50 lbs in a year realistic?

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pinkshoelaces
pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Basically, I just want to know if losing 50lbs in a year is a realistic goal. I'm taking a trip to England next December, so just about exactly a year from now, and I'd like to lose 50lbs by then. I've already lost 24 pounds in the last 3ish months and 42lbs total since last year.

I'm currently 210lbs standing at 5'8 and I want to be around 160 (preferably 150 but I think that might definitely be over reaching).

Anyway, I know it'll be hard, I'm not expecting the pounds to fly off my body or anything. My diet has been anywhere from 1500 to 1700 calories and I exercise about 1 and a half hours a day (not including stretches and strength training). I've been steadily losing about 1 to 3 lbs a week so far but I also know that the first part of weight loss is much quicker than the last part.

So yeah, 50lbs feasible or is it probably not gonna happen?
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Replies

  • Railr0aderTony
    Railr0aderTony Posts: 6,804 Member
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    totally doable, that is one pound a week with a couple flatliners.
  • aimeemcnally
    aimeemcnally Posts: 18 Member
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    Hey

    I think that's realistic :) Since you're exercising every day I don't see why not. Why don't you try only eating whole foods for that time? (nothing processed) You'll lose a lot of weight. You should watch this documentary http://www.forksoverknives.com/
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    Railr0aderTony wrote: »
    totally doable, that is one pound a week with a couple flatliners.

    Thanks for the encouragement! One pound a week sounds easy but I know from experience it's actually not and that's why I was worried it might be unrealistic, haha!
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    aimeemcnally wrote: »
    Hey

    I think that's realistic :) Since you're exercising every day I don't see why not. Why don't you try only eating whole foods for that time? (nothing processed) You'll lose a lot of weight. You should watch this documentary http://www.forksoverknives.com/

    Thanks! I've been slowly and surely changing my diet around to be healthier, I'm hoping the better it gets, the easier the weight will come off.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    edited December 2014
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    50 lbs to go, sure.
    Start out with weight loss goal of 1.5 lbs weekly.

    Don't make it bigger by using the program wrong.
    Which means log your exercise, which makes your eating goal go up, because of course you just burned more than non-exercise day.
    Meet your eating goal, higher or lower.
    That will keep that same deficit amount whether exercise or non-exercise day.

    Be honest with exercise, time and description. Really walking 4 mph for 45 min? Or 3.5 for 40 min?

    Log food by weight, not volume. Weigh package volume and how much of it you eat.

    And when you get to 25 lbs left to lose, change goal loss to 1 lb weekly.

    When down to 10 lbs left, change to 1/2 lb weekly.

    Be too aggressive thinking you'll make it shorter, and that 5-7 month plateau of no weight loss will seriously cut in to your time. Your stress will add water weight, and ruin the whole thing.

    Better to select slow and study with purposeful wise choices than have a stressed out body force it on you because of poor choices.
    The forced is usually slower too.

    So about 16 weeks from 50 to 25 lbs at 1.5 lbs weekly.
    About 15 weekly from 25 to 10 lbs at 1 lb weekly.
    About 20 weeks from 10 to 0 lbs at 1/2 lb weekly.
    About 51 weeks.

    But weight loss isn't consistent, some weeks bigger, some slower, especially through the month for a woman, since your metabolism literally does change.

    Oh, and are you wearing your scale on your back with current weight on it with sign regarding goal weight desired?
    No, then don't be screwed up by staring at the scale, people will see you - not the scale.
    Measure, the other better progress report.

    And eventually you'll probably need to make your workouts smarter, not just frequent and long, to get good results from them. Just starting out though, you can do a bunch wrong and still progress.
  • bulbadoof
    bulbadoof Posts: 1,058 Member
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    Don't eat back -all- your exercise calories. The consensus is that MFP tends to generously overestimate. Eat back 50-70% of them, to account for errors.
  • BruceHedtke
    BruceHedtke Posts: 358 Member
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    I've lost close to 90lbs since the beginning of March. It's definitely doable!
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    bulbadoof wrote: »
    Don't eat back -all- your exercise calories. The consensus is that MFP tends to generously overestimate. Eat back 50-70% of them, to account for errors.

    I actually hardly eat back any of my exercise calories at the moment. I like to leave as much room as possible for any calories I might have missed or didn't calculate right. MFP currently has me set at 1520 calories a day, which I'm usually under but occasionally meet or eat a bit over, with anywhere from 200 to 500 calories burned from exercise added in. (I actually tend to underestimate my calorie burn on purpose just in case)
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    BruceHedtke wrote: »
    I've lost close to 90lbs since the beginning of March. It's definitely doable!

    Wow, congratulations! That's really impressive. It took me almost a year to lose 42 pounds so I know 50 will definitely take some more aggressive working out and calorie counting this next year. Though, I take into account there were a few months in the past year where I stopped trying and mostly maintained so I'm hoping that being consistent will work in my favor.
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    heybales wrote: »
    50 lbs to go, sure.
    Start out with weight loss goal of 1.5 lbs weekly.

    Don't make it bigger by using the program wrong.
    Which means log your exercise, which makes your eating goal go up, because of course you just burned more than non-exercise day.
    Meet your eating goal, higher or lower.
    That will keep that same deficit amount whether exercise or non-exercise day.

    Be honest with exercise, time and description. Really walking 4 mph for 45 min? Or 3.5 for 40 min?

    Log food by weight, not volume. Weigh package volume and how much of it you eat.

    And when you get to 25 lbs left to lose, change goal loss to 1 lb weekly.

    When down to 10 lbs left, change to 1/2 lb weekly.

    Be too aggressive thinking you'll make it shorter, and that 5-7 month plateau of no weight loss will seriously cut in to your time. Your stress will add water weight, and ruin the whole thing.

    Better to select slow and study with purposeful wise choices than have a stressed out body force it on you because of poor choices.
    The forced is usually slower too.

    So about 16 weeks from 50 to 25 lbs at 1.5 lbs weekly.
    About 15 weekly from 25 to 10 lbs at 1 lb weekly.
    About 20 weeks from 10 to 0 lbs at 1/2 lb weekly.
    About 51 weeks.

    But weight loss isn't consistent, some weeks bigger, some slower, especially through the month for a woman, since your metabolism literally does change.

    Oh, and are you wearing your scale on your back with current weight on it with sign regarding goal weight desired?
    No, then don't be screwed up by staring at the scale, people will see you - not the scale.
    Measure, the other better progress report.

    And eventually you'll probably need to make your workouts smarter, not just frequent and long, to get good results from them. Just starting out though, you can do a bunch wrong and still progress.

    Well, I tend to keep pretty good track of the pace I'm running or walking at by using a treadmill or an app with a GPS tracker that records pace and time. I also weigh most of my food, though I do admit there are times here and there where I just say to heck with it and eat the apple and estimate its calorie worth. I'm getting better with that kinda thing, though.

    I agree with your comment about exercise, as well. Right now, I'm focusing on building up endurance and strength, but I do know that what I'm currently doing isn't going to cut it in a few months time and will need to be revamped at some point. I'm really trying to get smarter with it.

    Thanks so much for all the input!
  • saamantha
    saamantha Posts: 74
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    Hiya :)

    I think 50lbs is definitely doable. I lost my first 50 in less than a year. I was eating 1360-1520 calories a day, depending on exercise, and only ate back half of my exercise cals. I lost the most at the beginning of my weight loss journey, which is pretty typical.

    Tons of Jillian Michaels DVDs, elliptical training and diet overhaul helped me lose the weight. I think that changing the way I ate actually helped me shave most of the weight off. Determination will get you there!
  • 999tigger
    999tigger Posts: 5,235 Member
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    What they said its totally doable and you seem to already have the skills to do it. Consistency is key so you will need to manage your efforts including refining your deficit control and logging, as well as ensuring you keep up the exercise. Noce o see you are strength training as well. keep going.
  • karenrich77
    karenrich77 Posts: 292 Member
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    I've lost 80 since Feb! Go for it!
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    karenrich77 wrote: »
    I've lost 80 since Feb! Go for it!

    That's really amazing! Congratulations on your success so far.
  • pinkshoelaces
    pinkshoelaces Posts: 111 Member
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    999tigger wrote: »
    What they said its totally doable and you seem to already have the skills to do it. Consistency is key so you will need to manage your efforts including refining your deficit control and logging, as well as ensuring you keep up the exercise. Noce o see you are strength training as well. keep going.

    I agree. I know soon I'll definitely have to take another look at my calorie intake as well as the exercises I'm doing. Consistency has never been my strong point, but I've been getting better with it. The strength training is the hardest part of me to keep up with; I've made significant advances in my cardio endurance but I haven't made much progress with the strength training, I seem to hit a wall with it quite often.
  • Sued0nim
    Sued0nim Posts: 17,456 Member
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    absolutely - I've lost 41lbs in 7 months and now it is excruciatingly slow at 0.5ish a week but I'm happy with that because I'm happy in myself and not that bothered about more weight loss

    get heavy lifting to protect your LBM as much as possible

    and Welcome to England (next December) - I hope your trip will be amazing :smiley:
  • Makterbro
    Makterbro Posts: 101 Member
    edited December 2014
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    Very much possible. I started out at 220bs back in May and now I am under 150 and I eat around 1200 a day but that's because I am much shorter than you are. The key is to maintain focus, exercise regularly, and measure/weigh everything you eat. Also, remember to have fun while exercising and do activities you enjoy.
  • DawnieB1977
    DawnieB1977 Posts: 4,248 Member
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    It depends how fast you lose. It took me 18 months to lose 66lbs. I lose slowly. Also take measurements so you don't put too much emphasis on the scale....I tend to lose a lot of inches before I lose lbs.

    Where in England are you going?
  • KANGOOJUMPS
    KANGOOJUMPS Posts: 6,472 Member
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    of course, you can do that in a month
  • LifeModel
    LifeModel Posts: 2 Member
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    I have PCOS and type 2 diabetes so weight loss, weight maintenance is more difficult for me. I started my weight loss journey Jan 8 2014 and I've lost 3 stone (42lbs) I've had a few weeks off as I got pretty ill following a car accident in Oct. So I reckon 50lbs is doable. I'm going to try to loose another 14-28lbs next year to get to target of 10-11 stone. (I'm 5'4)

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