Morbidly obese - how many lbs should I be losing a week?

I average 2.785 pounds lost weekly on an average calorie range of 1450 - 1600 a day. Some days are a bit higher, some lower. I am just now starting to exercise which has been 15 minutes on the stationary bike 5 - 6 days a week. I also work very hard to get my water in.

The weight did not get put on overnight and I am very happy with these results. It adds up...you just have to take it one day at time. In 3 1/2 months I am 11 pounds shy of 50 pounds lost. It is all in the perspective in which you think about the loss.

My goal is to lose 104 pounds in a year....and that is only 2 pounds a week. Again...it all adds up. Just take one healthy day at a time. Eat enough calories, drink enough water and move more than you usually do.

2.5 pounds a week is...130 pounds a year. Not a bad loss rate if you ask me!

they usually say minimum 2lbs a week is good for morbidly obese. im also morbidly obese 4ft11 and started at 263 lbs. im now at 242. most of the weight i lost so far was in the first week or two when i started my blood pressure meds which have a water pill in them too. so im pleased ive lost this much in the month since i started, but im realistic enough to know im not going to lose the weight as fast as on biggest loser


p.s. i wouldn't consider any of the food cheating cause that makes it sound too much like a restricted diet, and when you restrict so much, it actually makes it harder. ive been letting myself enjoy certain things and ive still been losing weight. i try to do about 1500 cals a day, but say saturday was a day that i consumed over 2000 cals...i still lost 2 lbs when i weighed this morning

Stats:
Female
25
5'6
322.5

Exercise:
30 minute stair master at lowest level. (tons of sweat, face red, hard workout, heart rate 165-176)

Food:
Consume 1,200+ calories a day.
NO. CHEATING. WHAT. SO. EVER.

I weighed myself last sunday and was at 325.0, today I weighed in at 322.5 - rewind to 2 weeks ago. Drinking 5 coca-colas a day, eating fast food twice a day (burger king, french fries, fried chicken). I've only lost 2.5 in ONE WEEK. Is this right? Am I doing something wrong? I thought this big huge change would work and thought I'd be losing at least 5 lbs a week. I'm also on the depo-shot (will take 3 months to fade off and then i'm going to be off birth control completely). Is it the depo-shot? Am I just losing fat? I can tell in my clothes and it feels like i've lost more than that. I'm also having a hard time going to the restroom and i've incorporated 500mg of methylcellulose a day. I'm thinking of going on herbalife shakes. Does anyone think I should be losing more weight? Especially after such a dramatic change in lifestyle? What am I doing wrong? People who are over 300, how much were you losing a week? What did you try doing?

Thank you

I'm shorter than you and weighed less than you when I started BUT my BMI was higher so technically I was more fat than you are (and YES, I know that still isn't 100% true, one person could have been more muscle than fat--for all you that like to jump on inaccuracies.) So, we'll just say I was bigger than you are when I started.

Anyway, I never lost more than 2.5-pounds in a week while doing this (and I've been at it for 2 years this month). I also ate 1,200 calories when I started. And it worked, for a couple of months. Then the only way I lost weight was to up my calories. So, if you're fine with the 1,200 calories or if you're being medically supervised than go for it. If you get to a point that you're not losing any weight try upping the calories (or if your just feeling like this freaking SUCKS I want to eat!)

So, back to what you were asking, I think losing the 2.5-pounds a week is awesome. People that do EXTREME things under medical supervision have lost more but I personally am not about extreme, I'm about cheap, simple, fool proof, laid back and sustainable. What you are doing is working, and you have a chance to be under 300-pounds by Christmas Day if you continue with what you are doing. Two and a half pounds a week is 10-pounds a month. It feels harder in the beginning because it is, it's new, it's uncertain, it's hard to notice results (for me and other people, maybe you'll be lucky and it will be different.)

My advice is to give this time and relax. Just do what you're doing. If you're constipated (I assume that's what you mean by, "I'm also having a hard time going to the restroom") and the methylcellulose isn't working try getting 30g of fiber from food and drinking 2L (or more) of water a day. If you're taking iron supplements or getting a lot from your food cut back (obviously, don't if you're anemic). My sister wouldn't take and iron supplement for a million dollars because it stops everything up for her.

I don't have experience with Depo (though when my sister was on it and did Slimfast years ago she lost weight), Herbalife or methylcellulose so I can't comment personally, on those things.

I didn't do anything special when I started. I didn't cut out any one food permanently, I didn't go all organic or "clean", I didn't spend a penny on shakes, a juicer, nothing. I just ate less food and moved more. I didn't even incorporate real exercise until this morning (no joke) I mean I occasionally (read: less than 4 times a month) went for a walk or put on an exercise video but true daily exercise hasn't been apart of my routine until I've lost 101-pounds. I'm not saying I recommend that, I'm just saying the only important thing is to eat less calories than you use and you'll lose weight. Right now with losing 2.5-pounds a week you're burning 1,250 calories everyday. I don't even know what to do to lose more than that without doing something Biggest Loser style and that's strictly supervised and TV!

I hope I've helped Good luck to you!

---

Edited for math.

And ETA: Feel free to send me a message or friend me or whatever. I can help trouble shoot the constipation (Err--I mean, tell you more about constipation than you've ever wanted to know, lol) or just be an ear and moral support.

Even at 560 lbs. and working with a Dietician our goal was to lose 1 to 2 lbs. a week.... I lost the vast majority of my weight consuming over 3000 calories a week. This isn't a game of speed, steady weight loss is perfectly fine... My health markers vastly improved within the first 6 months of my weight loss and continued to improve as the weight came off and I was able to get in the pool and begin exercising..... Best of Luck

Hang in there, try not to be too despondent about what you think you should be losing. There is a lot of very good information on this site and very helpful and supportive people.

I assume when you mean no cheating, you mean you are sticking to your calorie goals and exercising when you say you will, that is totally awesome! And you need to be proud of what you are doing, even if the stupid scales don't move.

I felt like I wanted my 'water weight' loss in the first few weeks of starting to give me a boost, and I didn't get it, but my partner pointed out I had already started eating healthier a few weeks before I officially decided hey I am doing this.

Make sure you do take your measurements, so that you can see how far you have come physically for when the scales are being silly. and try not to judge your success too much by what the scales say in week 1.
Good Luck with everything, you're here and you are doing something, that is a major success already.

Even at 560 lbs. and working with a Dietician our goal was to lose 1 to 2 lbs. a week.... I lost the vast majority of my weight consuming over 3000 calories a week. This isn't a game of speed, steady weight loss is perfectly fine... My health markers vastly improved within the first 6 months of my weight loss and continued to improve as the weight came off and I was able to get in the pool and begin exercising..... Best of Luck

Lol sorry did not proof read it. ... that was 3000 calories a day not week.......

Mirifeliz wrote: »

Stats:
Female
25
5'6
322.5

Exercise:
30 minute stair master at lowest level. (tons of sweat, face red, hard workout, heart rate 165-176)

Food:
Consume 1,200+ calories a day.
NO. CHEATING. WHAT. SO. EVER.

I weighed myself last sunday and was at 325.0, today I weighed in at 322.5 - rewind to 2 weeks ago. Drinking 5 coca-colas a day, eating fast food twice a day (burger king, french fries, fried chicken). I've only lost 2.5 in ONE WEEK. Is this right? Am I doing something wrong? I thought this big huge change would work and thought I'd be losing at least 5 lbs a week. I'm also on the depo-shot (will take 3 months to fade off and then i'm going to be off birth control completely). Is it the depo-shot? Am I just losing fat? I can tell in my clothes and it feels like i've lost more than that. I'm also having a hard time going to the restroom and i've incorporated 500mg of methylcellulose a day. I'm thinking of going on herbalife shakes. Does anyone think I should be losing more weight? Especially after such a dramatic change in lifestyle? What am I doing wrong? People who are over 300, how much were you losing a week? What did you try doing?

Thank you

Having a calorie goal so low for your size is probably why you're having a hard time going to the restroom. 1200 is a minimum, and it takes some work to cram everything your body will need in 1200 cal (including fiber). You can safely up your amount, get in some more fiber from food and see if that gets things moving. I'm your height but weigh a little less and I'm currently losing on 2070/day. You want to be low enough to have a deficit but not so low that you're not fueling yourself enough.

Stay away from the herbalife shakes. They won't teach you a damn thing about proper eating. And don't be in too much of a rush, 2lbs a week is a great rate of loss.

I'm 64 y/o and am down 36 pounds from my high of 245. Just now, I am beginning to be able to be more active from my very sedentary lifestyle. I am tracking steps with a Fitbit, but am no where near the 10,000 daily steps recommended. My goal is to find a lifestyle I can maintain, yet have a slow weight loss. I figure it took 63 years to put it on, it's only reasonable it is not going to come off overnight. So even at 1200 calorie goal, I find my weight loss to have fallen below a pound per week. Of course, I am using the 200 calorie reduction I made in my goal a few months ago to be a buffer now that I frequently exceed but on most days control the overage sooner than I was. And, both my diet and lifestyle at present are something I can do without experiencing feelings of deprivation or burnout. Anyway, unless I find I am able to physically increase my burn this is going to take 2-3 years more for me to get to my set goal, but I've become comfortable with that expectation. The key is to stay honest in logging intake and log daily.