Max weight that can be lost in 30 days

phillipsak

Hi there,

Just curious what peoples' opinions are on how much weight someone could lose in a 30 day period? Hoping to lose some weight, quickly, within 30 days (going on a vacation - using this as motivation!), and then continue at a not-so-extreme level once vacation is over... ideas, thoughts, concerns?

I have curbed my eating like crazy, and am eating mainly fresh produce/fruits/meat only. I was eating probably close to 2,800 calories a day, on average. Trying to stick with the whole 'low carb' thing, because carbs are my best friend... which has lead me to being overweight. I have cut out any drinks that aren't water or clear tea. I am beginning to do some cardio exercise (which I have never done before in my life), as well as walk more (purchased a pedometer).

I am: 5 foot 7- 24 years old - 183 lbs


THANKS!

Hendrix7

Different for every single person, it's a 'how long is a piece of string' question.

What method are you hoping to use here exactly?

jr1985

In a healthy manor... about 10... in a not so healthy manor... 30+

newjourney2015

It also depends on how much you currently weigh. If you have a lot of weight to lose you will lose weight faster in the beginning. If you only have say 10 - 20 lbs to lose you might only lose 2 or 3 lbs or maybe not even that. The question is too broad and really doesn't have an answer.

melsinct

My thoughts: you should have started losing weight a while ago and not gone into the 30 day panic because a big event is coming up. You didn't pack on the excess weight in a month and you won't lose it in a month. Plug your info into MFP, set it for a 1 lb/week loss, and then have at it. Assuming you drop a couple pounds the first week then one pound per week, maybe you'll drop 5 lbs. before your vacation. That is pure speculation without knowing anything about you or your stats.

charever92

You could lose about 8lbs.

phillipsak

I just meant, realistically, so I'm not setting myself up for disappointment.

stumblinthrulife

Depends how big you are. Based on what I have read, for the average person, the max healthy loss would be 1% of your current weight per week. So if you weigh 200 pounds, that would be about 8.3 pounds in 30 days. This is inline with the oft-quoted absolute figure of 2 pounds per week. It also jives with the fact that it's generally said that very overweight people can safely go beyond that 2 pound per week max, at least for a period of time.

phillipsak

My thoughts: you should have started losing weight a while ago and not gone into the 30 day panic because a big event is coming up. You didn't pack on the excess weight in a month and you won't lose it in a month.

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. I should not have waited until the last minute. But the way I see it, it's better late than never. I'm a huge procrastinator and incredibly lazy (will be the first to admit it). I needed the stress/pressure of the upcoming vacation to kick my behind in gear. I am not asking HOW DO I LOSE AS MUCH WEIGHT AS POSSIBLE IN 30 DAYS!!!! I'm simply asking, to give myself a realistic expectation, would the famous answer "1 to 2 lbs a week" be realistic, or is that on the low end?

Clarissa546

Well I'm not crazy overweight, I actually just felt bad in my own body ! I ate the wrong foods sometimes and didn't work out on a regular basis (oh god, this sentence is sounding awful lol)
but I managed to lose 13 lbs!
Good luck with your weight loss

phillipsak

Well I'm not crazy overweight, I actually just felt bad in my own body ! I ate the wrong foods sometimes and didn't work out on a regular basis (oh god, this sentence is sounding awful lol)
but I managed to lose 13 lbs!
Good luck with your weight loss

Hi there - thanks so much for your optimism and encouragement!

What steps did you take to lose your weight, if you don't mind me asking?

carmieg3

I started my weighloss plan based on an up-coming vacation as well, I had 2 months though and targeted to loose 20 pounds.. (2.5lbs a week..) I was able to hit my 20lbs lost one week early, I kept at 1200/day, worked out 2-3 times per week, and didnt eat back any burned calories..
Based on my experience, I think its safe to say you can loose 8-10 pounds before you go!

stumblinthrulife

I just meant, realistically, so I'm not setting myself up for disappointment.

I have curbed my eating like crazy, and am eating mainly fresh produce/fruits/meat only. I was eating probably close to 2,800 calories a day, on average. Trying to stick with the whole 'low carb' thing, because carbs are my best friend... which has lead me to being overweight. I have cut out any drinks that aren't water or clear tea. I am beginning to do some cardio exercise (which I have never done before in my life), as well as walk more (purchased a pedometer).

I am: 5 foot 7- 24 years old - 183 lbs

Realistically, under ideal conditions, I believe you could get down to 177 or 176 in 30 days. Maybe as low as 175 on a 1,000 calorie daily deficit, though you'll be pushing it as you'll probably be below BMR at that level of deficit which is never recommended.

Looking at short term losses opens you up to a lot of 'wild cards' though, such as water retention, or even just a backed up colon. You could be at 179 at the end of week three, but then at the end of week four back up to 182 just because you slipped with your water and haven't taken a decent BM.

My advice is accept who are now for the short term. Start working on losing weight, by all means, but do it with a view to continuing long term rather than focusing on the short term. There's just too many things that can go wrong over the course of 30 days, and not enough time for them to all correct themselves. It could leave you very demotivated and depressed if you've hung your hopes on it. That in itself could be enough to ruin your vacation.

Edited for numbers.

tabbyavalon

i lost 10 pounds in my first month
its my second month now and im hoping to get the same result

phillipsak

Awesome! Thanks Great job!!

phillipsak

I started my weighloss plan based on an up-coming vacation as well, I had 2 months though and targeted to loose 20 pounds.. (2.5lbs a week..) I was able to hit my 20lbs lost one week early, I kept at 1200/day, worked out 2-3 times per week, and didnt eat back any burned calories..
Based on my experience, I think its safe to say you can loose 8-10 pounds before you go!

Thanks so much - that's awesome! Congrats

phillipsak

Realistically, under ideal conditions, I believe you could get down to 177 or 176 in 30 days. Maybe as low as 175 on a 1,000 calorie daily deficit, though you'll be pushing it as you'll probably be below BMR at that level of deficit which is never recommended.

Looking at short term losses opens you up to a lot of 'wild cards' though, such as water retention, or even just a backed up colon. You could be at 179 at the end of week three, but then at the end of week four back up to 182 just because you slipped with your water and haven't taken a decent BM.

My advice is accept who are now for the short term. Start working on losing weight, by all means, but do it with a view to continuing long term rather than focusing on the short term. There's just too many things that can go wrong over the course of 30 days, and not enough time for them to all correct themselves. It could leave you very demotivated and depressed if you've hung your hopes on it. That in itself could be enough to ruin your vacation.

Understood - thank you for your input and insight. I will have to spend some time thinking about my goals.

boboff

My Wife did the Cambridge diet, 500 calories, Ketosis, all that Jazz, she lost 1lb a day doing that.

Really the question is what are you happy to loose from your life, what exercise are you happy to add into your life, to get the end result you want.

Saying you should have started earlier, well hindsight is wonderful.

I don't know what will motivate you for a month, other than your holiday, but on my experience it's not enough of an "incentive" You get all excited and happy and the first thing I want then is biscuits and Beer!

I would keep going as hard as you can for a week, then weigh, then if you've done well you may well keep it up for another 2 weeks, or not, get bigger T shirts just in case!

PS I wouldn't personally say the the Cambridge plan is worth following, my wife was cranky as hell for 3 months and then needed her Gall bladder removed, not saying it was related, because no one knows, but hey!

Absolutely best of luck, keep positive and happy, no one want to live with a grumpy bear for 30 days just to have a holiday where you feel a little bit better!

alanlmarshall

I think it is not the best way to think about it. Rather than how much weight can I lose in a month, it would be better to think what can I do to be healthier and happier for the rest of my life. You can lose a lot of weight in 30 days. If you fasted (people do it) you would drop fat and muscle like you were on a desert island. But then, you would likely gain it back with some extra for the next famine. One of the important reasons many of us on MFP (including myself) have struggled with food issues of various kinds is because the thoughts and concepts we have about food and diet are not based in reality or our own long term best interest. Thinking of ways to trick our scales into saying a certain number next month will make that problem worse, not better.

sofielein

My father lost 55 lb on a 30 day fast once. But he was significantly overweight. The fast only allowed water and black coffee and was carried under medical supervision.

I personally lost 19 in about a month but it is slowing down now.

lewcompton

At your current weight I would suggest that you focus on one pound per week and through exercise perhaps drop a bit more than that amount of weight. If you want to lose significantly more in that amount of time it will require far greater levels of physical exertion and lowering the caloric intake to a level where your health may be compromised. Be safe!