Is losing 2 lbs a week unrealistic under 200 lbs?

Options
lasia221
lasia221 Posts: 19 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Today I went under 240 and so I redid my numbers. I dropped from 1240/day to 1220/day. And I'm only at 239. Except for one week recently when I didn't lose anything I've been losing the 2 lbs a week I want to lose. But then I realized, hey wait, I'm only at 1220....and you're not supposed to go below 1200 so......how's this gonna work? I went back to tools and picked a random number, 175. And lookie there.....it's telling me to eat 1200 and that I will only be losing 1.3 pounds a week.

Forgive my stupidity and my "rush" here but....geez..does this mean my weight loss rate is soon going to permanently slow down to a trickle? Does anybody else here lose much more than a pound a week once you're down to 1200?

Replies

  • tvalk79
    tvalk79 Posts: 17 Member
    Options
    my starting weight was 128 (I'm 5'0'' and a very small frame) and I followed the 1200 this week adding extra calories for exercise and I lost almost 4 lbs this week. Of course, the first week always goes well, so we'll see what happens in the future. We'll see what happens in future weeks, but I think it's possible to keep up the 2lb a week goal for a while.

    Good luck!
  • sophiajackson99
    sophiajackson99 Posts: 90
    Options
    It can definitely slow down, but slow is ok. The slower you lose it, the better chance you have of it staying off! There's somewhere on this site that lets you calculate how many calories it takes just to keep you alive and mine was something like 1650. So even if I just sat on the couch all day long, I'll still burn that many calories.
  • abyt42
    abyt42 Posts: 1,358 Member
    Options
    I started at 173, and am currently at 137, and have been at 1200 calories the whole time (plus exercise.) My weight loss has tapered, but I've attributed that mostly to the cold weather (which seriously limits the time I'm willing to spend outdoors) and lack of gym membership.
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
    Options
    That does seem low to me for daily cals before exercise. How tall are you? If you're currently 240, and looking to lose another 90 (from your profile), and you're female, your Basic Metabolic Rate (BMR) depends on age, sex, height, and weight. You can calculate your using the Tools tab here on the site. Enter your info and see what you get. BMR is pretty variable and is just a guideline, but it'll give you an idea if your daily cal goal is close.

    Basically, your BMR is resting cal needs minus any daily activity. When you set up your profile, you indicated whether you're sedentary, active, etc. The site uses this info to add cals to your BMR for your activity level, then subtracts a certain amount to get to your desired weight loss goal. However, it will never let you go below 1200, no matter what you specified in your loss goal.

    For example, this site says a 30 year old female who's 5'6" and 240 would have a BMR around 1800 cals a day. That's before adding in cals for your activity level. So 1220 seems low unless you're sedentary, short, and don't plan on exercising. I recommend you enter your own info into the tools and double-check the info you used to set up your profile. There could be a mistake somewhere. Otherwise, if you feel 1220 is too low for you, you can increase it a little until you're comfortable. It'll slow down your rate of weight loss, but it's more important to find a goal you can achieve rather than chasing a goal that's not reasonable for you.

    Good luck!
  • lasia221
    lasia221 Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    Well, I am short, I guess. I'm 33 and 5'4" and yes other than exercise, pretty sedentary. I'm a computer geek at home and have a desk job. No kids to run after, no dog to walk, etc. The tool says that my BMR is currently 1774.

    I know the platitudes....slow is better. I know. But after 12 years I finally hit that place called Rock Bottom and want to be back up in the land of the living. I want to feel better, I want to look better and I have time frame goals. I know, we all do. And while I know I should just be focusing on the here and now, I can't help but feel anxiety knowing that the loss rate that's currently making me happy will soon go away.

    I started June 1st at 285 pounds and today weigh 239. Perhaps it is an unrealistic goal, but it was my goal nonetheless to reach my goal weight of 150 by Dec 2011.
  • millerll
    millerll Posts: 873 Member
    Options
    I think you can do 2 pounds a week safely. I'm the same height as you, and I went from 170 to 125 on 1200 cals a day. I did a lot of exercise as well to have extra cals to eat since I'm a chow hound! But for a while there before I really got into exercising again, I was surviving quite well on just the 1200 cals. I learned to eat really clean - lots fresh fruits and veggies and lean meats, and I made every one of those cals count, but it is possible.

    As I got closer to goal weight, I couldn't still do 2 pounds a week sticking to the site limits. The site automatically set me down to about 1 pound a week to keep me above 1200 cals. It worked out pretty good. Some weeks I lost more than a pound, sometimes I plateaued for a few weeks, but overall I made it to 125.

    Keep doing what you've been doing and you should do great. Don't overthink it too much. Good luck!
  • dwarfer22
    dwarfer22 Posts: 358 Member
    Options
    I am in the same boat. Started (again) at 238, 5'6''. play computer, work at a desk. My cal goal is 1250. I think that as we get closer to our goal weight it may slow down, BUT remember, if you are excercising regularly, you will build muscle which should in turn, boost your metabolism thereby allowing you to continue to eat the same 1200 cals and still drop the weight.
  • antipholous
    antipholous Posts: 116
    Options
    Although the measurement of a week is highly arbitrary to your body, overtime some basic science remains in weight loss.

    There are 3,500 calories in a pound. When you burn 3,500 calories either through exercise or your body tapping into its reserves (your fat), you lose one pound. This doesn't always happen the same day, or even the same week as the work you put in (this has a lot to do with your body's metabolism, along with other factors), the basic principal remains the same.

    If you don't want to shoot below 1,200 calories a day (and you don't if you want your body to not think it's dying), just work out more.

    The number you're trying to reach is 7,000 calories burned per week. To get that you'll add your BMR deficit (Mine's 600 because I burn 2,100 calories naturally, but only eat 1,500 a day) to the calories you burn in a workout and multiply by seven (seven days in a week). If the number doesn't reach 7,000 you'll need to up your exercise, or eat less (but we already know you can't do that).

    Also...if I ever work off more than 1,000 calories in one day, I start eating at a 1/2 ratio of calories burned. If burn 500 calories over my 1,000 benchmark, I'd eat 250 calories, for example. This helps ensure I'm burning fat instead of muscle or water.

    Good luck in your weight loss goals! It comes off eventually.
  • lasia221
    lasia221 Posts: 19 Member
    Options
    I think this is where I'm getting confused by MFP vs what I'm reading.

    So you're saying that so long as I consume 1200, I can still exercise and not eat those calories burned? See I was under the impression that my net calories after eating and exercising is what shouldn't go under 1200.

    One the one hand we have the science and the math of 3500 cal - 1 pound. But on the other is all the variables and if's and but's that make it so confusing and not work like you logically think it should (when you don't know any better, that is)

Categories