Depending on your size and how much body fat you have, you can expect to lose 6 to 20 pounds of body weight in the first 3 to 4 weeks of any properly designed nutrition program. Beyond this, a reasonable goal is to try to lose 2 pounds a week for the rest of the time. This means that a realistic weight loss goal is between 30 and 40 pounds over a period of 3 to 4 months. More than this in this time period is rare and possibly dangerous and should only be attempted under close medical supervision. If you have 100 lbs. losing, for example, is usually not achievable in a 12-16 week program; you will need more than one nutrition program to achieve this goal. If you need more than one diet program, don’t plan on doing one after the other, as you will have diminishing returns. Taking a short break of 1-2 weeks between programs is recommended, but the point is that if you have more than 10-15 pounds to lose, you can expect to suffer from a diet for months. Staying as fresh mentally as possible throughout your plan will be imperative to staying on track.
Considering the time it takes to produce fat loss results on a diet, it’s smart to ease your way and practice measures at all times that will keep you from burning. Even if you’re super excited about starting your new diet, avoid the plunge method and try to stick to your plan all the way from the start. If you have a rough 12 weeks ahead of you, starting too strict too early causes most to start to wane long before the end due to hunger and mental stress. If you’ve been overweight for a long time or have more than 30 pounds of body fat to lose, quitting cold turkey can even be dangerous. Going too low on calories, eating completely clean, and/or over-exercising when you’ve never done it (or haven’t done it in a long time) can release toxins stored in body fat. This can make you sick and even hurt you if done too quickly. Dieters with excessive amounts of body fat should ease their program to avoid poisoning their body with the rapid discharge of toxins that can occur when beginning a diet that is too strict. An example of this is when an obese person begins a drastic 85% raw diet, drastically switching from highly processed foods to almost nothing but raw vegetables. Few can do this without getting sick. This is not recommended as the result can be very dangerous.
They say you have to do the same thing for 21 days before it becomes a habit. Once you’ve reached the 3-week mark on your diet, there will be numerous procedures that will become a habit, making it much easier to stay on track long-term. The trick is to adopt healthy nutrition habits so it’s not so hard to get sick or mentally collapse before you hit the 21-day habit zone. The best way to do this is to take the first ten days or even 2-3 weeks of your program and stick with it halfway through, gradually getting stricter until soon you’re doing everything to the letter. This can be done in several ways. One way is to practice several days of strict diet followed by one or two days without diet. Start the first week by only dieting on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and take the rest of the days off. Week two try to diet strictly for monday and tuesday, wednesday off, diet thursday, friday and saturday, sunday off. Week three diet for the whole week and take a half day off from the diet on Saturday as a reward. The fourth week should be a strict diet for the rest of the program.
Another way to facilitate a prolonged weight loss program is the elimination method. This is probably the most common and possibly the safest method of starting a diet, especially if you have a large amount of weight to lose. Instead of mixing strict days with off days in the first 2-3 weeks, take this time to eliminate bad foods and replace them with good ones. For example, during the first week, instead of following a strict portion-controlled diet, eat as before, but eliminate all processed sugar and bread; replace only with clean, complex starches like brown rice, yams/sweet potatoes, oatmeal, and vegetables. Replace all your fluids with water and increase the amount of water you drink to at least 64 ounces per day, but up to nearly a gallon per day if you exercise hard enough to break a sweat. If you eat out, choose plain chicken breasts, lean steak, plain potatoes, and salads for the first week. In the second week, all meals away from home are replaced with pre-planned home meals only, and each meal contains the proper amount of protein, but is still not calorie restricted. The third week begins with calorie restricted meals and strict diets until the end of the program.
In addition to making your diet easier, it’s also a good idea to make your exercise program easier. For the amount of exercise required to effectively burn body fat, jumping headfirst can also have adverse effects. Juggling strength training and as much cardio work as possible is like suddenly taking on a second job that can easily overwhelm you, especially if you’re new to the gym. Just like your nutrition program, take the first 1-2 weeks to ease into your exercise program. If strength training isn’t something you’re used to, start very moderately with low volume for the first few sessions. If you don’t, muscle soreness can be overwhelming, discouraging and must be closely watched or it will be difficult to avoid overtraining. Go for a certain number of hours of cardio per week and increase this over time. For example, the first week do three 30-minute cardio sessions. The second week, do two 40-minute sessions and one 30-minute session, continuing to increase the number of sessions and time until you reach 5-6 hours of cardio per week (or whatever your effective volume of work is).
Another reason neglecting your nutrition program is a bad idea is because of the undue mental stress it adds. Success in most weight loss plans occurs by being consistent with your regimen over a period of time. Being absolutely strict and unrelenting for 12 hard weeks will make any professional mentally collapse without any respite at least temporarily. Taking a few weeks to ease into your program helps reduce the mental stress of dieting for long periods. Spending time preparing for your diet also helps a lot with this type of stress. For best results, follow your diet as closely as possible during the week, but reward yourself with a cheat meal on the weekend. This gives you something to work for, look forward to, and satisfy cravings for. It also gives your mind a break and will renew your enthusiasm for a fresh start next week. Instead of always trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel, eat one meal at a time, one day at a time, and focus on making each one perfect. Focusing on perfecting the process rather than just the product will keep your mind on stringing together a series of numerous small wins. Soon enough time will have passed for the clothes to develop and the results to be seen.