Realistic Weight Loss Goals

Robertus

timandbeckivillard wrote: »

This may sound like a really stupid question, but can working out too much make it harder to lose weight? I am at the gym 6 days a week, but there are also some things that I wanted to do at home also. With regards to working out, is there such a thing as too much of a good thing?

Working out too much won't hurt your weight loss, but you may not be getting the full fitness benefit of working out if you do not get proper rest in between work-outs. Exercising every other day allows your body to rebuild after exercising tears it down. Your body is actually gaining fitness during the rebuilding/rest phase, not during the work-out itself. If you are already very fit, you can cross train and alternate easy and hard work-out days and still take advantage of the relative rest/rebuilding phase.

As for your original question, it is not really all that difficult to lose 40 lbs in 3 months if you are in relatively good shape to work out very effectively and can handle the necessary caloric deficit required to lose weight at this rate. Eat lots of protein and learn about nutrition. For example, essential fatty acids cannot be supplied by the body when burning fat. They are only supplied by your diet, eg, fish and nuts. But do not eat too many nuts--they have a lot of calories.

You weigh 221 lbs, but how tall are you? If you only want to lose 40 lbs total, ie, if your target or ideal weight is 181 lbs, it will be more difficult.

My current target is 194 lbs, but I started out at 270 lbs so I had more to lose. I was already in relatively good cardiovascular shape so I could work out at a pretty high level and increase to much higher levels relatively quickly. I lost about 40 lbs in 40 days and currently I'm at minus 50 lbs after about 70 days so I'm currently losing at a rate of about 10 lbs/month or 30 lbs in 3 months with another 25 lbs to lose. If I want to continue at that pace, I will need to eat 1500 calories per day and work out 3-5 times a week of sufficient intensity. That would put me at my goal in a little over 2 months. To achieve this, I will need to eat enough to stay healthy to sustain work-outs of sufficient intensity. That is relatively difficult to do on 1500 calories per day. Your body needs fuel to sustain its immune system and to do the rebuilding work in between work outs. But if I take care of myself and eat nutritious food, it can certainly be done. But I probably won't have enough free time for killer work-outs and I will need to take clients out for dinner and drinks. I have business trips to Belgium and Rome in the next 6 weeks. Given the reality of life, I will be satisfied with slower progress.

Here is a website, where you can input your stats and calculate how many calories you can eat and what level of exercise you must maintain to lose 40 lbs in 3 months or any other variation: http://www.losertown.org/eats/cal.php

Keep in mind that as you lose weight, you need fewer calories to sustain the lower body weight so if you keep the number of calories constant, the rate of loss naturally slows down. Also, while the frequency of working out is objective, the intensity of each work-out is very subjective and variable.

Liftng4Lis

You didn't gain 40 pounds in 3 months, so whats the rush to lose it?
Hypothetically, you can lose say 7 pounds in water that first week and a couple of pounds a week for the remainder of that first month, so you're at -13 pounds. Two more months at about 10 pounds a month if you're diligent, going for 1.5 pounds a week, so -33 pounds. Still the point here is to lose, while maintaining the most muscle mass AND incorporating a lifestyle change that has sustainability.

Robertus

AmberSue09 wrote: »

The more you restrict your diet the more likely you are relapse and gain back any weight you might lose.

FitForLife2015 wrote: »

... less likely to relapse. ...

raisealittlehell wrote: »

... The problem with going on strict diets and restricting food, means you are more likely to binge, go of track, etc. I understand people want to eat healthy, wholesome foods (fruits, veggies, lean meats, whole grains, etc) but not allowing yourself to indulge once in awhile can set you up for disaster.

This danger is real, of course, don't get me wrong, but if you are committed and have sufficient will-power and motivation, you will not relapse, binge, go off track, end in disaster, etc.

raisealittlehell wrote: »

... The reason fad diets don't work is because as soon as you go off them you gain all the weight back.
... If you get into the mindset that this is your lifestyle now, you are more likely to be successful in losing the weight and maintaining it.

The crucial point here is that it is absolutely essential to set up and follow a good maintenance plan once you attain your target weight. This can be independent of the rate at which you lose weight.

FitForLife2015 wrote: »

... Losing weight too rapidly can also lead to too much saggy skin, and that's a whole other problem.

I think this is mostly a problem for those who are very obese. If you are merely overweight or even moderately obese and if you maintain a high level of exercise intensity, your body can adapt to weight loss without much of a saggy skin issue.