This is the time of year when us in the fitness industry start to see a massive increase in gym memberships and personal training. We’ve had a few weeks of great weather and everyone’s mind suddenly turns to summer and that beach holiday they booked. The question most people ask is how long will it take for me to look like this? To lose (x) amount of weight? 

The answer is complicated and can depend on a number of factors. Many people see ‘transformations’ on Facebook that take place over a few weeks. If these are real then it is highly likely a product of some form of crash diet (an extremely low calorie diet, usually in form of a meal replacement shake or drink). Not only will a majority of the weight lost going to be muscle, the rebound from this type of diet is usually pretty hard. People tend to find they end up weighing more than they did to begin with!!

So what is realistic?

It depends on your start point. If you carry a fair amount of excess body get then you should start to see more weight shift at the beginning of a diet and exercise routine. Sometimes in excess of 2-3 lbs a week. As you get leaner and your body adapts to the exercise and calorie intake this will inevitably slow down.  This is where the hard work starts and it becomes more mentally challenging to keep pushing with hard exercise and clean eating.

Depending on your goal you may be happy with a 5-10 lb loss or you may not be. Whatever your goal is for this summer, make sure you’ve left yourself enough time to do it. Believe me there’s nothing more frustrating than having someone turn up and tell you they want to lose 14 lbs in 3 weeks before their holiday! This is why I suggest to clients to allow for 8-12 weeks of solid training and dedication to achieve their goals.

The morale of the story is to start now to get your body for this summer! For information on one-to-one personal training get in touch.