Does this sound right?

SouthWestLondon

Hi guys - new here and looking to lose weight. I've previously been close to 300lbs but had weight loss surgery in 2015 which helped me get down to 177 by December 2015. I started to regain and was up to 200lbs last January, and then put on another 20lbs over the past year (largely driven by bad habits during lockdown).

So I started at 220 at the start of January. My longer term goal is to lose 60lbs (I'm 5' 8" and male - 160lbs would put me in the healthy range). I'm aiming to lose 2lbs a week. I know that's fairly aggressive but hopefully not unachieveable?

My daily calories burned seem to range from around 2350 on a fairly inactive day (I have a desk job and work from home at the moment, so most days are inactive save for a bit of housework plus any exercise I actively choose to do) to about 3100 on days with a long but moderate paced walk (e.g. today was largely inactive except for an hour and a half walking the dog at regular pace, and my FitBit has me on course to burn 3100-3200 calories today).

My aim in terms of calorie intake is 1750 a day, which I hope should average out as a 1000 calorie deficit each day. A few fairly basic rules for me - three solid but small, protein rich meals each day. Breakfast is a protein smoothie (300cals), lunch tends to be chicken and bacon (200 cals) and dinner is then again quite meat-heavy like half a steak etc (about 500 cals). Anything left over I allocate for snacks - some healthy (yoghurt, fruit) and some unhealthy (some chocolate in the evening). Over the past two weeks, I've usually come in under the 1750. Where I've been under 1750, I have 'saved' some of those calories to have one day in the weekend which is less restrictive (but still staying under 2500 cals).

I had been running (just finished the Couch to 5K) before Christmas, but stopped over Christmas and want to get back to it. But I think that will be about 2 or 3 runs a week, at 20-30 minutes, pretty slow pace running. I also want to do 2 or 3 20-30 minute body weight resistance workouts - again, I have very limited strength right now, so these are pretty basic like pushups against my window sill...) and then want to add to that with one or two long (60-90 minute) walks each week.

I've been sticking to the plan since 4 Jan and lost 7lbs (but I know most of that is probably water weight). I tried Keto for the first two days and totally cracked. I was hungry and miserable and knew that it just wouldn't be sustainable for me. So far it feels like I can stick to this.

But interested in any views on whether this sounds like an ok plan for losing 2lbs a week?

SouthWestLondon

Also, I should say, even though I want to lose 2lbs a week, I know that won't be sustainable throughout my journey, and am prepared for it to slow as I get closer to 160.

Really, if I could lose 2lbs a week for the first four or five months, I don't mind if it then slows to 1lb a week or slower after that. So even though 160 is the end goal, 182 is a sort of interim goal, and I am keen to get there around mid-May (i.e. about 20 weeks).

quiksylver296

Sounds relatively reasonable! Good luck!