losing more than 2lbs/wk, any successful stories?

Options
124»

Replies

  • sfr1991
    sfr1991 Posts: 23 Member
    Options
    PAV8888 wrote: »
    In order to achieve the big deficits you chose a super restrictive no sustainable method of eating to lose weight and got bored and stopped.

    And if you had succeeded and gotten to your end weight... what then? How would you have maintained your weight?

    Are you ALWAYS going to ONLY eat boiled eggs, burgers and toasted cheese and turkey sandwiches?

    Fruits? Vegetables? Legumes? Chocolate? Desserts? Dairy?

    Anyway: you will be walking 4 hours a day.

    Assuming you don't increase your food, and assuming you're currently not gaining, you are quite likely to lose a good 2lbs a week on the strength of your four extra hours of walking a day.

    At least initially.

    So don't change a thing about what you eat... just go to work

    I ate desserts and dairy during my 3 cheat days.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts
  • TheCatsDad
    TheCatsDad Posts: 4 Member
    Options
    I'm losing just over 2lb per week just by being careful to log exactly what I eat, and how much exercise I'm getting daily.I eat wholegrain cereal in the morning with extra multi seeds and Chia seeds sprinkled over. I also stir in 50g of Inulin.

    For lunch I make a Whey Protein shake and that's it.

    Dinner usually consists of steamed fish with fresh salad, or Tuna salad or grilled chicken dinner with lots of veg.

    I used to eat sweets by the bag full. Same with potato crisps (chips) and I'd binge drink occasionally. I never exercised.

    Needless to say I had a heart attack in March 2013. At the time, I weighed 11st 8lb. Three years later, I'm now at 13st 6lb with a huge pot belly.

    Since starting this change of routine (I refuse to call it a diet), I've lost just over 2lb in 6 days.

    I've added indoor cycling for at least 30 minutes a day plus more walking and some strength training using dumbells.a

    My fitness level has definitely improved. I'm no longer tired every day. I can walk further and at faster pace. That is in just one week.

    As long as i keep my protein levels high, carbs low and the right type of fat at a low to medium level, I should be ok.

    I'm feeling much better anyway. This is from someone with heart failure, fibromyalgia, ulcerative colitis and bipolar disorder amongst other issues.
  • sfr1991
    sfr1991 Posts: 23 Member
    Options
    chuck0074 wrote: »
    I've lost about 110lbs, but its been a long, slow process, over about 4 years. The benefit of losing it over that long of a time frame has been that it has truly become a lifestyle change, and I have learned a lot about what I should and shouldn't eat, but still allowing myself to splurge. If you try to lose weight extremely fast, you will put it back on in most cases, you wont learn how to maintain a balanced diet, you will lose muscle, your skin will sag, and you will lose more muscle than most people would like.

    Thank you sir. Highly appreciate it
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    sfr1991 wrote: »
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    sfr1991 wrote: »
    karl317 wrote: »
    By any means necessary. Lose it fast. Lose it slow. But just lose it.

    When MFP complains that you're eating too few calories, ignore it. Whatever guidelines that say you can only lose X amount of pounds safely per week are likely BS. That said, whatever guidelines that say losing it quickly are probably equally BS (like this one: http://sciencenordic.com/researchers-rapid-weight-loss-best).

    So just do it any way you like.

    You will find no shortage of people on here that will tell you I'm WRONG WRONG WRONG, as that is the internet of things. But everyone's different, with different tolerances, cravings, physical anomalies and what not.

    Exercise, calorie restrictions or both. With beer or without. With carbs or without. Just lose it. Fast or slow, doesn't matter. Worry about maintaining when you get there.

    Cool study. Thats what happened to me, after 2 months , I got bored , lost only 4 pounds , and was unmotivated .

    Do you know any experience of people losing 3lbs/wk and are still did not destroy their metabolism or their muscles?

    I'm confused. If you were aiming at 2 lb/week, how come you only lost 4 lbs in 2 months -- did you lose more and regain?

    The general rule of thumb is 1% of weight per week. When I started I had about 100 to lose (I've lost 95 and been maintaining for a while), and at first lost 2-3 per week. As I got lower that wasn't reasonable, however, and I think I lost more muscle mass than necessary (despite eating plenty of protein and doing strength training) because I kept with an aggressive deficit (more like 1.5+ lb per week) when near my healthy weight zone.

    To aim for 3 lb/week you need a deficit of 1500 lb/week. At your age and size and with lots of low intensity exercise you might be able to do it, but that's not really the answer to "getting bored"--I think you need to figure that out.

    MFP gave me to eat 1500 calories. I did. But I did not lose 2lbs/wk. Instead, I was losing 0.5lbs/wk.
    Maybe because I did not exercise !

    At your size you should have been losing far more than that -- that's more of a logging issue, probably.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Options
    sfr1991 wrote: »
    Ok , looks I am not gonna take risk and go super fast. I will follow the 2 lbs/wk rule.

    Now my question. If MFP tells me to eat 1500 calories in order to lose 2lbs/wk, but I walk 4hrs/day (part of my job) , shall I add the calories I burn during walking to the 1500 calories ?

    For example, if walking for 4 hours burns 1000 calories, shall I now eat 2500 calories ? or 1500 ?

    Thank you again guys for your help.

    You would want to include this in activity level -- try active.
  • zalmann919
    zalmann919 Posts: 24 Member
    edited May 2016
    Options
    sfr1991 wrote: »
    Cool study. Thats what happened to me, after 2 months , I got bored , lost only 4 pounds , and was unmotivated .

    Please indulge me for a minute and allow me to challenge the notion that boredom and lack of motivation has anything to do with a specific weight loss program. Have you never eaten out of boredom? Is it necessary, moreover, for the weight loss program to motivate and, forgive me for saying, entertain you? Moreover, if you think a slow weight loss program is boring, just imagine how potentially boring weight maintenance will be for you. As I understand it, it's not weight loss that is the real challenge, it's the maintenance once you get there.

    My weight challenge is somewhat similar to yours, in terms of your starting point. I've been losing 1/2 - 2lbs per week (averaging about 1 1/2 lbs) for over 3+ months, using a 1200-1400 kcal/day regimen (66 y/o male). This has been anything but boring, because the task of counting calories really accurately, weighing everything, calculating recipes, takes up a lot of time and energy. Also I've been exercising a lot, and that constant activity (walking ~90 minutes a day for 5-6 days a week) has sharpened my mind and increased my focus, my overall energy, and my mobility. I don't exercise for weight loss, but for general well being. A motivating factor for me has been controlling Type II Diabetes, which I've accomplished so far.

    I'm not trying to tell you to be like me. What I am saying is that motivation comes from inside you, not from the program you are pursuing, but there are things you can do to help yourself. Ask yourself if you're keeping accurate track of your nutrients, and if you're activity level is high enough. I think that it's safe to say that whatever route you take is not going to work, long term, if you don't do this. That has certainly been my experience.

    Your motivating spark is in there somewhere, and it's up to you to find it.

    I hope that helps!
  • WinoGelato
    WinoGelato Posts: 13,454 Member
    Options
    OP others have already covered why losing more than 2 lbs/week is not advisable. You said before that you were aiming for 2 lbs/week and only lost 0.5lb/week so you got bored. If you are not losing at the rate predicted by MFP them you are likely not logging accurately to begin with, and going for a more aggressive deficit is not going to solve that.

    You really need to figure out your current Maintenance calorie level and activity level, so that MFP can set an appropriate goal for you at 2 lbs/week. Then you need to learn how to log accurately and consistently so that you achieve those results. You mentioned eating things like boiled eggs and McDonald's hamburgers and then using vitamins and supplements for nutrition. That doesn't sound like a life long eating strategy. Why not eat a variety of foods, including protein, carbs, fats - fruits, vegetables, grains, dairy, meat, etc - and use a food scale for your logging.

    If you lose 2 lb/week would you be "bored"? Figure out what it takes to do that correctly, don't aim higher...