Dropping a lot of weight in a healthy amount of time
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50 pounds in 3.5 months is not considered healthy. You should be aiming for 1-1.5 pounds per week. And no, you aren't building muscle on 800-1200 calories.
So what should I do? Is there anyway to build muscle (lifting weights and giving myself time to heal), and drop the fat by the middle of December?0 -
Yes eat at a small deficit, around 100-250 below your tdee.1
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Why did you title this "Dropping a lot of weight in a healthy amount of time" if you don't plan on doing it in what is actually a healthy manner?
Because I'm looking to drop the weight the healthiest way in a healthy amount of time. I have a goal, and I'm just not sure how to accomplish it. I thought I was doing the right things, and apparently I'm not.0 -
Oh and you should be lifting progressie overload style meaning every session or couple sessions increase the weight or the difficulty in some way1
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DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Why do you think it is just water? Most of the time, assuming you're at a reasonable deficit, you're losing a combination of water, fat, and muscle.
I think it's just water weight because I google more than anyone ever should. When I do anything in life, I love to learn all about it, examine why I do it, and then give it 300% focus. I'm at about 800-1200 calories a day, and burn anywhere from 200 - 600 calories a day.
so you are eating 800-1200 calories and burning 200-600 so netting about 600 maybe more depending on burn. yeah not good unless you are eating exercise calories back and netting 1200
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Lala land indeed. I mean it really depends. Do you want to look good on December 17 but you are ok if you gain a lot of weight back by January 1? does it HAVE to be 50 pounds?
Are there people who lose weight quickly and keep it off? sure. And there are people who win olympic medals and who discover new planets, but I wouldn't give all people advice with the expectation that they fit into one of those categories.
Why don't you just try to lose as much weight as you can while feeling good and nourishing your body before December 17th, (maybe it will be 50 pounds, maybe it will be 5, either way its progress!) ...and then just...see what happens.
Oh no haha. I can understand that statement. No, I plan to keep the weight off and simply continue to work out and eat healthy. It's my last baby's first birthday. I really want to feel and look good on that day. We are also going to Texas that week or the next week.
The reason for the 50 pounds is that it will be put me right in the middle of the "normal" BMI numbers. I am currently considered obese. When I am 179, I'll be overweight according to BMI.0 -
hamlet1222 wrote: »50 to lose? From that starting point you can lose a lot just on 2000 cals a day. I would forget the unnecessary deadline and work out the maintenance calories for your target weight, then just eat that and be patient. If you have any aspiration of maintaining your desired weight when you get there, then you may as well get used to the calories you'll need for that. In fact, don't even think of it as a 'diet' rather just eating the right amount of calories for your height and activity level.
I agree completely! But I'm on about 800-1200 a day and I work out.0 -
You said you were hoping to lose 10-25 lbs a month...at the higher end, that's almost a pound a day! That's a ridiculous goal. I'm nearly the exact same weight as you (I weighed in at 186 this morning, actually) and my end goal is 127, so I'm 59 lbs away, and I'm aiming to lose it by May! You can try to do it, but my worry is you will work REALLY hard and get discouraged when you realize you aren't losing as fast as you thought you would and give up. Or you'll somehow pull it off, but only by unsustainable methods that once you reach your goal, you will put it all back on in a short amount of time. My advice to you is to work on losing 50 lbs, but give yourself a much longer time frame. Sure, you won't be your goal weight, but you'll be less than you are now. My cousin is getting married in October. Would I like to be my goal weight? Of course. But it's not possible. But I will certainly be below my starting weight, which was 217, and that feels really great!!4
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singingflutelady wrote: »Oh and you should be lifting progressie overload style meaning every session or couple sessions increase the weight or the difficulty in some way
OH YES!!! I love lifting, and I love adding weight. It's my first week, so I'm starting with 10 pound weights until next week. I will add 2-5 pounds extra once I do 3 sets of 15, and every time I squat, I'm adding more and more weight and just lowering my reps. I up my reps when I feel like I can lift more weight.0 -
Unless you are morbidly obese, I think your goal is way too aggressive, especially if it's your intent to keep it off. Aim for 1% per week. Is 12/17 truly something that requires you to be at a specific weight (like to keep your job)?
I am considered obese, but only by 9 pounds or so. After that, I'm just overweight.0 -
You can definitely lose weight in three months, but setting such a high goal sounds as though it is leading you to extreme and unhealthy behaviours that are likely to fail.
Eating only 800 cals a day means it is going to be very hard to get enough nutrition to stay healthy, especially when you are using lots of energy looking after kids and exercising too,
My suggestion is that you set up MFP to lose 1 pound a week, eat a good variety of healthy food up to the calorie goal that MFP suggests, exercise regularly but not to excess.
Then you stand a good chance of getting to December feeling full of life and energy and looking great.
But hey, it's your life - of course you can choose to eat and exercise at an unhealthy and unsustainable level (based on your description above), but I just don't understand why you want to set yourself up to fail.4 -
CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »janejellyroll wrote: »Why do you think it is just water? Most of the time, assuming you're at a reasonable deficit, you're losing a combination of water, fat, and muscle.
I think it's just water weight because I google more than anyone ever should. When I do anything in life, I love to learn all about it, examine why I do it, and then give it 300% focus. I'm at about 800-1200 calories a day, and burn anywhere from 200 - 600 calories a day.
so you are eating 800-1200 calories and burning 200-600 so netting about 600 maybe more depending on burn. yeah not good unless you are eating exercise calories back and netting 1200
Ya, but what is the downside to it? I can't find anything about how it'll hurt me by what I'm doing. Not eating them back, but I'm not hungry, and I'm still feeling good.0 -
Hair loss, anemia, osteoporosis, malnutrition, etc19
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DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »50 pounds in 3.5 months is not considered healthy. You should be aiming for 1-1.5 pounds per week. And no, you aren't building muscle on 800-1200 calories.
So what should I do? Is there anyway to build muscle (lifting weights and giving myself time to heal), and drop the fat by the middle of December?
For the most part, you can't. You can continue to lift in a deficit to retain muscle, but outside of newbie gains you won't gain any. Work on losing the weight with a moderate deficit (no less than 1200 net calories, if not your goal) and accurate logging.2 -
You said you were hoping to lose 10-25 lbs a month...at the higher end, that's almost a pound a day! That's a ridiculous goal. I'm nearly the exact same weight as you (I weighed in at 186 this morning, actually) and my end goal is 127, so I'm 59 lbs away, and I'm aiming to lose it by May! You can try to do it, but my worry is you will work REALLY hard and get discouraged when you realize you aren't losing as fast as you thought you would and give up. Or you'll somehow pull it off, but only by unsustainable methods that once you reach your goal, you will put it all back on in a short amount of time. My advice to you is to work on losing 50 lbs, but give yourself a much longer time frame. Sure, you won't be your goal weight, but you'll be less than you are now. My cousin is getting married in October. Would I like to be my goal weight? Of course. But it's not possible. But I will certainly be below my starting weight, which was 217, and that feels really great!!
OH no... I'm thinking 10-25 pounds for this month only. And then in November, I'll look at where I am and then look at how much i'm still dropping, and see what I can do to still reach my goal.
Working hard and getting discouraged is not really a hard thing for me. I own a small business where we do sales all the time, if I don't hit the goals I set there, I keep working, and work harder to get the next goal. I feel like it pushes me to do better.
I don't think I'm worried about putting it back on, I am considering measuring my meals for the rest of my life. I think you're right, giving myself more time might be the best choice. But I want to hit that 139 mark. I don't think I'm going to give up.
217 to 186.. 30 pounds??? How long did that take you? That's really cool you were able to drop that much. I can't wait until I can say I dropped 30!0 -
DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »Why did you title this "Dropping a lot of weight in a healthy amount of time" if you don't plan on doing it in what is actually a healthy manner?
Because I'm looking to drop the weight the healthiest way in a healthy amount of time. I have a goal, and I'm just not sure how to accomplish it. I thought I was doing the right things, and apparently I'm not.
I can assure you that the way you are trying to lose is not healthy and not sustainable for the long run. 800-1000 calories is not enough for a woman to eat even without exercise. Then you are adding exercise to that mix? Would you run your car on an empty tank of gas? You have to fuel your workouts. You should be netting at least 1200 calories.
I would definitely listen to the advice of everyone here. What you want in a goal and what is healthy to obtain are two separate things. With only 50 lbs to lose, set your goal to 1 lb per week. Trying to lose any faster just makes the chances of you gaining the weight all back that much more.
I am morbidly obese. My starting weight was 258 and I am down to 230-231 as of today. My goal for the end of the year is 30 lbs, but that is a loose goal. If I am only down 20, no biggie. You have to have the attitude that any weight loss it good.6 -
DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »50 pounds in 3.5 months is not considered healthy. You should be aiming for 1-1.5 pounds per week. And no, you aren't building muscle on 800-1200 calories.
So what should I do? Is there anyway to build muscle (lifting weights and giving myself time to heal), and drop the fat by the middle of December?
For the most part, you can't. You can continue to lift in a deficit to retain muscle, but outside of newbie gains you won't gain any. Work on losing the weight with a moderate deficit (no less than 1200 net calories, if not your goal) and accurate logging.
Oh yes I log every meal and measure every single item that hits my mouth, and I am remaining honest with myself on what I am eating. At this moment, I've had 400 calories today and it's almost 5pm. I'm having 6oz of chicken, some black beans, and some broccoli in the next 30 minutes, and then I might have a Luna bar if I feel hungry before 8pm. After that, I don't eat anything and just drink water.0 -
singingflutelady wrote: »Hair loss, anemia, osteoporosis, malnutrition, etc
Well... um... non of that sounds good.0 -
DennysWifeMrsMattox wrote: »You said you were hoping to lose 10-25 lbs a month...at the higher end, that's almost a pound a day! That's a ridiculous goal. I'm nearly the exact same weight as you (I weighed in at 186 this morning, actually) and my end goal is 127, so I'm 59 lbs away, and I'm aiming to lose it by May! You can try to do it, but my worry is you will work REALLY hard and get discouraged when you realize you aren't losing as fast as you thought you would and give up. Or you'll somehow pull it off, but only by unsustainable methods that once you reach your goal, you will put it all back on in a short amount of time. My advice to you is to work on losing 50 lbs, but give yourself a much longer time frame. Sure, you won't be your goal weight, but you'll be less than you are now. My cousin is getting married in October. Would I like to be my goal weight? Of course. But it's not possible. But I will certainly be below my starting weight, which was 217, and that feels really great!!
OH no... I'm thinking 10-25 pounds for this month only. And then in November, I'll look at where I am and then look at how much i'm still dropping, and see what I can do to still reach my goal.
Working hard and getting discouraged is not really a hard thing for me. I own a small business where we do sales all the time, if I don't hit the goals I set there, I keep working, and work harder to get the next goal. I feel like it pushes me to do better.
I don't think I'm worried about putting it back on, I am considering measuring my meals for the rest of my life. I think you're right, giving myself more time might be the best choice. But I want to hit that 139 mark. I don't think I'm going to give up.
217 to 186.. 30 pounds??? How long did that take you? That's really cool you were able to drop that much. I can't wait until I can say I dropped 30!
You cannot compare yourself to someone else and their weight loss. The more someone has to lose, the fast the rate tends to be at first. Someone who is morbidly obese may lose more weight to start, but that will slow down as they get closer to a healthy weight. With you only having 50 lbs to lose, you will not lose as fast and that person.2 -
pebble4321 wrote: »You can definitely lose weight in three months, but setting such a high goal sounds as though it is leading you to extreme and unhealthy behaviours that are likely to fail.
Eating only 800 cals a day means it is going to be very hard to get enough nutrition to stay healthy, especially when you are using lots of energy looking after kids and exercising too,
My suggestion is that you set up MFP to lose 1 pound a week, eat a good variety of healthy food up to the calorie goal that MFP suggests, exercise regularly but not to excess.
Then you stand a good chance of getting to December feeling full of life and energy and looking great.
But hey, it's your life - of course you can choose to eat and exercise at an unhealthy and unsustainable level (based on your description above), but I just don't understand why you want to set yourself up to fail.
Thank you. I might do that. I'm going to continue to eat how I am and exercise the way I am until I don't feel good, or feel like I am not myself anymore. So far, I feel happy, energized, and sleep well every night. It's been a while since I slept the way I have this week. I usually have a hard time waking up, and this week, I'm up early and feeling great!
I don't want to set myself up to fail, and that's why I'm here. I haven't done this alone before, so I'm going off what I learned a few years ago from the trainer I had, and I lost the weight back then.
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