i wish to lose 60 pounds by march

Eat at a sensible calorie deficit - you'll lose weight.
Plug your details into the MFP app and it'll give you your calorie allowance. It really is as simple as that.

With regards to exercise, many of us don't have a lot of spare time but many of us fit it in regardless. Again, it's not vital for weight loss but it's definitely good to get into these good habits and your heart and health will thank you for it.

Good luck.

I'd like to lose 60 by tomorrow but this time next year is more realistic.

Start logging, do it every day and you'll see weight coming off.

The posts above are correct but dont let the knowledge that your goal is too aggressive discourage you from trying. Get started today. Tomorrow comes a lot quicker than you might think. You may not make your goal by the time you want, but you can be well on you way for sure!

Good luck to you!

If you have 100lb to lose, then I'll guess you weigh at least 220lb now. The most you should lose is 1% of your body weight per week. Doing a rough estimate, that will be ~2lb/week for the first 22 weeks (allowing for a little faster to start, and a little slower near the end of the 22 weeks). Now until the end of March is 21 weeks. So, a realistic (but VERY HARD) goal is 42lb by the end of March. That is still amazing progress. Depending on your size and activity though, a more realistic goal (that will still be hard, but easier), is ~30lb, which is closer to 1.5lb/week.

If you are taller or weigh more then a larger goal becomes more realistic, but you have to know what you are capable of yourself. It requires dedication without cheating every day for 22 weeks. I'm on week 22 now and while I've lost 35lb, I had to work extremely hard at it.

As mentioned, plug your stats into MFP, get a food scale, and don't cheat. You can shuffle calories around by eating less during the week to eat more during the weekend, but keep it reasonable (no starving yourself during the week). If you are going to do an aggressive (but still reasonable) weight loss, your best bet is to lift heavy (StrongLifts 5x5 is a good program) and make sure you get sufficient protein (USDA guidlines are 0.37g/lb, but you should aim for closer to the 0.64-0.82g/lb range) to help preserve muscle .

I can't tell you how to do it because I am a failure at just that. I have said so many times I want to lose X by Y only to get closer to Y, realize my goal is not achieveable and give up.

The best thing to do is just start. Put in your best (healthy) effort and you will lose what you lose. Regardless of what the number lost is, it is better than where you started. It is just too much pressure to put lofty goals on yourself and causes you to lose focus of what is important. A goal of losing X pounds is fine, but putting a time limit on it creates unnecessary pressure.

Emily3907 wrote: »

I can't tell you how to do it because I am a failure at just that. I have said so many times I want to lose X by Y only to get closer to Y, realize my goal is not achieveable and give up.

The best thing to do is just start. Put in your best (healthy) effort and you will lose what you lose. Regardless of what the number lost is, it is better than where you started. It is just too much pressure to put lofty goals on yourself and causes you to lose focus of what is important. A goal of losing X pounds is fine, but putting a time limit on it creates unnecessary pressure.

I definitely agree. Don't let the other post make you feel like you can't do it. I believe saying you can only lose 1.5/wk for you to be healthy is completely untrue. All of these weight loss shows with trained professionals have people down 50-60 lbs just over the summer and 100 lbs over the year. Its all about what you put into it to get the results you want.

tpenn113 wrote: »

I don't think 60 lbs by march is unrealistic. Especially using this app. It's healthy to lose 2 to 3 lbs a wk so 3 lbs/wk starting in November is 60 lbs dwn by march. I'm new to this and no expert but I would eat about 300 calories less then what is recommended by the app invest in a watch that tracks calories burned and add in some cardio maybe 2 hrs a day 3 days a week to start. That can be walking in the a.m then later that afternoon. I restarted this weightloss thing Oct 5 at 218 this a.m I am 209 and still have until November 5th to lose 3 lbs to make it 3 lbs/wk but I am pushing harder to reach that by Saturday. So yes you can do it just try to stay consistent and you will see a difference. Hope this helps, good luck!

No!

What if the app says "eat 1200 calories" - would you recommend eating 900? That's crazy low. It's not "healthy for a large percentage of people to lose 3 pounds a week. Weight loss isn't one-size-fits-all. Morbidly obese people can lose 3 pounds a week (for awhile); from there it tapers downward. It's a percentage like Nordlead2005 said.

OP - there is fast weight loss & there is healthy weight loss. These 2 things are not the same. Yes, there is some overlap. Morbidly obese patients (under a Dr's. care) can eat less than 1200. But they have prescribed diets (and likely vitamin injections) - these special diets help them get adequate nutrition. This is not a do it yourself project.

Fast weight loss for those that are merely overweight - your body will use existing lean muscle mass for fuel. This means that you will not have reduced your body fat % by as much as you would have with a moderate goal.

Pick a number that you can live with for a long time. Consistency is much more important than "speed."

malibu927 wrote: »

Anything over 2 pounds a week is unhealthy, and even thy amount is reserved for those with more than 75 pounds to lose. Higher deficits can lead to more muscle loss and other pretty serious health problems.

Thats not accurate in the slightest, you are merely parroting all the things you have read on these forums. If the OP has a legit 100lbs to loose you can easily loose the first 20-30lbs in the first month alone, then the remaining weight can come off slightly more slowly. I have lost 92lbs in the last 189 days, or there abouts, and I am lightly active and perfectly healthy.

OP if you are dedicated and follow the program you can do it, even if you don't hit your 60lb goal you will loos ea significant amount of weight in that time. Just do it, start logging, get a food scale, do it all today!

tpenn113 wrote: »

Emily3907 wrote: »

I can't tell you how to do it because I am a failure at just that. I have said so many times I want to lose X by Y only to get closer to Y, realize my goal is not achieveable and give up.

The best thing to do is just start. Put in your best (healthy) effort and you will lose what you lose. Regardless of what the number lost is, it is better than where you started. It is just too much pressure to put lofty goals on yourself and causes you to lose focus of what is important. A goal of losing X pounds is fine, but putting a time limit on it creates unnecessary pressure.

I definitely agree. Don't let the other post make you feel like you can't do it. I believe saying you can only lose 1.5/wk for you to be healthy is completely untrue. All of these weight loss shows with trained professionals have people down 50-60 lbs just over the summer and 100 lbs over the year. Its all about what you put into it to get the results you want.

For the OP like people said here before. Fill in your stats and eat in deficit and you will lose weight
Weigh all your food.

And @tpen113 You lose a lot of weight when you start. But it will slow down drasticly.
When you want to lose 2lbs a week and get the minimum calorie allowance on MFP ( so 1200 calories a day) than you have already created a deficit. Eating 300 calories less than that is crazy and not wise to do so.

You will burn out, you are depriving your body of nutrition/energy.

MFP system is build this way
fill in your stats and how much you want to lose. You get a calorie allowance which has already a deficit. When you exercise eat some of it back ( most people do half, this because of over estimating of exercise machines)

Now that said most people dont even have to go that low as 1200 calories and can eat a bit more.

But most failures start or begin with the fact that people are far to aggressive with their goal and deny them self too much ( in food and otherwise)

So your advice to eat even 300 calories less is totally out of order. She will end up under the 1000 calories a day!!!


OP remember this
To be successful and lose your weight..be consistent. Make a point of having a comfortable diet.
I ate it all and yes i started the first months at 1200 calories a day + half my exercise calories. After the first months i went to 1300 calories a day than 1350 calories.
At 1400 calories i stayed the longest time. So 1400 + half of whatever i exercised.
I weighed out every single bite...no cups or spoons i weighed out everything!
And patience...plugging along
I went out had dinners had pizza and ice creams etc And my popcorn and ice every night for 12 months!
But next day back to what i was doing a balanced diet and eating around my calorie allowance

And for me that was the easiest way to do this. Was not hungry had no gravings. I ate it all.

So start OP and keep on going that i all that there is too it

Good luck!

jeepinshawn wrote: »

malibu927 wrote: »

Anything over 2 pounds a week is unhealthy, and even thy amount is reserved for those with more than 75 pounds to lose. Higher deficits can lead to more muscle loss and other pretty serious health problems.

Thats not accurate in the slightest, you are merely parroting all the things you have read on these forums. If the OP has a legit 100lbs to loose you can easily loose the first 20-30lbs in the first month alone, then the remaining weight can come off slightly more slowly. I have lost 92lbs in the last 189 days, or there abouts, and I am lightly active and perfectly healthy.

OP if you are dedicated and follow the program you can do it, even if you don't hit your 60lb goal you will loos ea significant amount of weight in that time. Just do it, start logging, get a food scale, do it all today!

Exactly everyone's body is different. That particular person doesn't work out while I go to the gym like 3x a week and burn about 900 calories each time so of course I would loose it faster. And of course I wouldn't say less than 1200 calories. This app won't even log your food in if your a female with less than 1000 calories and give recommendations. But for example my calorie intake recommendation is 1730 if I eat 1430 im not gonna die it just depends