In 5 weeks you'll lose 10lbs... why is it not working?

stfennell

MireyGal76 wrote: »

I have further geeked out and created the following table/chart

Maintenance Cals is what your calorie intake would be if you were to neither gain or lose weight
Each bar represents targeted weight loss per week (1/2 pound through to 2 pounds)

You will see that if your Maintenance cals are at 1450 or lower....you will struggle to lose 0.5 pounds a week without dipping below 1200 calories.



If you are in this position, then your solution to the problem is to increase your activity levels.
Don't further restrict food, but rather increase activity. More exercise, take the stairs, walk more, play more. Sit less, move more!

This is also why you eat back your exercise calories if you use the MFP formula. You don't want to have too great a deficit - it can be unhealthy for you - both in terms of the habits you form around eating, and the relationship you have with your food.

Remember this, above all.. LIFE IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED! Don't let this consume your life and destroy the quality of life you have. Your family and friends will remember the person you were... I'd rather have fun with 10 pounds to lose, than be miserable and at goal weight.

Great Post. Thanks for sharing, as a newbie I will adjust my settings. How do you know if your maintenance calories are correct? Is there a better formula for setting this vs MFP. Sorry if this was explained and I just didn't see it.

Liftng4Lis

glassofroses

I'm a bit confused. I'm 5ft 9in, 207.2lbs with 52.2lbs to lose to reach UGW and I'm eating around 1200 cals + 150/200 on exercise days (my diary is open) of good healthy food and I'm not hungry/snacking much either, so am I okay or do I need to eat more?

yarwell

rightoncommander wrote: »

ketosis is by definition unsustainable, because eventually your body would run out of fat.

Apparently you can buy foods with fat in and eat them ?

MamaBirdBoss

TitaniaEcks wrote: »

OP: I don't buy your premise. I started off as not even technically clinically overweight (10 lbs under the cutoff), and after the first week of massive water weight loss, I was able to safely lose 3 lbs per week. The reason? I cut my carbs down to under 20 a day (ketosis level) and simultaneously restricted calories. Now I've been at maintenance for many months. "Crazy"? "Unsustainable"? Horsecrap.

Some people do better on a slow-and-steady weight loss regimen, but some of us want all of it gone *yesterday*. When you recommend to people that they lose half a pound a week, you're telling them to be happy with losing 26 lbs in an entire year. I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable to most people. I can lose that in two months. What happens to people who have ~100 lbs to lose, which is *very* common? Are they supposed to wait 4 years to fit into their college jeans? Screw that.

It may not be your intention, but your post just encourages people to settle for less than they're capable of.

Fat can only mobilize at a certain rate. If you take your estimated fat mass * 27, that is the HIGHEST calorie deficit that you should ever eat. More than that, and you MUST burn other tissues. Which is weight, sure, but it's pretty pointless.

Yes, you can absolutely lose 10lbs in 5 weeks. I have, safely, at the weight I started at. But I can't do it for the next 10lbs or I'll be doing things that put my health in jeopardy.

If you are obese, yes, you absolutely can lose 2lbs or more a week. One rule of thumb is 1% of your body mass, but the more obese you are, the more you can safely lose.

Do whatever is most comfortable for you, though, within the range of what is safe.

I make up the differences with a TON of exercise.

If your photo is maintenance, then I may weigh 10lbs more than you, but I've only got 5lbs more fat, at most, even though I'm shorter. When I reach 127lbs, I don't want to have to gain back 5lbs of muscle I lost and lose 5lbs more fat just because I was in too much of a hurry.

And frankly, by your own admission, you yo-yo a lot.

I don't. I know what I'm going to eat when I get to where I'm going (which is identical to what I normally eat, actually--I'm a rare person for whom being sedentary really is the Big Problem.) And I'll maintain within a 10lb window without thinking about it. 5lbs will take a little attention but not much.

MireyGal76

glassofroses wrote: »

I'm a bit confused. I'm 5ft 9in, 207.2lbs with 52.2lbs to lose to reach UGW and I'm eating around 1200 cals + 150/200 on exercise days (my diary is open) of good healthy food and I'm not hungry/snacking much either, so am I okay or do I need to eat more?

Using a really rough calc, at sedentary it looks like you'd be around 2000 cals to maintain your current weight.
Eating at 1200 would put you on track for about 1.5 pounds a week loss... at least initially.

As you get closer to goal weight, I recommend considering an increase to your cals so that by the time you have 5-10 pounds to lose, you're consuming closer to 1750 / 1800 cals.

That is assuming you weigh and measure your foods and log everything.

hope that helps!

Crystalp2281

This is what I do too! Average out the numbers to get the most reasonable value.

The other thing to remember is that this is not really a daily thing... I tend to look at a few days, sometimes values over a week... I may be a bit over one day, and a bit under the next. my goal is to be around par when I average the week out. If I'm not hungry one day... I let myself go under. If I'm starving, I CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE to let myself go over, knowing that I need to make that up (if I haven't already). I try to pay attention to what my body is telling me.[/quote]

This is very encouraging to me!! I do the same thing, because I really do NOTHING on my rest days. So, I don't feel hungry enough to consume my 1200 calories. But there are days when I need to go over. What is your opinion of eating your extra "exercise" calories?

khhregister

I just started using trendweight.com which gives me a better idea of how my weightloss is trending rather than the daily fluctuations. It showed me that I am making very slow but steady progress. This post is EXACTLY what I needed to see today! Thank you, thank you.

Reinventing_Me

This is BRILLIANT!

Debmal77

Reinventing_Me wrote: »

This is BRILLIANT!

I totally agree!! Thank you!!!

CSARdiver

Flagged for excellence!

harm30

Good post!

socalprincess1

rightoncommander wrote: »

In fact, quite apart from its unpleasant side-effects, ketosis is by definition unsustainable, because eventually your body would run out of fat. You needed 2 diets, one to lose weight, then another to keep it off (because the first diet would eventually kill you).

@rightoncommander Wrong. Wanted to correct this inaccurate statement, because ketosis is NOT unsustainable. Ketones aren't only created from body fat, they are also created from dietary fat as well. One could (and many do) very easily continue eating on a ketogenic diet (very high fat and very low carb) but at a maintenance level of calories, well after they've hit their ideal body weight, or even at a more extreme level "run out of body fat" as you suggested. Their bodies are burning ketones (aka fat) for energy, but it doesn't *have* to come from body fat. Don't make statements about that which you clearly don't understand.

JoAngle

MireyGal76 wrote: »

I have further geeked out and created the following table/chart

Maintenance Cals is what your calorie intake would be if you were to neither gain or lose weight
Each bar represents targeted weight loss per week (1/2 pound through to 2 pounds)

You will see that if your Maintenance cals are at 1450 or lower....you will struggle to lose 0.5 pounds a week without dipping below 1200 calories.



If you are in this position, then your solution to the problem is to increase your activity levels.
Don't further restrict food, but rather increase activity. More exercise, take the stairs, walk more, play more. Sit less, move more!

This is also why you eat back your exercise calories if you use the MFP formula. You don't want to have too great a deficit - it can be unhealthy for you - both in terms of the habits you form around eating, and the relationship you have with your food.

Remember this, above all.. LIFE IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED! Don't let this consume your life and destroy the quality of life you have. Your family and friends will remember the person you were... I'd rather have fun with 10 pounds to lose, than be miserable and at goal weight.

I wear a jawbone up. Should I enter my steps or active calories burned into MFP?

diannethegeek

This is a useful post and I would like more people to see it. Bump for visibility.

GBrady43068

Bumping the facts

sonyapatterson80

So if I'm 174.4 pounds @ 5'3 and I want to lose 40-50 lbs. How many calories do I need to have a day to lose this weight. Quicker the better. I'm moderately active at the moment.

baconsgirl

To the OP, I really like your post and how supportive this is for those just starting out. One thing I would add is that it's ok to like seeing what the complete your diary option tells you- just don't take it as exact information. For instance, when I see that based on my workout and eating for the day, I will lose 10lbs in 5 weeks, I'm excited that I'm on the path towards weight loss. I certainly don't expect 10 pounds, but I know I'm closer to that than to gaining weight or being at a standstill, so I'm happy! I take it as general feedback that I'm doing things right.

Also, I would strongly suggest to anyone to get a fitness watch that tracks calories burned. SO worth it. I found how easy (and severely off) it was to "guess" or rely on MFP or exercise machines to give me inaccurate numbers for my burn.

diannethegeek

Bump

evenhernandez

I will try this starting tomorrow in this moment I am stuck in 230 pounds!!