So how long does it take to lose 50 pounds?

So how long does it take someone to lose 20, 40 or 50 pounds?  It really just comes down to how hard you are willing to work at it.  At first when you change your diet you are going to lose a lot of weight in a short amount of time.  The initial 10 to 20 pounds of weight loss can be misleading and in reality is probably a lot of water weight.  The goal is to lose one to two pounds of fat a week so a healthy 50 pound weight loss should take you around six to twelve months. 

The pictures to the right are for a total weight loss of 55 pounds to date.  Before I changed my diet the pants in the picture were starting to get tight around my waist.  I was about to have to move up to the next pant size and now I can almost fit two of me in them.

The magic ingredient to successfully losing weight is persistence.  You have to stick with your diet and workout program if you want to see continued progress.  To give an example, I pretty much maintained my weight during the summer since I opted to spend more times with my kids and less time in the gym.  Although I did stick with my diet, I chose to go to the gym only about three days a week during the summer months. 

I was only able to maintain my bodyweight, instead of losing additional weight, because I cut back so much on my cardio and workout program (which was a plus because in the past I would have regained bodyweight).  Once the kids went back to school I was able to get back on schedule and start losing weight again. 

I have learned a lot since the summer and feel that I could have made some adjustment that would have helped me still lose some weight.  However sticking with your program really is the key to consistent weight loss.