Exact Answer: 1.5 years
Most people feel the need to shed some pounds at one point in their life or another. But those people find out that losing weight is a lot harder than gaining weight. Because of this, many people will become impatient, losing track of their goals and failing to lose weight.
How Long Does it Take to Lose 50 Pounds?
Well, that depends on a few different factors, but it mostly depends on what you eat and how much of it you’re eating.
Those who practice CICO, or calories in, calories out, will begin to lose weight. However, some people need to apply more than just CICO and may need to restrict carbohydrates, sugar, and more.
Though, if you continuously burn more calories than you take in, you’ll likely lose weight. To figure out how many calories you need, and how long you’ll need to eat at a deficit, you’ll need to figure out your TDEE first, which will tell you how many calories you’d need to consume per day to maintain your current weight. This can be done easily with an online TDEE calculator.
However, if you restrict your calories, you’ll lose weight, for instance:
-By eating 500 calories less per day: By eating around 500 calories less than what your TDEE is per day, one can expect to lose about 1-2 pounds per week. For someone looking to lose 50 pounds, at a weight loss rate of 2 pounds per week, they would need to continue for 25 weeks or about 6 months.
-By eating 200 calories less per day: If someone eats 200 calories less than their TDEE per day, one could expect to lose about half a pound per week, sometimes less and sometimes more. To lose 50 pounds like this, one would need to continue this deficit for about 25 months or two entire years.
| Calories Under TDEE Per Day | Time |
| 500+, 1-2 lbs per week loss | About 6 months |
| 200, 0.5 lbs per week loss | About 2 years |
| Average | 1.5 years |
It should be noted, that on average, it takes someone about 1 year to 1.5 years to lose 50 pounds. This is because weight loss is not linear and there are a lot of factors that may slow weight loss or speed it up.
But Why?
Perhaps the worst aspect of trying to lose weight is how long it takes to do so. Everybody tends to react to weight loss differently, and there are a lot of different aspects that can affect how quickly someone loses weight.
Some factors that may slow weight loss include PCOS, Thyroidism, mental illness, injury, sickness, stress, and much more. Sometimes, your metabolism is slow, and sometimes your genetics try and sabotage your weight loss.
Weight loss takes time because your body needs to break down the fat molecules and release them, this is done by changing your lifestyle and watching what you eat and how much of it you’re eating.
No matter how long it may take you, the most important aspect when trying to lose weight is consistency. Eat under your caloric maintenance level, exercise all you can, drink plenty of water and continue to do so until you see the results you want to see.