Very small deficit, Success stories?

Addictead

I have at least 5 pounds, but probably closer to 9 to lose, and honestly want it to be as painless as possible. Theoretically I know it's possible to lose 0.25/0.5 pounds a week but I've always done 1or 2 pounds a week which works well albeit hard to keep up especially at a lower weight(Keep trying to do 1200 and end up at maintenance most days lately).

I know what my maintenance is by heart and I know that eating 250-100 under that will work but it seems impossibly slow to see any progress right away which kind of discourages me. So how does losing a little bit a week go for you guys? Does it take a month or two to finally show up? Is it fairly sustainable for a very long time?

AnnPT77

Addictead wrote: »

I have at least 5 pounds, but probably closer to 9 to lose, and honestly want it to be as painless as possible. Theoretically I know it's possible to lose 0.25/0.5 pounds a week but I've always done 1or 2 pounds a week which works well albeit hard to keep up especially at a lower weight(Keep trying to do 1200 and end up at maintenance most days lately).

I know what my maintenance is by heart and I know that eating 250-100 under that will work but it seems impossibly slow to see any progress right away which kind of discourages me. So how does losing a little bit a week go for you guys? Does it take a month or two to finally show up? Is it fairly sustainable for a very long time?

I've been doing it for about a year, averaging somewhere around a pound a month - super slow. It is indeed quite painless, but IMO, you really need to trust the process. Maybe that's extra true for me because I tend to eat at about a 250 deficit most days, but throw in a random indulgent day here in there that brings it back to average half that (-ish) . . . but also creates crazy daily-weight peaks (water weight, digestive contents) that throw the trend off for several days.

There was one whole month when Libra (set at default 7 day smoothing/forecast) thought I was maintaining or even gaining, and other multi-week periods shorter than that that were misleading. Over the long haul, though, if you know your numbers, it can work.

Last October, I was sitting somewhere mid to high 130s. Now I'm pretty firmly in the mid-120s. (I'm being vague because when one is losing this slowly, the random daily fluctuations are bigger than a month or more of fat loss! My Libra trend on 10/1/2019 was 137.3; on 10/1/2020, 126.7, so just less than a pound a month in trend at that one-year point.)

Super easy to live with, though.

Whether this is going to work psychologically depends (I think) on how much you trust your process, whether you can be patient, and whether you need the faster loss for motivation (vs. enjoying the extra calories more). I'm "team patient hedonism" all the way. 😆

joanna_82

I’ve been losing around 0.25 pounds a week since March. Feeling really good and not that I’m dieting at all. I kept my deficit low on purpose, as I didn’t want to put too much pressure on myself and then just give up if it became too hard.
As a result, I’ve developed healthy habits and made lifestyle changes that have stuck.
Yes, it’s frustrating not to see instant progress but you will see it. You do, as the other reply says, need to trust the process.

sijomial

Calorie counting example was losing 6 lbs in 6 months as part of a deliberate recomp while I fine-tuned my maintenance weight. Wasn't difficult at all as I was coming off a period of losing 1lb/week so felt far easier with a bigger calorie allowance. Wasn't discouraging as that was exactly what I set out to do and I didn't expect a short term linear loss on the scales - setting realistic expectations prevents discouragement. If you mean "show up" as resulting in visible changes yes it did result in seeing body comp changes as I was at a level of body fat where small increases in muscle / losses of fat made differences in muscle definition and vascularity obvious. Tracking tape measurements also helped to judge progress.

Most years I lose weight slowly without calorie counting as I transition from my winter weight down to my preferred weight for cycling for Spring. I don't feel any need to cut calories either daily or even weekly - I just effectively cut calories with either small adjustments or sometimes take some bigger chunks of calories off when it suits me. Majority of my days would be around maintenance, some days would be over maintenance - dieting doesn't take over my life!

Hope you realise you don't need to micro-manage a same every day deficit or even cut calories every week to achieve your aim?
Bigger deficits for short periods don't have the same negative implications as big deficits for an extended period of time - you could cut harder for a couple of weeks and revert to maintenance if you need to see a drop to keep you motivated. Pick a safe and sensible option that suits you, make the process as easy as possible.

sardelsa

What I like about slow weight loss is the ability to be able to keep up my lifting sessions, gain strength, (perhaps gain a bit of muscle, especially if I've recently lost it, or at least maintain as much as possible) also allows me to eat as much as I can and still lose. For me the deficit feels like maintenance. Also transitioning to maintenance is fairly simple, just add an extra snack per day.

It takes time but I am usually a lot happier body composition wise when I get to goal vs I'd I lost the weight more quickly (and in my case, likely sacrificed some muscle as well).

As mentioned you don't have to choose the same deficit all the time, I've done 0.5lb most weeks with some weeks at 1lb per week to shorten the time I'm in a deficit total.

Leonie_M234

Would love to read more success stories too! I am thinking of doing this next year. Although am partly doing it now, as some weeks I lose a pound, and others half, others I maintain. Since I started weightlifting more seriously I find it so tough to cut 500cals a day. I feel much better on a small deficit, and am trying to not to beat myself up about it.
Good luck!

charmmeth

I have mfp set to for me to lose 0.5lb per week, so about 1kg per month, which for me means my goal is 1530 calories (+ exercise calories). I shifted from 1lb per week towards the end of September. It is really slow, but what has helped me to track the fact that I am still losing has been my mean weight calculated month-to-date. These were 79.59kg (Sept), 77.81kg (Oct), 76.67kg (Nov), 76.02kg (Dec to date). You can see that on that measure I actually lost nearer to 1.8kg between September and October, and 1.2kg October to November, and am currently on track to lose ca. or a bit more 1kg November to December. (However, with Christmas coming up I suspect that I shall put a bit back on by the end of December.)

I am currently in my maintenance range with a goal weight of 75kg. I shall move to maintenance once my monthly average is under 75.5kg, so maybe in January or February. Those last 5kg will have taken 4-5 months. However, over those last few months I have had a few days where I have eaten quite significantly over my goal. The good thing about that has been seeing that my weight has still continued to trend down nonetheless. I am looking forward to working out what maintenance will look like.

AnnPT77

Longer comment from me appears earlier in the thread, but in case it matters to anyone, this is what slow loss (around a pound a month, maybe a bit slower) looked like in Libra, with a 250-ish deficit and some high days bringing the average deficit to around half that (now holding steady for a while in Nov/Dec):


That's about the longest view I can give you and still have the little vertical lines that connect daily weights to the trend line. Those show you the high days. 😉 The down trend started higher in the 130s in late 2019, and was kind of level just before the March pandemic restaurant limitations took hold. (I have weaknesses . . . 😆.) People who need positive feedback routinely from the bodyweight scale might be better served by losing a pound or two more quickly, taking a break, losing another pound or two, etc. For those preferring tiny deficit, not so scale focused, this may be good.

ETA: In July, I started weight training regularly again, after a long hiatus. That led to a month-long "plateau", because I always add a couple of pounds of water weight when I re-start weight training, and hang onto it until I stop again. That bigger drop in the first half of August is where the continuing ultra-slow fat loss finally starts emerging from behind the cloud of persisting water weight.

HoneyBadger302

A trend app like AnnPT77 posted has been a life saver for me on slower losses. I've never really been able to maintain 1+lb/week losses, and have had better success with slower rates (.5-.75 over time)

Lietchi

I started my weight loss journey - at a BMI of 34 - by selecting a weight loss rate of 0.5lbs per week. In reality I did often stay below my calorie goal, so probably a daily deficit of around 400-450 calories at the beginning, gradually going down.
Then last August, one year after I started my weight loss (44lbs down) I switched my calorie goal to maintenance, but aiming for a small deficit (anywhere between between 250 and 0). It's definitely a waiting game at that kind of deficit. I find it helpful to focus on other goals such as running further/faster, lifting heavier weights etc. But looking

Aside from the trend app Libra, I also keep track of my weight in an Excel spreadsheet. The chart below shows my daily weigh-ins (in kg), each line representing a month. You can see the lines getting closer together these last few months, and even crossing occasionally, but still clearly a losing trend.

charmmeth

Lietchi wrote: »

The chart below shows my daily weigh-ins (in kg), each line representing a month. You can see the lines getting closer together these last few months, and even crossing occasionally, but still clearly a losing trend.

Mine is the same - a very slow loss since September, but I am in my maintenance range, which is good, though I would like to get to my goal weight which is 75kg:

elmusho1989

I have mine set for half a pound per week. Its working. Sometimes a little faster than that. Slow is sustainable for me so I'll keep tipping away at it, half stone by half stone until I reach my goal. So far I'm 4 pounds down from a month ago. Didn't lose anything this week though (too many cookies and lattes!) Not in obese category anymore so hurray!

Strudders67

I'm short and, at the point that I started losing weight, my maintenance was around 1450. With a recommended minimum of 1200, my deficit was never more than 250 cals to start with and, as I slowly lost weight, that deficit got smaller.

It did take time, 2 years 2 months to lose 15kg (just over 33lb), which works out at a rate of a little over a pound a month although it was definitely very slow for the last several kgs.

A key advantage of going really slow is that my maintenance number isn't actually much different to what I'd been eating for the past two years, so I had plenty of time to get used to what my new normal portion sizes were. I didn't drastically change anything in my diet, I just reduced the amount I put on my plate. However, I often didn't see any progress for several weeks - I weigh myself every Monday (plus random days in between) - but the fact that the numbers were going down was sufficient incentive for me to keep at it. It was also very obviously working as my trousers were getting looser and looser.

MostlyWater

it's sustainable if you keep at it and don't cheat. I had a friend who lost 30 lbs that way. took her a year and a half though.

Speakeasy76

Hello! Yes, my deficit was set for a 1/2 pound per week. I lost in total 9 pounds from mid-April to mid-September. It was slow with lots of ups and downs, but I absolutely knew I had to lose those "last 10 pounds" if I wanted to be able to keep it off. I get anxious if I start to feel like I've eaten too much in the day and don't have enough calories left for the end of the day.

I wasn't technically overweight to begin with, and had lost about 35 pounds in 2012 and kept it off, give or take 5 pounds. I'm already pretty active and also wanted to keep/continue to build muscle. I wasn't even sure I could get to the weight where I am now, as it's been at least 20-21 years. I knew if I could take it off slowly and not feel deprived or just by making small changes, I'd be way more likely to keep at this level.

vanmep

I lost almost 40 pounds over two years. I have no interest in deprivation and I figure it took me about 50 years to get here. it makes sense to take a few years to reverse it. I initially committed to a lifestyle change for one year and would assess what I had achieved at the end of the year. I still did weigh myself, but my commitment wasn’t focused on the numbers on the scale so much as it was on the fact that this was a year long commitment of developing new habits. Turns out I lost about 22 pounds that year and I decided to give it one more year. The second year I think it I lost about 16. By that time my new habits were well established and I was able to carry on into maintenance without much of a transition. Now all of that said, I did regain about 7 pounds through 2020 with the pandemic and also some health problems that prevented me from working out. So I have just started on a plan to lose 7 pounds in the next 12 months. I might even go for 10!