2lb, 1.5 lb, 1lb, or .5lb?

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bcerk
bcerk Posts: 41
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi all,

I fell off the wagon a little lately and have lost hope in trying to sustain my calorie intakes. I dont know which to choose.

Height: 5'11
Age: 22
Gender: female
CW: 188lbs
GW: 170lbs (for now)

What do you all suggest I key into MFP? What is realistic?

Replies

  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    Hi

    I'd go for 1lb a week but you could equally go for 0.5lbs a week - anything else would be too high for the amount of weight you have to lose.

    :drinker:
  • yarwell
    yarwell Posts: 10,477 Member
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    set it for 1 lb/week and expect it to take 6-10 months
  • kitka82
    kitka82 Posts: 350 Member
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    I would set it for 1 lb a week MAX. It took me about 4 months to lose 20 pounds, with a consistent exercise regimen and calorie deficit.
  • bcerk
    bcerk Posts: 41
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    6-10 months! :O Wow. I know gradual weight loss is the best way to keep it off (I know, I've already lost 38 lbs) but that is so long!
  • bcerk
    bcerk Posts: 41
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    4 months sounds like a great plan to me. 5lbs per month is pretty steady.
  • bcerk
    bcerk Posts: 41
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    Hi

    I'd go for 1lb a week but you could equally go for 0.5lbs a week - anything else would be too high for the amount of weight you have to lose.

    :drinker:

    Thank you! Ill try 1lb for the rest of the month and see how it goes!
  • runningagainstmyself
    runningagainstmyself Posts: 616 Member
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    (Devil's Advocate note here---)
    I'm at around the same place you are now, and I have mine set to 1.5lb/wk. I get 1400cal/day, exercise min. 3x/wk for an hour, and never feel hungry. I'm assured appx. 1lb/wk loss from that as well.
  • marcellomoo
    marcellomoo Posts: 107 Member
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    Hi, I'm 22, female, 5'11" and 189!

    I'm home from university for the summer and have been struggling with being in a house full of cakes and pastries. Not going over maintenance, just not losing much. I set my goal to 1550 this week as something I can happily stick to even if it's a little slower. I've also changed my settings to lightly active and stopped tracking most exercises except for running or 1hr+. I'm on an 850cals/day deficit which is a little high for how much I have to lose, but I eat back all of my exercise calories from endomondo when I run, so it should all balance out to around 750/day and just over 1lb a week.
  • bcerk
    bcerk Posts: 41
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    Hi, I'm 22, female, 5'11" and 189!

    I'm home from university for the summer and have been struggling with being in a house full of cakes and pastries. Not going over maintenance, just not losing much. I set my goal to 1550 this week as something I can happily stick to even if it's a little slower. I've also changed my settings to lightly active and stopped tracking most exercises except for running or 1hr+. I'm on an 850cals/day deficit which is a little high for how much I have to lose, but I eat back all of my exercise calories from endomondo when I run, so it should all balance out to around 750/day and just over 1lb a week.

    Whoa! We're like the exact same :) I just figured out I can set the calorie goal to whatever I want so I went ahead and did 1,550 calories. I think 1600 is a little high and I go ahead and eat things I probably shouldnt.

    I'm not sure about logging my exercise. Im not sure if MFP is accurate with exercise. I have heard how important "eating back calories" is but am I over eating the calories because MFP isn't accurate when they deduct exercise calories?

    Just trying to make sure Im doing the right thing!
  • joepage612
    joepage612 Posts: 179 Member
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    do you expect to exercise a lot?
    it depends on this.
    if you don't want to exercise a LOT then start with less like .5 or 1
    if you like to work out you can do 2 pounds per week.
    i do 2 pounds per week but i like to eat a lot and i burn off the extra calories.
  • bcerk
    bcerk Posts: 41
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    do you expect to exercise a lot?
    it depends on this.
    if you don't want to exercise a LOT then start with less like .5 or 1
    if you like to work out you can do 2 pounds per week.
    i do 2 pounds per week but i like to eat a lot and i burn off the extra calories.

    I like to work out every other day. Run 20 minutes (complete around 2 miles by walking the rest) and strength training, like lunges, push ups and squats after cardio for around 10 minutes.
    Then I do Yoga on my off days.
  • marcellomoo
    marcellomoo Posts: 107 Member
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    Hi, I'm 22, female, 5'11" and 189!

    I'm home from university for the summer and have been struggling with being in a house full of cakes and pastries. Not going over maintenance, just not losing much. I set my goal to 1550 this week as something I can happily stick to even if it's a little slower. I've also changed my settings to lightly active and stopped tracking most exercises except for running or 1hr+. I'm on an 850cals/day deficit which is a little high for how much I have to lose, but I eat back all of my exercise calories from endomondo when I run, so it should all balance out to around 750/day and just over 1lb a week.

    Whoa! We're like the exact same :) I just figured out I can set the calorie goal to whatever I want so I went ahead and did 1,550 calories. I think 1600 is a little high and I go ahead and eat things I probably shouldnt.

    I'm not sure about logging my exercise. Im not sure if MFP is accurate with exercise. I have heard how important "eating back calories" is but am I over eating the calories because MFP isn't accurate when they deduct exercise calories?

    Just trying to make sure Im doing the right thing!

    Everyone seems to agree mfp overestimates exercise burns, and endomondo gives me similar figures to mfp, so I know it probably is a little high. I get around 380-500 calories for my runs and expect it to be off by about 100. When I lost most of my weight so far, I had my goal set at 1300, logged all walking, wasn't exercising and ate back any extra calories it gave me. I was consistently losing over 2lbs/wk even though mfp had me set to lose 1.8/wk. Lots of people say to eat back half of your calories, but I know I can eat all of them and still lose a reasonable amount as long as I do stick to my calories. It'll just speed things up a little if you don't eat all of them back.

    Also, if you exercise regularly, you can not log any of the exercise and instead eat at a higher number every day of the week. Just take the exercise calories you'd want to eat over the week and split them up over the 7 days or just try some numbers out and see how they go.

    Basically, just try anything for a month and tweak it if it's too high/ low for what you want :)
  • Odinisgod
    Odinisgod Posts: 46 Member
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    I would recommend setting your net calorie limit a little higher than what you feel comfortable maintaining, but low enough to still provide a minimum 250 calorie a day deficit (half a pound a week). Don't limit yourself, e.g., if you can handle 1200 net calories a day, don't be afraid to do it. You may find that as you get closer to your goal weight, you'll want to lower it, especially if you are seeing faster results.

    I have noticed that I can comfortably average around 1700 calories a day, on a week to week basis (some days are higher, some are lower). I set MFP limit at 1800 calories a day. Even though it's arbitrary, I find that routinely ending the day with around 100 calories "to spare" helps my psychological motivation. At this rate, I'm cuurently losing about 2 pounds a week, but this will slow down as my weight decreases, which is what I want. My plan is to start increasing my calories, steadily, when I get within 10 pounds of my "final" goal weight.
  • bcerk
    bcerk Posts: 41
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    I would recommend setting your net calorie limit a little higher than what you feel comfortable maintaining, but low enough to still provide a minimum 250 calorie a day deficit (half a pound a week). Don't limit yourself, e.g., if you can handle 1200 net calories a day, don't be afraid to do it. You may find that as you get closer to your goal weight, you'll want to lower it, especially if you are seeing faster results.

    I have noticed that I can comfortably average around 1700 calories a day, on a week to week basis (some days are higher, some are lower). I set MFP limit at 1800 calories a day. Even though it's arbitrary, I find that routinely ending the day with around 100 calories "to spare" helps my psychological motivation. At this rate, I'm cuurently losing about 2 pounds a week, but this will slow down as my weight decreases, which is what I want. My plan is to start increasing my calories, steadily, when I get within 10 pounds of my "final" goal weight.

    This is a really great idea and ultimately what I'd like to do. I set my calories for 1550 calories per day. This does not mean I need to eat them all! Hopefully seeing 100 calories in green will motivate me, rather than seeing 100 calories in red.

    Lets hope it works everyone! Thank you for your replies.

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