Realistic goals

NatalieWalker908

hi when I set up this app it asked me for my goals mine was a 1lb a week loss…from other people’s experiences how realistic is this? I manage about a 1lb a month at present only got 4lb to go ….but have an event in 4weeks and another in 8weeks was hoping to of met target by then but just feels like I might be setting myself up for failure. What’s peoples thoughts? Any advice I hit my protein targets daily and never go over my calories

anxietyfairy

I’ve heard you can lose a dress size without losing any weight, but by practicing healthy habits… think… fat loss.

Lietchi

Whether or not you lose weight at the rate you chose depends on several factors:

• the number is based on statistical averages - as an individual you may or may not be average (and that can go both ways, you can have a faster or slower than average metabolism)
• how accurately you log your food intake: are you weighing everything, choosing correct database entries,…
• choosing the correct activity level and correct calorie burns for exercise (or, in the case of a synced fitness tracker, how accurately your watch estimates your calorie expenditure)
• for smaller/lighter people: MFP never goes below 1200 calories for women (1500 for men) to ensure adequate nutrition, so if the chosen weight loss rate requires a lower calorie intake the calorie goal will still only be 1200kcal

It's hard to say much more without knowing anything about you. Generally speaking:

• a recommended rate of loss of 0.5-1% of your bodyweight per week (rather 0.5%, and slower is fine too)
• the less you have to lose, the slower weight loss is/should be

Faster = more restrictive:

• more likely to make temporary changes and then go back to old habits when you've reached your goal, and regain the lost weight
• more likely to be unpleasant and potentially leading you to give up

I'm not really a fan of using deadlines for weight-loss, because it encourages temporary changes rather than sustainable new habits. And in your specific case it's only a few lbs, would anyone except you really notice the difference? I would personally keep the current strategy and perhaps see if the accuracy of your food logging can be improved.

AnnPT77

I endorse every single word of what Lietchi wrote above.

A pound a week can be realistic, but there are a lot of variables that go into whether it will really happen. For sure, if it does happen, it will show up in the average weight change over 4-6 weeks, or at minimum one full menstrual cycle for people who have those . . . not from one week to the next every time like clockwork.

I'm in long term weight maintenance now, but when I was losing, I averaged something close to that pound a week for the better part of a year . . . a little faster at first when I was quite overweight, very slow at the end when I only had ten pounds or so left to lose. I think that's a health-promoting strategy, honestly.

I'm not saying you need to do this, but as context: When I needed to re-lose a very few pounds that had crept on gradually in the first four years of maintenance, I intentionally went even slower than that, and I'm very glad I did. It took around a year to lose ten-ish pounds that time. It was practically painless. I'd do it again if I needed to lose only a few pounds.

The calendar is not a weight loss tool, especially in a setting where most people find maintaining loss harder than losing in the first place.