Calories To Lose About 2 Lbs a Week?

I would greatly appreciate anyone willing to answer these questions for me... I'm kind of questioning how much I've been eating and wondering if I should change some things. I prefer no advice or opinions. I'm just curious on what has worked for other people...

So if you have been losing 1.5 lbs to 3 lbs a week in a healthy way by creating a calorie deficit...

1) How many calories a day do you eat?

and/or

2) What is your daily net calorie goal

3) How often do you work out, for how long, and what kind of workouts do you do?

4) If you have a certain number of calories you aim to burn in a day or week, how many?

5) If you don't mind telling, how tall are you and about how much do you weigh...

I appreciate any and all answers.

Replies

  • lisalcompton
    lisalcompton Posts: 6 Member
    hi there well I've lost a total of 51 pounds and tracking here since Jan about 15. Your questions are great and some I have and struggle with myself.
    One look at the top bar of your MFP and do you see the BMI and BMR? If you enter your weight and height it will provide you with how many calories you should be eating per day.
    Depending on your current weight, ability to work out really is how much you should "start" with. For me, I have a 100 plus to lose so I started out walking. It helped to get me moving and helped to get my weight loss started. Now I'm fighting a low grade fever, but I'm getting ready to start not only walking 4-5 days a week for 60 minutes each day but also to begin Just Dance for 30 minutes 3-4 times a day. Working the sports WII 2-3 days a week for at least 60-120 minutes (usually we do this on the week-ends)...
    My goal is 2.7 to 3 pounds per week, I have our granddaughters wedding August 10 and I will lose 75 pounds before then! So I'm motivated.
    Water I buy water and my bottles are 16 oz each so I take 4 water bottles per day out and I literally down 1 prior to breakfast, 1 before Lunch and 1 before dinner _ Helps to fill me up as well as getting my water intake.
    My biggest success is getting rid of anything white except air popcorn for fiber to fill me up and got rid of all pop and anything caffeine. It works for me - everyone is different. Good luck and I'm here if you want to add me.
  • DoriGaga
    DoriGaga Posts: 96
    To lose a pound you need to eliminate 3500 calories. To lose 2 lbs a week you need to create a deficit of 1000 calories a day. So look at you diet, and see where you can eliminate calories, and combine that with calories burned (for example if you can burn 200 extra calories a day, you need to eliminate an extra 800 calories a day from your diet).
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    I would greatly appreciate anyone willing to answer these questions for me... I'm kind of questioning how much I've been eating and wondering if I should change some things. I prefer no advice or opinions. I'm just curious on what has worked for other people...

    So if you have been losing 1.5 lbs to 3 lbs a week in a healthy way by creating a calorie deficit...

    1) How many calories a day do you eat?

    and/or

    2) What is your daily net calorie goal

    3) How often do you work out, for how long, and what kind of workouts do you do?

    4) If you have a certain number of calories you aim to burn in a day or week, how many?

    5) If you don't mind telling, how tall are you and about how much do you weigh...

    I appreciate any and all answers.

    I think you are going to get a variety of answers, but here's what I do. Basically, I try to create an average daily deficit of about 1000 calories to lose 2lbs a week. My diary is set at 1200 but I almost never eat that little. Most days I eat around 1700-2200 calories and I burn anywhere from 2500-4000 calories depending on a variety of factors, whether it is a workday, workout day, rest day, treat day etc. I believe it is best to zig zag calories intake and workout routines and lengths. As long as I have that 7000ish deficit at the end of the week, I "should" lose about 2lbs... sometimes more, sometimes less, of course. Most weeks I lose a lb or two, but sometimes the scale won't move, or I am surprised with a 4lb loss. I always drink at least 8 glasses of water and try and eat clean at least 5 days out of 7. My biggest faults are not enough weight training and too much sodium, but I am improving as I go.
    So: For me
    1) 1750 Average
    2) 1000-1200 Average net
    3) 1hour of cardio 6 days a week and 2 hours of other moderate activity.
    4)2750 minimum (I have burned 4000 in a busy day) I have a Bodymedia Fit, so I can give you fairly accurate numbers. Best calories burner for me is the treadmill, so I use it a lot.
    5) 5'11" 210. But I am still 50 pounds overweight.
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
    I prefer no advice or opinions.


    :huh:
  • AmyRhubarb
    AmyRhubarb Posts: 6,890 Member
    I prefer no advice or opinions.


    :huh:
    BUT -
    I appreciate any and all answers.
    :huh: :huh:

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  • SonyaCele
    SonyaCele Posts: 2,841 Member
    i'm 5'4" and have lost 80 lbs eating 1500 calories, averaging 3 pounds a week for the first 50 lbs or so with a total burn of 3000 per day, and then 2 lbs a week for the next 25 with a daily burn of 2700 and now i'm averaging around 1 to 1.5 a week . with a daily burn of 2500. I also wear the bodymedia for accurate numbers. I strength train 5 days a week, and do an hour of cardio 6 days a week. I started at 236 and i'm down to 155.
  • Casstevens133
    Casstevens133 Posts: 142 Member
    I'm losing between 1.5 and 2lb per week. I try to average 1350 cals per day (pre exercise) and eat 50% of my exercise. It works for me .. I'm 5'4" and currently weigh 198lb. I'm 56 years young!
  • Cindyinpg
    Cindyinpg Posts: 3,902 Member
    i'm 5'4" and have lost 80 lbs eating 1500 calories, averaging 3 pounds a week for the first 50 lbs or so with a total burn of 3000 per day, and then 2 lbs a week for the next 25 with a daily burn of 2700 and now i'm averaging around 1 to 1.5 a week . with a daily burn of 2500. I also wear the bodymedia for accurate numbers. I strength train 5 days a week, and do an hour of cardio 6 days a week. I started at 236 and i'm down to 155.
    Don't you just love the BMF! Love to hear stories like yours. Can't wait until I'm where you are! Great job.
  • auddii
    auddii Posts: 15,357 Member
    I lose between 1.5-2 pounds per week.

    I eat 1900ish calories a day, do strong lifts three days a week, cardio 2 days a week (45 minutes), and I don't eat any of those calories back. If I decide to go crazy and do more cardio than that, I eat back an additional 200 calories on those days. I'm 5'8" and currently weigh about 217.
  • I was losing 1lb a week on 1200 calories per day, I read through the following post which I came across on another thread. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/654536-in-place-of-a-road-map-2-0-revised-7-2-12
    I followed the advice, upped my calories to 1400 per day and have lost 2lb this week instead of just the one! :)
    It's worth a read....best of luck x
  • Sunny_fit4life
    Sunny_fit4life Posts: 157 Member
    I prefer no advice or opinions.


    :huh:
    BUT -
    I appreciate any and all answers.
    :huh: :huh:

    I appreciate all answers...

    ...to the actual questions is what I meant.

    I understand calorie deficits. I just want to know what's working for other people.
  • Sunny_fit4life
    Sunny_fit4life Posts: 157 Member
    i'm 5'4" and have lost 80 lbs eating 1500 calories, averaging 3 pounds a week for the first 50 lbs or so with a total burn of 3000 per day, and then 2 lbs a week for the next 25 with a daily burn of 2700 and now i'm averaging around 1 to 1.5 a week . with a daily burn of 2500. I also wear the bodymedia for accurate numbers. I strength train 5 days a week, and do an hour of cardio 6 days a week. I started at 236 and i'm down to 155.

    Wow! Congratulations on your progress. 80 pounds is a lot! Thank you, these numbers are pretty helpful. I wish I had the bodymedia or something like it.

    And thank you to everyone else who has posted so far... feel free to keep posting if anyone else wants to share. It's helping me put things into perspective.
  • Sunny_fit4life
    Sunny_fit4life Posts: 157 Member
    -
  • Francl27
    Francl27 Posts: 26,371 Member
    Put your MFP goal to 'lose 1 lb a week'. Exercise for 1h a day and don't eat back the calories (been doing some dvd programs). Been working for me mostly. I've lost 14 lbs in 7 weeks so far (I had a 2 week plateau though).
  • Mock_Turtle
    Mock_Turtle Posts: 354 Member
    I started in November and have lost an average of 2.1 lb/week since then. This has been fairly consistent:

    Nov - 2.3 lb/wk
    Dec - 2.1 lb/wk
    Jan - 1.9 lb/wk
    Feb - 2.0 lb/wk

    My aim is to create an average deficit of 1000 cals/day or 7000 cals/wk. I look at it in terms of a week since I don't do the same type of exercise each day. My average TDEE is around 2800-3000 so I set my caloric goal at 1900/day. I put a range on TDEE since this is all one big fng estimate. When I started it was more in the 1800 range but now in the 2000 range since my cardio is a lot more intense than when I started (when I couldn't even run 3 minutes without dying)

    My aim is to workout 6 times/week. 3 days of weight training and 3 days of running (10 km runs). However life happens and sometimes I miss workouts or whatever So I probably average like 5.5 workouts/wk or something.

    I'm assuming at some point the consistent weight loss is going to stop but we'll see. I think a big key for me has been that my running has gotten a lot better which is adding more calories burned, even though I'm eating about the same amount. A 10km run for me burns probably ~ 850-950 calories which is a huge boost.

    Without the running I probably wouldn't be able to lose 2 lb/wk since I'd have to reduce calories to like 1400 and that just doesn't seem feasible.