Exercise Daily – Do you want to know how long does it take to lose 20 pounds? If so, then you are in a perfect spot. Let’s find out.
If you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle while losing 20 pounds, then the best way is to lose 2 pounds every week. It means you can easily lose 20 pounds in 10 weeks.
However, if you want to take things a little bit slow and easier, then you can lose one pound every week. It will help you to lose 20 pounds in 20 weeks.
How Long Does It Take to Lose 20 Pounds By Working Out?
Carrying around an excessive amount of weight is not only inconvenient, but it may also be harmful to your health.
Over the last several years, obesity rates in the United States have increased, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
According to the most recent data available, more than one-third of American adults are obese, which is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater.
A weight-loss strategy that incorporates exercise and a nutritious diet outperform a calorie-restrictive diet alone.
Exercise has been shown to be effective in preventing or even reversing the effects of some illnesses. Exercise helps to decrease blood pressure and cholesterol levels, which may help to prevent a heart attack from occurring.
You can even lose 20 pounds easily if you work out daily. It all depends on your will and determination.
Furthermore, by engaging in physical activity, you can reduce your chance of acquiring some forms of cancer, such as colon and breast cancer.
Exercise has also been shown to increase a person’s sense of confidence and well-being, which may assist in lessening rates of anxiety and depression in most people.
How Long Does It Take to Lose 20 Pounds By Intermittent Fasting?
Generally, intermittent fasting helps you lose one pound every week. It means you can lose 20 pounds easily by intermittent fasting in 20 weeks.
The most important reason that intermittent fasting is effective for weight reduction is that it encourages you to consume fewer calories.
During the fasting periods, all of the various regimens call for foregoing meals.
Unless you make up for it by eating much more during the eating intervals, you’ll be ingesting fewer calories than you would otherwise.
Several studies, including one published in 2014, found that intermittent fasting lowered body weight by 3–8 percent over a period of 3–24 weeks.
Weight loss may occur at speeds ranging from 0.55 to 1.65 pounds (0.25–0.75 kg) per week. It is only when intermittent fasting is used as a weight-loss method.
In addition, people experienced a 4–7% drop in waist circumference, indicating that they reduced belly fat.
These findings suggest that intermittent fasting may be a beneficial weight-loss technique in certain circumstances.
Having said that, the benefits of intermittent fasting extend far beyond the reduction in body weight.
There are several benefits for metabolic health, and it may even help lower the risk of cardiovascular disease in certain individuals.
Despite the fact that intermittent fasting does not necessitate calorie control, the majority of the weight loss is mediated by a reduction in overall calorie consumption.
How Long Does It Take to Lose 20 Pounds By Running?
Burning 70,000 more calories — the equivalent of 350 200-calorie candy bars — is required to shed 20 pounds of fat.
This may appear to be a significant amount of weight to reduce in three months, but it is not an unrealistic amount of weight to drop in three months. To achieve this goal, you must run regularly, consume nutritious foods, and keep track of your calories.
Run for a minimum of one hour and fifteen minutes every week. Running for 25 minutes three times a week, for example, is a good way to spread out your time across the week.
This is the amount of weekly physical exercise recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This is a bare minimum; running more than this will make weight reduction simpler and more manageable.
Ensure that you have a calorie deficit of 778 calories each day. For example, if you burn 500 calories while jogging, you would need to eliminate an extra 278 calories from your diet. You will have to do it in order to achieve the necessary deficit.
As a result, if your daily calorie requirement for weight maintenance is 2,000, you would only consume 1,722 calories. Over the course of three months, a daily shortfall of 778 calories equates to around 70,000 calories.
Because it takes 3,500 extra calories to shed a pound of fat, losing 20 pounds in three months is a realistic goal for most people. This equates to a weekly weight decrease of around 1-1/2 pounds.
You can try these running shoes:
How Long Does It Take to Lose 20 Pounds By Cycling?
The average person may burn 300 calories in 60 minutes of steady, moderate cycling, but you can burn more calories if you raise the intensity.
It means you should burn 70,000 calories to lose 20 pounds. So, if you do 30 minutes of cycling every day, it will take 2 and a half months to lose 20 pounds.
Pedaling along at a moderate speed is unlikely to be of much use in your weight loss efforts. But if you force yourself to work harder and increase the intensity of your ride, you will make greater progress toward your weight loss target.
Generally speaking, the faster you bike, the more calories you’ll be able to burn. This is due to the fact that cycling faster requires more energy from your body. You’ll lose weight more quickly if your body burns more calories than it takes in.
If you want to ride your bike in the great outdoors, you may choose from a variety of possibilities, including road riding, trail biking, and mountain biking, among others. You could even give up your automobile and ride your bike to work or around town to run errands.
However, it cannot be a one-time activity. In order to lose weight with cycling, you must make it a regular component of your workout routine.
For indoor cycling, you can try this exercise cycle:
How Long Does It Take to Lose 20 Pounds – Other Options
Increase Your Water Intake
Increasing your water consumption is a simple and effective technique to accelerate weight reduction with little effort.
Over the course of a 12-week period, one research discovered that mixing a low-calorie diet with increased water intake before meals resulted in an additional 44 percent weight reduction.
According to research, water may help you lose weight by raising your metabolism. In turn, it temporarily increases the number of calories you burn after you eat.
According to one study conducted on 14 individuals, consuming 16.9 fluid ounces (500 mL) of water every 30–40 minutes increased metabolism by 30 percent, according to the results.
It can also help you feel fuller longer between meals, which can help you eat less and lose weight.
According to one small research, consuming 16.9 fluid ounces (500 mL) of water before a meal lowered the number of calories ingested thereafter by 13 percent.
Drink at least 34–68 fluid ounces (1–2 liters) of water every day to have the greatest outcomes and to maximize your weight reduction.
Increase the Amount of Protein You Consume Each Day
Do you want to know how long does it take to lose 20 pounds by increasing protein intake? If so, then this section is for you.
If you want to drop 20 pounds quickly, increasing the amount of protein-rich meals in your diet is vitally necessary.
The consumption of a high-protein diet relates to reduced belly fat, as well as the preservation of muscle mass and metabolism during weight reduction.
Protein can also aid in the reduction of hunger and the reduction of calorie consumption.
When 19 people were studied, it was shown that boosting protein consumption by just 15% boosted feelings of fullness while also dramatically decreasing caloric intake, belly fat, and overall body weight.
Taking a high-protein meal significantly reduced levels of ghrelin, the hormone that increases hunger, when compared to eating a high-carb breakfast, according to another research.
A few nutritious sources of protein that you can readily incorporate into your diet are meat, fish, poultry, beans, eggs, nuts, and seeds.
Start Lifting Weights
A sort of exercise that includes exerting effort against resistance in order to build muscular strength and endurance is resistance training.
Including weight exercise in your regimen can increase fat burning and metabolism, allowing you to burn more calories.
It also burns calories even when you’re not working out. If you want to know how long does it take to lose 20 pounds by weightlifting, then read the below-mentioned studies.
According to one study, 10 weeks of resistance training can raise metabolism by 7%, stabilize blood sugar levels in people with diabetes, and result in a weight reduction of 4 pounds (1.8 kg) in individuals who exercise regularly.
Another study, conducted on 94 women, found that resistance exercise helped to maintain fat-free mass and metabolism following weight reduction. It allowed the body to burn more calories throughout the day.
Squats, planks, and lunges are good bodyweight exercises to start with. You may also go to the gym or practice bodyweight exercises at home.
As a beginner, you can try this weightlifting equipment:
Reduce Your Carbohydrate Intake
Another effective technique for accelerating weight loss is to reduce your consumption of refined carbohydrates.
Refined carbohydrates have had their nutritional and fiber content taken away during processing. It results in a final product that is deficient in nutrients.
Furthermore, they often have a high glycemic index. It means that they are digested and absorbed quite fast after being consumed. Rapid digestion causes spikes and falls in blood sugar levels, which increase appetite.
Higher consumption of refined carbohydrates also refers to increased body fat and weight gain in several studies. The following study will let you know how long does it take to lose 20 pounds by cutting on carbohydrates.
For example, one research of 2,834 participants discovered that a higher diet of refined carbs was related to increased belly fat, but a higher intake of whole grains was associated with decreased belly fat.
The findings of the second small research were similar, revealing that a diet high in whole grains reduced both body weight and calorie consumption when contrasted with a diet high in processed grains.
To get started, just replace refined grains found in pasta, white bread, cereals, and pre-packaged foods. You can also start with nutritious whole-grain alternatives such as couscous, quinoa, brown rice, and barley. All of these foods are readily available at most grocery stores.
How Long Does It Take to Lose 20 Pounds – FAQs
How quickly can you lose 20 lbs?
It’s understandable to desire results quickly, but don’t expect to drop 20 pounds in a few weeks.
A 20-pound weight reduction might take anywhere between 10 and 20 weeks, or even longer. However, it may also depend on your weight, gender, and degree of physical activity.
Can you lose 20 pounds in a month?
No, it is suitable that you lose 1 to 2 pounds each week at a healthy and sustainable rate. It is possible to shed between 4 and 8 pounds in one month by maintaining a daily calorie deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories.
So, assuming you maintain your current pace of weight reduction, you should be able to reach your weight loss target of 20 pounds in approximately 2 1/2 months.
Can you lose 20 pounds in 3 months?
Yes, the ideal weight loss objective is to lose 20 pounds in three months. That translates to a weekly weight loss of somewhat more than 1.5 pounds.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, losing 1 to 2 pounds each week produces the best long-term weight loss effects.
Conclusion
The short answer of “how long does it take to lose 20 pounds” is 3 months (ideally). However, if you exercise more or use different weight loss techniques, then you can reach this goal even in 2 and a half months.
The human body is not that straightforward. The fact is that there is no way to correctly predict how much weight you will lose. Moreover, you can’t really know how quickly you will lose it. So, it all depends on your age, gender, weight, and other multiple factors.
Share the story of your weight loss journey with us. We’ll feature you on our “Featured Page” (Terms and Conditions may apply) and will help you to emerge as a motivation for those who struggle with weight loss.
