Weight loss and fitness goal settings

willworkoutforwine

I decided to play around with my weight loss and fitness goal settings because I was curious about what maintenance would look like for me once I hit my goal (12lbs to go). It seems that no matter what I do, the max I can "expect" to lose is 1.2lbs a week. I don't have a problem with that and it's in line with what I've been losing over the past 3 months. BUT, I've read in other threads that the less you have to lose, the less you should be losing per week (i.e., 2lbs a week is not likely or recommended with under 15lbs to lose), and I'm just curious about why?

This might sound like a dumb question but it's an honest one. I've had a theory for a long time that I couldn't lose as much as I wanted per week (~2lbs) no matter what I did but I just figured my body hates me. It seems I was onto something and didn't know it, and I just still don't understand the "why?"

Enlighten me, please. And be kind.

P.S. Maintenance looks like 1740 calories a day. THAT is even more motivation to get there, after eating 1200 a day. I'm not even sure I can eat that much anymore. Haha, who am I kidding? I'll manage!

not_a_runner

The smaller you are, the less calories you burn, which makes it harder to create the kind of deficit needed to lose two pounds a week. You also risk losing more muscle mass, and it's very hard to stick to the extremely low calories and or crazy amount of exercise you would need to do to get there.

You are getting pretty close to your goal though, I would stick with a deficit that is working for you. And if you're finding your current 1200 difficult, you can bump it up. You will lose slower, but it will be easier to stick with in the long run.
Sustainability is huge, especially when you're reaching the finish line. Two pounds a week for someone who maintains at 1740 is not going to be sustainable.

willworkoutforwine

Thanks! I'm doing ok on 1200 calories a day, plus eating back a some of my exercise calories when I need to, so I'll stick with it as long as I can.

cmriverside

I learned that the human body has a plan that may be against what I would necessarily want.

In times of famine, a layer of fat is a good thing for survival. Hundreds of thousands of years of human existence has shown that there are times of famine. It's really easy in today's First World countries to get food, but biology still has a need to survive and protect against a potential lack of resources...and women tend to hold more fat than men, in case of a baby. As women go through menopause, our bodies balance lack of hormones with additional fat. It's kind of a matter of beating biology to get below a certain body fat percentage.

I went with how I was feeling. When I got close to goal, I really needed more calories. I was uncomfortably hungry, fatigued and irritable on low calories. Those last ten to fifteen are difficult to lose and difficult to keep off.