How Much Weight Is Healthy to Lose Each Month?

The South Beach Diet and the Vegetarian Diet are diet fads. Diet pills can also make you lose weight quickly. Who says losing weight fast is a good thing? Losing weight slowly and effectively, like the tortoise winning the proverbial race, is the best approach to weight loss. Losing several pounds each month is the more healthy approach, to long-term weight loss rather than shedding a lot of weight very quickly.

Low Monthly Totals

According to the Mayo Clinic a person should first consult a health care professional before jumping onto the diet bandwagon. A dieter should find out the best methods to losing weight. They also recommend that a potential dieter take it slowly while losing weight. The Mayo Clinic states that a person should lose one to two pounds a week. Adding that up for a month, for a recommended total weight loss of four to eight total pounds.

Fat

The Mayo Clinic says that a person's dieting goals should be to lose fat, not water, each month. One pound of fat, according to the Mayo Clinic, contains 3,500 calories. That means a person would have to burn off 3500 calories more than he consumes to lose a single pound of fat.

Total Weight

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) states that even if a person loses just five to ten percent of total body weight, this is very good for the body. It is also good for overall health and can decrease blood pressure, cholesterol levels and blood sugar levels.

Lifetime Plan

According to the Mayo Clinic and the CDC, a person who wants to diet should try not to lose weight quickly by utilizing fad diets. Instead, make dieting part of an overall lifetime plan, by first losing the desired weight. Then maintain that weight loss and healthy outlook by eating healthy foods, working out and by generally living a healthy lifestyle.

Healthy Plan

The Mayo Clinic says to follow a simple rule: By slicing 500 calories a day off your total calorie consumption, you can lose the desired weight. Do the math, 500 calories a day, multiplied by seven days a week, equals 3,500 calories. Following this simple advice, you will lose the targeted one pound of fat each week.

Slow and Steady

Weight loss comes down to time and commitment. Losing weight quickly is very much like the rabbit running for all its worth. He loses the race because he burns himself out. This is what happens when a person tries to lose too much weight too fast--he burns out. The CDC reports that people who lose weight too quickly usually end up gaining all the weight right back. Remember the tortoise: Slow and steady wins the race.

Conclusion

Losing one to two pounds a week is a great weight loss goal. Start by talking to your doctor to get his guidance. Planning long-term weight loss goals will last a lifetime. Four to eight pounds a month are attainable with proper diet and exercise, but 20 pounds a month is nearly impossible and will rarely stay off.