There’s nothing worse than having these big plans to be in great shape by a certain date … only to realize you’re not going to make it. Why? Because you started too late and didn’t give yourself enough time. It’s always best to err on the side of caution and give yourself more than enough time, rather than not enough time. After all, there’s nothing wrong with being in shape too early.
If it’s your first time trying to take your physique to places it’s never been before, the advice to start early is even more prudent. Everything might look great on paper – the perfect diet, the perfect training program and all the motivation in the world – but you just never know how your body is going to respond. Maybe you’ll be one of the fortunate ones for whom it all works like clockwork. But for everyone outside this category, what tends to happen is they realize they’re behind schedule and they try to play catch up by trying to ‘fast forward’ fat loss.
The next thing you know you’re doing more cardio than you need to be doing, and eating less calories than you should be eating. Basically, this one mistake forces you to make other mistakes. The next thing you know, you’re saying goodbye to some of your hard-earned muscle. It’s better to be safe than sorry, so give yourself ample time to meet your deadline. You want to work with your body, not against it. When you work with your body, it will respond. When you work against it, it will react.
How much time do you need? This of course depends on one, what is your end goal, and two, how far away from that end goal you presently find yourself. It’s difficult to say how long you’ll need to realize your fat-loss goal as everyone is different. The more weight you need to lose (and therefore the higher your body fat percentage is), the faster you can lose fat. As you get leaner and your body fat is lower, your rate of fat loss will decrease. On average, you’re probably safe to bet on about 1-1.5 lbs of fat per week, again recognizing that in some cases it can be more (if you have high body fat) and in the case of the already fairly lean, it will be less. Basically, in the beginning you can generally lose a lot of fat fast … but towards the end you tend to have to work even harder for less results, as those last few pounds of fat, take a lot work, and lot of patience and a lot of commitment.
In addition, it’s also wise to remember that fat loss is not a linear phenomenon – some weeks may produce better results than others. The take home point is that if you’ve set a deadline, make sure you give yourself enough time to meet your deadline.
Erik Ledin
