When to switch from 2lb's/wk to 1lb/wk?
jeepinshawn
Posts: 642 Member
Here is my story, I'll keep it brief, I have been working out since last november, I lost 20lbs but I didn't alter my diet for awhile. In march I found myfitnesspal and have been logging everyday and I have lost 85lbs over the last 165 days. I'm 5'9" and weigh in at 184.4lbs as of last friday. The BMI charts say the top end of healthy for me should be around 170lbs, but I am rather large framed and using some of the other charts I should weigh in at the top end of healthy at 175. So I'm thinking I want to start working on body recomposition when I hit 175lbs, but still a little conflicted about that...Either way I looked in the mirror and realized I lost some muscle mass this month and it worried me a little. I'm on a 1000 calorie a day deficit and I'm wondering if it is time to switch to 1lb/wk? I don't eat back much of my exercise calories, my diary is open, and I'm open to any insight yoou guys have as to when you switched things up.,..
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I'd say you're past time. 85 lbs in 165 days exceeds every rate of recommended loss that I'm familiar with. With less than 20 lbs to lose, and with a goal of maintaining muscle mass, I'd recommend 0.5 lb/week. To answer your other question, I switched to 1 lb/week when I got to a goal of under 40 lbs.0
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brightsideofpink wrote: »I'd say you're past time. 85 lbs in 165 days exceeds every rate of recommended loss that I'm familiar with. With less than 20 lbs to lose, and with a goal of maintaining muscle mass, I'd recommend 0.5 lb/week. To answer your other question, I switched to 1 lb/week when I got to a goal of under 40 lbs.
Thanks, I appreciate any input. I kind of want to just grind it out, if I stay the course at 1000cal deficit I may hit my goal faster. On the other hand despite strict logging and control I only lost .6lbs last week and it should have been at least 2lbs...So with some of my aches and pains and the lack of success I'm concerned maybe I should try 1lb a week. I just don't know it is all uncharted territory for me, I weighed 40 more pounds then this in high school...
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If you hit your goal faster but achieve it through loss of muscle mass instead of fat, and then gain it all back because you've crash-dieted, then that's not what you want.
1000 calorie deficits are really only appropriate for people with a TDEE of 4000 and up (for whom it would represent <25% of TDEE). That's really only someone who is very big and very obese. That's not you.
With only 10-20 lbs to lose, you should aim for 0.5lbs/week. And start working on weight training now. Yesterday. Last month. No need to wait.0 -
If you hit your goal faster but achieve it through loss of muscle mass instead of fat, and then gain it all back because you've crash-dieted, then that's not what you want.
1000 calorie deficits are really only appropriate for people with a TDEE of 4000 and up (for whom it would represent <25% of TDEE). That's really only someone who is very big and very obese. That's not you.
With only 10-20 lbs to lose, you should aim for 0.5lbs/week. And start working on weight training now. Yesterday. Last month. No need to wait.
So now I'm confused. I'm set to lose 2lbs/wk. I'm still about 95lbs overweight, my tdee is around 2700. Should I be going at this less agressively?
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If you hit your goal faster but achieve it through loss of muscle mass instead of fat, and then gain it all back because you've crash-dieted, then that's not what you want.
1000 calorie deficits are really only appropriate for people with a TDEE of 4000 and up (for whom it would represent <25% of TDEE). That's really only someone who is very big and very obese. That's not you.
With only 10-20 lbs to lose, you should aim for 0.5lbs/week. And start working on weight training now. Yesterday. Last month. No need to wait.
Thanks for the comments! I try and keep track my nutrients and macros, and while I do have trouble hitting some of the goals such as potassium, I do pretty well at nailing or at least close to achieving many of the vitamin and macro goals so I assumed I was still being fairly healthy while maintaining the deficit.
Obviously no one plans to gain the weight back, I understand I have had to change my lifestyle. My plan is to switch over to maintenance mode and continue logging and tracking my food. That is the only way I can think of to keep myself on track.
I guess the hard part for me is knowing when to stop, using a BMI chart I could go down to 150lbs and be at a healthy weight, you know which would make me currently 34lbs over weight still...
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If you hit your goal faster but achieve it through loss of muscle mass instead of fat, and then gain it all back because you've crash-dieted, then that's not what you want.
1000 calorie deficits are really only appropriate for people with a TDEE of 4000 and up (for whom it would represent <25% of TDEE). That's really only someone who is very big and very obese. That's not you.
With only 10-20 lbs to lose, you should aim for 0.5lbs/week. And start working on weight training now. Yesterday. Last month. No need to wait.
So now I'm confused. I'm set to lose 2lbs/wk. I'm still about 95lbs overweight, my tdee is around 2700. Should I be going at this less agressively?0 -
jeepinshawn wrote: »
I guess the hard part for me is knowing when to stop, using a BMI chart I could go down to 150lbs and be at a healthy weight, you know which would make me currently 34lbs over weight still...
But going to 150lbs does not mean you would "be at a healthy weight" just because that's what a BMI chart says. Those don't work for everyone. My husband was 5 lbs above the top of his "healthy" BMI when people started to joke that I had stopped feeding him. He looked like a teenager. It wasn't good.
Also 85lbs in 165 days = 3.7 lbs a week? So that means if you were already "set" for 2 lbs but losing at 3.7 I am sure you can set for 1 or 1.5 and still lose at a higher rate then that.0 -
jeepinshawn wrote: »brightsideofpink wrote: »I'd say you're past time. 85 lbs in 165 days exceeds every rate of recommended loss that I'm familiar with. With less than 20 lbs to lose, and with a goal of maintaining muscle mass, I'd recommend 0.5 lb/week. To answer your other question, I switched to 1 lb/week when I got to a goal of under 40 lbs.
Thanks, I appreciate any input. I kind of want to just grind it out, if I stay the course at 1000cal deficit I may hit my goal faster. On the other hand despite strict logging and control I only lost .6lbs last week and it should have been at least 2lbs...So with some of my aches and pains and the lack of success I'm concerned maybe I should try 1lb a week. I just don't know it is all uncharted territory for me, I weighed 40 more pounds then this in high school...
If this was the only week you didn't hit a 2 pound loss, you are an anomaly Most people do not have linear weight loss.
Yes, you are past time to go down to a 1 pound per week goal and I'd actually recommend 0.5 lb/week as well.0 -
If you've got less than 10 pounds to go then slow it down. There's no need to "rush to the finish line" because there is no stopping remember. If you are going to transition to maintenance and still log then there is no stopping anyway. The more important task is to not lose any more muscle mass at this point.0
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They got the number from the fact that deficits of UP to 20% of TDEE is what is usually recommended for a sustainable, least lean mass lost weight loss. OK, let's up that to 25% to be aggressive. So, 1000 Cal => TDEE 4000.
There are several potential points of confusion here.
TDEE is TDEE. It includes exercise. Your % off comes off the combined NEAT plus Exercise amount of calories you burn.
The problem the OP has run into is that he is doing 1000Cal off of his Non Exercise activity calories (NEAT); PLUS adding his exercise calories to his deficit.
So his actual deficit is much much larger than 1000Cal a day. Which explains the rapid weight loss.
Not sure what the hurry was, or what the benefit was to achieve an almost normal weight without having internalized the life changes you will need to make to sustain it; but there you have it. You're almost there now!
Slow down and re-evaluate.
As for C_ROSS, your deficit is above 35%. What is your BMR? I would suggest you may want to NET at least your BMR calories every day. Having said that... I wouldn't be overly worried about it while still obese; but, would reconsider when overweight.
In general I advocate 10% (lower end of normal zone) to 25% deficits off TDEE (obese) as long as net remains above BMR.
Again these are cuts off TDEE. Not NEAT plus I won't eat my exercise calories back to make the deficit larger.0 -
They got the number from the fact that deficits of UP to 20% of TDEE is what is usually recommended for a sustainable, least lean mass lost weight loss. OK, let's up that to 25% to be aggressive. So, 1000 Cal => TDEE 4000.
There are several potential points of confusion here.
TDEE is TDEE. It includes exercise. Your % off comes off the combined NEAT plus Exercise amount of calories you burn.
The problem the OP has run into is that he is doing 1000Cal off of his Non Exercise activity calories (NEAT); PLUS adding his exercise calories to his deficit.
So his actual deficit is much much larger than 1000Cal a day. Which explains the rapid weight loss.
Not sure what the hurry was, or what the benefit was to achieve an almost normal weight without having internalized the life changes you will need to make to sustain it; but there you have it. You're almost there now!
Slow down and re-evaluate.
As for C_ROSS, your deficit is above 35%. What is your BMR? I would suggest you may want to NET at least your BMR calories every day. Having said that... I wouldn't be overly worried about it while still obese; but, would reconsider when overweight.
In general I advocate 10% (lower end of normal zone) to 25% deficits off TDEE (obese) as long as net remains above BMR.
Again these are cuts off TDEE. Not NEAT plus I won't eat my exercise calories back to make the deficit larger.
I just figured out the TDEE thing a month or so ago, my fitbit averages my TDEE at 2922/day over a 30 day period. so a daily intake of 15000/1800 would be what like a 48%deficit? I'm guessing that isn't a real healthy choice then...
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They got the number from the fact that deficits of UP to 20% of TDEE is what is usually recommended for a sustainable, least lean mass lost weight loss. OK, let's up that to 25% to be aggressive. So, 1000 Cal => TDEE 4000.
There are several potential points of confusion here.
TDEE is TDEE. It includes exercise. Your % off comes off the combined NEAT plus Exercise amount of calories you burn.
The problem the OP has run into is that he is doing 1000Cal off of his Non Exercise activity calories (NEAT); PLUS adding his exercise calories to his deficit.
So his actual deficit is much much larger than 1000Cal a day. Which explains the rapid weight loss.
Not sure what the hurry was, or what the benefit was to achieve an almost normal weight without having internalized the life changes you will need to make to sustain it; but there you have it. You're almost there now!
Slow down and re-evaluate.
As for C_ROSS, your deficit is above 35%. What is your BMR? I would suggest you may want to NET at least your BMR calories every day. Having said that... I wouldn't be overly worried about it while still obese; but, would reconsider when overweight.
In general I advocate 10% (lower end of normal zone) to 25% deficits off TDEE (obese) as long as net remains above BMR.
Again these are cuts off TDEE. Not NEAT plus I won't eat my exercise calories back to make the deficit larger.
My BMR is somewhere around 1900. So thats what you recommend I should be eating?0 -
They got the number from the fact that deficits of UP to 20% of TDEE is what is usually recommended for a sustainable, least lean mass lost weight loss. OK, let's up that to 25% to be aggressive. So, 1000 Cal => TDEE 4000.
There are several potential points of confusion here.
TDEE is TDEE. It includes exercise. Your % off comes off the combined NEAT plus Exercise amount of calories you burn.
The problem the OP has run into is that he is doing 1000Cal off of his Non Exercise activity calories (NEAT); PLUS adding his exercise calories to his deficit.
So his actual deficit is much much larger than 1000Cal a day. Which explains the rapid weight loss.
Not sure what the hurry was, or what the benefit was to achieve an almost normal weight without having internalized the life changes you will need to make to sustain it; but there you have it. You're almost there now!
Slow down and re-evaluate.
As for C_ROSS, your deficit is above 35%. What is your BMR? I would suggest you may want to NET at least your BMR calories every day. Having said that... I wouldn't be overly worried about it while still obese; but, would reconsider when overweight.
In general I advocate 10% (lower end of normal zone) to 25% deficits off TDEE (obese) as long as net remains above BMR.
Again these are cuts off TDEE. Not NEAT plus I won't eat my exercise calories back to make the deficit larger.
Thank you for the explanation!
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>>They got the number from the fact that deficits of UP to 20% of TDEE is what is usually recommended for a sustainable, least lean mass lost weight loss. OK, let's up that to 25% to be aggressive. So, 1000 Cal => TDEE 4000.<<
I've read tons of threads here and not seen this before. This actually means that hardly anyone should lose 2#/ wk, even those with 100# or more to lose ???0 -
[/quote]
No, I have no idea where they got the 4000 number. With almost 100 lbs to lose, you can be at -2lbs a week until about 50lbs remaining then switch to 1.5. With 25-30lbs remaining switch to 1lb a week, and with 10lbs switch to .5lb. That's about the recommended amounts to maximize fat loss, and not lose muscle mass. [/quote]
Thank you!!0 -
Interesting article (even discusses more aggressive goals than what I advocate): http://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com/members/What-is-the-ideal-calorie-deficit.cfm
and here:
http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/setting-the-deficit-small-moderate-or-large.html/
BMR is amount of calories your body and organs consume at rest. Unless you are maintaining your deficit for a very short period of time it strikes me as a great idea to make sure your body is receiving at least that amount of nourishment on a regular basis.
Deficits that provide less than BMR tend to be larger cuts off TDEE.
A few reasons as to why larger cuts off TDEE may not be a great idea can be seen here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3943438/
Yes, I am aware that most MFPers with 100+lbs to lose are not athletes and can actually tolerate slightly larger deficits. But the points made are good ones to keep in mind and a lot of MFPers have gone through multiple bouts of "dieting" in the past, including diets with large cuts that have resulted in loss of lean mass.
In brief: yes, OP, you've been too agressive.
Next person: if 1900 is your BMR it is a good idea to net at least that unless you're only going to be doing this for a week or two or three
And third person:-) 2lb a week deficits ARE too aggressive for most people.
(sorry hard to look back on the phone).
I have a great study for you based on n=1 From December 2 (224.7lbs) to May 7 (191.3lbs) I dialled in a 750 MFP deficit and ate back almost all of my Fitbit calories. For the 156 days my average deficit on paper was 24.76% of TDEE, or 799 Calories per day. Consecutive DXA scans imply the actual deficit was 715 Calories a day. Oh, shucks
By increasing the deficit to 1000 Cal a day I might have lost an extra 10lbs in that time frame. You know what? I will take 33lbs with less stress over 43lbs with more stress ANY time.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »
If this was the only week you didn't hit a 2 pound loss, you are an anomaly Most people do not have linear weight loss.
Yes, you are past time to go down to a 1 pound per week goal and I'd actually recommend 0.5 lb/week as well.
I weighed myself for the official weigh in and I dropped 4lbs this last week. My guess is I had probably been retaining water last week and had lost around 2lbs and I lost another 2 during this week for the 4lbs. I switched my MFP plan to 1lb/wk and it took my calories from 1500 to 1660, my TDEE is averaging about 2700 so if I stick with MFP I will still be eating over a 1000 calorie deficit.
Thank to all the others for input I really appreciate the discussion.0
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