When to switch to "lose .5 lb per wk"?

Stanley1903 · February 2016

Hi MFP community!

I'm a 5'6" 24 year old woman. I've lost a total of 25 pounds (SW 185, CW 160). I now have about 15-20 pounds to goal weight. I've already switched from 1.5 to 1 lb per week, a couple months ago.

When should I switch my goal to lose .5 pounds per week? Now, at about 16 pounds from goal? Or when I'm closer to 8-10 lbs away? (I'm not in a hurry. I want maintainable weight loss. I also tend to eat more if I set my goal higher.)

bwogilvie · February 2016

I did it when I had about 18 pounds to go (out of 65 total).

samgamgee · February 2016

I've been pondering this too - 5 ft 4, 25 year old woman, 23 lbs down and 17 lbs left to go. I've been losing over the last 11 months swapping between 0.5 and 1 lb per week depending on what I can manage at the time, and I've been at 1 lb a week for a while now but not stuck to it as well as I should. I'm wondering if my deficit is too high for me to adhere to it, and if I'd have more success with 0.5 a week... It would be interesting to hear other people's experiences with this.

sheermomentum · February 2016

When your TDEE - 250 calories equals an amount that you live with and be happy for the amount of time that it will take you to get to your goal weight.

Stanley1903 · February 2016

I've never gone down to .5 lb a week yet, but it is hard for me to adhere to these type of calorie levels now. I'm more active than when I started on MFP. I was at 1,237 + exercise when I was at 1.5 lb per week. After weight loss and changing to 1 lb, it put me at 1370-1380. It's way easier than 1200. But I often end up in the 1400-1500 range. I don't mind, honestly.

I just also wanted to hear other people's experiences.

jemhh · February 2016

If you're not having problems eating at your current level, don't switch. The .5 pound per week is a suggestion, not a universal rule.

Domicinator · February 2016

There were points every step of the way for me where the calorie limit I had set just simply didn't feel good anymore. When I started, I was at 1500 calories a day, and that felt totally fine to me. I would be a little hungry at bedtime, but not "hangry".

After I dropped the first 30 or 35 lbs, 1500 calories a day started having negative affects on me. My legs would just go dead while I was out on my bike, and I would be weak and crabby at the end of the day. I figured I was probably losing muscle mass and in too much of a defecit, so I upped it to 1700 and that made a HUGE difference in my energy level and overall mental state. After I lost another 20 lbs. or so, 1700 didn't feel good anymore either, so I upped it to 1900, which is where I currently am now.

As you get closer and closer to your goal, you will need to up the calorie intake a bit at a time. It's hard to convince yourself to do it, but you WILL still lose weight. It will just slow down, and you have to be okay with that. No reason to not do this in a safe and healthy way.

jeepinshawn · February 2016

I stayed at 2lbs per week until I was done losing.

4daluvof_candice · February 2016

How do you want to maintain/live after reaching your goal?

I don't use the MFP formula. I want to be able to eat 2000 cal/day once I reach my goal. All I did was 2000-500=1500 cal/day and workout 4- 5 times a week. Ive been losing 1.5-2lbs/week. Once I reach my goal I want to workout 5 days a week with one "active" day and one rest day and eat 2000 cal/day. This is what I can mange the rest of my LIFE.

Stanley1903 · February 2016

Thanks for all the great perspectives! At my size, I'm pretty sure maintenance will end up being around 1650-1750 once I reach goal. 1850-1900 is maintenance for where I'm at now. I don't count exercise in maintenance at the moment, because I don't exercise every day or even 5x a week. I'm at 3-4x per week. I think I could keep up 1700 cals and 3x per week.

erinc5 · February 2016

I kind of do something in between. There isn't a setting for 0.75 lbs per week, so I have recently decided to kind of hover between my 1 lb goal (1400) and my 0.5 lb goal (1650). Anything between that is okay with me! Depends on the day. There is no rule that you have to be strict to whatever MFP tells you - you can set your own goal, too!

AnnPT77 · February 2016

I switched at 10 pounds to goal . . . but then revised my goal downward as I got closer & saw how I looked/felt, so it probably really happened when I was 15-20 pounds from where I'm actually ending up. Personally, I've been trying to reverse diet my way to maintenance, adding 100-150 calories at a time, then monitoring for a time before adjusting again. I think I'll do better if I don't have a big eating change as a I shift into maintenance (which is about where I am now).

Stanley1903 · February 2016

AnnPT77 wrote: »

I switched at 10 pounds to goal . . . but then revised my goal downward as I got closer & saw how I looked/felt, so it probably really happened when I was 15-20 pounds from where I'm actually ending up. Personally, I've been trying to reverse diet my way to maintenance, adding 100-150 calories at a time, then monitoring for a time before adjusting again. I think I'll do better if I don't have a big eating change as a I shift into maintenance (which is about where I am now).

This is a great plan! I guess it's sort of what I'm doing, too. I want to add more consistent exercise as I go. But being a student, nothing is truly the same day to day lol. And also, I graduate in May. So I'll be spending the summer getting a new routine, applying for jobs, etc.

Bizzarrini · February 2016

I'm at that stage too. I'm interested to know if following the 'rules' for 1lb per week actually equates to losing 1lb per week? Are there any super diligent 'rule' followers to comment on this? Personally I am always under or over by a couple of hundred per day. I have been losing 1-2lbs per week for 5 months now but of course it fluctuates wildly and I have weeks where I barely budge. I think I am set to 1lb per week at the moment and try hard not to go over too often or by too much. I am happy for the last stone to take a year to come off and to strengthen my body along the way by lifting some weights. Ultimately I want to stay slim and healthy from here on in

AnnPT77 · February 2016

Bizzarrini wrote: »

I'm at that stage too. I'm interested to know if following the 'rules' for 1lb per week actually equates to losing 1lb per week? Are there any super diligent 'rule' followers to comment on this? Personally I am always under or over by a couple of hundred per day. I have been losing 1-2lbs per week for 5 months now but of course it fluctuates wildly and I have weeks where I barely budge. I think I am set to 1lb per week at the moment and try hard not to go over too often or by too much. I am happy for the last stone to take a year to come off and to strengthen my body along the way by lifting some weights. Ultimately I want to stay slim and healthy from here on in

If you're logging food meticulously, you can calculate (estimate) whether MFP's loss rates are correct for you. You know how much you're losing in a week. Multiply that number of pounds by 3500 (approximate number of calories in a pound of bodyweight), add that number to your calories eaten for the week, and you have a personalized approximation of your maintenance number. (You can do this for net calories, or for gross calories, depending on what you're trying to figure out.)

FWIW, MFP's estimates are a little on the low side for me, i.e., I can eat more than the MFP-calculated target and still achieve the targeted loss.

tomteboda · February 2016

I'm not dropping at this time. I'm 5'9" and 195 lbs. My goal is 175, and I'm doing ok at my current intake so I plan on stocking with it when though I'm 20 lbs away. I think if I was cluster to a really lean body weight I'd have to approach it differently but my goal isn't like that.

tnm7760 · February 2016

Bizzarrini wrote: »

I'm at that stage too. I'm interested to know if following the 'rules' for 1lb per week actually equates to losing 1lb per week? Are there any super diligent 'rule' followers to comment on this?

Ive only been doing this since Jan 1st, but it seems as though what MFP projects as a 1lb/week loss ends up being more like .75lb/week. Sort of frustrating. But I'm already eating between 1200-1300 calories so I can't really go much lower. So I'm trying to adjust my expectations and figure .75lb/week is good enough (and I've got 40lbs to lose, so I don't think I'm unreasonable in my deficit).

lizwooshy · February 2016

My SW was 174 and my CW is 146, at 5'5. I thought my goal would be 144, but now that I am so close I think I may lower it (my original goal was 154, and when I hit that I knew I wanted to keep going).

After using some TDEE calculators (Scooby and IIFYM) I recently lowered my MFP goal to .5 pound a week, which puts my daily calories around 1700-1800. I love being able to eat more, and I'm ok with the fact that im only losing a pound or two a month, especially since strength training is my main exercise. Plus I now have more energy for my workouts

to each their own.

I would say if you are comfortable lowering your goal now, then go for it! Or you could wait til about the 10 pound mark.

ObsidianMist · February 2016

tnm7760 wrote: »

Ive only been doing this since Jan 1st, but it seems as though what MFP projects as a 1lb/week loss ends up being more like .75lb/week. Sort of frustrating. But I'm already eating between 1200-1300 calories so I can't really go much lower. So I'm trying to adjust my expectations and figure .75lb/week is good enough (and I've got 40lbs to lose, so I don't think I'm unreasonable in my deficit).

yeah, it says I'm expected to lose 0.8 lb/week and it obviously won't give me a lower calorie allotment than 1200/day. kind of a bummer.

Stanley1903 · February 2016

Wow, these are all great responses. To everybody above, if you want to eat 1000-1200 it can be safe to do so. But that's only the case if you're not exerting yourself much. I had a lot of days in that range early on in my weight loss. And it was fine. MFP only shouts if you eat less than 1,000. So you can keep 1200 or 1300 as your goal, but just eat 100-200 calories less on less active days.

Coley88 · February 2016

erinc5 wrote: »

I kind of do something in between. There isn't a setting for 0.75 lbs per week, so I have recently decided to kind of hover between my 1 lb goal (1400) and my 0.5 lb goal (1650). Anything between that is okay with me! Depends on the day. There is no rule that you have to be strict to whatever MFP tells you - you can set your own goal, too!

That's pretty similar to me. Depending on what's got on that day/how hungry I am/how much I ate the day prior, I alternate between my calorie goal being maintainece/1 lb per week/.5 lb per week. My overall rate of loss is about .75 lb/week.

When to switch to "lose .5 lb per wk"?

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