Maintance Vs 1-2 lbs a week

milocamolly
milocamolly Posts: 91 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
When getting started should you eat at maintance for your desired weight or should you eat enough to lose 1-2lbs a week? What are you guys doing?

Replies

  • random5483
    random5483 Posts: 63 Member
    Maintenance for your goal weight can sometimes make sense, but eating enough to lose 2 or less lbs a week is better general advice. If you weigh 300 lbs and want to weigh 100 lbs (extreme example), then eating maintenance for 100 lbs would be too big a deficit. You would likely be eating ~1200 calories instead of ~2000 calories (not done the math, but just an example).

    If you are 140 and want to go down to 120, then maintenance for 120 would be fine as a slow means to lose weight. Eating at maintenance for your goal weight will make weight loss slow a lot as you get closer to your goal weight, but it will eventually get you there.

    Simply put, as a rule of thumb, eating based on your desired (and reasonable) weight loss goals is likely going to work better.
  • vgnfarmer
    vgnfarmer Posts: 108 Member
    I like this
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    It depends on how much you have to lose.
  • milocamolly
    milocamolly Posts: 91 Member
    Thank you for the replies!
  • milocamolly
    milocamolly Posts: 91 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    It depends on how much you have to lose.

    I am wanting to lose 35lbs. I moved my tracker to my goal weight so I know exactly how many not to go over maintance.
  • jessicarobinson00
    jessicarobinson00 Posts: 414 Member
    I don't think there's a right answer. For those who have never tracked before, simply keeping track of everything that you consume is HUGE, so starting at a maintenance calorie count and slowly working down to a weight loss count might make more sense. Make a sustainable choice for you. :D
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