How many pounds a week should I aim for to lose?

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Secretjannell
Secretjannell Posts: 18 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
hi everyone I'm 5'10, 231pounds, work out 6 times a week (mainly cardio now with a bit of strength training) and I've been only able to lose 19 pounds since April! I have my goals set to lose 2 pounds a week and I'm almost always in my calorie range. last week I've tracked everything and gained 3 pounds!!! I'm not the type to give up but I was thinking maybe I've cut my calories too low. Set at 1530 a day. I am around 39% body fat and have quite a bit of muscle from insanity.

is there something I'm doing wrong or should I raise my calorie limit?

Thanks

Replies

  • donjessop
    donjessop Posts: 186
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    I guessed at your age, but from the calculator at http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ it says your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) for someone who exercises six times a week would be 2787. To lose 2 pounds a week you would need to eat around 1787 calories. This assumes that the workout is approximately 30 minutes in length. If you exercise longer/harder you would need to up the TDEE and subsequently your daily calorie intake.

    Also, make sure that you are satisfying the protein requirement. The base number in MFP seems to be low. You should be consuming 0.37 g per pound as the recommended daily allowance. Or, in your case 85 grams of protein or more.
  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    I'd change your setting to 1 pound a week and give it a few weeks to see what happens. Also, are you weighing and measuring your food or just guessing on portion sizes? Most of us are really bad at estimating and a good food scale can be your best friend for accuracy. How are you estimating exercise calories and are you eating those back?
  • Secretjannell
    Secretjannell Posts: 18 Member
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    Thank you. I forgot to add that I'm 23 , great mention about the food scale I do have one that I use occasionally but I should use it more. I used to use one of those heart rate monitors that measures calories burned but I've just recently lost it so I've estimated calories burned while using the treadmill
  • tiger4nikki
    tiger4nikki Posts: 112 Member
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    1
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
    If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
    If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.


    If you decide to follow MFP's #s, just be aware that it is designed for you to eat back your exercise calories.

    If you end up going with the TDEE method, be aware that it includes exercise calories.

    Definitely use that food scale because it's going to be much more accurate than measuring cups. HRMs are great for steady cardio, but I wouldn't use them to calculate burns for things like yoga, weight training or anything with bursts of high intensity - it will give you false high cal burns.


    ETA: if you decide to change your calorie goals, please be sure to stick with them for 4-6 weeks as it can take about that long for your body to adapt. This goes for any changes in your activity levels as well.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    Also wanted to add these links that have some great info :smile:

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1080242-a-guide-to-get-you-started-on-your-path-to-sexypants

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1105036-article-on-flexible-dieting-by-armi-legge?page=1#posts-17068746

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/872212-you-re-probably-eating-more-than-you-think
  • lucan07
    lucan07 Posts: 509
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    Thank you. I forgot to add that I'm 23 , great mention about the food scale I do have one that I use occasionally but I should use it more. I used to use one of those heart rate monitors that measures calories burned but I've just recently lost it so I've estimated calories burned while using the treadmill

    Chances are you are overestimating calories burned and under estimating calories eaten, I measure everything and do not worry about one weeks result, I have gained over 1kg one week and dropped over 3kg the next for no apparent reason. I only worry about weight after a month although I weigh daily I can naturally fluctuate a couple of kg with water gain.

    I am about the same 5'11" 220lbs 39%fat working out 6 times a week 60-90 mins, but 30 years older and have allowance of 1370 calories per day losing 2lb a week easily.
  • LarryDUk
    LarryDUk Posts: 279 Member
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    I'm 6' and was 215 and I lost about 2 pounds a week eating between 1800-2000 a day. If you are exercising that much (I did as well) you should be losing weight.
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    I guessed at your age, but from the calculator at http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/ it says your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) for someone who exercises six times a week would be 2787. To lose 2 pounds a week you would need to eat around 1787 calories. This assumes that the workout is approximately 30 minutes in length. If you exercise longer/harder you would need to up the TDEE and subsequently your daily calorie intake.

    Also, make sure that you are satisfying the protein requirement. The base number in MFP seems to be low. You should be consuming 0.37 g per pound as the recommended daily allowance. Or, in your case 85 grams of protein or more.

    Sorry but .37g per lb is low.

    Also OP, it's doubtful that you have quite a bit of muscle from insanity and a little bit of weight training.

    OP - I know it's a bit overwhelming. I'd first focus on consistently logging and getting within your calorie goals (+/-100 cals). if you do decide to reconfigure your macros and want to keep an eye on them, here's a link that provides a formula to calculate your percentages and how to change them in MFP.

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/819055-setting-your-calorie-and-macro-targets
  • Lleldiranne
    Lleldiranne Posts: 5,516 Member
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    TBH, if everything has been going great until this week, I wouldn't necessarily change a thing yet. There are a lot of factors that could cause a temporary weight gain. Chances are, after a few weeks, you will lose it and be back on track again.

    Could you lose weight by eating more calories? Probably. But if you're set to 1530 calories and you're eating back your exercise calories as well, I seriously doubt you've tanked your metabolism all of a sudden (that thing which has so many hated terms … starvation mode, etc … :tongue:). So increasing your calories goal is going to be a personal preference right now. If you're always feeling hungry then eat more. As you get closer to your goal you might also want to adapt your calories to a smaller deficit to make transitioning to maintenance easier. But for now, I don't think it's a huge issue, based on your previous results and that it's only been a week.

    Also, I want to second Joy_Joy_'s comments. A food scale won't hurt, and those weight loss goal guidelines are good. The links can be helpful too
  • Secretjannell
    Secretjannell Posts: 18 Member
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    thank you all. I don't know how to multi quote yet. I stopped doing insanity, I did 2 rounds, because it felt to me( and others noticed too) that I started looking bulkier. I was consuming a lot of protein then as well. I do a tad bit of strength training now.

    Joy, thanks for the links and advice

    Lucan, I will try to monitor calories burned/consumed more closely
  • PikaKnight
    PikaKnight Posts: 34,971 Member
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    thank you all. I don't know how to multi quote yet. I stopped doing insanity, I did 2 rounds, because it felt to me( and others noticed too) that I started looking bulkier. I was consuming a lot of protein then as well. I do a tad bit of strength training now.

    Joy, thanks for the links

    Lucan, I will try to monitor calories burned/consumed more closely

    To be honest, I highly doubt you were bulking. What was probably happening was that you were retaining water in your muscles...which is needed for them to heal. After say, 3-6 weeks, you'd have noticed it would have gone away.
  • Secretjannell
    Secretjannell Posts: 18 Member
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    thank you all. I don't know how to multi quote yet. I stopped doing insanity, I did 2 rounds, because it felt to me( and others noticed too) that I started looking bulkier. I was consuming a lot of protein then as well. I do a tad bit of strength training now.

    Joy, thanks for the links

    Lucan, I will try to monitor calories burned/consumed more closely

    To be honest, I highly doubt you were bulking. What was probably happening was that you were retaining water in your muscles...which is needed for them to heal. After say, 3-6 weeks, you'd have noticed it would have gone away.

    Yes it did go away, but thankfully I have a lot more muscle tone than before
  • ronit1601
    ronit1601 Posts: 183
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    1.5-2 pounds is healthy.

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