How Much Weight Can You Lose In a Month?
Fast weight loss promises—lose 20 pounds in four weeks!—aren’t really our thing. But we understand the allure. After all, it’s a rare person who hasn’t Googled “can I lose 10 pounds in two months?” or maybe even “can I lose 10 pounds in four weeks?” in advance of a high school reunion, wedding, or another major event at least once. Deadlines await, you know? While we know enough to ignore quick-and-dirty, fast-fix, starvation diets, though, what about healthy weight-loss plans—how much can you really expect to lose in 30 days? And how long does it take to lose 10 pounds—safely and in a way that’s sustainable?
Get out your calculators and follow along because the answer to this question is all about numbers.
In one month, you can reasonably anticipate losing eight to 10 pounds if you follow a pretty strict plan. (So, your Q about if you can lose 10 pounds in two months? The answer is yes!) Losing one pound of body fat is equivalent to 3,500 calories. To lose two pounds per week, you must drop 1,000 calories per day. That means cutting the calories you eat, increasing the number of calories burned during your workout—or, most likely, doing some combination of both.
Excerpted from Shape
