How Long Will It Take to Lose 7 Pounds?

Many of us have a goal of losing weight. But losing weight too quickly can be unsustainable and unhealthy.

A combination of cutting calories and getting exercise is often a safe and effective way of losing weight. According to Mayo Clinic, it's possible to lose as much as 1.5 pounds (lbs) a week if your calorie deficit, or number of calories you burn versus those you consume, is between 500 and 750.

This means it may take at least a month to lose 7 lbs, though that might not be the ideal amount for everyone, depending on numerous health factors. Always remember to check with your doctor, as well, before making any significant dietary changes.

How Much Weight Can You Lose Safely?

If you are considering losing weight, it’s a good idea to start with understanding your body mass index (BMI).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourage people to determine their BMI by dividing their weight in kilograms by the square of their height in meters. You can also use the CDC’s online calculator.

In general, an ideal BMI is between 18.5 and 24.9, and a BMI higher than 25 is considered overweight. A person who is 5 feet, 10 inches tall and weighs 180 lbs would have a BMI of 25.8. After losing 7 lbs, that individual would have a BMI of 24.8.

If you are considered overweight or a person with obesity, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends losing no more than 5 to 10 percent of your body weight over a six-month period. Even losing 3% to 5% of your body weight can have health benefits, including lowering your blood pressure and reducing your risk of chronic diseases like diabetes.

What Is the Most Effective Way to Lose Weight?

A combination of healthy eating and physical activity is key to losing weight. As Mayo Clinic explains, diet has a stronger effect on weight loss, but physical activity is important because it ensures you don't lose bone density or muscle mass as you lose weight.

That’s why simply cutting calories by fasting or taking on a binge diet is not an effective way to keep weight off. Your body relies on nutrients from your diet to remain healthy. Reducing the amount of calories you take in while also remaining active allows you to burn fat quicker, according to Cleveland Clinic.

Most adults need 150 to 300 minutes of moderate exercise a week or 75 minutes of vigorous activity, in addition to two days of muscle-building activities, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services guidelines. Moderate activities can be anything from walking to dancing, while vigorous exercise can include running or swimming.

How does that translate to losing pounds? Research from the 1950s showed that you needed to create a deficit of 3,500 calories per week to lose 1 pound of fat. But that number may be higher or lower for many people, according to Mayo Clinic.

In general, however, losing 7 lbs in a month would mean burning 24,000 calories, or 790 calories daily over a 31-day month.

Time and intensity of workout are important if you are trying to burn calories and lose weight.

For a 160-lb person, that might translate to an hour of hiking (438 calories burned) and an hour on an elliptical trainer with moderate effort (365 calories burned), according to Mayo Clinic. Other activities, such as walking or golfing for an hour, may burn fewer calories.

You can burn additional calories if you aim to be active outside of your regular workout sessions. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute recommends opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator or doing common chores like washing your car, gardening, raking leaves, or shoveling snow.

Do not overdo it, however. If you have health concerns about completing any activity, talk to your doctor or physical therapist about what exercise routine may be best for you.

What Is the Best Way to Reduce Calories?

In addition to burning calories through physical activity, reducing your caloric intake is important.

If you're aiming for that deficit of 790 calories a day and do a workout that burns about 400 calories, you need to reduce your caloric intake by about 390 calories. This way, you're creating half your caloric deficit through exercise and half through diet.

If you're used to eating a 2,400-calorie diet and want to reduce your intake to about 2,000 calories, you should aim to eat a variety of healthy foods. This ensures the right balance of carbohydrates, fats, and protein and with all the vitamins and minerals you need to function.

The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) eating plan from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, for example, includes numerous options for meal-planning and maintaining a consistent, healthy caloric intake. The plan includes eating:

• Vegetables, fruits, and grains
• Fish
• Poultry
• Beans, nuts, and oils
  

The plan also involves:

• Limiting foods high in saturated fats in favor of fat-free or low-fat products
• Reducing sugary foods and drinks

It’s not just a matter of eating healthy once. Balancing meals throughout the day is an important way to get the nutrients you need and keep energy levels high.

A low-calorie diet is not a guarantee of keeping weight off, however. Research published in Nutrients shows that only 25 percent of people who lose weight keep it off long term.

It's also important to individualize your weight-loss plan based on your current eating habits. For example, if you are currently eating 3,000 calories a day, then following a 1,600-calorie diet at the outset may be too extreme and unsustainable. Start by considering what it would take to get to a 500- to 750-calorie deficit, which falls in the range of most weight-loss recommendations, according to Diabetes Spectrum. Consult a healthcare professional such as a registered dietitian-nutritionist before making drastic changes to your diet.