Loss rate while increasing workouts?

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HoneyBadger302
HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,980 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Just picking brains here for those who've had a bit more experience in this area.

Fitness is my top priority, but I'm overweight as well and tired of it. Have about 25 pounds I could stand to lose.

I've got my numbers figured out, have my workout plans, basically just looking for what you would consider a good weight loss rate while keeping up with the workouts.

I'm currently working out ~90 minutes a day/5 days a week, combination of cardio and ST splits, and muscle endurance sessions. That's about to bump up again here shortly as I'm ready to up the intensity. I'm NOT looking to put on mass persay, but I DO want to continue to increase my strength.

The one other time I went through this process (a year ago, just before I broke my leg) I was losing at approximately 0.5 lbs/week. This was pretty easy for me to maintain, but I was 10 pounds lighter than I am right now. I wasn't starving and my workouts were great.

Just due to the fact that I'm sick of the extra weight, I'm hoping to get a bit more (average) loss per week. Right now I'm in that 0.5-0.8ish range, no issues with my workouts. Just wondering if other people have been successful with a faster loss (in the 1-2 lbs a week) AND keeping up pretty intense workouts, or if I should just accept what I already know works for me.

I do NOT want to risk the fitness training to lose the weight though....being more fit will pay off much bigger dividends than the weight will once race season starts in 2 months....

Replies

  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,980 Member
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    Wow, absolutely no opinions or experience in this area?
  • becomingbeautifultoday
    becomingbeautifultoday Posts: 131 Member
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    I think it’s definitely possible to lose more per week, however, it may cause you to be more hungry, and your workouts will suffer because you’ll have less energy. It sounds like you’ve found a sustainable balance already, and in my opinion, I think you should just stick to it. Good luck!
  • jflongo
    jflongo Posts: 289 Member
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    My suggestion would be to set it to 1 lb / week and see how it goes. I had mine set at 1.5 lbs / week, working out 6 days per week. While yes I was losing weight, I was finding myself a little hungry still. I changed to it 1 lb / week, and it seems better now.
  • gamerbabe14
    gamerbabe14 Posts: 876 Member
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    I've increased my running mileage recently (from 7 miles a week to about 17 miles) and found it almost impossible to stick to more than 1lb a week of loss. I am happy with 1lb right now. I have more weight than you to lose though. IMO the person who can eat the most and still lose weight is the winner.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,429 Member
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    With that little to lose, and fitness objectives important to you, I certainly wouldn't go over a pound a week for now, and less than that at 10-15 to go. Nothing wrong with 0.5-0.8 . . . other than impatience. ;)

    Best wishes!
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
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    You are already able to sustain up to .8 pounds rate of loss with no issues and that is a pretty good rate of loss with 25 to lose. Anything more aggressive its going to hinder your workouts and recovery. Ideally you may want drop that to .5 if needed (certainly need to drop it to .5 when you get to 10-15 pounds left to lose).
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,980 Member
    edited January 2018
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    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    With that little to lose, and fitness objectives important to you, I certainly wouldn't go over a pound a week for now, and less than that at 10-15 to go. Nothing wrong with 0.5-0.8 . . . other than impatience. ;)

    Best wishes!

    Ya, I know it's mostly impatience, but this is really at the heavy end of things for me, so I do actually look quite "fat" with how my body puts on weight....I can accept the current rate, just wondering if others have had success at a higher rate, at least for a shorter period of time :smile:

    But seems like this may be what I'll have to accept with my priorities.
  • astrampe
    astrampe Posts: 2,169 Member
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    Nobody can say what your body will do and at what rate you will lose the weight.... With only 25 lbs to go, I would focus on fitness gains rater than trying to put a timeline on losing weight. It is never a good idea, as weight loss is NOT linear.....
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,429 Member
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    HoneyBadger155 wrote: »
    AnnPT77 wrote: »
    With that little to lose, and fitness objectives important to you, I certainly wouldn't go over a pound a week for now, and less than that at 10-15 to go. Nothing wrong with 0.5-0.8 . . . other than impatience. ;)

    Best wishes!

    Ya, I know it's mostly impatience, but this is really at the heavy end of things for me, so I do actually look quite "fat" with how my body puts on weight....I can accept the current rate, just wondering if others have had success at a higher rate, at least for a shorter period of time :smile:

    I lost too fast for a while unintentionally shortly after joining MFP (because it dramatically underestimated my calorie needs). Even though I fixed it quickly, I paid for it with fatigue and weakness, and that definitely affected rowing endurance, and probably average speed as well.

    That's been 2+ years ago, so it's hard to remember the exact timing. Loss rate was around 2 pounds a week for sure, weight above goal was somewhere in the 20-30 pounds to goal range, from memory. But I'm old (was 59 then), which may've made it worse (I'd been an active, regular rower for 12+ years at that point, BTW, including training and competition - i.e., activity level was not new).
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,739 Member
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    Lower deficit = better workout while losing weight.

    I am sure that a team of coaches/drs could devise an optimized schedule aiming for larger losses coupled with faster return to intense exercise to meet objectives. Or devise a caloric cycling regiment around your training schedule....

    Or, absent that level of planning... just go with a reasonable deficit that allows good workouts like you are...
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    When I had 25 - 30lbs to lose I could tolerate 1lb/wk loss for an extended period of time and make good strength and fitness gains but that wasn't an everyday deficit. That just grinds me down.

    When I'm nibbling off a few pounds (post Christmas for vacation for example or dropping weight ahead of a big event) then 6 weeks of 1lb / wk with a very heavy exercise routine is about the most I can endure before showing clear signs of over training / under recovering.

    1lb / month is completely transparent to me, no obvious impact at all.

    Maybe track/chart your progress carefully and performance test yourself regulatory? I tend to see the impact of a deficit in numbers before feeling the impact as if you are self-competitive there's always the impulse to push through a poor workout.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,980 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    When I had 25 - 30lbs to lose I could tolerate 1lb/wk loss for an extended period of time and make good strength and fitness gains but that wasn't an everyday deficit. That just grinds me down.

    When I'm nibbling off a few pounds (post Christmas for vacation for example or dropping weight ahead of a big event) then 6 weeks of 1lb / wk with a very heavy exercise routine is about the most I can endure before showing clear signs of over training / under recovering.

    1lb / month is completely transparent to me, no obvious impact at all.

    Maybe track/chart your progress carefully and performance test yourself regulatory? I tend to see the impact of a deficit in numbers before feeling the impact as if you are self-competitive there's always the impulse to push through a poor workout.

    I am working on getting better numbers and data (HR, weights, etc) for a few reasons, this among them, but also to make sure I'm hitting goals for what I deal with while riding "at pace" so I'm sure my workouts are effectively training me for competition. Of course, I'm doing this without any of the 'fancy' help the pros get, but any data is helpful.

    Thanks for the warning to watch those numbers though, makes sense you'd see it there before quite realizing it yourself....
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
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    When I was a bike racer (80's mostly) you didn't need much in the way of fitness or strength.
    Skinny tyres and skinny riders!

    I detrained and lost muscle to reduce my weight. How times have changed..... :smiley:
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,980 Member
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    sijomial wrote: »
    When I was a bike racer (80's mostly) you didn't need much in the way of fitness or strength.
    Skinny tyres and skinny riders!

    I detrained and lost muscle to reduce my weight. How times have changed..... :smiley:

    Well, the 192rwhp beast I'm riding is already clueless that I'm on it :lol: And being a girl, upper body power is a premium when you're trying to convince it that no, it really does want to slow a bit then change directions from 160mph :smiley:

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