Is it better to start with a 1 or 2 lb a week weight loss?

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AmberNew16
AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I started with 2 lbs. What have you guys selected?
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  • lemonychild
    lemonychild Posts: 654 Member
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    It's a personal preference. 2lbs is very aggressive and it takes a lot of calorie cutting to achieve it
  • BlueMacaroniArt
    BlueMacaroniArt Posts: 122 Member
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    I personally set mine at 1. But I plan to actually lose faster (and have been) I just leave some calories open. But if I'm hungry I eat them knowing I will lose at least one a week without feeling deprived. But that's just me.
  • ridge4mfp
    ridge4mfp Posts: 301 Member
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    It also depends on how much weight you have to lose. Your stats such as height, current weight and goal weight would be helpful.
  • ivankoenig
    ivankoenig Posts: 2 Member
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    It depends also on what ur goal is. Do u want to retain muscle mass?
  • AmberNew16
    AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
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    I have 18-28 lbs to lose. I'm setting a year goal. It sounds like most people say 1 lb to start. If I change it to 1 lb a week and want to change it to 2 lbs later, how long would you wait to change it?
  • AmberNew16
    AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
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    ivankoenig wrote: »
    It depends also on what ur goal is. Do u want to retain muscle mass?

    Ivankoenig
    I did cheer and dance so long that I have a lot of muscle left. I'd like to lose the weight and then work on my muscles.
  • ctoavs76
    ctoavs76 Posts: 30 Member
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    I had mine originally set at 2 pounds a week, but I found that I'm not the most friendly person when I'm just eating 1200 calories a day. I've changed it to 1 pound a week and I'm a lot more pleasant.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    A good rule of thumb is no more than 1% of your body weight...if you're losing more than 1% of your body weight, you are definitely losing lean mass.

    Two pounds per week is an aggressive goal, particularly as you don't have much to lose...it's a 1,000 calorie per day deficit from what your maintenance intake would be...that's huge and a lot of people have difficulty with that restrictive of a calorie intake.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,180 Member
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    1 pound is recommended unless you have 80 pounds or more to lose. It you are at 1200 calories recommended, you should probably consider a less aggressive goal.
  • AmberNew16
    AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
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    ctoavs76 wrote: »
    I had mine originally set at 2 pounds a week, but I found that I'm not the most friendly person when I'm just eating 1200 calories a day. I've changed it to 1 pound a week and I'm a lot more pleasant.

    I hear that!
  • chandanista
    chandanista Posts: 986 Member
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    With less than 30 pounds to lose you'd be a prime candidate to set up for .5 lb/week loss.
  • AmberNew16
    AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
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    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    A good rule of thumb is no more than 1% of your body weight...if you're losing more than 1% of your body weight, you are definitely losing lean mass.

    Two pounds per week is an aggressive goal, particularly as you don't have much to lose...it's a 1,000 calorie per day deficit from what your maintenance intake would be...that's huge and a lot of people have difficulty with that restrictive of a calorie intake.

    18-28 lbs isn't much to lose? I'd like to lose it within the next 6-12 months. You think that's doable?
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
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    AmberNew16 wrote: »
    I have 18-28 lbs to lose. I'm setting a year goal. It sounds like most people say 1 lb to start. If I change it to 1 lb a week and want to change it to 2 lbs later, how long would you wait to change it?

    I would say a safe bet is probably 1 lb per week or 1% of your body weight. Depending on your activity level, you might actually be to close to your goal weight to even safely achieve a 2 lb per week loss deficit. Example:
    If I pick sedentary, the max deficit per day I can have is 400 calories or 0.8 lbs per week loss.
    I'm set to lightly active, so the largest deficit per day MFP will give me is 600 calories per day or 1.2 lbs per week (which is actually 1% of my body weight).

    Also keep in mind it is much harder to build muscle than it is to maintain it. Maintaining muscle will make most of your weight loss come from fat and give you a leaner look when you get to your goal.
  • ridge4mfp
    ridge4mfp Posts: 301 Member
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    My recommendation would be 1 pound per week at most. Once you get closer to goal weight, move down to a half-pound per week.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    edited March 2016
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    AmberNew16 wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    A good rule of thumb is no more than 1% of your body weight...if you're losing more than 1% of your body weight, you are definitely losing lean mass.

    Two pounds per week is an aggressive goal, particularly as you don't have much to lose...it's a 1,000 calorie per day deficit from what your maintenance intake would be...that's huge and a lot of people have difficulty with that restrictive of a calorie intake.

    18-28 lbs isn't much to lose? I'd like to lose it within the next 6-12 months. You think that's doable?

    Very doable. It might take closer to 12 months, but it's completely doable in that time frame.

    52 weeks in a year. If you lost on average 0.6 lbs per week, you'd be done in 46 weeks. Lose 1 lb per week and you will be done in 30 weeks (just over half a year).
  • caurinus
    caurinus Posts: 78 Member
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    It depends how big you are. If you're a small female, 2 pounds a week is going to be too aggressive. I'm a medium-large guy. My TDEE is about 2500 calories, and I get irritable if I'm targeting 2 pounds a week, so I'm aiming for 1.5 pounds per week and doing pretty well. I read in one of Tom Venuto's books that your calorie deficit should be 20%-30% of your TDEE. So if your TDEE is 1800 calories, your most aggressive calorie target should be 1260, which would make you lose about 1.1 pounds per week.

  • AmberNew16
    AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
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    shadow2soul wrote: »
    AmberNew16 wrote: »
    I have 18-28 lbs to lose. I'm setting a year goal. It sounds like most people say 1 lb to start. If I change it to 1 lb a week and want to change it to 2 lbs later, how long would you wait to change it?

    I would say a safe bet is probably 1 lb per week or 1% of your body weight. Depending on your activity level, you might actually be to close to your goal weight to even safely achieve a 2 lb per week loss deficit. Example:
    If I pick sedentary, the max deficit per day I can have is 400 calories or 0.8 lbs per week loss.
    I'm set to lightly active, so the largest deficit per day MFP will give me is 600 calories per day or 1.2 lbs per week (which is actually 1% of my body weight).

    Also keep in mind it is much harder to build muscle than it is to maintain it. Maintaining muscle will make most of your weight loss come from fat and give you a leaner look when you get to your goal.

    Any workout recommendations?
  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
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    I selected .5 lbs per week but usually lose more per week.
  • AmberNew16
    AmberNew16 Posts: 59 Member
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    caurinus wrote: »
    It depends how big you are. If you're a small female, 2 pounds a week is going to be too aggressive. I'm a medium-large guy. My TDEE is about 2500 calories, and I get irritable if I'm targeting 2 pounds a week, so I'm aiming for 1.5 pounds per week and doing pretty well. I read in one of Tom Venuto's books that your calorie deficit should be 20%-30% of your TDEE. So if your TDEE is 1800 calories, your most aggressive calorie target should be 1260, which would make you lose about 1.1 pounds per week.

    Most people say I'm a small frame because my hands, feet, and wrists and usually assume i weigh less than I do. I'm 5'6". However, i've began retaining weight in my lower half (hips) and I am about 4 lbs- 24 lbs overweight, depending which formula you use. My main concern is that I'm getting older and high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes runs in my family
  • caurinus
    caurinus Posts: 78 Member
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    AmberNew16 wrote: »
    Any workout recommendations?

    Check out https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/index

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