Question on losing 2 lbs/wk please?

karinasepilogue

Something doesn't sound correct to me. I understand that IF I want to lose 2 lbs/wk, I have to take in 7000 calories LESS/wk meaning 1000 less/day. If I'm NOT to eat less than 1200 cals/day, how can I just eat 1000 calories/day to lose that 2 lbs/wk? I presently weigh 158.5 lbs...I would like to lose 20 lbs and am active athletically and over 65 yrs old, female and 5ft 4inches... Any honest answers would definitely be appreciated...thank you ahead of time.

jayemes

You can't lose 2 pounds a week in a healthy way if you only have 20 pounds total to lose

LyndaBSS

You chose way too aggressive a weight loss per week, considering the small amount of weight you have to lose.

Choose 0.5 pounds per week for your calorie allotment. That said, do not go below 1200 calories per day.

MikePTY

You can't. This is one of the reasons why losing 2 pounds a week should not be attempted by someone who does not have a lot of weight to lose. MFP will cap you at 1200 no matter what, even if it will slow your weight loss more what you have stated.

At your desired rate of loss, you should target between 0.5 and 1 pound of weight loss a week, not 2 pounds. 2 pounds really should only be attempted by those with at least 60 or more pounds to lose at minimum.

LyndaBSS

If you haven't already, read the stickies at the top of the getting started forum. Very informative and helpful.

AnnPT77

karinasepilogue wrote: »

Something doesn't sound correct to me. I understand that IF I want to lose 2 lbs/wk, I have to take in 7000 calories LESS/wk meaning 1000 less/day. If I'm NOT to eat less than 1200 cals/day, how can I just eat 1000 calories/day to lose that 2 lbs/wk? I presently weigh 158.5 lbs...I would like to lose 20 lbs and am active athletically and over 65 yrs old, female and 5ft 4inches... Any honest answers would definitely be appreciated...thank you ahead of time.

I started here at 153 pounds and age 59 (very active and healthy, BTW). I accidentally lost 2 pounds a week (because MFP underestimated my calorie needs). It was Not A Good Thing. Even though I corrected as soon as I realized there was a problem, I got weak and fatigued. It took weeks to recover normal strength and energy.

My advice: Don't try to lose 2 pounds a week. Try to lose a sensible amount per week. Half a pound to maybe a pound a week would be standard advice at your size, with the faster rate only appropriate for around the first 10 of those 20 pounds.

Even if MFP then gives you 1200 (as it did me, at 5'5", sedentary outside of intentional exercise), (1) you should eat back a reasonable estimate of exercise calories on top of that, and (2) there's a chance it could still be too few calories to reasonably minimize health risks, so be careful. (I have a suspicion that part of the reason I lost faster than expected may be that I have a little higher muscle mass than average for our demographic . . . since you're very active, you may, too.)

I'm 63 now, still very healthy and active, and glad to have lost most of my weight at a more gradual rate, most of the time eating 1400-1600 calories plus all exercise calories. (It still took me under a year to lose about 50 pounds, after starting pre-MFP at 183; and I've maintained a healthy weight since.). I'm not saying that calorie level will work for you, but the idea that all women, even all "older" women, ought to go to 1200 or lower is not true.

lgfrie

Here's how it works.

Axiom: It is unsafe for a female to eat less than 1,200 calories per day, or 1,500 for a male.

Fact: A pound of fat consists of 3,500 calories worth of stored energy.

Alrighty, then. Now we have all the information needed to do the math. Let's look at two examples:

1. A big, tall, fat male wants to lose 2 pounds per week. His TDEE (maintenance calories, i.e. neither gaining nor losing weight - go to tdeecalculator.net for the calculation) is, say, 2800. To lose 2 lbs per week, he must average 1,800 net calories per day. Since that is a safe level of calorie consumption according to the Axiom, he can go ahead and set a goal of 2 lbs per week.

Simple enough. Here's where it gets more complex.

2. A small to average sized female decides to lose 2 lbs per week. Her TDEE is, say, 2000. In order to lose 2 lbs per week, she must average 1,000 net calories. Problem: that's 200 calories less than the 1,200 net calorie minimum for a female. Bottom line, this person cannot lose 2 lbs per week safely. The most she can lose is 800 calories per day (her TDEE of 2,000 minus the 1200 minimum), or 1.6 lbs per week.

Conclusion: A woman with a TDEE of less than 2,200, or a man with a TDEE of less than 2,500, cannot lose 2 lbs per week safely, because it'd require net avg daily calories to be below the safe minimum.

This is why people say "If you're a hundred pounds overweight you can lose 2 lbs per week, but if you're 20 pounds overweight, you need a more modest goal". That's inexact language for which the reasoning is not intuitively obvious, but which is based on the underlying math shown above. As your weight declines, your TDEE declines too, so the amount of weight you can safely lose per week declines as you lose weight, because you bump into the 1200/1500 minimums.

Danp

There's also the factor of adherence/sustainability.

Someone who's 2lbs/week calorie target is 1900cals/day is eating enough that they'll find it relatively easy to eat enough food to stay satisfied and avoid being miserable and hungry all the time.

Someone who's 2lbs/week calorie target is 800cal/day would barely be eating at all. 800cal isn't very much food so they're likely to be constantly struggling with hunger and feeling deprived thereby vastly increasing their chances 'breaking' leading to compensatory uncontrolled overeating.

threewins

You can speed up weight loss by exercising. That's what I'm doing. Something to consider is that a person's metabolism reduces when eating less to lose weight. I've seen 6% reduction thrown around, but really, if you are losing 1 kg a month, your metabolism is likely slow down less than if you are losing 1 kg a week.

WinoGelato

You simply don’t have the fat stores to support that rate of loss in a healthy manner without sacrificing lean body mass, adequate nutrition and enough energy to support your active lifestyle.

Danp

threewins wrote: »

You can speed up weight loss by exercising. That's what I'm doing. Something to consider is that a person's metabolism reduces when eating less to lose weight. I've seen 6% reduction thrown around, but really, if you are losing 1 kg a month, your metabolism is likely slow down less than if you are losing 1 kg a week.

The changes to metabolism (metabolic adaptation) due to calorie restriction are minimal. Peoples calorie requirements will decline as they lose weight due to the fact that there is less of them for their metabolism to drive but your metabolism will more or less keep ticking along just fine.

Exercising can indeed aid weight loss but the 'return on investment' from exercise is pretty poor and it's an inefficient approach to losing weight. Hitting the gym 5 days a week for a pretty vigorous workout (350cal) will increase your weekly rate of loss by 8oz if (and only if) there is no corresponding increase in calorie intake to fuel this increased activity. This is rarely the case because burning more calories, particularly at a level that would have a noticeable impact on the scales will almost certainly come with a noticeable increase in appetite.

Have a protein shake and a banana to refuel after each workout and your rate of loss drops from 8oz/week increase to just an additional 2.5oz per week. Eat just a few mouthfuls more at dinner cause you're a little hungrier and you've negated any additional weight loss from exercise. Eat a bit more than that due to the increased appetite and it's entirely possible for working out to cause the scale progress to slow down or (as was the case with me for most of my life) get the scales moving in the wrong direction.

Now, this is not to say that people shouldn't workout and exercise, they definitely should. Exercise comes with worlds of health and fitness benefits. But the focus in the gym should be about strength and fitness and let the weight loss happen in the kitchen.

seltzermint555

I barely ever lost 2 lb/week even when I was at the beginning of losing 90 lb on this site. Usually I lost 1-1.5 lb most weeks and then a small whoosh monthly of 2-3 lb. Back then I was "set" to lose 2 lb/week though because it was appropriate for someone with so much weight to lose.

As many others have said, you should try 0.5/week.

karinasepilogue

Thanx for all your support and suggestions....I've upped my daily calorie count to 1400/day. I feel weighing myself sabotages my efforts and will try to weigh every 2 wks to give this a try. Just got back into pickleball so playing doubles 4-5 times/wk....great fun!

lgfrie

A scale is just a tool, one of many at your disposal. Some people find it motivating and useful, and others find it very demoralizing. You lose weight from eating less food, not from getting on a scale, so if it stresses you out, once per two weeks would make good sense.

karinasepilogue

Thanx for the suggestions. I've decided to try carb cycling and it was very helpful my first week. While I know I won't lose quickly every week, it will keep my metabolism moving PLUS I've added some hiking and walking to keep things moving. There are many videos on here that members have posted which answered my questions...

TeaBea

karinasepilogue wrote: »

Thanx for the suggestions. I've decided to try carb cycling and it was very helpful my first week. While I know I won't lose quickly every week, it will keep my metabolism moving PLUS I've added some hiking and walking to keep things moving. There are many videos on here that members have posted which answered my questions...

Low carb for a week will include a fair amount of water weight loss, don't be alarmed when this weight comes right back when you start eating carbs again.

Aggressive weight loss when you are close to goal puts you more at risk for lean muscle loss. Healthy weight loss helps you lower your body fat %, not just the number on the scale. Google skinny-fat.

karinasepilogue

Evening TeaBea, I did read the link on skinny-fat and didn't feel it applied to me since I am very athletic, playing tennis several times/wk, golf once/wk, walk and do hike hills in the state forest. I have always been approx. 20 lbs overweight and do eat healthy carbs so haven't given them up. I'm just cycling them, some higher days and have at least 50 carbs/day on low days. I do ensure I get plenty of protein also and drink lots of water. Thanx for your suggestion.