What’s a realistic weight loss goal?

“I can’t even begin to tell you how great this diet pill is. I started taking it three weeks ago and I’ve already lost 25kg and dropped 5 pants sizes. I have a six-pack now.”

Stories like this are all too common in the diet industry. People peddling diet products, supplements and plans will stop at nothing to make a sale – and there’s nothing wrong with that if you don’t care about ethics.

The problem for the average dieter (who has already been taken advantage of enough times to know that this stuff is all snake-oil), is that her expectations are way off because of this type of advertising.

Over and over again she sees ads that claim rapid, easy weight loss that leaves you looking four shades more tanned and beautifully toned.  She begins to believe that those are real results. And when she’s done two weeks on a solid diet, only lost 1kg and gained no (fake) suntan, she starts to think the diet is not working, and switches to another.

Unrealistic expectations lead to disappointment

The problem here is that the expectations are totally unrealistic, so no matter what diet she tries, it will never be good enough. And after a long enough period of going round and round in circles, she’ll start eating whatever she wants because she feels like no diet is ever going to work the way she thinks it should.

So what is realistic in terms of weight loss?

Well, it depends on how overweight you are. But, as a safe guide you can hope to lose 1kg per week for the first few weeks, and then maybe 0.5kg per week thereafter. If this is happening on your current plan, stick to it. If not, figure out if you’re doing something wrong. If you’re doing the plan perfectly and the weight is not coming off, change plans.

Brought to you by All4Women

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