The following Mark's Daily Apple article was written by Marksissons

and is narrated by Brock Armstrong.

How quickly can you lose weight?

Take your average guy or gal that decides they're committed to finally losing that extra weight

that's crept on over the years. They're going to eat healthily, primally of course, start working

out and stop all the nonsense they know to be unhealthy. This might be you. A few days go by

then a week. The scale is budging, but barely. This might be you. A few days go by, then a week. The scale is budging, but barely.

This is going to take forever. How long is this going to take? We all want instant results, right?

Well, what is realistic? What is safe? What is effective? And what can you expect when you attempt to lose excess body

fat and reach your ideal body composition? Everyone knows that slow, gradual weight loss

produces the best long-term results and fast weight loss is unsafe and unhealthy. People you know

have probably clucked, oh, you're losing weight too fast now on

that low-carb fad diet, but just wait a few weeks and it'll all come rushing back. And when you go somewhere

like the CDC's weight loss page, they pat you on the head for wanting to lose it very quickly

and reassure you that people who

lose weight gradually and steadily are more successful at keeping it off. It's become an article of

faith that slow and steady weight loss wins the race. But is it actually true? I searched the literature for support of this widely accepted weight loss truth.

If folks like the Center for Disease Control were saying it, there had to be some evidence

for it, right?

I came up empty.

What little evidence I could find seemed to support the opposite contention,

that rapid initial weight loss is associated with better long-term weight maintenance than

...