The Six Month Rule for Weight Loss

I just read a very interesting article online a few days ago about the actual facts on weight loss, and some of it was contradictory to other things you may hear about time frames and myths about losing weight, but honestly it was a very refreshing piece about how there are so many fad diets out there and the majority of people who try all these fads aren’t the ones that keep the weight off for the long term, either that, or they are the ones that constantly fluctuate in weight their whole life without truly hitting their goals, or briefly hitting them only to bounce back up and down on the scale again.

The actual fact about those who lose weight successfully shows that those that set a six month goal or how much weight they want to lose and actually reach it in that six month time frame, are usually the ones that most successfully keep the weight off for good.  They say that if you don’t reach your weight loss goals in that six months, that it’s best to then set another six month goal for yourself, and if you have already lost some of the weight in the goal, just not all of it, you can tack some on, as long as it’s not unreasonable for what you already set your personal precedent at.

Here’s another shock about weight loss.  Exercising does not make a huge difference in initial weight loss goals.  Although it can help naturally curb the appetite and get your eating healthier because of a certain mindset, they say that it does not actually take away so many calories unless you are working out at such an intensity that you are burning 500 to 1000 calories. 

Instead, they say the calorie cutting is the biggest thing to get the body to start shedding weight, especially in the beginning.  This is NOT any sort of endorsement for not exercising though, as I believe it still kicks the metabolism up higher and has enormous benefits that have nothing to do with weight loss anyways.  I also believe that exercise is nature’s natural appetite suppressant, and for me personally I have found that exercise and eating healthy go hand in hand – it’s just a psychological thing I guess. 

They say that the maintenance phase of weight loss is where exercise becomes really important, as this is when the increase in metabolism and the increased muscle mass that burns more calories comes in, since you are most likely not cutting calories as dramatically at this phase and are relying on the maintenance of the weight you already shed to keep yourself in check.