But on average, you should lose 10 pounds in exactly 5-6 weeks for a healthier and more achievable estimate. This means that you lose around 2 pounds per week, which is in line with the CDC's recommendation for safe weight loss at a rate of 1–2 pounds per week, a sustainable goal.
Fast weight loss, such as losing 10 pounds in a week, is possible — but it's usually not worth it. In fact, it could be detrimental to your physical and mental health. In reality, plans and programs that promise rapid weight loss or extreme results are best avoided.
A cutting diet lasts 2–4 months, depending on how lean you are before dieting, and is normally timed around bodybuilding competitions, athletic events, or occasions like holidays ( 4 ). A cutting diet aims to get you as lean as possible while maintaining muscle mass.
While losing 10 pounds in a month may seem like a lofty goal, it's entirely possible by making some small modifications to your diet and lifestyle. Taking it one step at a time and making a few small changes each week can help you lose weight safely and keep it off long-term.
If you wanted to lose 10 pounds in two weeks, you'd need to cut or burn 2,500 calories per day for those 14 days. This is not realistic or healthy for anyone. A healthier approach is to aim for a 500- to 1,000-calorie deficit each day, according to the Mayo Clinic.
How Long Should You Mini-Cut? As a rule of thumb, it will need at least 2 weeks to lose enough fat to be worthwhile. At the other end of the spectrum, dieting for more than 6 weeks will start to increase your risk of muscle loss. So, 2-6 weeks is the range for mini-cuts.
Losing significant amounts of weight quickly is not recommended and may be dangerous. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommend people looking to lose weight aim to lose between 1–2 pounds per week for safe, healthy weight loss.
"By the time you hit 10 pounds, your jeans will feel differently, absolutely," Blum says. "Just a little looser. Theoretically, 10 pounds is considered one size." Once you get past that first couple pounds where you might not be able to tell, Blum says, you really do start to lose body fat.
For a weight change to show up on your face, you'd need to change your BMI by 1.33 points, the study found. That means a woman and man of average height would need to gain or lose eight pounds and nine pounds, respectively.
A 10 percent body weight reduction can be achieved easily and safely, and I've personally used this method to cut up to 15 percent of my body weight in less than 24 hours. Going above that amount significantly increases the risk to your health, and I don't recommend it.
Furthermore, the longer the cut, the more muscle mass is lost overall since it is impossible to avoid muscle loss, so keep this in mind. Most bodybuilders do not exceed cuts of 4 months but usually do at least 2 months.
But if you cut calories too quickly, muscle tone will seriously suffer. “Calorie restrictive diets may cause your body to break down the muscle for energy and fuel,” says Satrazemis. In addition to waving goodbye to your shapely guns and rear, a loss in muscle mass can slow your metabolism.
I suggest most lifters choose a 4-5 day workout split when cutting. My go-to splits are either a 4-day (upper, lower, upper, lower) split or a 5-day split that has a lifter training most muscle groups at least twice per week.
It is recommended that you shed only 1 to 2 pounds per week. By following this target, you have a more manageable and safer weight goal to achieve your targets. If you lose, say 1 pound per week, it will take you 7 weeks to hit the 7-pound mark.
Since there are about 3,500 calories in one pound, it would take you one week to lose one pound and 20 weeks to lose 20 pounds.
According to various surveys and studies, women with attractive features usually have a BMI of 19, and men with attractive faces have a BMI of 24. This means their ideal weights for women and men should be 111 and 165 pounds respectively.
Body-weight loss is usually noticed around the belly, waistline, and thighs first. This is because your body stores fat in different locations. For instance, men hold more fat around their belly, while women store it on their thighs and hips. Weight loss gradually starts with a reduction in belly size.
If you're carrying lots of excess weight, 10 pounds may not seem like enough to make a difference in your health. However, scientific evidence shows that losing just 10 pounds can improve conditions related to metabolic syndrome, such as hypertension and high cholesterol.
To put it bluntly: "Women and men of average height need to gain or lose about about 8 and 9 pounds, respectively, for anyone to see it in their face, but they need to lose about twice as much for anyone to find them more attractive," lead author Nicholas Rule told Medical News Today.
Your face skin might start sagging.
Premature drooping of the jawline (a.k.a. jowls) is one of the most common issues. When you drop pounds, you're also shedding the components that make your skin plump, like subcutaneous fat, collagen, and elastin, says Dr. Gohara.
One easily forgotten reason is that your weight only indicates your body mass index (BMI), not your body composition, which is the amount of muscle versus fat you have on your body. Your body composition makes a huge difference in what you look like even though it can't be measured by the scale.
We recommend losing no more than 1 to 2 pounds per week for sustainable weight loss, which means you could potentially lose 10 pounds in five weeks. However, a more realistic timeline is 10 to 24 weeks, since most people don't have hours to devote to walking every day.
But do you really know what's realistic? Over the long term, it's smart to aim for losing 1 to 2 pounds (0.5 to 1 kilogram) a week. Generally to lose 1 to 2 pounds a week, you need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories more than you consume each day, through a lower calorie diet and regular physical activity.