistic expectations. So it’s important to know healthy weight loss rates.
This article will cover the factors that affect weight loss rates and what healthy weight loss looks like.
How weight loss happens
Weight loss happens when calories consumed are less than Calories Weight gain happens when you eat more calories than you burn daily. It’s the opposite for losing weight.
Any food or drink you eat has calories counted in your daily total. But the number of calories burned daily, called "energy expenditure" or "calorie burn," is a bit more complex.
Calorie burn has three main parts:
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Metabolic rate Resting metabolic rate (RMR)This is the calories your body needs just to keep vital functions like breathing and pumping blood going.
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Thermic effect of food (TEF)This refers to the calories the body needs todigest food absorb and metabolize it.
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Thermic Effect of Activity TEAThis refers to the calories the body uses during physical activity, whether exercise or doing chores like gardening or moving around the house.
If the calories consumed equal the calories burned, that keeps body weight the same or weight stable.
If someone wants to lose weight, they need to create a calorie deficit, also called aCalorie DeficitBy eating fewer calories than you burn, or burning more calories than you eat.
Factors That Affect Weight Loss
There are many factors that affect weight loss, and many of these can't be controlled, They include:-
1. Gender
Body fat to muscle ratio greatly affects a person's ability to lose weight. Since women have a higher fat to muscle ratio than men, women’s heart rate is 5-10% lower than men of the same height.
This means women burn 5-10% fewer calories at rest compared to men, so men tend to lose weight faster than women on the same calorie diet.
For example, studies with over 2000 participants on an 800 calorie diet showed men lost 16% more weight than women, with men losing about 11.8% of their weight and women 10.3%.
2. Age
Many physical changes happen with aging, like body composition shifting to more fat and less muscle. These changes, plus other factors like lower calorie needs due to less activity, cause heart rate to drop.
Adults over 70 can have a resting metabolic rate 20-25% lower than younger adults. This slower metabolism can make losing weight harder as you get older.
3. Starting Weight
Your starting body mass and makeup also affect how fast you lose weight. Heavier people tend to lose more weight than lighter people.
4. Calorie Deficit
You need a calorie deficit to lose weight. How big the deficit is affects how fast you lose weight. For example, cutting 500 calories daily for 8 weeks helps you lose more than just cutting 200 calories a day.
But keep in mind that doing calorie restriction should not be long-term because it can risk nutrient deficiencies. Plus, it might cause you to lose muscle instead of fat.
5. Sleep
Tends Sleep is an important and key factor in weight loss. Chronic lack of sleep can slow down how fast you lose weight.
Also, missing just one night's sleep can make you want to eat high-calorie and low-nutrient foods like cookies, cakes, sugary drinks, and chips.
One study lasting two weeks randomly picked participants on a calorie-controlled diet who slept either 5.5 or 8.5 hours each night.
They found that those who slept 5.5 hours lost 55% less body fat and 60% more muscle compared to those sleeping 8.5 hours. So, chronic lack of sleep is strongly linked to disease. Type 2 diabetes andobesity andheart diseases and some types of cancer.
6. Other factors
There are several other factors that can affect the rate of weight loss, Including:
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MedicationsThere are many medications, like antidepressants and antipsychotics, that can promote weight gain or block weight loss.
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Medical conditions:Diseases like depression andhypothyroidismcan slow down weight loss and encourage weight gain.
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Family history and geneticsThere’s also a strong genetic factor linked to people who are overweight or obese that can affect weight loss.
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Yo-yo dietingThis cycle of losing and regaining weight can make it harder to lose weight with each try because of a slower heart rate.
Best diet for weight loss
With so many diets promising good results, it’s confusing to pick the best one. Fans of each diet say theirs is best, but there isn’t one top diet for weight loss.
For example, low-carb diets like the keto dietmight help people lose more weight at first, but studies show no big difference in long term weight loss. What matters more is sticking to a healthy, low-calorie eating plan.
Still, sticking to a low-calorie diet for a long time is tough for many people. That's why most diets fail. So, to boost chances of success, you just need to cut calories moderately, or customize the diet based on your preferences and health, or work with a certified nutritionist.
Also, combining diet with exercise, including cardio workouts andresistance training, helps maximize fat loss and stop or lessen muscle loss.
Besides that, cutting out highly processed foods and adding more whole foods, like vegetables and fruits andwhole grains andhealthy fats andproteins, for healthy and effective weight loss.
Safe rates of weight loss
While most people want to lose weight fast, it's important not to lose too much too quickly. Losing weight fast can raise the risk of gallstones. And dehydration AndPoor nutrition.
Also, other side effects of rapid weight loss include:
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Tiredness.
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Headaches.
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Irritability.
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Hair loss.
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Muscle loss.
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Menstrual disorders.
Even though weight loss might be faster at first, experts recommend losing 0.5 to 1.5 kg per week, which is about 1% of body weight.
In the end, weight loss isn’t linear. Some weeks people lose more, some weeks less, or none at all. So it’s important not to quit or get discouraged if weight loss slows down.
