how long does it take to see results?

akblatz

hi, im 195 looking to get down to 140. i have a lot of health/hormonal issues that make weight loss very difficult. right now im tracking my calories, trying to eat healthy, and working out 4-5 times a week. how long does it take for a noticeable difference? everytime ive tried to lose weight before, theres been 0 change

csplatt

What tools do you use to tally your calories? Do you ever log your food in MFP by grams/ounces and use a digital food scale? Some prepackaged things don’t need this (a granola bar), but my success has always come from putting most of my food on a food scale — grapes, cheese, meats, sliced sourdough from publix, peanut butter, nuts, etc.

cmriverside

What do you mean, hormonal problems?

Me too.

Log food, stay within calories, adjust if needed. It's the only way. There IS a calorie number that will facilitate weight loss without you being miserable. You can find it.

I started at 220, menopausal, hypothyroid (medicated for the thyroid) and I lost down to 140 using calorie counting and good nutrition alongside some moderate exercise.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10940842/how-long-does-it-take-to-see-results

So how long have your current or previous attempts been? How fast were you trying to lose weight? Did you lose zero weight? Or by "noticeable difference" do you mean noticeable change in appearance?

Generically speaking, most people who are trying to lose a pound a week or faster will see some change in their weight trend line after 4-6 weeks, possibly sooner but not always. Women of the relevant age/stage should look at minimum one full menstrual cycle to compare body weight at the same relative point in at least two cycles, because hormone-related water retention can distort scale weight quite a lot.

If there's new exercise in the picture, especially fairly heavy exercise, that can add water retention for muscle repair - a perfectly healthy, normal phenomenon - which can distort scale results also, so it potentially could take a longer time to see fat loss on the scale. Fast fat loss of two pounds a week is only about 4.5ish ounces per day, just a small tick over a quarter of a pound. Most of us see multi-pound swings in water weight, plus variation in digestive waste in transit, from one day to the next. I've seen up to a 6-pound change myself, without there having been calorie intake that could trigger it - so water/waste difference. Those water/waste fluctuations can mask fat loss on the scale for a surprisingly long time.

On top of that, if a person gets a calorie goal from MFP, a so-called "calorie calculator" or even a fitness tracker worn nearly 24x7, those are just estimates . . . basically, the average for demographically similar people in the population. Though most of us are close to average in this way, some few people will be further off, maybe surprisingly far off. (It's at the rare end of the spectrum, but MFP and my good brand/model fitness tracker - one that estimates well for others who've commented here - are off by around 500 calories per day. It can happen, just isn't common.)

If there's literally no loss after 4-6 weeks, or much slower loss than targeted, it may be necessary to reduce calorie goal, log any unlogged/cheat/treat/oopsie days to know what's going on, or tighten up logging habits for better accuracy. Which one of those? Depends on personal details.

If we're talking inch measurements, that's complicated. We don't gain muscle very fast at all (I wish!) but the water retention from exercise or other factors can also affect measurements and hide progress. Even time of day can potentially make a difference. Also, it's difficult to measure ourselves at the exact same spot every time, so readings may be misleading.

If the question isn't scale weight or inches but appearance, that can take longer. Other people didn't really notice I was losing weight until around 20-25 pounds down, which was IIRC about the time I dropped one size in pants, too. When heavier, it takes a bigger drop to be visible; when lighter, a smaller loss will show. It's like peeling layers off an onion. That first layer may be a fairly large volume of peel, but the onion won't look much smaller. If we keep peeling, there are points when removing a similar-thickness layer may make the onion dramatically smaller.

I don't know what you mean by "health/hormonal issues". I'm hypothyroid (medicated), in menopause, have various physical things like osteoarthritis, torn meniscus, osteoporosis, etc. I lost weight from just below where you are not (I was at 183 pounds, 5'5", then age 59-60) 9+ years ago, have been at a healthy weight since, 132 this morning. Maybe your situation is more complex, because that's possible. But I strongly suspect weight loss is also possible.

One thing that always worries me when people say it's very difficult: Sometimes people think they need some miserably difficult plan, so it's harder to stick with it long enough to see meaningful change. Losing a meaningful total amount of weight takes patience and perseverance, IME. That puts a premium on a relatively easy, tolerable plan.

Healthy eating is a good thing, but it's not essential to revolutionize everything all at once, omit every calorie dense food or treat, eat mostly supposed "superfoods". On top of that, some people will add an unpleasant-to-them, punitively intense daily exercise schedule. That's not only unnecessary, it can be literally counter-productive for either weight loss or fitness progress.

I'm a big believer in a moderate, relatively easy, relatively happy, practical, affordable, sustainable plan. That can get a person to a healthy weight in less calendar time than some more intense, difficult plan that causes deprivation-triggered bouts of over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether because it's physically or psychologically Just. Too. Hard.

TL; DR: Meaningful scale weight loss usually will show up in weight trends over 4-6 weeks or one full menstrual cycle (but not always). Tape measurement changes can take at least that long, maybe longer. Clothes-size/fit changes can take a long time when at a heavier weight, but will happen faster when already slimmer. Appearance changes noticeable to others, likely a small number of months at a realistic loss rate. Appearance changes noticeable to ourselves, who knows, because our mind tends to see our mental body image even when we look in a mirror, and the mental image can take a long time to adjust. For quite some time after weight loss - months at goal weight? - I'd walk by a mirror or window reflection, and not recognize it was me, at first glance.

Make a sustainable - easy-ish - plan, and stay with it. Adjust when needed, if literally no changes on the kinds of time scales mentioned. Hang in there. It can work.

Best wishes!