Can't I lose more than .9lb a week?

neeterskeeter
neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
edited September 19 in Food and Nutrition
So I told the MFP calculator that I wanted to lose 2lb a week. It calculated me to lose .9lb a week.

Do I really have to lose weight this slowly??

I am 5'2" and 137lb. (138lb when I started over a week ago... but, MFP's predictions have been accurate and I've lost a pound so far.) I need to be down to about 125lb total.

It has me eating a net calorie intake of 1200. So, the days I don't exercise, I'm only supposed to eat 1200 calories, right?

That seems a little low but I exercise most days so that I can eat about 1400 and that seems about right. Will I really only lose .9lb a week this way? I guess I'm just new to this... I'm used to crash dieting and then gaining it all back. I'll eat less than 1,000 calories a day and only like veggies and fruits and chicken for awhile and be like, "woo hoo, I lost 4lbs in two days!" I might even do that-- along with training for races-- for a few weeks or months and be down to about 130. But then the minute I stop being extreme about it, I gain it all back, and often more.

So I want to do this the right way but I'm just wondering if there's any way I could lose 2 pounds a week, which I hear is normal for a diet.

Replies

  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
    So I told the MFP calculator that I wanted to lose 2lb a week. It calculated me to lose .9lb a week.

    Do I really have to lose weight this slowly??

    I am 5'2" and 137lb. (138lb when I started over a week ago... but, MFP's predictions have been accurate and I've lost a pound so far.) I need to be down to about 125lb total.

    It has me eating a net calorie intake of 1200. So, the days I don't exercise, I'm only supposed to eat 1200 calories, right?

    That seems a little low but I exercise most days so that I can eat about 1400 and that seems about right. Will I really only lose .9lb a week this way? I guess I'm just new to this... I'm used to crash dieting and then gaining it all back. I'll eat less than 1,000 calories a day and only like veggies and fruits and chicken for awhile and be like, "woo hoo, I lost 4lbs in two days!" I might even do that-- along with training for races-- for a few weeks or months and be down to about 130. But then the minute I stop being extreme about it, I gain it all back, and often more.

    So I want to do this the right way but I'm just wondering if there's any way I could lose 2 pounds a week, which I hear is normal for a diet.
  • pamelawilliams
    pamelawilliams Posts: 66
    Remember MFP gives you an estimate of the weight loss. The actual weight loss depends on you and your body. For example, usually when I start a diet I may lose 2-5 lbs the first week and then begin to lost 0.5-1 lb for the rest of the diet. Remember it is best to loss weight slow and steady and to develop a lifestyle change versus quick and then regain what was lost and more. Good luck on your weight loss journey.:smile:
  • carajo
    carajo Posts: 532 Member
    I think it will be harder for you to lose more than a pound a week as it is, because you don't have much to lose, and it sounds as though you exercise regular, and are prob. in great shape! As you get close to a goal weight your body wants to hold onto that last bit, so ya the fast way is to totally undereat, but that has been my problem also, and it's so not worth it!!! You end up with more weight on than you began with!!! I have finially came to realize slow and steady is the only way!!!!
  • daisygirl3626
    daisygirl3626 Posts: 6
    I am really sticking with my 1200 calories AND working out. I've lost 8lbs in 3 weeks. Of course, most of that came before I began working out regularly (just this past week). It is a hard adjustment...switching my eating habits, but the database here has been so helpful. I have spent quite a bit of time just typing in different things so I can try to plan out a variety of meals and still make my calories.

    I just keep reminding myself...."Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels!!!" :wink:
  • kerrilucko
    kerrilucko Posts: 3,852 Member
    yep that's how it works. BUT i'm gonna be honest here, with the very small amount you have to lose, I've change the settings to .5 lbs per week or even less! The reason is that 1200 calories is very very low for someone your size. I'm on a 1400 calorie plan right now and I weigh 165 lbs at 5'6" tall. I excercise and eat the calories I earn from excercise. This allows me to lose about a pound a week.
    Most people on here believe that 1200 is much much too low for most people. You may have to play around with it to find what;s right for you.
  • zanniew
    zanniew Posts: 23 Member
    I'm just 5 feet tall; at age 55, I should be no heavier than 128. I'm 137 now, down from 152 since the start of June. I've reset my calorie count to 1100, but am still losing about .5 a week. This is just fine with me. I want it OFF for GOOD, not OFF NOW. I am willing to be patient. But friends, it's taken me 40 years to be able to say that and know what it means. Bungee-jumping has been my diet style for decades--down 20, up 25; down 10, up 15. It does not work, for many biochemical reasons. I am thrilled to know that I haven't blown it: that my body will still drop pounds safely when I treat it right. But if I cheat it on the calories and protein it needs, insane sugar cravings will sink me under for months and months.

    Why do I assume I'll get it off as fast as I put it on? You know what I wonder? How FAST do I actually GAIN? I never notice because when I'm getting fat, I don't step on the scale. Can I put on 5 pounds in a week? Can I put on 10? I just SO never even CARE. Now that I'm trying to get it off, I agonize waiting for every eight ounces to show up negative.
  • neeterskeeter
    neeterskeeter Posts: 571 Member
    What most of you are saying makes sense to me. Carajo, I really relate to you because for years I would go on a diet and then go off it; train hard for a marathon or half marathon and then after I run it, nothing; I was so inconsistent. As you said, I would lose 10 pounds in a couple months, and then, before I realized it, I'd gain it all back and I've noticed there's an *upwards* trend-- like, every time I gain it back, I gain *more* of it back. Ergh. I'm so sick of that so I am really really telling myself, slow and steady wins the race, the long-term finally-consistently-healthy-and-fit race I want to win!!!

    Daisygirl- My problem is that if eat too few calories AND especially if I work out vigorously like I like, I get really dizzy and light-headed and hungry and grumpy. I think I just need food too much to lower it much more. I've been trying to eat the right kinds of filling foods-- like chicken and protein bars and veggies-- instead of the wrong kind, to get the most out of my calories.

    KERRILUCKO--- your advice sounds very solid. Let me ask you this, if you're still reading. :smile: Does the fact that I work out pretty much every day change your advice to increase my net calorie intake and decrease my weekly weight loss goal? What I mean is, I very rarely have to eat ONLY 1200 calories because I very rarely don't exercise. I'm not saying I kill myself with exercise, but I have a big dog that lives in my small house and needs daily exercise, so I usually start out the day running 2 to 3 miles with her, which gives me 200 to 300 extra calories to eat off the bat. On top of that I may exercise more some days-- running further on the weekends or doing strength training/ toning or a class at the gym, etc., so some days I earn like 500 - 700 extra calories to eat and I can't even eat them all (without stuffing myself on bad stuff-- I DO like to eat)! I agree with you that 1200 calories sounds low, and it's hard for me to eat only that much on days I don't work out. So maybe that can be the change I make to the plan-- even on days I don't run, I could still eat 1300 to 1400 calories?
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