1-2 lbs healthy weekly weight loss range? But why?
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viren19890
Posts: 778 Member
Hello,
So why isn't it like 5 lbs or 10 lbs or 0.5 lbs. Where did that range /numbers come from?
Who decided that range?
Sorry if this questions sounds ignorant but I'd like to know.
So why isn't it like 5 lbs or 10 lbs or 0.5 lbs. Where did that range /numbers come from?
Who decided that range?
Sorry if this questions sounds ignorant but I'd like to know.
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Replies
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I don't actually know for sure, but I would guess that is just an easier deficit to achieve in the given time frame through calorie cutting and exercise.0
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I don't know who came up with it but my understanding is that if you drop too much at a time it's not good for your system in the sense that you are depriving your body of the nutrients it requires. I've also noticed from trying this a couple times that the faster I've lost weight the quicker it comes back!0
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Your body can only utilize so much energy from fat per day, so...math?0
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It's about math. 1 pound of fat loss equals approximately 3500 calories, so to lose that pound you need a deficit of 3500 calories over the week or the equivalent of 500 calorie deficit daily. To ensure that your body has enough energy to run, you have a daily minimum requirement aka your BMR. Standards for weight loss have been based on maintaining your BMR but eating less than your TDEE. Generally, ends up being between .5 - 2 pounds per week depending on how overweight the individual.0
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To lose 5 pounds of fat in a week, you would need a calorie deficit of 17,500 calories. (3500 = 1 pound, 3500 x 5 = 17,500)
So that would mean a calorie deficit of 2500 calories per day. (17,500/7 = 2500) Which is more than a lot of people even burn in a day, which would mean they'd have to exercise each day and not even eat at all!
And that just doesn't work :-)
"Every diet comes with an equal and opposite binge" <--- smaller deficits over longer periods of time are better and easier to stick to :-)0 -
chandanista wrote: »Your body can only utilize so much energy from fat per day, so...math?
This. Your body can only use so much energy from fat every day. If your intake plus your body's fat burning capabilities are less than what your body needs your body makes up for it with breaking down your lean mass. The loss of lean mass means lower BMR in the end and poor body composition.0 -
chandanista wrote: »Your body can only utilize so much energy from fat per day, so...math?
This. Your body can only use so much energy from fat every day. If your intake plus your body's fat burning capabilities are less than what your body needs your body makes up for it with breaking down your lean mass. The loss of lean mass means lower BMR in the end and poor body composition.
This too.0 -
chandanista wrote: »Your body can only utilize so much energy from fat per day, so...math?
This. Your body can only use so much energy from fat every day. If your intake plus your body's fat burning capabilities are less than what your body needs your body makes up for it with breaking down your lean mass. The loss of lean mass means lower BMR in the end and poor body composition.
Not to mention the fact that weight loss is driven by caloric deficit, and too great a deficit can make it difficult to take in sufficient macro and micronutrients.0 -
If your caloric deficit is too high and you aren't getting enough of macronutrients, your body will start cannibalizing tissues other than fat. That's never a good thing. You don't want to go there.
Doctors have studied nutritional deficits thoroughly for almost 80 years now, and they've settled on the recommendation that a 250 - calorie/day deficit is relatively safe for those with a small amount of fat to burn, 500- for those with moderate amounts and up to but no more than 1000 calorie/day deficits for those who have a lot of weight to lose. That translates to 0.5 lbs / week to 2 lbs / week.
More than that and they are pretty adamant you need to be under a physician's care with regular bloodwork to make sure you're not shutting down your heart, kidneys, or other organs.0 -
People shouldn't focus so much on how many pounds per week. Just go at a nice sustainable deficit and be patient as the process takes time. Most people really are too impatient. The body weight scale is such a limiting tool. The body fluctuates with water so much on any given day. The liver alone as an organ can fluctuate several pounds in one day. The scale is only good as a trend over time, like every month. Smaller people might go even longer without seeing a change on the scale because 1 pound is a bigger percentage of their body weight. It is so silly to try and estimate the rate of change with all the factors in an individual body; hormones, health, stress, diet, allergies, sodium, water intake, DOMS, food digestion, and the list goes on and on.
The best thing to do is focus on the process; diet and deficit for fat loss, healthy foods, exercise for health. Focus on that and go about your business and keeping busy with purpose, and the results will happen when you are not looking. Looking at the scale is like watching grass grow. Focus on cultivation and the process, and the grass eventually grows too.0 -
To keep enough nutrition for the body and not to lose too much muscle. Makes sense to me.0
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it is so you get enough nutrition's
So when you eat less it is impossible to get enough nutrition's for the amount of calories you are eating.
This is also why you eat ( at least half) of your exercise calories back here on MFP to feed the body enough nutrition's so it can keep going
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Marilyn0924 wrote: »To ensure that your body has enough energy to run, you have a daily minimum requirement aka your BMR. Standards for weight loss have been based on maintaining your BMR but eating less than your TDEE.
No. The "calories" from fat you are losing off your body are available to fuel bodily functions, there is no requirement to eat your BMR.
The figure was probably set by a committee, like most guidelines. They usually publish their reasoning.
Eating nothing will probably give a loss rate about 0.7 lbs/day so there is a floor on achievable weight loss.
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If you try to lose that much weight (5 or 10 lbs a week) then you would have to eat a loooot less calories. A loot less calories seems feasible for people who really want to lose weight as fast as possible..so why don't they succeed?
Because your body goes into starvation mode if you try to cut your calories too much. It realizes it is not getting the nutrition it needs to sustain so it holds on to the calories and stores them as fat to be used as energy, since it thinks it is starving, so you end up actually gaining weight.
Also, you would begin to lose muscle as well. Why would you want to lose muscle? That is what gives you shape.
So what you are really trying to do when you only cut 300 to 500 calories from your diet is lower the amount of body fat you have while trying to maintain as much of the muscle you have.
Losing weight does not necessarily mean you will look better naked ( you will have the same shape but just be smaller...or even have worse shape due to muscle loss).
Lowering body fat (by making sure you limit your caloric deficit) = look better naked because you're losing mostly fat and maybe a liiiittle bit of muscle.
Weight is just a number on the scale that can fluctuate like crazy in a day (up to 8+ lbs sometimes!)
If you reaaally want to weigh yourself, do it in the morning on an empty stomach, naked, after you go to the bathroom.0 -
If you try to lose that much weight (5 or 10 lbs a week) then you would have to eat a loooot less calories. A loot less calories seems feasible for people who really want to lose weight as fast as possible..so why don't they succeed?
Because your body goes into starvation mode if you try to cut your calories too much. It realizes it is not getting the nutrition it needs to sustain so it holds on to the calories and stores them as fat to be used as energy, since it thinks it is starving, so you end up actually gaining weight.
Also, you would begin to lose muscle as well. Why would you want to lose muscle? That is what gives you shape.
So what you are really trying to do when you only cut 300 to 500 calories from your diet is lower the amount of body fat you have while trying to maintain as much of the muscle you have.
Losing weight does not necessarily mean you will look better naked ( you will have the same shape but just be smaller...or even have worse shape due to muscle loss).
Lowering body fat (by making sure you limit your caloric deficit) = look better naked because you're losing mostly fat and maybe a liiiittle bit of muscle.
Weight is just a number on the scale that can fluctuate like crazy in a day (up to 8+ lbs sometimes!)
If you reaaally want to weigh yourself, do it in the morning on an empty stomach, naked, after you go to the bathroom.
Also...of you are cutting off near the ideal amount of calories (around 500) then you can see where that leads to about 1 lb per week
500cals/day
7days/week x 500cals = 3500 cals
3500 cals = 1 lb of fat.0 -
If you try to lose that much weight (5 or 10 lbs a week) then you would have to eat a loooot less calories. A loot less calories seems feasible for people who really want to lose weight as fast as possible..so why don't they succeed?
Because your body goes into starvation mode if you try to cut your calories too much. It realizes it is not getting the nutrition it needs to sustain so it holds on to the calories and stores them as fat to be used as energy, since it thinks it is starving, so you end up actually gaining weight.
You end up gaining weight by eating too little ? This simply does not happen.
Why would the body lock away energy that it is short of, makes no sense.
A man who ate nothing for a year averaged a loss of about 0.7 lbs/day. He retained the weight loss for some years afterwards.0 -
Because we all want it quick these days it didn't go on over night so will take a while to come off I think to teach us a lesson to stop gaining weight lol0
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Losing too fast can be physically harmful. The gall bladder can't handle the stress.0
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If you try to lose that much weight (5 or 10 lbs a week) then you would have to eat a loooot less calories. A loot less calories seems feasible for people who really want to lose weight as fast as possible..so why don't they succeed?
Because your body goes into starvation mode if you try to cut your calories too much. It realizes it is not getting the nutrition it needs to sustain so it holds on to the calories and stores them as fat to be used as energy, since it thinks it is starving, so you end up actually gaining weight.
You end up gaining weight by eating too little ? This simply does not happen.
Why would the body lock away energy that it is short of, makes no sense.
A man who ate nothing for a year averaged a loss of about 0.7 lbs/day. He retained the weight loss for some years afterwards.
@yarwell!! Last line is a killer! LOL0 -
If you try to lose that much weight (5 or 10 lbs a week) then you would have to eat a loooot less calories. A loot less calories seems feasible for people who really want to lose weight as fast as possible..so why don't they succeed?
Because your body goes into starvation mode if you try to cut your calories too much. It realizes it is not getting the nutrition it needs to sustain so it holds on to the calories and stores them as fat to be used as energy, since it thinks it is starving, so you end up actually gaining weight.
You end up gaining weight by eating too little ? This simply does not happen.
Why would the body lock away energy that it is short of, makes no sense.
A man who ate nothing for a year averaged a loss of about 0.7 lbs/day. He retained the weight loss for some years afterwards.
I think I remember that guy--- I think he was part man/part bear?
Anyway, everyone knows the less you eat - the bigger you get! Thats why we are all here! We are starving!!!
ETA: Hey OP, good question! Ya dont know, now ya know!
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