60 lbs in 60 DAYS!!!!!!!!

Did I get your attention? Good. Most of you who clicked on that are just the folks I'd like to talk to. :happy:

First, a couple of fundamentals. MFP is different than most counters/plans. It creates a built in deficit, based on your chosen loss per week goal, regardless of exercise. It adds cals back in when you log exercise to keep that deficit stable, therefore keeping your weight loss stable. Whether you eat those cals or not, you still have a deficit that allows for your chosen loss per week goal. But if you don't eat them, that deficit is larger than you signed up for. That is usually unhealthy and unsustainable.

For most people who are obese or morbidly obese, starvation mode (burning muscle rather than fat) is NOT an immediate danger. Someone with a lot to lose has much more leeway with their deficit than someone near a healthy BMI. So from that standpoint it is not as critical that they replace all of the exercise cals, or even some of them.

However, there are some other issues to think about. First, you still risk adaptive thermogenesis – slowing your metabolism. This is the exact opposite of what you want happening.

Second is that if you don't replace any of those cals, you risk encountering the problems that most people on crash diets do - deprivation, bingeing, quitting, and weight regain. Cutting cals to the bare minimum is not good for you psychologically. If it was, we could all just eat as little as possible and lose as much weight as we wanted and never gain it back. But that's not how most people work - and is why all of the diet gimmicks don't work. If crash diets and deprivation worked, the diet product/plan companies would have been out of business long ago. They make money by preying on your desire to get immediate results – and by KNOWING YOU WILL FAIL using those methods, so you’ll be back when you regain the weight, even more desperate for a solution and willing to shell out even more money.

Fuel yourself (and your workouts) properly. If you can eat more, enjoy healthy food and not feel deprived.... why wouldn't you? There are no medals for martyrdom here.

Finally, there is a reason experts recommend that people (especially if not under the care of a doctor/dietitian) should not lose more than 2-3 lbs per week. Even if you have a lot to lose, lose quickly and aren't risking starvation mode - you're risking a LOT of other things.

Rapid weight loss carries many risks, including but not limited to: gallstones, arrhythmias, diabetes, hair/skin issues, menstruation issues, excess loose skin, liver/kidney issues, fatigue and depression, and weight regain. People who lose the weight slowly and learn healthy eating habits (which includes eating enough) are MUCH more likely to keep the weight off.

Yes, we'd all love to wake up tomorrow in the bodies we want. But trying to beat your body into submission will backfire at some point. You have to make the decisions in how to approach your weight loss -- make them informed decisions and consider all aspects of your health.

Slow and steady wins the race. Be the tortoise, not the hare. :flowerforyou:



*Disclaimer – These are my opinions, based on my own research here on MFP and the knowledge I’ve gleaned from my nutritional education, and research in scientific literature. I’m not an expert, but I believe I’ve learned a lot from those who are.

References to note:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=8777329&dopt=AbstractPlus
http://journals.lww.com/amjmedsci/pages/articleviewer.aspx?year=2001&issue=04000&article=00007&type=abstract
http://www.annals.org/content/130/6/471.full
http://www.annals.org/content/119/10/1029.full
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=2051001&dopt=Citation
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0689/is_n3_v41/ai_17516395/
http://www.ajcn.org/content/49/1/93.full.pdf+html
http://www.ajcn.org/content/45/2/391.full.pdf+html
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0887/is_n7-8_v15/ai_18602507/