Long Term Weight Loss: The Reality of Losing Weight

Long-term weight loss is something that most don’t truly understand. This is what happens to most people who do not know how to do it right. They start eating a lot less, then they lose 5-10 lbs quickly (water weight), and then the weight loss dramatically slows.

They give up soon after. This is the reality for most people who don’t understand weight loss and weight gain. Today, I’m going to do my best to answer as many commonly asked questions about weight loss and the reality of it.

Why Do I Lose A Lot Of Weight Initially, Then It Slows?

This common concern is the reason that most people stop their diets and weight loss journey. The answer is actually quite simple. It comes down to water and glycogen.

Water Loss: In the early stages of your calorie deficit (first 5-10 days), due to fewer calories being eaten, your body needs energy from somewhere. It burns through glycogen stored in the muscles and liver first.

For every gram of glycogen, the body stores about 3-4 grams of water. As glycogen is burned, this water is lost as well, which ends up with you losing significant weight very quickly.

Once your body gets more used to the calorie deficit, the weight lost will be more because of fat loss.

What is glycogen? Simply put, it is quick energy for your muscles and liver.

How Long Does It Take To Lose Weight?

This is another question asked very often: “How quickly can I lose 5 lbs?” The answer to this is another question: what do you want to lose? Water or fat? Everyone is going to say fat. But to lose 5 lbs of pure fat, it takes some time.

You also have other things to consider. If you try to lose weight too fast, you will lose a good amount of your hard-earned muscle. If you try a deficit that is too small, your results might not be what you want.

This is where we have to have a mindset shift. Let me give you a scenario:

I am 200 lbs, and I want to look better. My current physique is pudgy, and I want to look leaner. We want to just “lose weight,” right? Not quite.

Say I go into a calorie deficit of 300-500 calories per day, then during the next month, eat plenty of protein (150-200g), and lift intensely 3-5 days a week. I also supplement with 5g of creatine per day and stay hydrated.

The potential result? I might still be at 200 lbs. But here’s the thing, I look much better. My muscles are bigger, my body looks leaner, and I feel great.

Now we have to ask ourselves, is it really about weight loss? No. It is about how good we look. The scale saying 175 lbs vs. 200 lbs makes no difference if you look the same.

So what we should do instead is look at weight loss as a long-term solution to getting rid of fat. Not just shedding pounds in hopes of looking and feeling better.

Why After a Big Meal Do I Gain So Much Weight?

Understanding this detail is KEY to understanding weight changes. When you eat a massive meal and drink lots of liquids, you obviously weigh more after.

That is not what makes people concerned. What people mostly get concerned about is the morning after the big eating day. They are still a lot heavier.

Why is this? Good news, you didn’t just gain 5-10 lbs of fat. It’s almost entirely water! That is such great news for those worried about their weight after big meals.

Personally, I like to have a heap of Domino’s on the weekends sometimes. This ends with me being at least 5 lbs heavier the morning after.

But I don’t panic. I know that I only gained around 0.5-1.0 lb of fat. I’ll show you what that looks like here:

This is my weight from Aug 26 - Nov 10. As you can see, every giant meal ends with me being much heavier. But what you also notice is that my weight plummets back down to normal only 2-3 days after.

Note: that screenshot is from Cronometer, the best application EVER when it comes to tracking calories and nutrients. Go check it out. Also, we have no affiliation with them (but would love to collab with them someday!).

Here is the science behind this in very simple terms. Your big meal likely had much more sodium than normal. More sodium = more water in the body. More water = more weight.

That’s it! All you have to do to fix this is after a huge eating day, go back to eating normally. That’s all. Your weight will return to normal once your sodium levels go back to normal.

How Do I Lose Weight Long Term?

Losing weight long term is no easy task. But, it is fairly simple. It comes down to only a handful of things:

• Calorie deficit: Eat fewer calories than your body burns. Very simple. A 500-1000 calorie deficit per day is good. No more than 1000.
• Protein intake: Eat 0.5-1.0g of protein per lb of body weight.
• More movement: Long-term weight loss is easier when you burn more calories. My pro tip is to start walking. Walking actually burns a lot of calories, believe it or not.
• Walk after big meals: Walking after big meals can help regulate blood sugar and insulin. These can contribute to fat gain.

That’s not all that goes into weight loss, but those are the pillars of what you should do. We will go into the depth of a long-term fat loss plan at a later date. If you eat less energy (calories) than your body burns, fat will come off. It just takes time.

Conclusion

Long-term weight loss is a very misunderstood topic. We hope this post helped you better understand the reality of fat loss and weight change.

Though it is misunderstood, weight loss is easy once you understand it. So don’t stress! Your goals are right around the corner.

Keep moving forward.