In 5 weeks you'll lose 10lbs... why is it not working?
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Thanks so much for this !! :flowerforyou:0
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WOW great post and I am definitely going back and doing some adjustments myself! Thank you for taking the time to post this!0
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bump0
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Love the post.0
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bump0
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Re-posting and fixing broken img link!MireyGal76 wrote: »taken from my blog (http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/MireyGal76/view/in-5-weeks-you-ll-lose-10lbs-why-s-it-not-working-668182) - reposting in the threads (based on feedback received
)
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When someone signs up for MFP, they are gung ho about losing weight, and want to shed those pounds FAST!
They look at the calculator, enter their stats and are asked...
What is your lifestyle like... Sedentary? Lightly active?
This is such a subjective question!
Some people are fooling themselves... and think they're very active, when in reality, they work at a desk job, and go home and watch tv for most of the night. But... Sedentary seems bad... And they're not that bad... So they set themselves as very active - fooling themselves into thinking they're able to consume more calories.
Some other people are underestimating themselves, and think they're sedentary, when in reality, they walk to/from work, at lunch, around the office, then get home and chase kids and pets, not sitting down until they fall into bed at the end of the night exhausted. They're burning way more calories than they realize, but they hate themselves, so they pick sedentary. Determined to punish themselves into fitness.
The daily calories expended by the first and the second are dramatically different! And what they pick, can cause pretty significant results....
And then you have...
How many pounds do you want to lose per week?
How many pounds do I want to lose?
I WANNA LOSE EM ALL!!!
How many pounds CAN I LOSE? I can lose up to 2 pounds per week?
This is where the inevitable road to dissatisfaction and potential rage quit begins.
Stick with me...
According to a random website* (hehe) the average height and weight of a woman in america is 5'4" and 168 pounds. (I KNOW - GENERALIZE MUCH?)
According to another random website** (hehe), if they're sedentary, their daily calorie expenditure is 1838.
If that woman joined MFP and decided to lose 2lb a week... She'd be told to eat 1200 cals a day. If she religiously followed that plan, she wouldn't lose 2lb a week. If she's lucky, she'd barely scratch 1 pound a week.
Why?
Minimum calorie expenditure is 1200 cals a day. It's not safe for your to go below this value.
If your goal causes you to dip below that daily rate, then MFP lets you set it, but will reset your min calories to 1200.
There is no way that the average woman can lose at that rate, given the above calculations.
In fact... in order to possibly lose 2lb per week, you'd need to be burning (at maintenance) 2200 cals per day.
My settings currently have me at 2000 cals per day. I am 6'1" and 168 pounds.
I have many tiny friends who won't reach that calorie burn in a day.
Unless you are quite overweight...
TO EXPECT YOURSELF TO BE ABLE TO BURN 2 LBS A WEEK IS CRAZY
It is frustrating.
It is unsustainable.
And it is damaging to your goals.
Calorie counting is a simple concept, but it's fraught with variables...
- are you properly estimating your activity levels?
- are you properly estimating your exercise burns?
- are you correctly weighing, measuring, and logging your food?
If you find that you aren't making progress... start to look at those variables...
If you over estimate your activity levels, overestimate your burns, and under estimate your food... you won't succeed in your goals. All you will do is succeed at frustrating yourself.
What I recommend?
Unless you are obese (and have the help of a doctor), I strongly recommend focusing on the following:
- 0.5 lb to 1lb a week MAXIMUM loss.
- learn to weigh and measure your food. EVERYTHING.
(I suffer slow calorie drain by snacking. I KILL MY CALORIES BY SNACKS... 100 cals here, 200 cals there.. until I have nothing left for supper and then give up and go over )
- If you don't know how active you are... then go sedentary and log all exercise. LOG IT ALL. (But be honest with yourself in terms of burns... sitting on the couch folding laundry - not the same kind of housework as scrubbing floors)
And be patient with yourself. Give it time and adjust. Adjust.
A D J U S T.
You didn't gain the weight in a week, you won't lose it in as much.
Take your time.
You can do this!
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By all means, I welcome correction by those who know more than me...
* http://www.livestrong.com/article/357769-weight-height-for-the-average-american-woman/
** http://www.shapesense.com/fitness-exercise/calculators/daily-caloric-expenditure-calculator.aspx1 -
Thanks for bringing new life to this thread. It's such great information!0
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MireyGal76 wrote: »I have further geeked out and created the following table/chart
Each bar represents targeted weight loss per week (1/2 pound through to 2 pounds)
I love you. And your chart. I heart your chart.0 -
ChristieisReady wrote: »I love you. And your chart. I heart your chart.
Thanks Christie! I find that the visual helps say what words struggle with!0 -
Thank you0
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Hey I just noticed this got stickied! YAY!
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OP: I don't buy your premise. I started off as not even technically clinically overweight (10 lbs under the cutoff), and after the first week of massive water weight loss, I was able to safely lose 3 lbs per week. The reason? I cut my carbs down to under 20 a day (ketosis level) and simultaneously restricted calories. Now I've been at maintenance for many months. "Crazy"? "Unsustainable"? Horsecrap.
Some people do better on a slow-and-steady weight loss regimen, but some of us want all of it gone *yesterday*. When you recommend to people that they lose half a pound a week, you're telling them to be happy with losing 26 lbs in an entire year. I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable to most people. I can lose that in two months. What happens to people who have ~100 lbs to lose, which is *very* common? Are they supposed to wait 4 years to fit into their college jeans? Screw that.
It may not be your intention, but your post just encourages people to settle for less than they're capable of.0 -
Begin slow clap...0
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TitaniaEcks wrote: »OP: I don't buy your premise. I started off as not even technically clinically overweight (10 lbs under the cutoff), and after the first week of massive water weight loss, I was able to safely lose 3 lbs per week. The reason? I cut my carbs down to under 20 a day (ketosis level) and simultaneously restricted calories. Now I've been at maintenance for many months. "Crazy"? "Unsustainable"? Horsecrap.
Some people do better on a slow-and-steady weight loss regimen, but some of us want all of it gone *yesterday*. When you recommend to people that they lose half a pound a week, you're telling them to be happy with losing 26 lbs in an entire year. I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable to most people. I can lose that in two months. What happens to people who have ~100 lbs to lose, which is *very* common? Are they supposed to wait 4 years to fit into their college jeans? Screw that.
It may not be your intention, but your post just encourages people to settle for less than they're capable of.
How many pounds did you have to lose?
What are your stats?
Did you see the part where I said "Unless you are obese (and have the help of a doctor)"?
For the average person with 30 pounds to lose... teaching them to do whatever is necessary (or whatever they are capable of) often results in them rebounding and doing what they are capable of to regain that weight.
The purpose of my post was to get people to understand
a) why they may be eating at 1200 and not losing weight (because they're not actually getting the deficit they think they need due to the number of calories they'd normally burn)
b) it is not a race to perfect figure by summer, or in time for that wedding.
There are also mental ramifications to doing what "they're capable of" and shedding weight fast. Many times, a person needs that time to mentally adjust to the changes in their body.
You don't gain 100 pounds overnight. You shouldn't expect to lose it that fast either.2 -
My problem is I see the calorie deficit as an excuse to treat myself then and end up eating the calories that I just burned. I have became a pro at maintaining my current weight. The problem is I need to lose 20-30 pounds to get to my idle weight.0
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My problem is I see the calorie deficit as an excuse to treat myself then and end up eating the calories that I just burned. I have became a pro at maintaining my current weight. The problem is I need to lose 20-30 pounds to get to my idle weight.
But, if you have set mfp to lose weight, then the deficit is already built in to the calorie goal. It's ok to eat back some of your calories. You may not want to eat all of them depending on how accurate you are logging, but it is safe to meet your calorie goal.1 -
I just started MFP along with FitBit and another app that records my walk via GPS. In the first week I lost 5 pounds and am just about to finish my 2nd week. It has been hard to NOT step on the scales each morning as I know weight can fluctuate from day to day. I have been on just about every other weight loss program and know how important it is to 1) be honest with oneself and 2) to log every bite. I find that if I am not able to measure/weigh my food, I over estimate the calories a bit. For example, if I am at the Farmer's Market, I might have a taste of a fruit or veggie. It gets logged but I don't always know what the caloric value is on, say 1 cherry! Well, my real point here is that I have learned from failure in the past that every bite needs to be logged.
Thank you for this very informative post. Great information.0 -
TitaniaEcks wrote: »OP: I don't buy your premise. I started off as not even technically clinically overweight (10 lbs under the cutoff), and after the first week of massive water weight loss, I was able to safely lose 3 lbs per week. The reason? I cut my carbs down to under 20 a day (ketosis level) and simultaneously restricted calories. Now I've been at maintenance for many months. "Crazy"? "Unsustainable"? Horsecrap.
Some people do better on a slow-and-steady weight loss regimen, but some of us want all of it gone *yesterday*. When you recommend to people that they lose half a pound a week, you're telling them to be happy with losing 26 lbs in an entire year. I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable to most people. I can lose that in two months. What happens to people who have ~100 lbs to lose, which is *very* common? Are they supposed to wait 4 years to fit into their college jeans? Screw that.
It may not be your intention, but your post just encourages people to settle for less than they're capable of.
26lbs is a LOT of weight to lose in a year. How many people do you know personally who have achieved it? It's impressive whether you have 26lbs to lose or 126lbs.
You've described a diet that you stuck to for three weeks as "sustainable". How would you know? Three weeks isn't long enough for a sensible conclusion! In fact, quite apart from its unpleasant side-effects, ketosis is by definition unsustainable, because eventually your body would run out of fat. You needed 2 diets, one to lose weight, then another to keep it off (because the first diet would eventually kill you). Why not skip step 1? Sure you'd have been a little heavier for 4 months, but you wouldn't have risked gaining back your losses in the transition. Most people, and by most people I mean almost all people, fail at that transition and gain all their weight loss back in a matter of months. I am very impressed that you have succeeded where the overwhelming majority fail.1 -
MireyGal76 wrote: »I have further geeked out and created the following table/chart
Maintenance Cals is what your calorie intake would be if you were to neither gain or lose weight
Each bar represents targeted weight loss per week (1/2 pound through to 2 pounds)
You will see that if your Maintenance cals are at 1450 or lower....you will struggle to lose 0.5 pounds a week without dipping below 1200 calories.
If you are in this position, then your solution to the problem is to increase your activity levels.
Don't further restrict food, but rather increase activity. More exercise, take the stairs, walk more, play more. Sit less, move more!
This is also why you eat back your exercise calories if you use the MFP formula. You don't want to have too great a deficit - it can be unhealthy for you - both in terms of the habits you form around eating, and the relationship you have with your food.
Remember this, above all.. LIFE IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED! Don't let this consume your life and destroy the quality of life you have. Your family and friends will remember the person you were... I'd rather have fun with 10 pounds to lose, than be miserable and at goal weight.
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First time I've ever been glad to see a zombie thread!0
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MireyGal76 wrote: »I have further geeked out and created the following table/chart
Maintenance Cals is what your calorie intake would be if you were to neither gain or lose weight
Each bar represents targeted weight loss per week (1/2 pound through to 2 pounds)
You will see that if your Maintenance cals are at 1450 or lower....you will struggle to lose 0.5 pounds a week without dipping below 1200 calories.
If you are in this position, then your solution to the problem is to increase your activity levels.
Don't further restrict food, but rather increase activity. More exercise, take the stairs, walk more, play more. Sit less, move more!
This is also why you eat back your exercise calories if you use the MFP formula. You don't want to have too great a deficit - it can be unhealthy for you - both in terms of the habits you form around eating, and the relationship you have with your food.
Remember this, above all.. LIFE IS MEANT TO BE ENJOYED! Don't let this consume your life and destroy the quality of life you have. Your family and friends will remember the person you were... I'd rather have fun with 10 pounds to lose, than be miserable and at goal weight.
Great Post. Thanks for sharing, as a newbie I will adjust my settings. How do you know if your maintenance calories are correct? Is there a better formula for setting this vs MFP. Sorry if this was explained and I just didn't see it.0 -
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I'm a bit confused. I'm 5ft 9in, 207.2lbs with 52.2lbs to lose to reach UGW and I'm eating around 1200 cals + 150/200 on exercise days (my diary is open) of good healthy food and I'm not hungry/snacking much either, so am I okay or do I need to eat more?0
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rightoncommander wrote: »ketosis is by definition unsustainable, because eventually your body would run out of fat.
Apparently you can buy foods with fat in and eat them ?1 -
TitaniaEcks wrote: »OP: I don't buy your premise. I started off as not even technically clinically overweight (10 lbs under the cutoff), and after the first week of massive water weight loss, I was able to safely lose 3 lbs per week. The reason? I cut my carbs down to under 20 a day (ketosis level) and simultaneously restricted calories. Now I've been at maintenance for many months. "Crazy"? "Unsustainable"? Horsecrap.
Some people do better on a slow-and-steady weight loss regimen, but some of us want all of it gone *yesterday*. When you recommend to people that they lose half a pound a week, you're telling them to be happy with losing 26 lbs in an entire year. I'm sorry, but that is unacceptable to most people. I can lose that in two months. What happens to people who have ~100 lbs to lose, which is *very* common? Are they supposed to wait 4 years to fit into their college jeans? Screw that.
It may not be your intention, but your post just encourages people to settle for less than they're capable of.
Fat can only mobilize at a certain rate. If you take your estimated fat mass * 27, that is the HIGHEST calorie deficit that you should ever eat. More than that, and you MUST burn other tissues. Which is weight, sure, but it's pretty pointless.
Yes, you can absolutely lose 10lbs in 5 weeks. I have, safely, at the weight I started at. But I can't do it for the next 10lbs or I'll be doing things that put my health in jeopardy.
If you are obese, yes, you absolutely can lose 2lbs or more a week. One rule of thumb is 1% of your body mass, but the more obese you are, the more you can safely lose.
Do whatever is most comfortable for you, though, within the range of what is safe.
I make up the differences with a TON of exercise.
If your photo is maintenance, then I may weigh 10lbs more than you, but I've only got 5lbs more fat, at most, even though I'm shorter. When I reach 127lbs, I don't want to have to gain back 5lbs of muscle I lost and lose 5lbs more fat just because I was in too much of a hurry.
And frankly, by your own admission, you yo-yo a lot.
I don't. I know what I'm going to eat when I get to where I'm going (which is identical to what I normally eat, actually--I'm a rare person for whom being sedentary really is the Big Problem.) And I'll maintain within a 10lb window without thinking about it. 5lbs will take a little attention but not much.0 -
glassofroses wrote: »I'm a bit confused. I'm 5ft 9in, 207.2lbs with 52.2lbs to lose to reach UGW and I'm eating around 1200 cals + 150/200 on exercise days (my diary is open) of good healthy food and I'm not hungry/snacking much either, so am I okay or do I need to eat more?
Using a really rough calc, at sedentary it looks like you'd be around 2000 cals to maintain your current weight.
Eating at 1200 would put you on track for about 1.5 pounds a week loss... at least initially.
As you get closer to goal weight, I recommend considering an increase to your cals so that by the time you have 5-10 pounds to lose, you're consuming closer to 1750 / 1800 cals.
That is assuming you weigh and measure your foods and log everything.
hope that helps!0 -
This is what I do too! Average out the numbers to get the most reasonable value.
The other thing to remember is that this is not really a daily thing... I tend to look at a few days, sometimes values over a week... I may be a bit over one day, and a bit under the next. my goal is to be around par when I average the week out. If I'm not hungry one day... I let myself go under. If I'm starving, I CONSCIOUSLY CHOOSE to let myself go over, knowing that I need to make that up (if I haven't already). I try to pay attention to what my body is telling me.[/quote]
This is very encouraging to me!! I do the same thing, because I really do NOTHING on my rest days. So, I don't feel hungry enough to consume my 1200 calories. But there are days when I need to go over. What is your opinion of eating your extra "exercise" calories?
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I just started using trendweight.com which gives me a better idea of how my weightloss is trending rather than the daily fluctuations. It showed me that I am making very slow but steady progress. This post is EXACTLY what I needed to see today! Thank you, thank you.0
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This is BRILLIANT!0
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Reinventing_Me wrote: »This is BRILLIANT!
I totally agree!! Thank you!!!0
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