2000 Calorie Cheat Days

15 pounds in three and a half months when you're already at a healthy weight is pretty aggressive. I agree with the suggestion to up your calories, but also you're expected to eat your exercise calories back.

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McNuggit wrote: »

or someone who is trying to spare my feelings.

OK kiddo. Open season. Or rather not open season. Because if I really say what I want to say the way I want to say it I will be accused (possibly correctly) of being abusive!

So you are 17-18 either growing or barely done growing at the top end of normal weight for your age group at a bmi of around 24. Yes, at age 17-18 a bmi of 24 is at the border though by 19-20 it becomes solidly normal weight.

And you are here trying to lose 6lbs a month for the next 2.5 months, a rate of 1.5lbs a week. Incidentally that was my target rate of loss after I first joined MFP and moved from ~230lbs to ~180lbs over a period of a few months.

First of all, even assuming your have 15lbs to lose, the rate of loss is utterly wrong. You will note that in my case I was obese and trying to become overweight. You are normal weight trying to move to the lower end of normal weight.

It is fast enough rate of loss that it guarantees the loss of lean mass you have no business losing. In fact anything faster than 1lb a week in your case would guarantee that.

But even 1lb a week would be too fast if you were trying to bring abound long term changes and set yourself up for the rest of your life.

But, you aren't.

You're looking at your graduation today, or your best friend's wedding tomorrow, or at an exotic vacation the day after. In each case your weight loss will be motivated by wanting to fit into your graduation gown, the best maid's dress, or a really hot bikini. And to impress everyone who will see you "that day"

So you will eat nothing, you will exercise like a bat out of hell, and you will look great for a week or two.

And you will regain all the weight you lost plus 10%. And keep doing so again and again.

Because that's what happens when your body kicks back. And 10% seems to be the approximate overage people have to hit before all their hormones and adaptations reset.

So you will spend your 20s slowly gaining more and more weight and blaming yourself for your failures till you come back here on MFP sometime in your 30's, 40's or 50's determined to finally do things right.

The usual response at this point is an eye roll with a "oh come on man, I am just trying to lose a few lbs. Big deal. Nothing thousands of women don't do every year. I just want to fit into my <insert new and expensive piece of apparel>, give me a break"

To which my answer is: "Yup. And weight watchers is really hurting for customers because these thousands of women always do the right thing!"

1. Evaluate if you need to lose weight or whether just strength training would be more appropriate.
2. Evaluate your protein levels as a (newish?) vegan and whether you are getting all essential amino acids in sufficient quantities. Especially while losing weight or trying to build muscle 2x the RDA of protein is beneficial. This is even more important if your protein intake is from protein that is harder for your body to utilise. Animal proteins are usually considered higher quality, tend to be more complete as to their amino-acid profile and tend to be more bio available.
3. Set your deficit to 0.5lbs a week. (-250 Cal). At most set it to 1lb a week and don't obsess as long as you're ending your day at a deficit of between 200 and 500. Yes, you should be eating back 100% of your actual exercise calories. Alternatively you can set yourself at maintenance and rely on exercise to provide you with a deficit leading to weight loss.
4. That's it. What exact weight you will be in a few months is of much less importance than avoiding the cycle of weight loss and regain hard dieting and excessively restrictive goals throw many young women into.