Losing 2 pounds a WEEK? Only?

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Valdus92
Valdus92 Posts: 25 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
At 215 been dieting for 12 days now- only lost 4 pds. 45, consuming 1500 cal a day, working out for 30 minutes a day- why am I not at 210 by now?

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  • Laurend224
    Laurend224 Posts: 1,748 Member
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    2 pounds a week is great progress! What's the rush?
  • Mycophilia
    Mycophilia Posts: 1,225 Member
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    Must've weighed yourself with that glorious fake mustache.
  • KarenJanine
    KarenJanine Posts: 3,497 Member
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    2lbs per week is actually pretty fast. Healthy, sustainable weight loss should not be rushed. It would be very difficult to gain 9lbs of fat in 12 days, so why would you expect to lose it that quickly?
  • healthygreek
    healthygreek Posts: 2,137 Member
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    This is MFP not Biggest Loser.
  • Ninkyou
    Ninkyou Posts: 6,666 Member
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    ONLY 4 lbs?

    Seriously, reset your expectations. 4 lbs is a great loss.
  • Valdus92
    Valdus92 Posts: 25 Member
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    Actually its only 8 days according to my progress, so i feel a lot better about it
  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    Your are not at 210 because the rate at which you lose weight from week to week will not be the same for most people due to body fluctuations.
  • HeySwoleSister
    HeySwoleSister Posts: 1,938 Member
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    Elves come and force feed you cookies in your sleep.

    No, seriously, you need to take a deep breath and not obsess over the scale. The two pounds a week is 2 pounds of body mass to lose (and is the MAXIMUM healthy goal most will recommend unless you have a LOT (as in well over 100 pounds) to lose. Your profile says you want to lose 25. My starting goal was 20 pounds to lose, and it took me about 6-8 weeks to get rid of the first 10. 5 of that was water I lost right away, after that I think I averaged between .75 and 1 pound a week, which is the most I'd recommend for someone with that little to lose.

    And, speaking of water weight, the numbers on the scale will fluctuate a bit just due to how much fluid your cells are hanging on to. I know that the general advice is to weigh less often, but I find myself less obsessive about "how much am I losing" when I weigh myself very often. I step on the scale every night before bed and then every morning when I get up. That practice has given me some real awareness of water fluctuations in my body and now I see more clearly the downward trend in my weight. A single weekly data point gave me that "ACK, why are the numbers the same" feeling a couple of times, but now that I have all those data points, the long term downward trend is apparent. I feel much more successful.

    Why are you in such a rush? 1500kcal sounds to be rather low for a male, especially one who is working out. I'm a smaller woman over 40 and I'm on 1400. I wouldn't recommend getting so low if it's making you feel like you're in a rush to lose the weight and "get it over with." That is how yo-yo dieters are made.
  • SergeantSausage
    SergeantSausage Posts: 1,673 Member
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    How many years (decades?) Did it take to put on the weight?

    I will never understand the unrealistic expectations folks have with respect to taking it off.

    If you're consistently (month over month) Losing more than a pound a week, then you are doing just fine. Stick with the program and wait it out. There's no hurry.

    Slow and steady wind the race, right?

  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    WTG on 4 pounds. You didn't gain it all in 12 days, why would you expect to lose it that quickly???
  • AMamaLana
    AMamaLana Posts: 21 Member
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    Agreed with everyone else, but wanted to also mention that I discovered in the very beginning of my diet adventure, I too lost the first chunk of pounds rapidly. I would drop 1-2 pounds every few days for the first two weeks, and then I slowed down to a steady weight loss. A few months into my dieting, with natural diet habits setting me back sometimes, I would often go 4 weeks with no weight loss and then suddenly drop 2-4 pounds at once.
    Being female, I likely have more hormonal fluctuations that contribute to my weight loss patterns than you would, not limited to female menstrual cycles making me bulk up water weight. And as others said, you WILL fluctuate some, even hourly, no way to avoid that. Weighing too often drove me mad. I was a twice a day weigher in the very beginning to start understanding how my body changes through the day, but at this point I weigh about twice a week in the morning and I find that very satisfying.

    Remember as your weight drops, you have to adjust your goal caloric intake. I agree that 1200 calories a day for a grown exercising male will not be sustainable for you, you will likely go mentally mad as quickly as you begin the path of malnourishment. I am at 1200 calories myself at this point, no part of my caloric restrictions thus far has been easy on me mentally. I am glad that I generally enjoy healthy, natural foods.

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