A Challenge Amongst Friends

wolf39us
wolf39us Posts: 163 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So a friend of mine sent me a text message 2 Friday's ago and challenged me to a weight loss challenge. He and I are both pretty sedentary and are both overweight. He was 5'9 and 250lbs at the time and I was 211lbs @ 5'9.

I've begun my dieting and exercising pretty strictly and as of tomorrow it will be two weeks! It is what I feared... I don't think I can beat him lol.

He's currently at almost 10lbs down (I don't know HOW). I am currently 3.1lbs down.

I've exercised 6 days out of 7 and have dropped my carbs to less than 100g a day. Brought up my eating frequency to 5 times a day, and switched to clean meats and protein sources.

I simply don't know of a better way to get all of this done lol. Anyways, I'm happy to be on the bandwagon and in the end we're both winners... but is it crazy that this guy drops 10lbs in 2 weeks?

Replies

  • galgenstrick
    galgenstrick Posts: 2,086 Member
    10lbs in 2 weeks could easily be water weight which drops off with initial calorie reduction. You lose weight by eating less calories than you burn, it doesn't matter what you eat. In other words, no need to eat "clean meats" whatever that means.

    While it's fun to be in a competition, it's also not a good idea to lose 10lbs in 2 weeks consistently. You'll lose too much muscle mass and also be eating so little you'll likely struggle with cravings and end up binge eating. at you weight, you can probably safely lose 2lbs a week without difficulty, but you'll want to slow that down once you get lighter. My bet is that your friends weight loss will slow down also as his water weight stabilizes.

    You can drop quite a bit of water weight as well if you limit your sodium intake to ~2300mg / day which is the suggested daily value. Most people eat way over that and are bloated most of the time.
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    wolf39us wrote: »
    So a friend of mine sent me a text message 2 Friday's ago and challenged me to a weight loss challenge. He and I are both pretty sedentary and are both overweight. He was 5'9 and 250lbs at the time and I was 211lbs @ 5'9.

    I've begun my dieting and exercising pretty strictly and as of tomorrow it will be two weeks! It is what I feared... I don't think I can beat him lol.

    He's currently at almost 10lbs down (I don't know HOW). I am currently 3.1lbs down.

    I've exercised 6 days out of 7 and have dropped my carbs to less than 100g a day. Brought up my eating frequency to 5 times a day, and switched to clean meats and protein sources.

    I simply don't know of a better way to get all of this done lol. Anyways, I'm happy to be on the bandwagon and in the end we're both winners... but is it crazy that this guy drops 10lbs in 2 weeks?

    You missed a key part of the equation! CALORIES! Unfortunately, eating "clean," eating at different frequency, dropping your carbs and exercising are meaningless. All it takes to lose weight is a calorie deficit - eating less than you burn! If exercising helps you create that deficit, that's awesome and great for your health. All the other things are unnecessary for weight loss and only personally preferences.

    As for your loss, congratulations! Whenever you change your way of eating and drop calories, the body tends to respond with a large water weight loss. His 10lb loss isn't shocking and he certainly won't continue to lose at that rate. Be patient! Your loss is fantastic and you're on the right track!
  • wolf39us
    wolf39us Posts: 163 Member
    edited January 2016
    kkenseth wrote: »
    wolf39us wrote: »
    So a friend of mine sent me a text message 2 Friday's ago and challenged me to a weight loss challenge. He and I are both pretty sedentary and are both overweight. He was 5'9 and 250lbs at the time and I was 211lbs @ 5'9.

    I've begun my dieting and exercising pretty strictly and as of tomorrow it will be two weeks! It is what I feared... I don't think I can beat him lol.

    He's currently at almost 10lbs down (I don't know HOW). I am currently 3.1lbs down.

    I've exercised 6 days out of 7 and have dropped my carbs to less than 100g a day. Brought up my eating frequency to 5 times a day, and switched to clean meats and protein sources.

    I simply don't know of a better way to get all of this done lol. Anyways, I'm happy to be on the bandwagon and in the end we're both winners... but is it crazy that this guy drops 10lbs in 2 weeks?

    You missed a key part of the equation! CALORIES! Unfortunately, eating "clean," eating at different frequency, dropping your carbs and exercising are meaningless. All it takes to lose weight is a calorie deficit - eating less than you burn! If exercising helps you create that deficit, that's awesome and great for your health. All the other things are unnecessary for weight loss and only personally preferences.

    As for your loss, congratulations! Whenever you change your way of eating and drop calories, the body tends to respond with a large water weight loss. His 10lb loss isn't shocking and he certainly won't continue to lose at that rate. Be patient! Your loss is fantastic and you're on the right track!

    I'm averaging about 1,300 calories a day... I'd say that's about as low as I should go especially with the weight training that I'm doing.

    Wouldn't you say?

    edit: Well I should say some days it's 1,300... some days it's 1,600
  • kk_inprogress
    kk_inprogress Posts: 3,077 Member
    wolf39us wrote: »
    kkenseth wrote: »
    wolf39us wrote: »
    So a friend of mine sent me a text message 2 Friday's ago and challenged me to a weight loss challenge. He and I are both pretty sedentary and are both overweight. He was 5'9 and 250lbs at the time and I was 211lbs @ 5'9.

    I've begun my dieting and exercising pretty strictly and as of tomorrow it will be two weeks! It is what I feared... I don't think I can beat him lol.

    He's currently at almost 10lbs down (I don't know HOW). I am currently 3.1lbs down.

    I've exercised 6 days out of 7 and have dropped my carbs to less than 100g a day. Brought up my eating frequency to 5 times a day, and switched to clean meats and protein sources.

    I simply don't know of a better way to get all of this done lol. Anyways, I'm happy to be on the bandwagon and in the end we're both winners... but is it crazy that this guy drops 10lbs in 2 weeks?

    You missed a key part of the equation! CALORIES! Unfortunately, eating "clean," eating at different frequency, dropping your carbs and exercising are meaningless. All it takes to lose weight is a calorie deficit - eating less than you burn! If exercising helps you create that deficit, that's awesome and great for your health. All the other things are unnecessary for weight loss and only personally preferences.

    As for your loss, congratulations! Whenever you change your way of eating and drop calories, the body tends to respond with a large water weight loss. His 10lb loss isn't shocking and he certainly won't continue to lose at that rate. Be patient! Your loss is fantastic and you're on the right track!

    I'm averaging about 1,300 calories a day... I'd say that's about as low as I should go especially with the weight training that I'm doing.

    Wouldn't you say?

    edit: Well I should say some days it's 1,300... some days it's 1,600

    Without knowing your stats, there is no way to comment on your calorie intake, but if you put all your info into MFP, it will build the appropriate deficit which really shouldn't be >2lbs/wk. Your training should then be fueled by eating back a portion of your exercise calories (I eat 50-75% when I'm cutting since MFP and all machines overestimate burns) and I've been successful with that.

    Either way, congrats on your loss- 3lbs in 2 weeks is awesome. Don't get discouraged and BE PATIENT. Weight loss isn't linear, but the overall trend will be downward if you stick to a deficit.

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