9 Women Share Exactly How Long it Took Them to Lose 20 Pounds or More

Ever feel like it’s taking for-freakin’-ever for you to drop the weight you’re trying to lose? You’re not alone. 

While healthy weight-loss guidelines say you should aim to lose one or two pounds per week (whether you have five or 50 pounds to lose), there could be weeks, or even months, when the scale doesn’t budge, says dietitian nutritionist Tori Holthaus, R.D.N., founder of YES! Nutrition, LLC.

“How long it takes to lose a given amount of weight depends on so many factors, like whether you’ve lost weight before, health conditions, how much weight you actually need to lose, and your sleep and stress levels,” she says.

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Here, women who lost 20 pounds or more share how long it actually took them to shed the pounds—and what helped them finally reach their goal weights.