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Can It Take Months to Lose Weight?

Weight loss is never easy, and people lose weight at different rates, depending on their body composition, genetics, overall health, time spent exercising and diet. It often takes months to lose a noticeable amount of weight, and some people may struggle for months to lose a few pounds. MayoClinic.com advises that 1 to 2 pounds per week is a realistic weight-loss goal for most people.

  1. Weight Loss Basics

    • To lose 1 pound of fat, you'll need to burn 3,500 calories either by dieting or exercising -- and ideally, by doing both. This is no small feat, and if you're not rigorously dedicated to weight loss, it could take a few weeks before you shed your first pound. If you need to lose a lot of weight, it could be several months before you notice significant weight loss, and can take even longer for your weight loss to be noticeable to others.

    Exercise

    • Exercise is an important part of any weight-loss strategy because it allows you to build calorie-burning muscle and burn off excess calories you eat during the day. However, losing weight through exercise alone is not easy. Harvard Health Publications reports that an average 185-pound person will burn 355 calories running 5 miles per hour for 30 minutes. This amounts to almost five hours of running each week to lose a pound per week.

    Diet

    • Dieting can help speed up your weight loss when you combine it with exercise. The number of calories you need each day varies depending upon your weight and age; the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has established 2,000 calories today as the average. To lose weight by diet alone, this means you'd have to eliminate a day and a half's worth of food each week to lose weight. When combined with exercise, however, you can cut fewer calories but it's unlikely that you'll be able to healthily sustain weight loss of more than a pound or two per week.

    Other Factors

    • As you lose weight, weight loss can become harder. A 2013 "Journal of the American Medical Association" study, for example, found that metabolism can slow down as you lose weight. If you are muscular, you may lose weight more quickly, because muscle burns more calories than fat. Genetic factors can also play a role. Some people gravitate toward a certain weight "set point," according to nutritionist Linda Bacon in her book, "Health at Every Size," and this can make it challenging to fall below that set point.

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