I lost 4.5 pounds in 2 weeks. Is this a good pace?

Options
neely47
neely47 Posts: 30 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
nm

Replies

  • shwins1
    shwins1 Posts: 1 Member
    Options
    Yes! A healthy weight loss is 1.5-2 pounds per week. Keep that up!
  • neely47
    neely47 Posts: 30 Member
    Options
    Thanks. Bump
  • tiptoethruthetulips
    tiptoethruthetulips Posts: 3,363 Member
    Options
    Depends on weight...it seems reasonable for a start weight loss, however, if you don't have a lot to lose...1.5lb to 2lb per week won't be sustainable or possibly doable.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    Options
    Probably not unless you have 75 lbs or more to lose.
  • neely47
    neely47 Posts: 30 Member
    Options
    I'm 6'0 and currently weigh 223 Ibs (24.8% bodyfat) and looking to get down to 200 Ibs. I just started recently paying attention to my diet and just started exercising at a bootcamp 2 weeks ago doing 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). I'm just worried that I will end up losing muscle if I lose too much weight per week. I eat about 1800 calories a day and am focusing on increasing my protein intake.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    Options
    Generally speaking the faster the weight loss, the greater percentage of that that comes from muscle. If this is your first couple weeks, the weight loss will be higher due to water weight shifting. If you have been at this for a while, you might want to slow it down a bit. Bootcamp can be quite intense, depending on which one you are doing. It may require a bit more intake to fuel those workouts.
  • neely47
    neely47 Posts: 30 Member
    edited October 2017
    Options
    .
  • rianneonamission
    rianneonamission Posts: 854 Member
    Options
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Probably not unless you have 75 lbs or more to lose.

    Why? At 2lbs a week 75lbs would take 37.5 weeks (just over 8.5 months). That would be a VERY good loss.
  • MegaMooseEsq
    MegaMooseEsq Posts: 3,118 Member
    edited October 2017
    Options
    rianneonamission wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Probably not unless you have 75 lbs or more to lose.

    Why? At 2lbs a week 75lbs would take 37.5 weeks (just over 8.5 months). That would be a VERY good loss.

    I'm pretty sure what they're getting at is that it's not a good idea to try and lose 2 pounds a week when you only have a (relatively) small amount to lose. The reasoning there being that when you have a lot to lose, you can create a large deficit without risking muscle loss or malnutrition. To lose 2 pounds a week you need a deficit of 1000 calories a day, which is fine if you weigh 200 pounds and maintain your weight at 2700 calories a day, but risky when you weigh 150 pounds and maintain at 1800 - in order for that second person to lose 2 pounds a week, they're have to be netting only 800 a day, which is dangerously low and should only be attempted under medical supervision.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    Options
    neely47 wrote: »
    I'm 6'0 and currently weigh 223 Ibs (24.8% bodyfat) and looking to get down to 200 Ibs. I just started recently paying attention to my diet and just started exercising at a bootcamp 2 weeks ago doing 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). I'm just worried that I will end up losing muscle if I lose too much weight per week. I eat about 1800 calories a day and am focusing on increasing my protein intake.

    With so little to lose, this is quite aggressive so yes muscle sparing can be compromised, slow it down to 1 pound per week, keep the adequate protein and perhaps look into strength training if you want to work on body composition.

  • Tacklewasher
    Tacklewasher Posts: 7,122 Member
    Options
    neely47 wrote: »
    I'm 6'0 and currently weigh 223 Ibs (24.8% bodyfat) and looking to get down to 200 Ibs. I just started recently paying attention to my diet and just started exercising at a bootcamp 2 weeks ago doing 3 times a week (Mon, Wed, Fri). I'm just worried that I will end up losing muscle if I lose too much weight per week. I eat about 1800 calories a day and am focusing on increasing my protein intake.

    For comparison, I'm 225 ish, 6' but fatter than you (~29% according to my scale). I'm aiming for 1.5 lb per week. I do think 2 lbs is a bit aggressive and will lead to muscle loss. I'd also go with 1 lb or so. I'd suggest bumping calories to 2000.
  • neely47
    neely47 Posts: 30 Member
    Options
    Thanks all. Yeah, I was thinking 1800 calories might have been a little low. Going to bump it to 2000 calories.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
    Options
    MegaMooseEsq wrote: »
    rianneonamission wrote: »
    lorrpb wrote: »
    Probably not unless you have 75 lbs or more to lose.

    Why? At 2lbs a week 75lbs would take 37.5 weeks (just over 8.5 months). That would be a VERY good loss.

    I'm pretty sure what they're getting at is that it's not a good idea to try and lose 2 pounds a week when you only have a (relatively) small amount to lose. The reasoning there being that when you have a lot to lose, you can create a large deficit without risking muscle loss or malnutrition. To lose 2 pounds a week you need a deficit of 1000 calories a day, which is fine if you weigh 200 pounds and maintain your weight at 2700 calories a day, but risky when you weigh 150 pounds and maintain at 1800 - in order for that second person to lose 2 pounds a week, they're have to be netting only 800 a day, which is dangerously low and should only be attempted under medical supervision.

    Yes this is my point. If OP has only 23 lbs to lose, 2 lb per week is way too fast & risk to health, nutrition, and muscle.

Categories