We’re all guilty of looking for quick results and hoping that we will lose weight in an unreasonable amount of time.
But what exactly is an unreasonable amount of time? 1 year? 1 month? 1 week? 1 day? (Okay yeah, one day is pretty unreasonable) but sometimes we still expect changes in a day.
Now, here is how you know you are losing fat at a healthy speed. By healthy speed we mean losing fat without your energy levels going down, losing fat without losing hair, losing fat without getting deficient in minerals and vitamins and of course, losing ‘fat’ and not ‘muscle’.
If you lose weight too fast, you will inevitably lose muscle mass and ultimately slow down your metabolism (making future weight loss even more difficult).
Ideally, for you to reach your goal, you should be losing 1-1.5% of your total bodyweight per week. (For example, if you weigh 60kgs, you should more or less aim to lose 0.6-0.9kg per week).
Of course, here is the hard part, patience! Our body goes through so many fluctuations throughout the week that motivation is lost due to the fluctuation. Weigh yourself everyday and track it and get an average out every week. This can help you understand overall weight you lost over the week.
Exceptions include-
- Building muscle while losing fat. (No change on the scale.
- Being on your period (Bloating/fluctuations)
- Really just not being in a deficit.
- Weighing yourself at a different time each day
- Your carbohydrate intake the previous day
- Any changes in your nutrition (sodium intake, meal timing/frequency)
- Water intake
- Regularity of your bowel pattern among other factors
So before you blame your metabolism or think of giving up, take a step back and assess your lifestyle!