Is my weight loss goal realistic?

I wanted to post this because I have seen dozens of discussions going on about eating too few calories, and I myself have been taunted for my 1400 -1500 calorie intake.

There is absolutely no data showing any significant issues with VLCD plans. People with a BMI over 30 are sometimes put on VLCD plans by their doctor.

That said, there is one thing you need to be aware of. You still need to hit your macros. That's right, you still need the same amount of nutrients to maintain your body.

I try to get as close as possible to all of my macros. I may be lacking here or there, but generally I do well at getting close.

I don't feel like crap...I have lost 2.4lbs a week consistently with no plateau.

800 calories is a little low. You need to at least get the right amount of carbs, fats, protein, and fiber. You don't need to be depriving your body of essential nutrients.

However, a low calorie diet is just fine for some people. It isn't a bad choice for everybody.

A goal weight of 140 at your height is perfectly fine. So is losing 18 lbs in about six months. However, if you weigh 158 lbs, there is no reason for you to reach this goal through a VLCD. VLCD should only be done among severely fat individuals under strict medical supervision - not someone whose already in a healthy weight range but wants to lose under 20 lbs.

Punch in your numbers into a TDEE calculator such as this:
http://www.weightrainer.net/losscalc.html

*For weekly fat loss, enter 0.75 lbs.

Use a food scale, weigh literally everything you eat and drink and eat the number given for a at least a month.

eating little to no calories and over exercising is very close to anorexia, my friend whom i have known for a while was that way, only eating 400-800 calories per day but working out enough to lose 1,200 calories... thus meaning your actually depriving your body of nutrition. her nutritionist and my medical training states that doing this does not make you lose weight, in actuality your body will eat your own muscle tissue before it consumes the fat it tries to store for energy... your making yourself highly unhealthy.... if you want to lose your few pounds, eat healthy amounts of food going no less then 1,400 calories per day... otherwise your damaging your body...

Also be aware that every lowish carb program out there, Paleo, Primal, Atkins, ect, all discuss NOT doing much cardio with their regular plan.

The Primal and Paleo sites both conceded to the fact people did want to do cardio, marathon training and such, and have modified instructions for when people do want to do the "chronic" or "killer" cardio, as they call it.
Not sure what Atkins calls it, but same principle. Though I thought their advice was to skip it during initialization.

Unless that cardio is in the bad fad named fat-burning zone, it's using decent amounts of carbs, that just can't be converted quick enough from protein at any decent effort.
Your first big loss of weight was greats amount of water weight, associated with less glucose stored.

That's a stressful situation for your body. Most of those on VLCD's aren't doing much exercise - they can't move much usually yet.

Just a thought to your exercise choice. The exercise isn't going to be the reason for the fat/weight loss anyway, that's about improving your body, which usually has weight gain as side effect.

I'm going for the vote that if this is kept up, you won't lose the 18 lbs by June.

Read the forums, there are so many that have done things so ineffectively that they stalled themselves for 6-12 months easily, or weight loss was a crawl.
I'm guessing you'll either lose the weight faster, but it'll be muscle mass, and then you'll gain back decent amounts attempting maintenance.
Or it'll slow to crawl and you won't make it.
Purposely slow weight loss because of smart knowledgeable decisions is one thing, but the body adapting and forcing it slow because of undereating is totally different.

Also be aware that every lowish carb program out there, Paleo, Primal, Atkins, ect, all discuss NOT doing much cardio with their regular plan.

The Primal and Paleo sites both conceded to the fact people did want to do cardio, marathon training and such, and have modified instructions for when people do want to do the "chronic" or "killer" cardio, as they call it.
Not sure what Atkins calls it, but same principle. Though I thought their advice was to skip it during initialization.

Unless that cardio is in the bad fad named fat-burning zone, it's using decent amounts of carbs, that just can't be converted quick enough from protein at any decent effort.
Your first big loss of weight was greats amount of water weight, associated with less glucose stored.

That's a stressful situation for your body. Most of those on VLCD's aren't doing much exercise - they can't move much usually yet.

The goal of most low carb diets is to convert to fat as the primary fuel source, not protein. Low carb, high fat, moderate protein. Marathon runners can operate just fine in a keto-adapted state. Paleo and Primal (at least) advise against chronic cardio because it's overly stressful on the body (and does result in the body going after muscle for fuel), not because the diet doesn't allow for it.

Low carb, low fat, high protein is pretty much only used by niche groups and only for a very small amount of time and for very specific purposes (ie - "the world's toughest diet"). Doing it over any long term is a recipe for nutritional disaster (see also - rabbit starvation).

To the OP - you're already at a healthy weight. Perhaps it would be good to shift your focus from "weight loss" to body composition? Get to maintenance intake and get into a good strength training program. Your weight may not change (or may go up, since you're going from a VLCD), but your clothes should definitely start fitting differently within a few weeks.

I wanted to post this because I have seen dozens of discussions going on about eating too few calories, and I myself have been taunted for my 1400 -1500 calorie intake.

There is absolutely no data showing any significant issues with VLCD plans. People with a BMI over 30 are sometimes put on VLCD plans by their doctor.

That said, there is one thing you need to be aware of. You still need to hit your macros. That's right, you still need the same amount of nutrients to maintain your body.

I try to get as close as possible to all of my macros. I may be lacking here or there, but generally I do well at getting close.

I don't feel like crap...I have lost 2.4lbs a week consistently with no plateau.

800 calories is a little low. You need to at least get the right amount of carbs, fats, protein, and fiber. You don't need to be depriving your body of essential nutrients.

However, a low calorie diet is just fine for some people. It isn't a bad choice for everybody.

I agree with you here. I try and hit my macro levels and I feel great and losing consistently. After reading hour and hours of posts, some things work for some people and some don't. Seems like no two people will lose the same. As long as you aren't doing something totally crazy and you can stay in the game long enough to figure out what works for you without quitting, things will work out.

I'm your height, as of today 137 lbs and I eat 1500 calories a day, sometimes more. You can eat more and lose weight eating low carb. Please eat more. It can be done. I started eating keto at the end of july and my starting weight was 165. So yea....

Marathon runners can operate just fine in a keto-adapted state.

No, they cannot. There isn't a single competitive endurance athlete out there who doesn't eat tons of carbs. When "low carb" is used in conjunction with high performance athletes, they are referring to "limiting" carbs to 40-50% of caloric intake. IE, on a 2000 calorie intake, you eat 250g of carbs.

That is several universes away from what is being peddled to the public as low carb diets.

Well, there is perhaps a truthful caveat to that.

Does that marathon runner have to actually finish the marathon, or merely running in it up to a point but no finish makes them a marathon runner?

Also, what if they walked it and tripled the cut-off time, does that still count? That I could see easily. Others pull out energy gel, our keto runner pulls out slim-jims. Snap!

Marathon runners can operate just fine in a keto-adapted state.

No, they cannot. There isn't a single competitive endurance athlete out there who doesn't eat tons of carbs. When "low carb" is used in conjunction with high performance athletes, they are referring to "limiting" carbs to 40-50% of caloric intake. IE, on a 2000 calorie intake, you eat 250g of carbs.

That is several universes away from what is being peddled to the public as low carb diets.

Well, there is perhaps a truthful caveat to that.

Does that marathon runner have to actually finish the marathon, or merely running in it up to a point but no finish makes them a marathon runner?

Also, what if they walked it and tripled the cut-off time, does that still count? That I could see easily. Others pull out energy gel, our keto runner pulls out slim-jims. Snap!

Yep. Show me an athlete who performs well without carbs, and I'll show you an athlete who performs better with carbs.