8 Weeks
ktrulez
Posts: 267 Member
Posted on the intro thread, copied to the weight loss as it pertains to the subject.
Connected with former business partner this past weekend and he looked good, healthy. He then shared his story about MFP, the community, and the motivation he receives on MFP to drop 20 pounds. I was impressed by the results and intrigued with MFP.
Been working out for a year, however never really paid close attention to what I ate. In the back of my mind, subconsciously I tried to be healthier. There were many days I would cheat and I was totally be okay with it, after all I was quite active (going to the gym 4-5x a week).
I have seen changes to my body, however I am still far from how I want to look and feel. Fueled by my upcoming vacation and my desire to make a change, I will be tracking what I am eat. I will be the first to admit that the 8 weeks won’t be perfect, I will hit my macros, miss some, and have a cheat meal.
I intend on staying under my caloric goal of 2000 a day, after all they say losing fat is all about being in a deficit. Decided to ditch the MFP nutrition goals and customize the following, 40% Carbs (190g), 40% (190g) Protein, 20% Fat (42g).
8 week goal, lose 15-20 pounds.
5x a week at the gym
Week 1-2: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (300 calories)
Week 3-4: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (300 calories), 1x HITT (20 minutes)
Week 5-6: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (350 calories), 1x HITT (20 minutes)
Week 7-8: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (400 calories), 1x HITT (20 minutes)
I welcome everyone’s opinion and will be very active on MFP. Add me as friend and l will do the same, the added motivation and kind word goes a long way!
Connected with former business partner this past weekend and he looked good, healthy. He then shared his story about MFP, the community, and the motivation he receives on MFP to drop 20 pounds. I was impressed by the results and intrigued with MFP.
Been working out for a year, however never really paid close attention to what I ate. In the back of my mind, subconsciously I tried to be healthier. There were many days I would cheat and I was totally be okay with it, after all I was quite active (going to the gym 4-5x a week).
I have seen changes to my body, however I am still far from how I want to look and feel. Fueled by my upcoming vacation and my desire to make a change, I will be tracking what I am eat. I will be the first to admit that the 8 weeks won’t be perfect, I will hit my macros, miss some, and have a cheat meal.
I intend on staying under my caloric goal of 2000 a day, after all they say losing fat is all about being in a deficit. Decided to ditch the MFP nutrition goals and customize the following, 40% Carbs (190g), 40% (190g) Protein, 20% Fat (42g).
8 week goal, lose 15-20 pounds.
5x a week at the gym
Week 1-2: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (300 calories)
Week 3-4: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (300 calories), 1x HITT (20 minutes)
Week 5-6: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (350 calories), 1x HITT (20 minutes)
Week 7-8: 1 hour weights, 3x LISS (400 calories), 1x HITT (20 minutes)
I welcome everyone’s opinion and will be very active on MFP. Add me as friend and l will do the same, the added motivation and kind word goes a long way!
1
Replies
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Hi! I think it's awesome that you have goals, but I'd like them to be reasonable. First of all - the calorie goal that MFP gives you already has the deficit built in; you should aim to get as close to the goal as possible, not go under. Second - how much weight do you have to lose? An 8 week goal would depend on how much you have to lose. 20 pounds is pretty aggressive; even at the max goal to lose you are only looking at 16 pounds. Third - are you going to eat exercise calories back,3
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15-20 lbs in 8 weeks is waaaaay too aggressive and dangerous.4
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@sunfastrose I agree my goals are aggressive especially in 8 weeks. Understandingly I will lose muscle mass along with fat, it is inevitable. I have customized my macros and calories, increasing my protein intake to not lose substantial amount of muscle. Ultimately goal would be to lose 30 pounds, running this 8 week program will allow me to speed up the process, would be happy with 15-16 pounds too.
Going away for a week after the 8 week program, so I am sure to eat/drink back those calories! Will update this thread each week.0 -
There are so many threads like this where people try to hit it hard because they have limited time. It's not safe, it's not recommended. Do your best, fuel your body and stay safe.8
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@elphie754 Disagree; started this journey last year (Jan) at 208. Today I weigh 193, will look to get into the 17X by the end of the 8 weeks.1
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You can definitely lose that amount in 8 weeks if you don't mind gaining it back later.
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@sybillabryson lol, I will definitely going to a lot of it back during my vacation. Hopefully it won't set me back too much and will look to stay active while travelling. Will return back to the grind when I come back, will update this thread during my 8 week journey and will provide a new plan of attack when I return
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Good luck! I'll watch for your updates.2
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I'm sorry if I sound harsh, but this plan of yours is woefully misguided. It essentially amounts to a crash diet. As the others are trying to point out to you above, the 2+ lbs/week you want to lose is unrealistic and entirely too aggressive, particularly for someone of your size (assuming your profile photo is up to date). A weekly loss rate 2 lb/week is the most MFP will allow and is reserved for people who have upwards of 75-100 lbs to lose. At most, you should be aiming for a 1 lb/week loss.
And given the training plan you've laid out for yourself, the calorie deficit you'd need to create to in order to maintain your 2+ lb/week loss goal will likely leave you feeling run down, fatigued, and constantly hungry. This will, in turn, will be detrimental to your physical performance, which will undoubtedly make your training plan less effective and efficient than you want it to be.
You need to seriously consider scrapping your plan in favor of something that's more sustainable, healthy and realistic, IMO.3 -
@CafeRacer808 I can take harsh, your open feedback is definitely welcome in this thread. That is a older picture of me however in that picture I weighed about low 180s. I carry weight very deceptively I look 10 pounds leaner than what it says on the scale. Since that picture I've done some dirty bulking, live at the gym 4-5x a week for the past year, and have excess fat that I would like to lose.
I will scrap it after the 8 weeks 0 -
That's hardly aggressive and dangerous, that is only a pinch over 1KG a week. That's a good goal to aim for.1
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@sybillabryson lol, I will definitely going to a lot of it back during my vacation. Hopefully it won't set me back too much and will look to stay active while travelling. Will return back to the grind when I come back, will update this thread during my 8 week journey and will provide a new plan of attack when I return
What is the purpose of losing muscle mass along with fat prior to a vacation and then gaining it back during your vacation?
I don't get it, I really don't.
Why not just set some reasonable weight loss goals and then eat at maintenance during your vacation?3 -
@sybillabryson lol, I will definitely going to a lot of it back during my vacation. Hopefully it won't set me back too much and will look to stay active while travelling. Will return back to the grind when I come back, will update this thread during my 8 week journey and will provide a new plan of attack when I return
What is the purpose of losing muscle mass along with fat prior to a vacation and then gaining it back during your vacation?
I don't get it, I really don't.
Why not just set some reasonable weight loss goals and then eat at maintenance during your vacation?
@SLLRunner My intention is not to lose muscle mass, far from that. Hence I have a custom macro plan and hitting the weights during my workout as well. I just said I think with this 8 week challenge, losing some muscle would be inevitable.0 -
I wont echo what the others said.. My concern is your fat grams, 42g is pretty damn low.2
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Christine_72 wrote: »I wont echo what the others said.. My concern is your fat grams, 42g is pretty damn low.
I agree. And protein grams correspondingly unnecessarily high. If you are eating at a deficit, you'll want to make the most of those calories, and a balanced diet is going to be more satiating - and nourishing, and satisfying - than a protein shake diet.1 -
Christine_72 wrote: »I wont echo what the others said.. My concern is your fat grams, 42g is pretty damn low.
@Christine_72 thank you for your input! 42g is definitely on the the lower side, however there will be days I exceed that number easily but still stay under 1900 calories.0 -
you welcome everyones opinion and then shoot it down. you're just hunting for comments that reflect your already made up mind8
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15 lbs in 8 weeks is OK ... but it does take some effort. I speak from experience.
I lost 15 kg in 16 weeks ... and have kept it off for nearly 2 years now.
I just focused on calories, and didn't worry about my macros.
I entered my information, chose sedentary as my activity level, and chose to lose 0.5 kg/week. Then I upped the calories MFP gave me by 50 calories because I didn't want to go quite as low as they suggested. And I ate about half my exercise calories back.
I also stuck to it every single day without fail.2 -
lemonychild wrote: »you welcome everyones opinion and then shoot it down. you're just hunting for comments that reflect your already made up mind
@lemonychild Not sure who I have shot down, I acknowledged that the challenge would be an aggressive one, however not one I would normally do. The idea of the 8 weeks, is fat loss, but also to build on consistency of food logging and staying in a deficit.1 -
@sybillabryson lol, I will definitely going to a lot of it back during my vacation. Hopefully it won't set me back too much and will look to stay active while travelling. Will return back to the grind when I come back, will update this thread during my 8 week journey and will provide a new plan of attack when I return
What is the purpose of losing muscle mass along with fat prior to a vacation and then gaining it back during your vacation?
I don't get it, I really don't.
Why not just set some reasonable weight loss goals and then eat at maintenance during your vacation?
@SLLRunner My intention is not to lose muscle mass, far from that. Hence I have a custom macro plan and hitting the weights during my workout as well. I just said I think with this 8 week challenge, losing some muscle would be inevitable.
Why are you trying to lose 20 pounds in 8 weeks? You know you will lose muscle mass and gain the weight back.2 -
15 lbs in 8 weeks is OK ... but it does take some effort. I speak from experience.
I lost 15 kg in 16 weeks ... and have kept it off for nearly 2 years now.
I just focused on calories, and didn't worry about my macros.
I entered my information, chose sedentary as my activity level, and chose to lose 0.5 kg/week. Then I upped the calories MFP gave me by 50 calories because I didn't want to go quite as low as they suggested. And I ate about half my exercise calories back.
I also stuck to it every single day without fail.
As to the bold part: it is not okay for someone who is already close to a normal weight.
Also, just because you chose an aggressive goal and succeeded does not make it okay.5 -
15 lbs in 8 weeks is OK ... but it does take some effort. I speak from experience.
I lost 15 kg in 16 weeks ... and have kept it off for nearly 2 years now.
I just focused on calories, and didn't worry about my macros.
I entered my information, chose sedentary as my activity level, and chose to lose 0.5 kg/week. Then I upped the calories MFP gave me by 50 calories because I didn't want to go quite as low as they suggested. And I ate about half my exercise calories back.
I also stuck to it every single day without fail.
@Machka9 That is awesome, great work, even better that you have kept it off for 2 years!
0 -
@sybillabryson lol, I will definitely going to a lot of it back during my vacation. Hopefully it won't set me back too much and will look to stay active while travelling. Will return back to the grind when I come back, will update this thread during my 8 week journey and will provide a new plan of attack when I return
What is the purpose of losing muscle mass along with fat prior to a vacation and then gaining it back during your vacation?
I don't get it, I really don't.
Why not just set some reasonable weight loss goals and then eat at maintenance during your vacation?
@SLLRunner My intention is not to lose muscle mass, far from that. Hence I have a custom macro plan and hitting the weights during my workout as well. I just said I think with this 8 week challenge, losing some muscle would be inevitable.
Why are you trying to lose 20 pounds in 8 weeks? You know you will lose muscle mass and gain the weight back.
@SLLRunner Want to ultimately lose more than 20 pounds but that is more of a longer term goal. I am far from what from what a normal weight, but what is normal anyways?
8 weeks will allow me to have a better body for my vacation, losing fat and dropping my body fat percentage is what I am after. The challenge is just to help speed that process up and be a consistent food logger, as I am in the gym 5x a week.1 -
15 lbs in 8 weeks is OK ... but it does take some effort. I speak from experience.
I lost 15 kg in 16 weeks ... and have kept it off for nearly 2 years now.
I just focused on calories, and didn't worry about my macros.
I entered my information, chose sedentary as my activity level, and chose to lose 0.5 kg/week. Then I upped the calories MFP gave me by 50 calories because I didn't want to go quite as low as they suggested. And I ate about half my exercise calories back.
I also stuck to it every single day without fail.
@Machka9 That is awesome, great work, even better that you have kept it off for 2 years!
Thanks!
Now it probably helps that I've been slender and active most of my life (my weight gain was just a recent anomaly), so my diet adjustment more or less involved returning to my normal way of eating. And for me, I had to lose the weight relatively fast (about 2 lbs/week) in order to keep my motivation up ... if I lose weight really slowly, I just lose interest and start thinking "why bother".
So I may be coming at this from a different perspective.
I would suggest that you don't aim to lose more than 2 lbs/week and I'd also suggest that you make sure you've got a reasonable variety of foods. I also take vitamin and mineral supplements (a multivitamin) just in case my intake is a little low. In addition, I did quite a bit of exercise and as I said, ate about half those calories back.
MFP gave me 1200 cal, I manually upped it to 1250 cal, and then I did anywhere from 300 cal to 1000+ cal of exercise a day (the higher numbers were on weekends) so I was eating 1500+ cal/day. On at least one weekend day I exercise enough for pizza, or fish and chips, or a Zambrero's burrito, or others of my favourite foods. That helps me a lot because I don't feel deprived.
And my Dr has done blood tests at various points along the way ... before, and several times during. Before, there were all kinds of warning signs. Nothing really bad, but heading that way. About 8 weeks in, I was already showing marked improvements, and I passed my most recent blood tests with flying colours.
0 -
15 lbs in 8 weeks is OK ... but it does take some effort. I speak from experience.
I lost 15 kg in 16 weeks ... and have kept it off for nearly 2 years now.
I just focused on calories, and didn't worry about my macros.
I entered my information, chose sedentary as my activity level, and chose to lose 0.5 kg/week. Then I upped the calories MFP gave me by 50 calories because I didn't want to go quite as low as they suggested. And I ate about half my exercise calories back.
I also stuck to it every single day without fail.
@Machka9 That is awesome, great work, even better that you have kept it off for 2 years!
Thanks!
Now it probably helps that I've been slender and active most of my life (my weight gain was just a recent anomaly), so my diet adjustment more or less involved returning to my normal way of eating. And for me, I had to lose the weight relatively fast (about 2 lbs/week) in order to keep my motivation up ... if I lose weight really slowly, I just lose interest and start thinking "why bother".
So I may be coming at this from a different perspective.
I would suggest that you don't aim to lose more than 2 lbs/week and I'd also suggest that you make sure you've got a reasonable variety of foods. I also take vitamin and mineral supplements (a multivitamin) just in case my intake is a little low. In addition, I did quite a bit of exercise and as I said, ate about half those calories back.
MFP gave me 1200 cal, I manually upped it to 1250 cal, and then I did anywhere from 300 cal to 1000+ cal of exercise a day (the higher numbers were on weekends) so I was eating 1500+ cal/day. On at least one weekend day I exercise enough for pizza, or fish and chips, or a Zambrero's burrito, or others of my favourite foods. That helps me a lot because I don't feel deprived.
And my Dr has done blood tests at various points along the way ... before, and several times during. Before, there were all kinds of warning signs. Nothing really bad, but heading that way. About 8 weeks in, I was already showing marked improvements, and I passed my most recent blood tests with flying colours.
@Machka9 Thank you sharing your weight loss journey. I came up with a custom caloric goal based on my BMR/TDEE. I have started meal prepping and will continue to do so for the next 8 weeks. I am sure I will have a cheat meal here and there but really want to be consistent with staying in daily deficit.
Keep up the great work!0 -
@elphie754 Disagree; started this journey last year (Jan) at 208. Today I weigh 193, will look to get into the 17X by the end of the 8 weeks.
Personally at your weight I think you will look horrible losing it that fast. But your mind is made up.. Good luck.2 -
Wetcoaster wrote: »@elphie754 Disagree; started this journey last year (Jan) at 208. Today I weigh 193, will look to get into the 17X by the end of the 8 weeks.
Personally at your weight I think you will look horrible losing it that fast.
Why would you say that?
2 -
Wetcoaster wrote: »@elphie754 Disagree; started this journey last year (Jan) at 208. Today I weigh 193, will look to get into the 17X by the end of the 8 weeks.
Personally at your weight I think you will look horrible losing it that fast. But your mind is made up.. Good luck.
@Wetcoaster
hopefully that won't be the case... 0 -
Update of my first weigh in yesterday.
Week 1: 191 down 2 pounds.
Thoughts: Was hoping more like 3-4, but steady wins the race. 53 days to go
Will be back to update my week 2 weight; weigh ins on Mondays.0
This discussion has been closed.
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