Aggressive goal, need help with exercise and calories

jenpinkrn

Hi!
I know I have an aggressive goal. I want to lose 65 lbs in 115 days. I have lost 28 lbs in 55 days and need to lose 37 more in the next 60 days. I am trying to do an extreme weight loss plan, I am currently eating 1300-1500 calories a day (most days)and putting in between 1.5-2 hours total a day at the gym. My diary is open to view. My anytime fitness time includes... 20 min on the procor amt at a 5, with a jogging rate. I then do 20 min on the recumbent bike cross country mode. Then 20 min on the elliptical at a 10, 10. I go home, then later at night I go back to the gym and do another round of the same. All this time I am maintaining a heart rate in my zone.
My problem is my weight is fluctuating all over the place. For the amount of calories I am burning and eating I would expect a better more steady weight loss. I can't possibly be gaining weight, and it can't all be water or muscle.
I have tried over the 10/25 weekend to eat more calories but alas no extra weight came off.
Suggestions appreciated lectures on my aggressive goal are not.
start 312 current 283 goal 245
mental block?

Tessyloowhoo

You dont want a lecture so.... whatever your goal is crazy but i wont go there... i will say this:

Lift some weights to maintain at least some of the muscle that you would lose otherwise. Losing muscle is not f*cking attractive, so go lift some weights in exchange for some of your cardio.

Also eat enough protein! By enough i mean 1g or more per lb of lbm.

By the way the body has a crazy ability to hold on/lose water on any given day, never underestimate that fact.

Kevalicious99

* deleted for the greater good *

Mr_Knight

Basically, you're trying to lose 1 pound every 2 days (not exactly, close enough). That will require a deficit of about 1800 calories per day. So...

Intake = 1500 calories
Deficit = 1800 calories
=> TDEE needs to be 3300 calories/day

Your CW is 283 -> assume 60% body fat -> BMR of around 1500 and a NEAT (non-exercise TDEE) of around 1800.

Putting it all together, this means you need to burn about 1500 calories/day in exercise to get a TDEE of 3300. That is equivalent to someone of your weight running 8 miles a day.

Every day.

Alternately, you could walk 16 miles a day, every day.

Your "2 hours" in the gym is burning maybe 500 calories, which I suspect is a lot less than what you think you're burning.

Put another way - if you simply stopped eating for the next six weeks - literally zero calories, literally starving yourself - you *might* make your goal weight. That's how challenging a goal you have set for yourself.

AleciaG724

I'm impressed with your progress so far, but I hope you're doing this under a doctor's care. Maybe you need to change things up a bit & try a different type of cardio? I know our bodies get used to things relatively quickly. I've heard from lots of people here that they hit a major plateau at the 275-280 mark, but I have no idea why that would be. I have been on MFP since April & have lost 54#, but am at a stand still as well for the past 6 weeks. 3 weeks ago I added Zumba 4-5 days/week & a Sets & Reps class one day/week and nothing is changing on the scale yet. My HRM says I'm burning 450-475 calories each class & I don't eat them all back... I'm trying to be patient, but I'm way behind my Christmas mini goal and would have to lose 22# in 6 weeks to make it (family reunion - I really hoped to be 250#!) I'm not willing to do anything extreme, I'm more of the "slow & steady wins the race" mentality, so I've adjusted my goal to 10# higher. What is your motivation for losing the weight by that date?

Best of luck to you!

RachelBiancaxx

If you want to lose weight faster, you have two options;

1. Eat less
2. Move more

These are the only ways. You have to create a larger deficit than you already have.

donjessop

You are really under in terms of protein. The Institute of Medicine recommends 0.36 grams per pound. You should be consuming almost 102 grams of protein but you're not. In addition, if you are spending 1.5-2 hours at the gym the lower limit you should be looking at is 102 grams or 35% of your calorie intake. In your case I would set protein to 35%.

You are also significantly short on fiber, so that area should be increased as well.

You also look like you are doing something similar to the intermittent fasting that other people try. Please note that there are advantages to eating more often. In your case, because of the exercising you should look to have approximately 20 grams, or more, of protein 30 - 60 minutes after you've exercised. You need to make sure that you have the carbs to continue the exercising, but the protein afterwards.

However, you are also significantly lower than your Total Daily Energy Expenditure. While this is indeed resulting in rapid weight loss, it is not necessarily a safe weight loss, particularly since you are protein deprived. You need to ensure that you are eating the appropriate nutrients and based on a review of a couple weeks of your diary you nutrient balance is not appropriate for what you are attempting.

Without throwing in different exercise routines it is going to become increasingly difficult to lose the same weight without exercising more. As your body gets smaller it takes less energy to move it and as a result you have to move it more to get the same caloric burn. In addition, the more you do the same exercises at the same speed the more your muscles "learn" those exercises and the more efficient they become, lowering the caloric burn again. You need to switch by adding High Intensity Interval Training or even switching to weight training in the evening.

Significantly reduced caloric intake does cause metabolism issues. Your body runs cooler to conserve energy, your muscles don't complete the same range of motion to move your limbs and the increase in cortisol (released when the body is under stress) makes it hard on your internal organs.

Finally, in order to lose 28 pounds in 55 days you had to get a calorie deficit of 1781 calories per day. To go further, 37 pounds in 60 days, you need a calorie deficit of 2158 calories, an increase of 21%. With the decreased caloric burn due to the reduced body mass, the reduced caloric burn due to muscle efficiency and your lowered metabolism you will probably have to add an hour in the gym every day or more.

And the part you don't want to hear, this is NOT safe. The science and the math behind it say that this is a dangerous path to be on and nothing is worth your life.

Mr_Knight

The goal is achievable "safely", but it would take a 24-7 commitment to the "Army plan" - up your intake to 2200 calories/day, and walk 12 hours a day.

HealthyVitamins

why such a large amount of weight in such a short period of time?

rb16fitness

I don't believe you'll achieve that loss in the time frame you've set yourself nor that you'll keep it off in the long run. I guess time will tell...

Alex

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