Losing 3 lbs a week?

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bryand5434
bryand5434 Posts: 4
in Health and Weight Loss
Okay I know most sites recommend to lose 2lbs a week max. You don't want to starve yourself. However I"m extremely active these days. I walk 90 minuets every morning to go eat sbuway, have an active job, and am now running 20+ minuets 3x a week. Biking on off days. I'm not on a crash diet, I'm eating 1700-2300 a day. and weigh 230 currently.

So far I've lost 3 lbs a week and I started at 258lbs. I feel fine, I'm not tired or lethargic. My real question here is why is 3lbs so much more unsafe than 2 lbs?
.. The real reason I care, is I have a goal set in a certain time frame. I feel I "need" to weigh 180's by the time summer break ends (I work for a school). I want the dramatic effect of people seeing me at 230 and coming back to see 50lbs off, and even at 3 lbs a week i'll still be a month short to do it.

My motivation for not eating that triple cheesburger, for not going out to get chinese food, for running longer every week, is that "wow" factor. If I don't have that motivation I might just give up again. I might with it, I'm highly addicted to the wrong foods.

I realize my long term motivation will have to be different, but once I've been off fats and sugars long enough, and have made a habit of exercising, I think I will be able to maintain a reasonable weight with out this short term drive.

I'm probably going to continue no matter what anyone tells me, but I am curious of the opinions out there.

Replies

  • nosebag1212
    nosebag1212 Posts: 621 Member
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    3 lbs per week = 1500 daily deficit, if you do this you better be getting all your cals from pure protein, fibrous veggies and fish oil
  • PandaFlight
    PandaFlight Posts: 23
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    If you're already obese, you're going to lose weight a lot faster than someone who is marginally overweight. Know that 3lbs a week now is fine, as long as you're doing it healthily. Just know that you won't always lose 3lbs as the weight loss will slow and you will gain muscle from all the exercise you have been doing.
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
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    3 lbs a week would be acceptable for someone really overweight, i was losing at that rate for the first couple months as well.

    2 lbs is the max for most people because most people cant get into enough of a calorie deficit at their current weight to lose 3 lbs a week without going dangerously low with their calorie intake.

    if you are sure you are eating 1700-2200 cals/day then i would say you are fine.

    as a side note, if you continue losing weight then people will notice whether you hit that 50 lbs goal or not. try lifting weights as well to help retain muscle, this will help show this loss of weight even more so.
  • bryand5434
    bryand5434 Posts: 4
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    If you're already obese, you're going to lose weight a lot faster than someone who is marginally overweight. Know that 3lbs a week now is fine, as long as you're doing it healthily. Just know that you won't always lose 3lbs as the weight loss will slow and you will gain muscle from all the exercise you have been doing.

    Building muscle, that I wont mind, and to the previous poster, I"m drinking protien shakes and eat mostly lean meats. I do need to work on fiber.

    The goal is to look good, I'm usually obsessed with numbers but I'll settle for 200 if I look like I'm in athletic shape. I can always continue losing the weight after my goal Date.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    Congratulations on your weight loss. The "wow" factor is pretty amazing, isn't it?

    I also think that 3 pounds at this juncture is fine, but keep in mind that it will slow down. As someone else mentioned, add in some weight lifting so that you retain muscle. Weight lifting while losing also helps with skin integrity and overall strength.
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
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    If you're already obese, you're going to lose weight a lot faster than someone who is marginally overweight. Know that 3lbs a week now is fine, as long as you're doing it healthily. Just know that you won't always lose 3lbs as the weight loss will slow and you will gain muscle from all the exercise you have been doing.

    Building muscle, that I wont mind, and to the previous poster, I"m drinking protien shakes and eat mostly lean meats. I do need to work on fiber.

    The goal is to look good, I'm usually obsessed with numbers but I'll settle for 200 if I look like I'm in athletic shape. I can always continue losing the weight after my goal Date.
    You won't build muscle in a deficit, but you will retain the muscle you already have. :smile:
  • shayemimi
    shayemimi Posts: 203 Member
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    The thing is...you can do it at first, when the weight that is coming off is partly water weight, etc. But there will come a time when you will stall, no matter how active, etc you are being. The weight loss WILL slow down. You are also going have times where you are just tired and HUNGRY, especially if you are creating a deficit large enough to lose 3 lbs a week.

    Be happy with ANY weight loss, stay active ,eat healthy, but FUEL your body, and the rest will follow. Your colleagues will be just as impressed with 25-30 lbs off. In fact- too much and you will get the 'your too skinny/have an eating disorder' comments. It will be way more effective if you can tell everyone how your losing by doing it the RIGHT way.

    Good luck, and remember it's a journey, not a race! You can do it! :D
  • bryand5434
    bryand5434 Posts: 4
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    I've just started adding a lot of protein drinks to my diets. I'm working on pull ups I still have to "descend" only but I'm curling 40 lbs. I've noticed a strength and endurance increases already. I curl more and can do almost 50 push ups.

    I need to start going to the gym, that's one habit I have to get myself into.

    It looks like most of you have already been through most of this. How's it feel? :)
  • BigT555
    BigT555 Posts: 2,067 Member
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    I've just started adding a lot of protein drinks to my diets. I'm working on pull ups I still have to "descend" only but I'm curling 40 lbs. I've noticed a strength and endurance increases already. I curl more and can do almost 50 push ups.

    I need to start going to the gym, that's one habit I have to get myself into.

    It looks like most of you have already been through most of this. How's it feel? :)
    if youre referring to weight loss in general, it feels f*cking amazing, and i still have a decent way to go yet

    if your referring to going to the gym, it feels f*cking amazing

    you just wait until you unlock pull-up mode, probably my favourite exercise
  • Mariachicat
    Mariachicat Posts: 311 Member
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    I lost 3 lbs last week. I'm extremely active and usually fall under my calorie goal. I think it's OK as long as you're eating healthy. For all the work I'm doing, I was actually hoping to have lost 4 or 5 during the week. As frustrating as it can be, I was OK with it because I feel like I'm building muscle and boosting my metabolism and that things will become easier. I'm also a teacher and am looking to lose lots of weight both before and during the summer break.
  • cajuntank
    cajuntank Posts: 924 Member
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    As already stated, the 3lbs per week loss is fine for now due to your current weight and bodyfat %. The caloric deficit you are eating at now will naturally cause things to slow down as your body gets smaller and does not require so many calories to maintain itself. But do get onto a good proven strength program (and proper protein intake) to maintain your existing muscle, and if you have never weight trained or it's been a while, then despite what the other poster said, there is a situation where in fact (due to being obese) you can build muscle initially. Google Lyle McDonald and gaining muscle while losing fat for more technical info...but you do experience newbie muscle gains due to having so much "energy in reserve" (a lot of bodyfat). Strength gain would happen regardless as strength is more than just muscle but also includes ligaments and your central nervous system that gets "programmed" to handle heavier weights by adaptation using progressively heavier weights. Realize that this muscle gain window is short lived and will slow down to the point of where you are weight training just to keep existing muscle mass as the net increase from training and net loss from being in a caloric deficit will be ~ 0.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    nosebad; why would they need to do that eating at 170-2300 calories a day?

    Saying that, the lifestyle I see described I wouldn't describe as 'extremely active' personally - active yes, but not extremely.

    For 20 weeks earlier this year I lost 2lb/week. In total, I was often eating an average of 2750 calories a day as I'd often go running etc - and I seem to have a fairly high BMR when I'm lifting weights/doing a lean gains style approach.

    the 2lb/week guideline is of course plucked out of the air.
    The more you have to lose, the more you can get away with losing at once.
    I've got no doubt if you were at 330lb, that it'd not be a particular issue.

    However, the higher the deficit:
    The more likely to stall.
    The more likely to end up not sticking to it.
    The more likely you are to end up with loose skin.
    The more likely you are to lose significant muscle as well as fat.

    While that 'wow' factor may seem nice in the short term, I'd suggest it's nicer in the long term to be seen as 'in shape' by others on an ongoing basis :).
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    Generally speaking those who lose weight quickest will regain it quickest. So although you are enjoying the fast results now, it would be strongly advisable to decrease your deficit over time so that you are losing 1lb per week as you near your goal weight.

    In addition to this, the body will only release fat at a certain rate - thought to be around 2lb per week at most - therefore losing more than this means you will be losing muscle to make up the rest of your deficit. Losing muscle means decreased metabolism, and if you ever wish to add muscle back, it's a lot harder than it would have been to maintain it in the first place.

    But you already stated you were going to do what you liked anyway, so good luck to you.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    In addition to this, the body will only release fat at a certain rate - thought to be around 2lb per week at most - therefore losing more than this means you will be losing muscle to make up the rest of your deficit. Losing muscle means decreased metabolism, and if you ever wish to add muscle back, it's a lot harder than it would have been to maintain it in the first place.
    Have you got anything to back this up?

    For the record, current thinking is that muscle muscle burns around 6 calories per lb, vs fat which burns about 2 calories per lb.
    So if you lost 20lb of muscle instead of fat (a massive amount), then you'd be talking something like the a small banana a day difference in BMR.

    It should be fairly easy for an average 26 year old man with low muscle mass to gain muscle.

    When losing weight recently that was one of the reasons I chose to focus on cardio more - I decided I'd prefer to improve my cardio at the expense of some muscle/strength (still lifting 3.5x a week) because I knew it wouldn't be a big issue to get it back at the end.

    That's one of the reasons body builders and so on do cut and bulk cycles over 'body re-composition'
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    In addition to this, the body will only release fat at a certain rate - thought to be around 2lb per week at most - therefore losing more than this means you will be losing muscle to make up the rest of your deficit. Losing muscle means decreased metabolism, and if you ever wish to add muscle back, it's a lot harder than it would have been to maintain it in the first place.
    Have you got anything to back this up?

    For the record, current thinking is that muscle muscle burns around 6 calories per lb, vs fat which burns about 2 calories per lb.
    So if you lost 20lb of muscle instead of fat (a massive amount), then you'd be talking something like the a small banana a day difference in BMR.

    It should be fairly easy for an average 26 year old man with low muscle mass to gain muscle.

    When losing weight recently that was one of the reasons I chose to focus on cardio more - I decided I'd prefer to improve my cardio at the expense of some muscle/strength (still lifting 3.5x a week) because I knew it wouldn't be a big issue to get it back at the end.

    That's one of the reasons body builders and so on do cut and bulk cycles over 'body re-composition'

    This article summarises (and includes references) http://evidencemag.com/realistic-fat-loss/

    Obviously fat loss varies and obese people can lose up to 3.5 lbs of fat per week, but OP is not obese.
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Flabby super stretched Skin. Significant muscle loss. Greater likelihood of malnutrition.

    If you lose too fast, the skin's elasticity cannot keep up with the change of weight, creating flabby skin.

    Such large loses could cause the body to somewhat panic, throwing everything it doesn't need out the door, such as muscle if weight lifting is not part of your exercise.

    And finally, with such few calories, it is difficult to get all the vitamins, minerals, and proteins your body needs to function properly. Not impossible, but much more difficult.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Obviously fat loss varies and obese people can lose up to 3.5 lbs of fat per week, but OP is not obese.
    I don't know how high/muscular the OP is, but I suspect he is over 26% body fat. If he was 6', by BMI he would be obese.
    This would put him in the 1.5-35lb/week category in that article. Further, it states 1-1.5% of body weight - we're talking 1.3% for 230lb.
    Which was why I questioned the 2lb/week thing. :)

    And finally, with such few calories, it is difficult to get all the vitamins, minerals, and proteins your body needs to function properly. Not impossible, but much more difficult.
    Again; the OP mentions 1700+ calories, which most consider reasonable.
  • Ely82010
    Ely82010 Posts: 1,998 Member
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    If you're already obese, you're going to lose weight a lot faster than someone who is marginally overweight. Know that 3lbs a week now is fine, as long as you're doing it healthily. Just know that you won't always lose 3lbs as the weight loss will slow and you will gain muscle from all the exercise you have been doing.

    Building muscle, that I wont mind, and to the previous poster, I"m drinking protien shakes and eat mostly lean meats. I do need to work on fiber.

    The goal is to look good, I'm usually obsessed with numbers but I'll settle for 200 if I look like I'm in athletic shape. I can always continue losing the weight after my goal Date.

    Nope, not building muscle doing only cardio and eating at a deficit. If you keep up your protein intake you will preserve what you already have.
  • daybehavior
    daybehavior Posts: 1,319 Member
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    If you lose too fast, the skin's elasticity cannot keep up with the change of weight, creating flabby skin.

    Not necessarily true. This is LARGELY determined by genetics more than anything else.

    Such large loses could cause the body to somewhat panic, throwing everything it doesn't need out the door, such as muscle if weight lifting is not part of your exercise

    Huh? This seems like hyperbole. As long as his protein is adequate he needn't worry about too much muscle loss.

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