Is it possible to lose a pound a day?

shanitomorrow
shanitomorrow Posts: 64 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
For a limited time, obviously :)

I was just wondering, if I ate my daily calorie allowance, and built in four hours exercise/activity each day, on top of the usual shopping, cooking, cleaning, running around activity, would you lose more?

Or would you just be ravenous? ;)
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Replies

  • CharlieIsHealthy
    CharlieIsHealthy Posts: 1
    Is it possible? Sure.
    Is it sustainable and healthy? I don't believe so.

    Once you add in more calories or reduce your exercise time (4 hours per day is A LOT) I believe you would quickly regain whatever weight you lost during this phase. I believe the moderate approach is best suited for long term success. You did not arrive at your current weight overnight so try not to worry too much about losing it overnight as well.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 49,023 Member
    To burn off a pound of fat, you'd need to be in a calorie deficit plan of -3500 and all of it would have to be used from fat. Unfortunately, that's not how the body works. Some of the energy will be from carbs and protein too.

    Now can one lose a pound a day? Sure. A pound of what though? Fast weight loss will usually result in lean tissue loss and would also result in having a lower metabolic rate. Which means when you maintenance, you may have to eat quite low just to maintain weight.

    But if you're not obese, there's really no reason to try this approach since the failure rate for many (especially when it comes to weight regain) is at about 95%. Don't trust that you'll be that 5% that succeeds.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • cingle87
    cingle87 Posts: 717 Member
    No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no Just NO!
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member
    For a limited time, obviously :)

    I was just wondering, if I ate my daily calorie allowance, and built in four hours exercise/activity each day, on top of the usual shopping, cooking, cleaning, running around activity, would you lose more?

    Or would you just be ravenous? ;)

    SO you are going to eat your maintenance Energy requirement and then do a pounds worth of exercise....... (at least 3500 cals) . Every DAY.


    Ain't going to happen.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    You didn't GAIN a pound a day, so why try to lose it that way? I am looking for long term sustainability here.
  • AllieLosingIt
    AllieLosingIt Posts: 150 Member
    It's possible, but it's not at all sustainable.
  • SunofaBeach14
    SunofaBeach14 Posts: 4,899 Member
    Sure. Let us know how that goes.

    Or, you could read the numerous posts on this subject and take the advice of people who have set reasonable goals, attained them, and kept the weight off over time.

    Your choice.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 10,257 Member
    Sure. Let us know how that goes.

    Or, you could read the numerous posts on this subject and take the advice of people who have set reasonable goals, attained them, and kept the weight off over time.

    Your choice.
    But why................
  • SideSteel
    SideSteel Posts: 11,068 Member
    Is it possible and is it intelligent are two different questions and the latter one is more important.
  • matthawthorneisamyth
    matthawthorneisamyth Posts: 196 Member
    Sure, if you want to feel like shirt and look like a California raisin. Knock it off. You didn't get fat over a short period of time. It likely took months or years. Plan on at least a year or more to get back to your goal weight. If you're not committed to that then you might as well not even waste your time. (Unless you're only a few lbs over your goal)

    There are no shortcuts for hard work and consistency that don't involve negative consequences. Don't mess around. Don't make excuses and stay committed. It's simple and complex all in the same breath.
  • Cryptonomnomicon
    Cryptonomnomicon Posts: 848 Member
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  • gypsy_spirit
    gypsy_spirit Posts: 2,107 Member
    I just checked your profile and you are only a couple of years older than me. From your question, it would seem that you are stuck in the dieting mindset of the 60s and 70s. I know this all too well.

    Here is my suggestion to you. Start listening to the young, smart people on here and educate yourself on the science behind weight loss and health. I, like you, was always looking for quick fixes. 2.5 years ago, I finally got serious and started doing this the right way for the last time.

    Like me, you are getting to the place where you need to take this dead seriously and get busy doing things right. Read the following links. Educate yourself before your health becomes the impetus - forcing you to do what you can't seem to do now.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/the-path-of-success-631437

    Best of luck. :flowerforyou:
  • lishie_rebooted
    lishie_rebooted Posts: 2,973 Member
    I just checked your profile and you are only a couple of years older than me. From your question, it would seem that you are stuck in the dieting mindset of the 60s and 70s. I know this all too well.

    Here is my suggestion to you. Start listening to the young, smart people on here and educate yourself on the science behind weight loss and health. I, like you, was always looking for quick fixes. 2.5 years ago, I finally got serious and started doing this the right way for the last time.

    Like me, you are getting to the place where you need to take this dead seriously and get busy doing things right. Read the following links. Educate yourself before your health becomes the impetus - forcing you to do what you can't seem to do now.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1175494-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819925-the-basics-don-t-complicate-it

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/ihad/view/the-path-of-success-631437

    Best of luck. :flowerforyou:

    Listen to her. Shes a vvery wise lady.


    Also 4 hours of exercise a day?
    Eff that noise.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member

    Also 4 hours of exercise a day?

    So, 4 hours a day to burn one pound at 3500 cals per pound (approx) = nearly 4 hours at 875 cals/hrs or exercise EVERY DAY ... Not gonna happen...... NEXT PLAN
  • afortunatedragon
    afortunatedragon Posts: 329 Member
    I was wondering the same last time I saw "Obese. One year to save my live"
    Unfortunately they never show anything about the food they eat, but I presume it is carb cycle.
    They do 4-6 h of workout every day
    I don't have time for this.
    Secondly, this is just something you can't keep doing for the rest of your life. And as a logical result, you will gain very quickly.
    Of course it sounds just perfect, doesn't it?
    This would mean, in four month my weight problem is fixed and I would have the weight I have in mind. I understand everyone perfectly who want a quick fix. It is so much harder to loose than to gain, isn't it?
    I just think, you need to change your lifestyle. And carb cycling and 6h of workout are not possible on the long run, especially for people having to work.
    As per previous comments: you didn't gain over night, you shouldn't lose over night.
  • aurorareigns
    aurorareigns Posts: 167

    Also 4 hours of exercise a day?

    So, 4 hours a day to burn one pound at 3500 cals per pound (approx) = nearly 4 hours at 875 cals/hrs or exercise EVERY DAY ... Not gonna happen...... NEXT PLAN

    Also like how does one make the time to exercise for four hours a day? Don't sleep? Don't go to work?
  • Icandoityayme
    Icandoityayme Posts: 312 Member
    It's possible but not recommended. You may quick results of weight loss but you will also be more likely to gain it back just as quick and then some. Slow and steady wins the race.
  • Shropshire1959
    Shropshire1959 Posts: 982 Member

    Also 4 hours of exercise a day?

    So, 4 hours a day to burn one pound at 3500 cals per pound (approx) = nearly 4 hours at 875 cals/hrs or exercise EVERY DAY ... Not gonna happen...... NEXT PLAN

    Also like how does one make the time to exercise for four hours a day? Don't sleep? Don't go to work?

    In cloud Cuckoo-land .... Anything is possible :-p
  • eslcity
    eslcity Posts: 323 Member
    I totally believe you can even do better then that.... but it all depends on what body parts you don't mind cutting off...... the average arm is 5% of your body weight... and the average leg is 40% of our body weight...
  • Derpes
    Derpes Posts: 2,033 Member
    I am sure that your intentions are good, but keep it slow and steady.

    Two pounds per week should be the max, ideally.
  • bwogilvie
    bwogilvie Posts: 2,130 Member
    It's not possible. Realistically, 3500 calories is going to take more like 6-7 hours a day, and that's at a pretty high intensity.

    Furthermore, your muscles and liver only store enough glycogen for 2-3 hours at that intensity. Fat metabolism can't supply energy quickly enough to make up for glycogen depletion, and while muscles can start to consume protein, your brain can't (not for very long). For that reason, endurance athletes in events longer than a couple hours need to eat 200-300 calories per hour in easily digested carbohydrates in order to keep their brains working. Say you're burning 600 calories/hour (which is a lot—bicycling at nearly 19 mph will do that): in that case, you'll need to eat 250 calories an hour to sustain the effort for more than 2 hours. So your net deficit is only 350 calories/hour.

    I suppose you could exercise 6 hours and then skip meals, to maintain a 3500-calorie daily deficit. But then you'd be depriving your body of the protein, fat, and carbs that it needs to recover from your intense effort. One sports scientist with a Tour de France team said that riders in that event—one of the most grueling events in sports—burn 3500-4500 calories in each stage. To keep their bodies functioning, they need to eat all those back, some during the event but a lot afterwards. It's a challenge.
    http://www.bicycling.com/garmin-insider/featured-stories/eating-tour-de-france

    And even Tour de France riders have days off and shorter stages, and the whole event is only a few weeks long. Not to mention that they are using various drugs, legal or not, to maintain that effort, in addition to being incredibly fit guys in their 20s and 30s.
  • afortunatedragon
    afortunatedragon Posts: 329 Member
    I totally believe you can even do better then that.... but it all depends on what body parts you don't mind cutting off...... the average arm is 5% of your body weight... and the average leg is 40% of our body weight...

    :laugh: :bigsmile:
  • shanitomorrow
    shanitomorrow Posts: 64 Member
    I'm thinking about an experiment and trying to understand how the body works.

    To maintain my current weight requires, say, 1,900 calories, so to lose weight at a steady, sustainable rate, consume, say, 1,400 calories each day. But the loss is not simply from fat tissue, is it? It's from muscle and fat alike?

    So the idea of exercise - aerobic and strength building - is to build muscle a) to replace what's lost through eating less and b) to change the ratio of muscle to fat which implies increasing the muscle mass and c) to increase muscle mass to increase metabolic rate.

    Does muscle mass increase simply by using it more, as in being more active? Or does increasing muscle mass imply strength or resistance training/activity?

    Would you need more energy (more calories) for more exercise, say four times as much exercise than the starting place of 1,400 calories? Does the metabolism go into starvation mode in response to greater activity, as well as in response to less (too little) food?

    I believe metabolism uses immediate energy from consumed calories, as well as stored energy from body tissue, is there a threshold or ratio, is it possible to calculate, assuming an increased rate of activity.

    And last question, would you lose a pound a day, or, as fat is replaced with muscle, would weight loss be less, although body shape would change.

    Or thinking about it another way: How long does it take to build muscle?
  • shanitomorrow
    shanitomorrow Posts: 64 Member
    Thank you everyone for your responses.
  • rosnz
    rosnz Posts: 91 Member
    Easy my friend lost 7lbs in a day only last week. She has kept that 7lbs in a nice little wicker basket on rockers beside her bed.
  • shanitomorrow
    shanitomorrow Posts: 64 Member
    It's not possible. Realistically, 3500 calories is going to take more like 6-7 hours a day, and that's at a pretty high intensity.

    Furthermore, your muscles and liver only store enough glycogen for 2-3 hours at that intensity. Fat metabolism can't supply energy quickly enough to make up for glycogen depletion, and while muscles can start to consume protein, your brain can't (not for very long). For that reason, endurance athletes in events longer than a couple hours need to eat 200-300 calories per hour in easily digested carbohydrates in order to keep their brains working. Say you're burning 600 calories/hour (which is a lot—bicycling at nearly 19 mph will do that): in that case, you'll need to eat 250 calories an hour to sustain the effort for more than 2 hours. So your net deficit is only 350 calories/hour.

    I suppose you could exercise 6 hours and then skip meals, to maintain a 3500-calorie daily deficit. But then you'd be depriving your body of the protein, fat, and carbs that it needs to recover from your intense effort. One sports scientist with a Tour de France team said that riders in that event—one of the most grueling events in sports—burn 3500-4500 calories in each stage. To keep their bodies functioning, they need to eat all those back, some during the event but a lot afterwards. It's a challenge.
    http://www.bicycling.com/garmin-insider/featured-stories/eating-tour-de-france

    And even Tour de France riders have days off and shorter stages, and the whole event is only a few weeks long. Not to mention that they are using various drugs, legal or not, to maintain that effort, in addition to being incredibly fit guys in their 20s and 30s.

    Hi, thanks,

    This is the kind of information I was looking for - whether increased exercise had other implications, considerations.

    Interesting debate.
  • shanitomorrow
    shanitomorrow Posts: 64 Member
    I'm thinking about an experiment and trying to understand how the body works.

    To maintain my current weight requires, say, 1,900 calories, so to lose weight at a steady, sustainable rate, consume, say, 1,400 calories each day. But the loss is not simply from fat tissue, is it? It's from muscle and fat alike?

    So the idea of exercise - aerobic and strength building - is to build muscle a) to replace what's lost through eating less and b) to change the ratio of muscle to fat which implies increasing the muscle mass and c) to increase muscle mass to increase metabolic rate.

    Does muscle mass increase simply by using it more, as in being more active? Or does increasing muscle mass imply strength or resistance training/activity?

    Would you need more energy (more calories) for more exercise, say four times as much exercise than the starting place of 1,400 calories? Does the metabolism go into starvation mode in response to greater activity, as well as in response to less (too little) food?

    I believe metabolism uses immediate energy from consumed calories, as well as stored energy from body tissue, is there a threshold or ratio, is it possible to calculate, assuming an increased rate of activity.

    And last question, would you lose a pound a day, or, as fat is replaced with muscle, would weight loss be less, although body shape would change.

    Or thinking about it another way: How long does it take to build muscle?

    Bwogilvie answered most of these questions, I think, but if anyone else has any comments please do contribute.
  • tennisdude2004
    tennisdude2004 Posts: 5,609 Member
    For a limited time, obviously :)

    I was just wondering, if I ate my daily calorie allowance, and built in four hours exercise/activity each day, on top of the usual shopping, cooking, cleaning, running around activity, would you lose more?

    Or would you just be ravenous? ;)

    Yes its possible, but it would also be incredibly unhealthy, unless it was for the first few days of a diet and you were losing water weight.

    To loss that amount, as one poster about said, you would have to be exercising to put yourself in a calorie deficit of 3500 cals a day (that in itself would be unhealthy).

    Alternatively if you do not eat enough cals and or protein your body will strip your lean mass for fuel which weights a lot more than fat and as such you will loss weight faster - your lean mass is muscle, sinew, connective tissue, organs etc... this would be extremely unhealthy and never advisable.

    There is no healthy quick fix. Eat in a deficit (get enough protein in your diet), do sufficient exercise and be happy with 1 - 2lb's per week (that's a healthy way of doing it)
  • ukaryote
    ukaryote Posts: 860 Member
    Recently, an extremely obese member of MFP reported a loss of 37 pounds for the first month. The person was around 500 pounds. It might be possible for a very obese person st the start. There is an awful lot of water weight that could be lost, and the calories needed to just maintain that weight are enormous.
  • justina88
    justina88 Posts: 5 Member
    If you try this be careful that you don't injure yourself... I would worry that suddenly working out 4 hours a day would be too much. So experiment if you must, but please listen to your body. To lose a lb a day just doesn't seem worth the risk of injury. Your body needs to work up to that kind of workout - these shows on TV that show this kind of extreme workouts are loaded with physical therapist and recuperation equipment. They are not the everyday people at home doing this on their own. BE CAREFUL!

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