1/2lb or 1lb per week?

bsmith404

Hello. I am 5'6, 143lbs and 28yrs old. I want to get down to 135 so thats about 8lbs to lose. Since November 2011 I have been going down to 140 never less, and never more than 145 so I have been losing/gaining the same 5lbs.

Would you recommend I change my setting to 1/2lb loss per week. This is my second week wth MFP. Or should I keep it at 1lb per week. I'm very active. I run/weight train 3 days a week, spin 1x a week, yoga 1x a week then two days of rest. I joined MFP hoping to stop this 5lbs of gaining or losing. MFP has me at 1,250 calories and I just got the answer from this website that I should eat back my calories so thats what I've been doing. First week lost or gained nothing.

With little to lose would you change your settings to 1/2lb per week or keep it at 1lb per week?

now_or_never12

If you only have 8 more pounds to lose it's best if you have your settings at 0.5lb per week. The smaller you are the less of a deficit you should have.

ishallnotwant

If you only have 8 more pounds to lose it's best if you have your settings at 0.5lb per week. The smaller you are the less of a deficit you should have.

I agree with this. The calorie deficit on 1 pound a week for someone your size is just too much, especially with your workouts. I found this out myself the other day, when I tried to change my loss back to 1 pound per week and the cal limit was just too low for me. I'm going to stick with 1/2 per week so I can fuel my body.

schninie82

I had similar issues you are facing, we are quite the same in stats actually...

I'm 29 and since last year I have been losing a gaining the same 7lbs driving me up the wall!! So in the end reset the counters to a 0.5lb, ate more protein and upped my calories by 10% I have gone on to loose 3lb since adjusting it...

spngebobmyhero

I think its a lot easier to lose those last 10 pounds when at 1/2 lb a week. I changed mine recently and it seems to be working well.

bsmith404

Thanks for your input. I lost 70lbs through Weight Watchers but these last lbs are hard to get off. I'm losing at a pace of .2per week. So I thought maybe I had to eat more? But with points thats hard to see and I needed to look at my carb, fat and sodium intake. So I changed it to 1/2lb per week and it has me at 1500 calories per day.