How Long Does It Take For Weight Loss To Begin?

Since receiving her medical degree from Yale in 1994, Christine Lydon, MD has made it her life’s work to educate people about sound nutrition, effective training techniques, and lasting approaches to weight loss. A fitness personality and physique model with a long list of television and print credits, Dr. Lydon has served as a nutrition consultant to large corporations, as well as a personal fitness consultant to a diverse clientele ranging from housewives and firefighters to celebrities like supermodel Carre Otis, Quentin Tarantino, and the late Richard Pryor. Dr. Lydon, author of Ten Years Thinner, currently devotes herself to writing and speaking about weight management, disease prevention, and nonpharmaceutical alternatives for increased longevity.

Guest Blogger Christine Lydon--

Question: I've just started eating clean and exercising again. How long will it take before I notice changes in my body? I always get discouraged after a couple of days and I know that's not realistic.

Answer: An effective training regimen coupled with a healthy diet can produce tangible results in a very short time. You may notice subtle changes in as little as a week or even less. In my experience, most individuals ‘gain momentum’ around the third or fourth week of their fitness program. At that point, they’ve gained some muscle, revved their metabolism and, if they are eating properly, have transformed their internal furnace to one that preferentially burns body fat over muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrates). From that point onward, progress often accelerates as you approach your esthetic goals.

During the initial days and weeks, it is especially important to realize that your weight can fluctuate several pounds as a result of water retention. Moreover, because muscle weighs roughly three times as much as the identical volume of fat, changes in weight are not always an accurate indicator of improvements in body composition. Rather than succumbing to the temptation of the dreaded morning weigh-in, I recommend taking weekly digital photographs (front, side, and rear views) and doing weekly measures of chest, waist, and hip girth. If the siren call of your bathroom scale is too overpowering to resist, store it out of sight on a hard-to-reach closet shelf and limit weigh-in’s to once every week or two.

Question: Are stretch marks common among fitness/figure competitors? I never see them with any and I have many!

Answer: The vast majority of caucasian women, especially those who have carried a child to term, demonstrate stretch marks somewhere on their bodies. This includes fitness competitors. However, one of the best ways to conceal stretch marks is to either get a tan or apply a topical tanning product, which is exactly what fitness competitors do prior to a photo shoot or competition. In addition, most fitness competitors consume high protein, antioxidant-rich diets and drink lots of water throughout the day. These measures help keep skin nourished and well hydrated, and may decrease the likelihood of developing future stretch marks.

Question: I recently had a doctor tell me that the first 12 pounds of weight loss is from water weight. Is that true?

Answer: There is not a study in existence to support this claim.

Water retention can be a by-product of inflammation (disturbed homeostasis), and/or well-stocked muscle glycogen stores (which is actually a good thing), and/or high sodium intake. Any diet that recommends increasing your protein intake, or cutting back on salt and/or pro-inflammatory foods (which include high glycemic load carbohydrates), will almost certainly increase water losses during the first week or two. However, a well-designed diet and exercise program that compliments human physiology should have you shedding fat and gaining muscle long before you’ve dropped twelve pounds of body weight, water or otherwise. In fact, I can attest with 100% certainty that twelve pounds of water weight loss is never a prerequisite for either fat loss or measurable improvements in body composition.

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