Slow and steady, or full throttle?

cheegerz

Hey guys. Simple question. Do you find that you have the most long term success when you're losing weight slowly but steadily (around 1lb per week) or is your best weight loss experience with going full throttle with extreme diet and exercise and losing like 5lbs or more a week and then returning to a normal diet and exercise routine?

I don't use the word extreme to mean CRASH diets... I just mean working out really really hard and eating a very limited, very structured diet to lose the initial weight.

Reason I ask is... I've set my goals to be very reasonable, I've eaten pretty healthy, and I've incorporated about five 45-minute workouts into my week.... and I'm seeing jack for results!! I almost want to say eff this slow and steady crap, and do the full throttle work out/diet to the point where I drop a significant amount of weight immediately and only THEN return to what I'm doing now.

What has worked best for you guys? What REALLY gives you the initial results you're looking for?

Mercambus

I guess it is a question of what motivates you, how disciplined you are, your goals, and how comfortable you feel that you'll know how to maintain once you achieve your goal. In the past I've been an all in, full speed ahead kind of person but I've always been terrible at knowing how to maintain it. What intensity of workout, how much to eat, was always a mystery. Also losing fast always lead to muscle and strength losses that I didn't like and if I am being honest the intensity of the workouts weren't sustainable long term.

I've been purposely making myself go slow this time. Not seeing numbers drop as quickly has just meant I have to grab my motivation from other areas such as cardiovascular improvements, work capacity increases, tape measurements, how the clothes fit, etc. Hopefully going slow, with a realistic long term workout intensity will make transitioning from losing weight to maintaining weight as easy as adding 500 calories a day and lessening my workouts slightly.

nomeejerome

Slow and steady.
If you are not seeing results, there is a miscalculation. (or you haven't given it enough time)

Swiftdogs

Always keep in mind that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. The "full throttle" approach is not only unhealthy, but it just sets you up for a yoyo pattern. Lose the weight slowly and steadily, then keep it off by applying the same good habits.

jlshea

I've done the extreme and I gained it back and then some. This time just has to be slow and steady as I grow into this "life style" as someone else mentioned. I can't go back to lunches of Doritos and sugary foods all day ever again.

fast_eddie_72

Always keep in mind that this is a lifestyle change, not a diet. The "full throttle" approach is not only unhealthy, but it just sets you up for a yoyo pattern. Lose the weight slowly and steadily, then keep it off by applying the same good habits.

This seems like the right idea.

Arydria

If I were to lose 1lb a week, it would take over 2 years for me to lose my weight. I found that to be unacceptable, even if it did take me 15 years to put the weight on. I needed to see faster results to keep me motivated.

So I went balls to the walls and went for a hard core workout program along with significant changes to my diet. But, that said, I did it with the help of a personal trainer, a nutritionist and my husband in full support. Now, seven months later (and 97lbs lighter), with 15lbs to goal, I am slowly reintroducing more calories to my diet. I no longer feel the need to lose 3lbs a week as I did at first. I intend to get to a point where my life and weight loss are sustainable for the long term.

Most on here will tell you slow and steady is the way to go, and for most it is. I think it depends on the person.

Best of luck in your weight loss journey.

cwolfman13

sorry, but if you're losing 5 Lbs per week, other than initial water losses, you're just burning up a lot of muscle unless you are very overweight. Your body can only oxidize so much fat. I work hard for my muscle and see no reason to burn it just to get to some arbitrary number on the scale.

also, what's the rush? your health, nutrition, and fitness are lifetime endeavors.

FreshKrisKreash

try eating the same but doing your exercise full throttle. you have to eat healthy in order to feel good but you can always jack up your exercise a bunch. also maybe try instead of 1 pound per week loss, 2 pounds per week. it's the max healthy loss. that's a deficit of 1000 calories per day and you can eat at your bmr if you burn 1000 calories through exercise each day.

SLLRunner

I'm getting conflicting messages.

You say you don't define "full throttle" as "

extreme to mean CRASH diets... I just mean working out really really hard and eating a very limited, very structured diet to lose the initial weight.

And then you say,

I almost want to say eff this slow and steady crap, and do the full throttle work out/diet to the point where I drop a significant amount of weight immediately and only THEN return to what I'm doing now.

With all due respect, with those two statements it seems to me that you want validation to do a crash diet. I cannot support you in that.

Crash diets may work for quick results, but they won't work in the long term. All that food deprivation and you gain your weight back anyway. I used to abuse myself that way until I finally decided it's not worth it to lose weight so quickly only to gain it back again.

The best course of action is slow and steady.

I encourage you look at your logging habits. Do you weight all your solid food and measure all liquids?

Are you making sure your portions are correct?

Are you ensuring that the calorie counts are correct by reading labels and checking other internet sources if MFP uses only cup or teaspoon measurements?

Where do you get your calorie counts from?

All I can say is if you aren't losing weight you are eating too much, which generally is the result of miscalculations in food.

The best of luck to you.

krispy1982

A long, long time ago I took about a year to lose 60 lbs and then I kept if off for years. I had surgery and only gained 15-20 of it back after being laid up for 6 weeks or so and I'm still so grateful to my slow and steady self because if I'd lost it doing some extreme program with a crazy diet it would have been a lot worse.. Since then I've lost the 15-20 over and over again because I think " hey, I can handle super restrictive x for a few weeks,right?" Then of course life happens and it all comes back. Over and over.

Slow and steady only seems to take longer. In the end, when you don't have to re- lose the same weight because you did it right, it's really that much faster to your ultimate goals.

I like weight lifting because I can see and feel the results before the scale starts to change. ( oh hello, quads, don't you look nice under those jeans? )

Also, I have to wait a full menstrual cycle before I know if something is working or not. I tend to see very little change until after a period.

There are tons of threads about not seeing any results yet with lots of good info, maybe do a search and see if there are a few things you can tweak to help move things along?

Good luck!

cheegerz

I'm getting conflicting messages.

You say you don't define "full throttle" as "

extreme to mean CRASH diets... I just mean working out really really hard and eating a very limited, very structured diet to lose the initial weight.

And then you say,

I almost want to say eff this slow and steady crap, and do the full throttle work out/diet to the point where I drop a significant amount of weight immediately and only THEN return to what I'm doing now.

With all due respect, with those two statements it seems to me that you want validation to do a crash diet. I cannot support you in that.

Oh, no, no. It may have just been my wording. Trust me, I'm not interested in crash diets. I love food. And I eat generally healthy foods to begin with (I'm a vegetarian, and as that would suggest, the majority of what I consume is plant-derived).

I have lost a significant amount of weight before -- roughly 50lbs over the course of a year and a half. The initial weight loss seemed to happen much more quickly back then! I joined a gym one month ago, and began tracking my meals more closely.... and I think I've lost 1lb. In a month. THAT'S what's discouraging me. I am doing everything right and not seeing results. I am doing resistance training and cardio, and I feel amazing afterward. Everyone is using the term "miscalculation".... If I'm not calculating something right, then what in god's name do I need to change to actually start losing again??

I looked over the last few days of my food logs, and I don't see much along the lines of error or miscalculation. If anything, when I doubt the accuracy of nutrition facts on MFP of something I'm eating, I err on the side of caution and add to the portion size of whatever I ate, just in case I consumed more calories than I'm logging. But that's infrequent.

The food is not something I feel I need to change. I'm more worried about my activity in the gym. I should have been more specific about where I meant to go "full throttle".

Mr_Knight

Do you find that you have the most long term success when you're losing weight slowly but steadily (around 1lb per week) or is your best weight loss experience with going full throttle with extreme diet and exercise and losing like 5lbs or more a week and then returning to a normal diet and exercise routine?

5 pounds a week is a daily deficit of 2500 calories. That is literally starvation for most people. Unless you are obese, It won't be possible to do that for very long without having it wipe out your ability to lead anything resembling a normal life.

nomeejerome

Everyone is using the term "miscalculation".... If I'm not calculating something right, then what in god's name do I need to change to actually start losing again??

If you do not have a food scale, I suggest investing in one to get a grasp on the amount you are actually eating and not making estimates.