Is it safe to loss weight 4 lbs. weekly?

GermanG6426

Hi there,

Hope everyone is doing well this day or night, depending on where you're reading me from.

I would like to get some advise or guidance with my weight loss journey.

I am a 25 years old man, weighting 186 lbs. at the moment of writing this, and my height is 5'6".

My goal is to weight 150 lbs, and I started tracking calories on April 1st, 2024.
When I started I weighted 192.6 lbs. and I am now at 186.6, which puts me at close to 5 lbs in a week. My goal was to lose at least 10 lbs. per month so by August I'd be at 150 lbs.

Sorry, I'm really bad at getting to the point. My question is, is it safe to lose 5 lbs. per week?

I am not feeling extremely tired or hungry, I am consuming on average 1,200 calories per day, but I know before would be close to 3,000 or more. Should I do this in a different way, maybe go from 2,000, to 1,800 until I get to 1,200. Or should I keep the same way if is not causing any issues for now?

The reason I asked is that I'm not familiar with any type of diet, and I want to know if my body perhaps is struggling with something inside and I haven't noticed it.

Thank you in advance for anyone taking the time to read this and reply.

Germán.

crb426

1200 is way too low for a male. It's really too low for a 5'6" female as well.

I'm 5'6", female, and just through daily activity I need about 2200-2700 calories a day to maintain my current weight of 163. Which means I can eat 2000 calories a day and lose weight just fine.

When you plug in your stats into MFP you will be given a number of calories you should be eating to lose weight. Since you don't have an extreme amount of weight to lose, you should set it to lose .5 to 1 pound a week. Then hit that number as closely as possible (add in exercise calories as well). I know it's hard to go slowly, but it's not only healthier, it will better prepare you for long term success. Not to mention all the dangerous side effects that can show up with quick weight loss.

Be patient. Don't crash and burn.

tomcustombuilder

4 lbs a week at your stats is unrealistic. 1 to 1 1/2 is ok 2 is pushing it, 4 is off the table.

xrj22

In general, 5 lbs per week is more than you want to loose. However, in the first week or two it is quite usual to loose weight more rapidly because as you cut down on glycogen stores, your body will also loose some water weight. 5 lbs in the first week of any diet is not unusual, and I would not worry. Your goal of 10 lbs per month seems reasonable, but on the high side.

AnnPT77

It's normal to have a bigger scale drop at first, from the change in eating patterns. Usually, a chunk of it is water weight. Therefore, I wouldn't generalize from results from April 1-9.

However: 1200 calories is too few. I'm an inch shorter than you, female, over twice your age (59-60 when I lost weight. 68 now), started from a weight close to yours (183 pounds). MFP thought I should eat 1200 calories, but it turns out I'm kind of lively li'l ol' lady, and 1200 plus all exercise calories (so eating more like 1600+ most days) was too little for me: I felt great, not hungry, energetic . . . until I didn't. I suddenly hit a wall, got weak and fatigued. Even though I corrected quickly, it took multiple weeks to regain normal strength and energy. No one needs that.

There's no way to get adequate nutrition on too-few calories, no matter if you hit the percents. We need certain absolute amounts of some nutrients in order to thrive. You're not on a path of thriving, at 1200 calories.

Quite a few people here think it's a good plan to lose no more than 0.5-1% of current weight weekly, with a bias toward the 0.5% unless severely obese. You're not severely obese. You're trying to lose 2 pounds a week. That's well over 1% of your current weight.

Another common rule of thumb is to cut no more than 20-25% below your maintenance calories. With your demographic details, if your lifestyle is quite sedentary (little or no exercise, desk job), we'd expect your maintenance calories to be maybe 2200 daily. 1200 is a 45% cut below 2200. If you're more active than the sedentary level, it's an even bigger cut.

As a 25-year-old male, you're at an excellent stage of life to be adding to your muscle mass. Instead, you seem to be trying to lose unnecessarily much of it in addition to your fat loss. On top of that, you're increasing health risks. Losing weight too fast can impair immune function, cause gallbladder problems, and more. It's trivial by contrast, but you can also be encouraging hair thinning and other appearance deficits. Please don't.

Are bad things guaranteed to happen? No. But risks go up.

I'd suggest you slow the bus down by quite a lot. What's the rush? You're in the honeymoon phase now. Sometimes a gradual weight loss rate will get a person to goal weight in less calendar time than some extreme, punitive regimen that causes bouts of deprivation-triggered over-eating, breaks in the action, or even giving up altogether.

As a bonus, gradual loss can help you learn the new habits that will keep you at a healthy weight long term. "Lose fast then go back to normal" is the recipe for yo-yo weight loss and regain, which is probably the least healthful way to run our lives.

Please rethink. Prioritize health over fast weight loss.

Best wishes!

GermanG6426

I want to thank you all that replied. Really helpful information that I definitely didn't know anything about. Sure, I can search about this on Google but nothing like real life advise from real people that have actually done it. I will use your advice and adjust what I'm currently doing.

Hope all of you reading/replying a healthy and happy life!

Keep up the good work!