1 or 2 pounds a week?

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EmilyStrick
EmilyStrick Posts: 267
in Health and Weight Loss
which is better? i started with my settings at losing 2 pounds a week, but from everything i read, it seems like i may have more reliable weight loss with my settings at 1 pound a week. but i'm not sure. it only adds 150 calories to my daily calorie goal...any thoughts?

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  • melbhall
    melbhall Posts: 519
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    I want to know too. I am becoming obsessed with these goals and changing them back and forth every day. What do most people do? I need to lose 40lbs and hopefully before the end of summer but is that really reasonable? I don't want my body to go into starvation mode so is 2lbs too much? I posed this question yesterday too on my page but would also like more input!
  • erickirb
    erickirb Posts: 12,293 Member
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    That is strange, shouldn't it add 500 cals per day, 3500/7? Unless you were originally set at 1200 calories as MFP suggests not going lower, if that is the case it is more likely you MFP goal is 1.5 pounds/week as it will not allow you to go below the 1200.

    Also keep in mind that when logging your exercise calories are you taking into account that you would have burned some calories if you didn't exercise for that time period.

    As an example say you work for 45 min and burn 10 cals/min that would be 450 burned from exercise but this is not the number you should enter in MFP. In that 45 min you would have burned say 3 cals per min so 3x45 = 135, so the amount you should enter in MFP for extra cals burned from exercise would be 315 (450-135). Hope this helps.
  • LostTeen
    LostTeen Posts: 110
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    It's healthy to lose 2lbs a week. If you're arent in any rush to get rid of it all then 1lb a week is fine.
  • EmilyStrick
    EmilyStrick Posts: 267
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    That is strange, shouldn't it add 500 cals per day, 3500/7? Unless you were originally set at 1200 calories as MFP suggests not going lower, if that is the case it is more likely you MFP goal is 1.5 pounds/week as it will not allow you to go below the 1200.

    for 1.5 or 2 pounds, mfp set my caloric goal at 1200...for 1 pound a week, it set it at 1350. i lost 10 pounds at 1200 a day, but i feel like it's starting to stagnate a little.....
  • StaceG1986
    StaceG1986 Posts: 350
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    I had mine set at 2 lbs/wk and it was giving me 1200 cals, but then I decided like you, to change it after deciding 2lbs was maybe a bit ambitious and after reading other peopl's posts, but I've put it at 1.5 lbs/wk, it only give me an extra 60 cals. I'm set as sedentary and I do 30-50 mins exercise 6 or 7 days a week. The first couple of weeks I didn't lose but I think my body was getting used to eating exercise cals too, last weigh in I had lost 1.2 lbs, so maybe it is better lowering your weight loss goal? I don't know :smile:
  • karmasBFF
    karmasBFF Posts: 699 Member
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    which is better? i started with my settings at losing 2 pounds a week, but from everything i read, it seems like i may have more reliable weight loss with my settings at 1 pound a week. but i'm not sure. it only adds 150 calories to my daily calorie goal...any thoughts?

    If you are working out, it seems easier (for me) to leave it at 1lb a week and then create a bigger deficit with excercise. I eat back whatever I need to eat back to stay at about 1250-1350 calories (NET) a day.
  • karmasBFF
    karmasBFF Posts: 699 Member
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    It's healthy to lose 2lbs a week. If you're arent in any rush to get rid of it all then 1lb a week is fine.

    Its not necessarily healthy to lose 2lbs a week; its more based on how many (NET) calories you consume in a day. You can lose 2lbs a week by eating 800 calories a day and not working out...this is not healthy. LostTeen, I hope this helps you out, too!

    Some say even 1200 is too low and will still cause your metabolism to become sluggish, which counters all of our efforts.
  • LadyEss60
    LadyEss60 Posts: 6 Member
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    I have mine set for 1 lb a week ... I feel that's manageable ... so less frustration if the numbers don't quite meet my expectations. I've set my exercises so that I'm burning 2,000 a week and eventually will work up towards the 3,500 magic number so I'll up my weight loss from 1lb to closer to 2lbs. On average right now I'm losing 1.2 to 1.4 lbs a week and the 1,200 calories are quite manageable. I very rarely feel hungry so it seems to be working. Whatever you chose, be comfortable with it. Good luck in your journey!
  • jillybeanruns
    jillybeanruns Posts: 1,420 Member
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    Neither. Mine are set at 1600 and MFP tells me I should lose .3 lbs a week because of that. I've lost 7.6 pounds in 4 weeks eating between 1400-1900 calories a day (depending on exercise). MFP doesn't take into account your exercise or your exercise calories when you set your pound a week weight loss goals.

    I believe in picking your own number and seeing how it fits into your life. I see far too many people not having success with 1200 calories, or having success but then hitting their plateaus. Start higher and ween yourself down. Being drastic won't help you in the long run.
  • EmilyStrick
    EmilyStrick Posts: 267
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    i don't feel hungry at all on 1200 calories, and normally have calories left at the end of the day. i guess i'll just stay at 1200 calories for now and mess with it later if it seems like things aren't working. i am just ending with TOM, so i suppose the scale isn't a super reliable resource for last week and this week.......ugh.......
  • immacookie
    immacookie Posts: 7,424 Member
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    If you are working out, it seems easier (for me) to leave it at 1lb a week and then create a bigger deficit with excercise. I eat back whatever I need to eat back to stay at about 1250-1350 calories (NET) a day.

    This is how I'm doing it too, I usually shoot for 1300-1400 or so NET a day.
    I've always been the 1200 (or less) dieter, so in reality after exercise deficit I was at or under 1000 cals a day - and then wonder why I haven't been able to lose any weight at all for 2 years! :noway: I haven't lost anything major yet, but hopefully my body catches up to eating a healthy calorie amount soon. :bigsmile:
  • mromnek
    mromnek Posts: 325
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    That is strange, shouldn't it add 500 cals per day, 3500/7? Unless you were originally set at 1200 calories as MFP suggests not going lower, if that is the case it is more likely you MFP goal is 1.5 pounds/week as it will not allow you to go below the 1200.

    for 1.5 or 2 pounds, mfp set my caloric goal at 1200...for 1 pound a week, it set it at 1350. i lost 10 pounds at 1200 a day, but i feel like it's starting to stagnate a little.....

    It sounds like starvation mode is setting in. IMO you might get better results at 1 lb per week.

    If 1.5 and 2 lbs both yield a 1200 cal limit, you are setting your goal too aggressively.
  • karmasBFF
    karmasBFF Posts: 699 Member
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    Emily,

    Based on your diary (I peeked, no judgement!), it seems like you are not eating enough to keep your metabolism going. You are usually under 1200, although you are doing a great job at staying close to it!

    Also, consider healthier choices over cakesters and crackers....these are DELISH! but they are empty calories so you body doesnt make the best use of them.

    I hope this helps. Either way, dont give up! Change takes time.
  • RandallTBlack
    RandallTBlack Posts: 3
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    I have also set my goal at the 1 pound per week.... and have been pretty much achieving that level. A number of individuals have commented about the encouragement factor.... if you don't hit the 2 pounds per week level it can have a hugely negative effect upon your willingness to continue to enter your 'numbers' and to continue to work at it.

    What I am doing is 'rewarding myself'.... if I do a particularly hard workout (3 times per week average) I will use the extra calories I have burned to reward with a glass of wine or some other food reward. I am also NOT showing the strength training I am doing as part of the calorie burning record. So, for example, if I do tricep extensions or bicep curls I don't show the calories burned knowing that the strength training is going to burn calories that, if I exceed my calories per day, will still help me to lose the weight.

    Even though we don't state it... the biggest part of weight loss isn't just the physical, it is the psychological!! And if I can fool myself into losing 25 pounds.... heck, I'm in!!

    Good luck....
  • Phillips28
    Phillips28 Posts: 32 Member
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    Hi Emily! I feel like we are in the same boat! I have been going back and forth with the one pound to two pounds a week setting. Now that I am actually counting my calories (starting January 22nd) and trying to "make good choices" with what I eat....I am finding that I too am actually feeling full and having left over calories at the end of the day. I peeked at your food diary also, I hope that is ok, I think you are making really good choices. I have heard of someone else on this site talking about "Trader Joes"...but I'm not sure if I know what that is? Is it a store, like a health food store? I'm not sure we have one around here. If I may ask, what kind of workouts are you doing at home? I've been trying to do the Biggest Loser DVD's. They seem to be working.

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