Seeking input from people with a lot to lose.

BeckySue2022

Hi, for those of you with over a hundred pounds to lose, I just want to kind of compare notes - not looking for advice here. Did you choose the option of losing 1 pound a week, 1.5 pounds, 2 pounds, or did you just do your own thing? And whatever you chose, how has it been working out for you? Particularly interested in feedback from sedentary people who are a bit older. I find it hard to relate to all the people with only a small amount to lose who are able to do a lot of exercise. Thanks in advance!

ruqayyahsmum

I started off very sedentary with 230lb to lose, I started off set at 2lb a week because Iat that weight I could spare the calories
Now I have about 70 left to lose and have it set to 1lb a week so that hunger while not busy doesn't have me reaching for extras
If I do have an active day then bonus, I can have a little extra food

It's closing in on 8pm and I've done 1000 steps, that's how sedentary I can be at times

JustToBeNormal

Congratulations on how much you've accomplished, ruqayyahsmum!

ToffeeApple71

I had 60kg to lose. I think that's about 120lb. I started off with 1kg a week (2lb) and gradually reduced it as I lost weight. I've plateaued for a while now, although would still like to lose another 5 kg or so.
I started walking about the same time... started off slowly, doing maybe 20 minutes, and as the weight came off, chub-rub reduced etc I was able to increase time, pace and difficulty.

shanek1990

I chose the "2 lb per week" option. At my current weight this allowed me almost 2400 calories per day. I later made the decision to decrease my calorie allowance to 2,000 per day. Unfortunately, I've been very on and off with my attempts to lose weight over the last couple years, but this target has still been relatively easy to hit when I'm trying.

Xellercin

At the end of the day, whatever option you "choose" your body is going to do it's own thing. You just have to trial and error what works for you. For me, at my heaviest, it was obviously easy to lose faster, but once I was under "obese" I slowed to losing about 2lbs/mo, but that was fine. 24lbs/year was significant at that point.

Listen to your body. Modify your eating until you find *your* perfect balance of nutrition and loss pace, then just sit back and let the loss happen at whatever pace it happens. The time is going to pass anyway, so you might as well make it easy and enjoyable.

lmgoff232

I am 44, female, and had a little over 100lbs to lose and was pretty sedentary when I started (averaging about 3000 steps a day with no deliberate exercise). I initially set my goal to 2 lbs a week, and have adjusted it down half a pound each 25-30lbs lost (note that MFP does NOT automatically adjust your calorie goals as you lose even if you record your weight here - you must go in and manually update your current weight and recalculate occasionally). I am still on my journey, and currently set for 1 lbs a week. I have my fitness tracker synced to MFP, and eat back a portion of my activity calories as I have slowly increased my activity, and things have been progressing nicely on plan. For me the key is being totally and completely honest with myself and weighing/measuring and tracking everything. It was a PITA at the beginning, but is second nature now. Good luck!

kchapmanma

My goal is to lose about 125 pounds, and I've lost roughly 75 pounds so far. I have health issues which make it hard for me to walk, so I definitely fit into that sedentary bucket. I picked trying to lose 1.5 pounds a week to start, and will drop it down to 1 pound when my daily calorie goal either doesn't seem livable to me or I hit that 1200 calories/day limit.

emstamand

I have about 90 pounds to lose. Previously, about 5 years ago I did go from 190 to about 165, but with continuing mental health issues, the weight has been put back on. Right now I have my goal set to lose 1 pound a week as not to put too much stress on myself because I have a lot going on with working full time and taking two classes to finish my degree.

JustToBeNormal

I actually had a question about this, too. If you start out at 2 lbs a week, and follow that until you hit 1200, and then change to 1.5 pounds a week, you'd be moving your calories back up again, right? You'd be doing the same again if you then changed to 1 pound a week or 0.5 pounds a week. Seems like it would be better to do 1 pound a week from the beginning and have calories continue to go down the whole time. I'm just starting, but I figure I'll just use 1 pound a week, knowing I have the option of eating fewer calories some days if I choose to, but having the option of more if I want more.

springlering62

I started over 220 at age 56. I was sorta active-walking an elderly slow dog, basic yoga.

I never paid attention to “pounds per week”. I had set fixed calorie goal of 1470 in my head. I don’t even remember how I came up with it.

What was important was that I weighed in a food scale and logged religiously since day 1. That made all the difference.

As weight started to come off, I felt better and began exercising more. Admittedly I did that in an effort to get weight off faster, but my dietician soon set me straight and convinced me to go up to 1700.

Then I got a trainer and she told me to go up to 1900, then 2100.

I still lost weight consistently at the higher numbers, and I began adding more exercise in.

This time it was because I was both having fun enjoying all the movement, I now had some actual workout goals, and I’d realized the exercise “bought” me more food.

My initial weight goal kept changing til I reached the unimaginable weight of 150. I couldn’t get any lower, I thought, but then Covid came, and I was determined not to put it back on. So I set a calorie goal in stone and set some daily workout goals.

I ultimately lost- in my late 50’s when prevailing wisdom taunts “oh you can’t”- 97 pounds, which was too much. I’ve deliberately put a few back on for strength and appearance sake.

Right now, I am 59, current weight 134, very active, and maintain on 2700/day, averaged on a weekly basis.

You can do this. Weighing IN GRAMS FOR ACCURACY and logging HONESTLY.

Weight loss is made in the kitchen.

As you feel better, I predict you’ll be able to move more. I sure did!

Onedaywriter

When I started (sedentary 57 years old) I shot for 2 lbs per week and actually lost faster- 80 lbs in like 35 weeks. Then I was stuck for a long time until I adjusted down and was more realistic. I couldn’t lose 2 lbs per week at the lower weight and would get frustrated and throw the whole thing out the window for a day here and a day there (started to become more and more). When I lowered expectations I got there.

I know someone (sedentary 58 years) who was trying and trying but had problems sticking to any plan (but always wanting fast weight loss). She was too aggressive for her situation. Since October she is trying just a half pound per week - and she’s been successful(down about ten pounds). For her it’s a mental feeling of positivity that she’s achieving her goals and she wants to stay with it. Her attitude now is that if she can lose 26 pounds in a year - in a few years she’ll get there and she’ll already have the good habits established to stay there for life. Also, she says it is getting easier and easier for her to control things so she actually losing slightly faster than in the beginning.

Sorry this got long. Just trying to say that you have to find what works for you and there are many ways to get there! For some, the positive feedback is the scale, for some the positive feedback is knowing you achieved a nutrition goal.
Good luck

oakster69

BeckySue2022 wrote: »

Hi, for those of you with over a hundred pounds to lose, I just want to kind of compare notes - not looking for advice here. Did you choose the option of losing 1 pound a week, 1.5 pounds, 2 pounds, or did you just do your own thing? And whatever you chose, how has it been working out for you? Particularly interested in feedback from sedentary people who are a bit older. I find it hard to relate to all the people with only a small amount to lose who are able to do a lot of exercise. Thanks in advance!

I think I fit the group you are reaching out to. I am 52 years old. I started at about 432 pounds and I have a goal weight of 225 -240. I am 6'4" with a large frame. I also have a very busy desk job, so I spend 10 hours a day or more behind the desk with little activity. I started with the 2lbs per week option and what I found out is that if I plan it out to get the right portions of healthy fresh vegetables and fruit etc, it was pretty easy to stay under that calorie limit. I started by trying to meet the 2lb loss per week goal and slowly improve the quality of my overall food selection. In the first three months I was losing almost a pound a day... it did slow down over time and had a few short plateaus but I lost 50 pounds in the first 3 months. The downside is that I have only lost 10 pounds over the next 100 days.... I track very closely now and I try to get to the gym a few days a week for treadmill work and a little weight lifting but I feel like I am sitting on a lengthy plateau.

The first lesson I learned is that I had started out weighing everything, but I reached a point where I thought I could estimate rather well how many ounces of meat I was serving, or how many cups of another item I was having. Estimating, rather than weighing each item may be partly responsible for the lengthy plateau. I have lost 10 pounds in the last month but it isnt coming off like it did before. I am still 130 or 140 pounds from my goal weight so I am still expecting it to come off quicker. I guess time will tell

I can tell you that I feel better, I can move better and I am more fit than before and it is quite noticable.

Good luck to you and remember that this is a lifestyle change. You can vary your process, try different things and do what works for you. It probably wont be the same thing all the way to the end. Any progress is good progress, and even holding steady is better than gaining. I think you can have fun with it and enjoy it quite a bit once you see a little progress.

ashverdo

Hello. This is my second time doing this. The first time I lost 100 lbs I did so by eating at 2 pounds a week. According to the graphics a lot of people like to share I should have been able to keep this up but I couldn’t.

I am down 55 lbs and I have it set to 1 pound a week. I am currently dealing with extreme hunger and often times am losing more like half a pound a week.

I don’t care if it takes years. Time passes anyway.