Days to lose 5 & 10# Increments

donjtomasco
donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
edited November 16 in Health and Weight Loss
I started this journey on December 26th. It took 4 days to lose 5 pounds, 4 days to lose the next 5 pounds, 17 days to lose the next 5 pounds and 26 days to lose the next 5 pounds. It's now been 30 days for the next 5 pounds and I have 3.8 pounds to get there.

The math for 10 pounds lost follows the above. 8 days to lose the first 10, 43 days to lose the next 10. 8.8 pounds to go for the final 10 pounds and I am on day 30.

Obviously it gets harder and takes longer to lose the pounds as our daily calorie intake gets lowered as we lose pounds, and it gets harder to consistently be able to "burn" the calories if we have a life that does not offer a chef to cook all our meals and do all our grocery shopping, and days free and open to just eat right, get good sleep, and get the daily workouts in that we need. LOL!!!! Wouldn't that be nice.....

It helped this morning to look at how long it took to lose in these increments and it makes sense. Those first few pounds come off quickly, those last few pounds take longer. It takes some fortitude to see the scale going the wrong way some days and to stick to it, but as long as the trend continues ever gradually to continue on the down slope, no matter how much longer it takes, it is worth it.

If anyone else can offer up their time line to lose 5, 10, 20 pounds, it would help me to hear and maybe help others. Especially if you have been doing this for a longer period of time, like a year or longer to hit a specific goal, and not to maintain weight.

Replies

  • jemhh
    jemhh Posts: 14,261 Member
    For me it took:

    32 days to reach 10 pounds lost
    67 days to reach 20 pounds lost
    116 days to reach 30 pounds lost
    165 days to reach 40 pounds lost
    291 days to reach 50 pounds lost

    After that I kept weighing a lot but didn't log each time so my data is incomplete.
  • rachelr1116
    rachelr1116 Posts: 334 Member
    The first week I used MFP I lost 5 lbs in about 2 days (I'm sure that was mostly water weight), then for awhile it took me about a month to lose 5 lbs. Now it takes me around 2 months to lose 5 lbs. I started out obese, I've lost almost 53 lbs total, and have about 6 lbs left to reach a normal BMI.
  • jdb3388
    jdb3388 Posts: 239 Member
    That's an odd pattern for a man. My first two weeks I lost nearly 20lbs, obviously not of fat, but getting rid of all the crap (literally and figuratively) as well as water weight from lower sodium and all that. Then it took me about month to lose the next 20, and then I slacked a little and half way through the 3rd month i'm only down about 10 more pounds. I dunno where you started though. I started at 290ish, and I am only 5'5''. The fatter you are the faster it goes, at least to start with.
  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    I'm not sure what my initial weight loss was, as my scale didn't go that high to start. But I bought a new one that did when I was about 320. 3 days to 315, then a long stretch where I bounced around 310. Got there in ~ 5 days but went up and down around it for another 10.

    For the first 3 months, I averaged 15 lbs per month. (Sept - Nov) assuming I started at 330 (might have been more). Dec, Jan and Feb were ~ 10 lbs and I'm sort of on track for that for March (kind of surprised as I did take a week off exercising as I didn't feel well, and I ate a bit more).

    I figure I'm at the point where 2 lb per week will be tougher to hit and will be happy at 1.5 lb per week (although 2 would be nice).
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    edited March 2017
    5 lbs 1 week
    10 lbs 1 more week
    20 lbs about 2-3 more weeks
    50 lbs 6 more months
    100 Lbs 8 more months
    150 lbs 14 more months
  • donjtomasco
    donjtomasco Posts: 790 Member
    Thanks for all your shares.

    JDB, why do you think my pattern is odd? I sincerely ask, since I am always looking to learn, and I am interested in what in my weight loss caused you to see an odd pattern?

    I started at 214 and am currently at 191.8, my low is 191.2. My goal is 180.

    This is the third time I have been on a weight loss plan, the past two times I was derailed by surgeries, and this time I am back from hip replacement surgery, hoping that I don't have another surgery. (It sucks to be getting old)!

    Oh, and I am 55 in April. Not that that really matters, except that a life of tennis playing seems to have caught up with my body in requirements for body part replacements....

    I have all three weight loss periods on one spreadsheet (large graph paper), with daily weight plotted for all three, which makes for a pretty cool comparison, and each one of my plans has tracked on a similar path. So, maybe I am just an ODD MAN!!!! :)
  • Ajocal18
    Ajocal18 Posts: 167 Member
  • timma300
    timma300 Posts: 25 Member
    Kinda interesting to go back and look at it now:

    30 days for 10 pounds
    98 days for 20 pounds
    5.75 months for 30 pounds
    7 months for 40 pounds
    8 months for 50 pounds
    9 months for 60 pounds
    10.5 months for 70 pounds
    11.5 months for 80 pounds
    12.5 months for 90 pounds
    14.5 months for 100 pounds

    Only about 4 months left to go for the last 15 pounds :smiley:
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