Last Updated on June 1, 2018 by Michael Brockbank
Losing any amount of weight is subjective to the person. While some of us can shed weight easily, others may have a more difficult time. The most important thing to realize is that everyone is different when it comes to their unique physiology. With that being said, how long will it take you to lose 80 pounds?
Understand Losing Weight
Short of a serious surgery, you’re not going to drop weight instantly. If you’re looking for a get-thin-quick scheme, it’s simply not going to happen while remaining healthy.
Before I get started, I want to point out a few very important things you’ll need to remember.
1. Everyone is Different
One of the most important aspects you need to keep in mind is how everyone is different. Diets, exercises, supplements and more all affect certain people in specific ways. For instance, I know people personally who developed gout while doing the Atkins diet years ago.
2. The Scale Will Fluctuate
Don’t put a lot of emphasis on the scale. It’s a useful tool for the long-term, but it will not be very accurate if you watch it day-after-day. This is because you’re weight will fluctuate whether you’re on a diet or not.
3. Don’t Try to Match the Success of Others
It’s OK to emulate someone who has lost weight. However, you don’t want to try to copy the results. Because everyone is different, you may lose weight slower or faster than those around you.
4. Keep Realistic Goals
You’re not going to lose 80 pounds inside of 30 days without causing damage to yourself. That’s not how the human body naturally works. Losing more than a pound per day is actually quite dangerous as it means you’re either starving yourself or doing something else that will eventually cause permanent issues.
5. Keep Yourself Positive
It’s easy to become frustrated when you don’t meet your own expectations for losing weight. The end result is often giving up. You need to keep a positive frame of mind throughout this experience…and I’m going to show you how.
How Long Will it Take to Lose 80 Pounds?
Here comes the point a lot of you will be discouraged about. According to the CDC, it’s safe to lose one to two pounds per week. Which means it could take you up to 10 months to lose 80 pounds.
Hold on, though! Don’t lose hope. Like I said, I lose an average of three pounds when I half-ass attempt to diet. Which means I could cut that down to 6.5 months.
In reality, the time it takes you to lose 80 pounds is completely dependent on your own physiology and determination. You could easily take less than half a year to shed 80 pounds if you work hard at it. Just do so in a healthy manner.
Starvation, liquid diets and laxatives are not conducive to remaining healthy.
Best Ways to Lose 80 Pounds
Everyone has their ideas of the best ways to lose weight in a short amount of time. Some jump on fad, mainstream diets while others put more effort into exercises and weight training.
The biggest element that will help you lose 80 pounds is your own personal goal. Do you simply want to reduce your body mass, or do you want to bulk up at the same time?
Me, I just want my heart to keep beating like it’s supposed to.
Set a Realistic Goal
First and foremost, set a realistic goal for yourself. Don’t expect to lose 80 pounds in 80 days. This is important for two reasons: a) you avoid frustration, and b) you’re less likely to push yourself to dangerous levels.
Start off with the CDC goal of two pounds per week. It’s a good number in the beginning, and it doesn’t mean you have to keep your goal at that level. This is called your “base-line.”
In reality, you can lose two pounds per week easily just by keeping your food intake to proper portion sizes and cutting back on some of the snacks. In fact, this is partly how I lost the first 20 pounds. It was all about how much I ate, not necessarily what I ate.
Use MyFitnessPal
I would suggest using tools like MyFitnessPal. It’s a free app that is easily usable form smartphones, tablets and desktop computer systems. It helps you monitor the number of calories, carbs and other nutritional aspects of the food you eat.
When I began using MyFitnessPal, I entered in a typical day including some Taco Bell. It’s a rude awakening when you see how much damage you cause to yourself when you record every meal including fast food.
Record Every Morsel of Food
MyFitnessPal will only help as long as you enter in all of your food for the day, including water. Even the smallest of snacks can have a big impact on your day. If it’s edible, make sure you put it into the app.
Keep Track of Your Activity
Physical activity is another premise of losing weight quickly. You need to burn off about 3,500 calories to eliminate one pound of mass. This is on top of the number of calories you burn simply by being alive.
House cleaning, jogging, exercises, bowling and any other activity you do throughout the day needs to be recorded. Luckily, a lot of other apps are able to connect to MyFitnessPal to automatically record this information. One of my first apps which did this was Exercise.com.
Start an Account with Exercise.com
Exercise.com is another free app that introduces you to the world of fitness. It has about 3,000 different exercises complete with videos to show you how to do them. You can connect Exercise.com to MyFitnessPal to make recording your exercise routines easy to manage.
Breaking Personal Records
The biggest reason I still use Exercise.com to this day is to break personal records. Even if the scale says I haven’t lost weight this week, I know I am heading the right direction if I am able to crack out a few more push-ups than I could before.
Breaking personal records is also good for your mentality. When you feel accomplished in surpassing your own abilities, you get a sense of pride and a boost in confidence. This plays into keeping your mind focused on losing weight.
Strengthening your body and burning off excess calories is part of how you will quickly lose 80 pounds. It’s all about keeping yourself moving in any fashion.
Set Point Goals
Another aspect of Exercise.com is the point system. Currently, I am ranked in the top 900 of the people who use the website. It’s my goal to be in the top 800 before the end of this month.
Each exercise is worth an amount of points. If you maintain a goal to reach a higher “score” every week, you’re on the right track to lose 80 pounds.
Modify Your Goals Each Month
Every month, modify your weight loss goals according to your productivity. Look back and discover the areas you need to work on to improve yourself. Maybe it’s cutting out sugar after 8pm or perhaps you need to drink more water.
Tools like those I mentioned above help you build a strategy to lose 80 pounds. If you feel you can add more exercise, you may reach your goal much sooner. If you need to include food that is more filling but fewer calories, MyFitnessPal will display the results.
Don’t try to maintain a specific plan throughout your entire 80-pound adventure. Your needs are going to shift, and you will undoubtedly find elements that are just not working.
Modify your goals at the beginning of each month according to your successes and failures in the previous one.
Benefits of Using Wearable Technology
I use a Fitbit Charge 2 which is connect to MyFitnessPal. It accurately records my calorie burn for any activity I do throughout the day. Which is why I know sweeping and mopping the floors is a decent medium exercise when you push to get it done quickly.
In reality, just about any health monitor device will work for this purpose. It gives you an idea about how much you’re burning throughout the day and helps you identify when you need to increase your physical activity.
Personally, I try to get up and move about, such as going for walk, if I need to burn a few more calories for the day.
Your Health is Worth the Effort
More is wrapped up to losing weight other than looking good at the beach. It’s about prolonging your life, releasing tension on your joints and giving your body a chance to operate efficiently. An attractive outer appearance is merely a side effect, and it shouldn’t be your ultimate goal. Personally, I would simply like to live longer.
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