.5 a week as a goal?

poofus73
poofus73 Posts: 7 Member
in Getting Started
Hi, has anyone had success at setting a slow weight loss rate? I have about 80 pounds to lose and this is my 4th or 5th restart on mfp. I'm really wanting to slowly change my eating habits so I can be healthier but I'm not sure if this is enough of a calorie change to actually get anywhere. Thoughts? Opinions? I am also working on slowly increasing the amount of exercise I do.

Replies

  • annacole94
    annacole94 Posts: 994 Member
    If you're accurate, it will work. If you're not, it leaves a lot less wiggle room and you may end up maintaining/gaining depending on how much you miss your actual intake and calorie burn.

    Try it for a month and see where you end up. Most people will clean up their diet a lot just by logging it. You can do it!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited February 2017
    It'll be very slow...at that rate of loss, it can be difficult to see on the scale as it's easily masked by fluctuations in water and waste. You also have very little margin for estimation errors. You will lose, but it will be very slow and likely frustrating.

    ETA: I'm not saying you should aim for faster...faster isn't necessarily better...you just need to be prepared for the mental frustration.

    I also agree with @annacole94 that simply logging often causes people to clean up their diets.
  • CafeRacer808
    CafeRacer808 Posts: 2,396 Member
    I lost 15lbs at that rate. But @annacole94 is absolutely correct. With only a 250 cal/day deficit, there's a small margin for error. Your logging has to be extremely accurate.

    It's refreshing to hear you say you want to lose weight slowly. Most people come here hoping to lose too much too quickly. With 80 lbs to lose, a 1lb/week rate of loss would still be considered somewhat conservative for you. So if you're not seeing any progress after a few weeks at .5lb/week, bump it up to 1lb/week.
  • poofus73
    poofus73 Posts: 7 Member
    Thanks for the advice. I am thinking one thing I will do is make sure that I am not eating my exercise calories. Right now I am just trying to do half an hour on the treadmill but my Fitbit will add it to my allowed calories. Maybe if I remember not to eat those calories, I won't be living as dangerously close to the edge.
  • sllm1
    sllm1 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Yes - 0.5 pound per week works - with careful logging and weighing of food. You also have to be patient with the scale, as your losses won't be as fast or evident sometimes.

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