What should my weight loss goal be by the week realistically ??

MommaDeQuatre

I am a 36 year old mother of 4, I'm 5'5" and 150 lbs active to lightly active depending on my week. My question is am I unresonable to have my goal loss amount at 1.5 lb a week? I'm looking to lose 20 approx and of course I want it off fast but I know that is not realistic. I haven't been shedding 1.5 a week as I've been on it for 35 days and lost 3lbs MFP has me on the 1200 calorie plan per my stats and requested rate of loss. So my question is am I pushing it too far and inhibiting my weight loss? Plus I feel like I'm starving at 1200 calories

malibu927

.5-1 pound per week based on your stats. Make sure you're also logging everything as accurately as possible.

propstome

I can be frustrating to: feel like you're starving, being active, keeping up with the household chores (including 4 kids!) and not seeing the scale budge much, but I suspect you will see a sudden drop one morning, when you're not expecting it. Your body is trying to adjust to the low cal intake. Sometimes adding a brisk walk on your lunch break (say 20-30 mins) can get things moving, it worked for me. Best of luck!

4legsRbetterthan2

A bit about how mfp works:

Government nutrition recommendations say for women to eat at least 1200 calories in order to get proper nutrition. Mfp will not give you a goal below 1200 calories because of this, regardless of the information you put in. I am guessing with your stats you would have to eat well under 1200 calories to actually lose 1.5 lbs, but mfp gave you 1200 since that is where it bottoms out.

For a 20 lb loss goal 0.5-1 lb/ week would be a more appropriate weekly goal. Also, if you feel like you are starving that is a red flag. Sometimes the old turtle and the hare story works well for weight loss. Having a plan you can stick to long term is essential to success. That may mean eating more and losing slower if it ensures you will stick to it for the long haul.

If you want a fun little educational tool to play with google scoobys workshop calorie calculator. You can put your stats in there and see how many calories you require just to stay alive (bmr) and how many calories you burn being alive and doing your day to day activity (tdee). Mfp uses a similar calculation method to get your calorie requirements and then builds a deficit in based on how fast you would like to lose weight (-250 cals= .5lb/week. -500 cals=1 lb/week ...so on....).

MommaDeQuatre

Thank you Everyone , looks like I will be switching to .5 -1 lb loss goal. Feels more realistic !