How to Calculate How Long it Will Take to Lose Weight

Weight loss is not something that happens overnight. It takes dedication to lose the weight, a thorough understanding of the principles that govern it and the drive to actually get the hard work done so that your can see a positive change in your health and physique. Calculating the time it takes to lose a certain amount of weight depends solely on your ability to set a strict diet and exercise plan and stick to it, even when you do not want to.

Things You'll Need

• Scale
• Calorie counter
• Heart-rate monitor

Show More

Instructions

• 1

  Set a goal for your target weight. Take an exact measurement of your current weight. Subtract your target weight from your current weight to determine how many pounds you would like to lose.

• 2

  Determine how many calories are in the number of pounds you want to lose. There typically are about 3,500 calories per pound of body fat. If you would like to lose 20 pounds, you will need to use 70,000 more calories than you take in over a period of time.

• 3

  Expect to lose about two pounds a week on average if you are working hard toward your goal. To do this, you will need to drop about 1,000 calories from your daily intake through dieting and exercise. Again, if your goal is to lose 20 pounds, a rough estimate is about 10 weeks, although this will vary based on your diet, exercise and personal physiology.

• 4

  Find exercises, like jogging or cycling, that will allow you to burn extra calories each day. Get specific with the amount you burn and wear a heart-rate monitor while exercising, so that you can determine your exact output.

• 5

  Develop a strict eating plan that accounts for all the calories in your diet. Maintain a healthy amount of nourishment but follow your caloric intake a closely as possible to determine how many calories you are taking in each day.

• 6

  Keep track of your weight on a weekly basis, and more often during the first few weeks. This will help you determine how your body is responding to your weight-loss regimen, and it allows you to make early adjustments that may cut a few weeks off your weight-loss time.

• 7

  After the first three weeks, make final calculations of how long weight loss will take, based on all the factors in your regimen. Make sure that for those first few weeks you are following your plan to the letter, and that you are tracking every calorie your body uses and burns to give you an accurate assessment of where you are headed.