How long will weight loss take?

Happy New Year!

I'm sure a lot of people made New Year's resolutions to lose weight, and after they shake off the hangover will start the journey so many of us have begun before. So how long will it take to lose the weight? I wish there was a magic formula but there isn't, we are all very different and lose weight at very different rates. It took me three years to lose 80 pounds. I'd lose 20 pounds, lose my motivation, gain a few pounds back, get back on track lose another 20 etc. I hit a plateau when I was 150 pounds and stayed there for six months, gee that wasn't frustrating! I had to stop thinking about an end date and take one day at a time.

I didn't use any tricks or fad diets, I lost 80 pounds the old fashioned way, bitching and moaning. I did follow the Weight Watchers plan in the middle of my weight loss journey, it helped me get on track with portion sizes but after a while I felt like I was in a cult, food became points and I lost interest. I'd love to say we can all lose 1-2 pounds a week and there aren't any hiccups along the way. Some weeks you won't lose, some weeks you'll lose 4 pounds, some weeks you'll gain, it's annoying. The key is to stay focused.

Could I have lost 80 pounds faster? Sure! I'm an all or nothing kind of person so I'd be all gung-ho and hit the gym, count my calories, and as soon as the scale stopped moving I'd slide back into old habits. My middle name is "backslide". The one thing that really changed for me over this time period was I learned to love exercise, that was my constant. You can't exercise enough to reverse the effects of a poor diet but eventually your mind shifts, a little, so after a 10km run you don't want to stuff your face with a hamburger. When you become more focused on overall health things to seem to progress as they should.

So don't panic if on January 15 you haven't lost 10 pounds.  It takes time, and yes I know you've heard it before, but its true, the slower you lose it the more likely you are to keep it off long term.