The 1 percent rule - how much fat can we really metabolize per day/week?

mountainmare

No it's from the houseboat we rented in Paris. At my age--after several overuse injuries in my mid 60s I do exercise and play with "Barbie weights" but have learned to be cautious. Right now the estimate is pretty close to reality.

Maxxitt

mountainmare wrote: »

Doesn't the actual goal make a difference? I see all the time the statement about "as you get close to goal" or "when you are 5-10 lbs away from goal"
To me it makes a difference if your goal is the lowest BMI, or mid BMI-to just get to the top of healthy BMI--or you lose 100 lbs and that puts you near the bottom of overweight.
For me--pushing 70--to lose less than 1 pound (believe me that's not 1%) I'm at 1200 calories, to maintain at the very bottom of "overweight" is a bit less than 1400. Sometimes the discussions of gradual weight loss and "I would starve at under 1500 calories" get me discouraged. Not for my progress--I'm happy--but for the rest of my life.

I hear you. For us older folks, maintenance calories at a sedentary level of activity is pretty meager amount. I do well in the summer because my activity level is higher just in my daily routine. Last winter, I was laid up for 6 weeks after a fall on the ice and "maintenance" was just under 1300. Sad. But, once I recovered I resumed strength training and a bit of cardio and enjoyed the wiggle room in my calorie allotment

mountainmare

My strategy for winter is to go to Florida for January and Feb as long as the checkbook and health allows.

mph323

middlehaitch wrote: »

I lost at 1200 and got 1200 for maintenance. Upping my daily activity, exercising, and maintaining a good LBM (why some kind of resistance work is so often recommended here), means I can eat ~1600 cals.

Remember that your MFP maintenance is an estemate without exercise. You can choose to move more to eat more.

Cheers, h.

^^^All of this! As a 67 year old woman I lost less than a lb. a week at 1200 calories, and my maintenance was projected at 1250. It was discouraging. But by the time I hit my goal my NEAT had increased considerably, and I was more mindful of moderate purposeful exercise, and I maintain on an average week at around 1500, some weeks are as high as 1800-2000. Unless you plan on being a couch potato (or are ill or injured), I think the projected maintenance calories tend to be lower than the actuals for many people.

middlehaitch

Nothing wrong with playing with 'Barbie' weights, it keeps those muscles knowing they are still being used. We do what we can.
Sarcopenia is something we should try to avoid as we get older (about to turn 65)

I went from never exercising in my life at 54, to starting to weight lift in my early 60's. I took it one step at a time and built my strength and endurance, in small but steady increments.

Do what you can. If you can, slowly push your boundaries.

If nothing else, is a great thread on increasing NEAT that is good for helping with daily activity.

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

Cheers, h.

It looked way more like blackpool tower on my small phone screen.

Sorry, yet again, for detouring. h

Orphia

NovusDies wrote: »

lorrpb wrote: »

2 lbs/week is good if you have 75 lbs or more to lose
50-75 lbs is 1.5 per week
20-50 is 1 lb per week
under 20 lbs to lose is .5 per week
This makes a lot more sense to me than 1% of bodyweight. It's probably safe to say that no one under 175 should be aiming for 1% loss per week.

That works just fine if you are in the vicinity of 75lbs or under. The problem is what happens when your "or more" is substantially more? It seems like there should be a logical place where the 1 percent rule kicks above a certain weight.

I personally don't use the rule. I think it is too aggressive regardless of my situation. I have been taking the 1 percent and substracting 1 from it. That might change to .5 at some point depending on how I feel when more of this weight is gone.

I think the rules seem to be that only if you're in imminent danger of death due to factors relating to your obesity, then a medically-supervised, Very Low Calorie Diet is prescribed to make you lose faster than 2 lbs per week.