One Pound or Half a Pound Per Week?

ashley67203

For those of you trying to decide where to set your weight loss rate, I wanted to share the personal experience I've had between losing 1 pound per week and 1/2 pound per week and why I'm sticking with the 1/2 pound rate.

I'm 5'5" with a curvy figure. After my first big diet, for which I keep myself under 1200 calories/day, I made it down to 125 pounds, dropped to a size 8 but my bra cup size shrunk to a B. I lost the weight primarily through the calorie-restricted diet with not so much exercise.

Now, 10 years later, I managed to get fat again (blaming that on work-related stress and a 2-hour long commute) and had to go on another diet. Before I joined MFP I had already lost 40 pounds to reach a weight of 135 pounds through exercise and diet, but mostly exercise this time. I kept my caloric intake to 1700/day and rarely dropped below 1500/day. Recently, I gained 15 pounds back from slacking off on exercise and eating right after a move (thankfully, to a nice, stress-free job and no commute) but now I'm back on track with MFP and have already lost 5 of those pounds but still have 10 to go. The difference between first diet and second diet - I'm back to wearing a size 8 but now my bra cup size is DD.

Physically, I don't look that much different now than I did when I was at 125 pounds and flabby. I've set my caloric goal to 1,470/day before exercise and my macros at 45 carbs, 25 protein and 30 fat.

I hope this helps some of you figure out your caloric goals. Fast weight loss does sound awesome, but I'd personally rather do it slowly and have strong, healthy figure.

Please feel free to add me as a friend. I'd love to hear about your experiences and learn from them.