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Fast or Slow Weight Loss?
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alazio
Posts: 44 Member
in Debate Club
So I've heard it said many times that slow and steady is the way to go with weight loss. Reasons cited being that
gradual changes in habit stick better,
you retain more muscle mass,
metabolism remains higher,
more realistic to stick to than more extreme calorie restriction.
I've always bought into that approach and have only aimed to lose ~1 pound/wk at most. But lately I've seen a lot of pushback to this way of thinking, especially from the body building community, and am curious what others think. One pro fast loss article I read posed the question (I'm paraphrasing), "do you actually know anyone who has lost noticeable weight by 1 pound a week for, say, 30 weeks? I don't." He continued, "The few people I know who dropped significant weight and kept it off did it fast, and made big changes. And they look great!" At first this struck me as simply bad advice and made me mad. BUT I couldn't shake the thought that the three people I can think of in my life who have transformed their bodies did lose quickly upon making radical changes and becoming a borderline obsessive about their diet and fitness routines.
So what do you guys think? Different strokes for different folks? Or are you firmly on Team Fast or Team Slow?
gradual changes in habit stick better,
you retain more muscle mass,
metabolism remains higher,
more realistic to stick to than more extreme calorie restriction.
I've always bought into that approach and have only aimed to lose ~1 pound/wk at most. But lately I've seen a lot of pushback to this way of thinking, especially from the body building community, and am curious what others think. One pro fast loss article I read posed the question (I'm paraphrasing), "do you actually know anyone who has lost noticeable weight by 1 pound a week for, say, 30 weeks? I don't." He continued, "The few people I know who dropped significant weight and kept it off did it fast, and made big changes. And they look great!" At first this struck me as simply bad advice and made me mad. BUT I couldn't shake the thought that the three people I can think of in my life who have transformed their bodies did lose quickly upon making radical changes and becoming a borderline obsessive about their diet and fitness routines.
So what do you guys think? Different strokes for different folks? Or are you firmly on Team Fast or Team Slow?
2
Replies
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I personally do not think fast weight loss is smart. Unless you are really really significantly, morbidly obese overweight. It's not good for your gallbladder and it can also lead to having an abundance of excess skin. Whereas if you lose the weight slowly your body has time to adjust.
The last time I lost weight I lost 50 lbs in a relatively short period of time. And then my thyroid acted up and then I was sick. I am convinced that had I lost the weight much more slowly... I never would have gained it back... I never would have gotten sick. I'm just thankful I didn't have gallstones.13 -
I think that these are people that go through cut/bulk cycles, who are performance athletes and who aren't starting this out being really overweight and never having worked out. The types of people who lurk around the body building community have a different approach to their bodies than.... well, than me. I had 100+ pounds to lose, never worked out, and didn't know what a MACRO was. My body was not a machine. It's becoming one, but I'm not there. And the guy you mention probably is much more of an athlete than I am.12
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So I've heard it said many times that slow and steady is the way to go with weight loss. Reasons cited being that
gradual changes in habit stick better,
you retain more muscle mass,
metabolism remains higher,
more realistic to stick to than more extreme calorie restriction.
I've always bought into that approach and have only aimed to lose ~1 pound/wk at most. But lately I've seen a lot of pushback to this way of thinking, especially from the body building community, and am curious what others think. One pro fast loss article I read posed the question (I'm paraphrasing), "do you actually know anyone who has lost noticeable weight by 1 pound a week for, say, 30 weeks? I don't." He continued, "The few people I know who dropped significant weight and kept it off did it fast, and made big changes. And they look great!" At first this struck me as simply bad advice and made me mad. BUT I couldn't shake the thought that the three people I can think of in my life who have transformed their bodies did lose quickly upon making radical changes and becoming a borderline obsessive about their diet and fitness routines.
So what do you guys think? Different strokes for different folks? Or are you firmly on Team Fast or Team Slow?
Put me on team "It depends".
For bodybuilders or anyone with a history of discipline I would imagine they would opt for the fast approach - it's a matter of time management and goal achievement, much of which is performance based.
For the average person who has no aspirations of marathons and just wants to get to a healthy weight it's probably in their best interest to take things slow and develop good habits that will aid long term success.14 -
I'm also an it-depends-er.0
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It depends.. but for the most part slow and steady is typically the way to go for more sustainable habits. If you have a lot of weight to lose you can start off faster, but as someone gets to goal the general recommendation is to slow things down to prevent excess muscle loss, fatigue, burn out, binging etc. I've seen many people drop weight quick using aggressive/ fad diets and gain it all back and then some because they haven't made a lifestyle change.
There are exceptions obviously. I am not a pro bodybuilder but I run bulk/cut cycles and bodybuild recreationally.. some do fast aggressive cuts to drop some weight, they do lose some lean mass but it's usually temporary. If I wanted to drop some weight fast I could do it because I already have good habits and I know what I'm getting myself into. However being already lean I wouldn't go more than 1% bodyweight per week since I'd like to minimize muscle loss.
In general though for me personally, I am team slow. When I cut down after a bulk I lose 0.5lb per week or less, I don't have much to lose (usually 8lbs or less) and I usually see physique results fairly quickly.3 -
Different strokes for different folks.4
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So I've heard it said many times that slow and steady is the way to go with weight loss. Reasons cited being that
gradual changes in habit stick better,
you retain more muscle mass,
metabolism remains higher,
more realistic to stick to than more extreme calorie restriction.
I've always bought into that approach and have only aimed to lose ~1 pound/wk at most. But lately I've seen a lot of pushback to this way of thinking, especially from the body building community, and am curious what others think. One pro fast loss article I read posed the question (I'm paraphrasing), "do you actually know anyone who has lost noticeable weight by 1 pound a week for, say, 30 weeks? I don't." He continued, "The few people I know who dropped significant weight and kept it off did it fast, and made big changes. And they look great!" At first this struck me as simply bad advice and made me mad. BUT I couldn't shake the thought that the three people I can think of in my life who have transformed their bodies did lose quickly upon making radical changes and becoming a borderline obsessive about their diet and fitness routines.
So what do you guys think? Different strokes for different folks? Or are you firmly on Team Fast or Team Slow?
It depends...but the bolded makes zero sense to me. I lost about 40 Lbs in a little over 30 weeks...that's pretty *kitten* noticeable...like I look completely different.
In regards to body builders...a lot of them do cut fast...I don't think it's particularly healthy, but it is also of short duration...we're talking weeks which is a lot different than someone who needs to drop 30/50/100 Lbs, etc where even with fast weight loss we're talking months and into years.
I usually put on about 8-10 Lbs every winter and cut it in the spring...given that it's only 8-10 Lbs I cut relatively fast when I get things going...about 1-1.5 Lbs per week. I think that's still a safe level as it is under 1% of my BW per week, but it is aggressive and requires some discipline...but it's a very short duration...a handful of weeks...not months and months and months.
People with a substantial amount of weight to lose are not likely to maintain the discipline necessary for fast weight loss...because you're still talking about months on end of eating in a very steep deficit and I think that's where much of the damage is done in regards to your health.5 -
I'd say depends on how much you've got to lose. Trying to lose 5 lbs when you're already in an acceptable BMI range is a lot more difficult than going from say 300 to 250 (which is what I'm doing). I've lost 25+ lbs in less than 2 months but I'm not doing anything extreme, just going from 296 lbs and eating as terrible as I was means I've had weeks of 4 lbs+ even with keeping my intake above 1800 cals or more on exercise days. Plus I'd say the fact that I used to body-build and run, etc. means I had a bit of a head start, I just got really complacent and lazy in life.2
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You do you! Advice is good and can be helpful, but ultimately it's what will work for you that you need to navigate.5
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It's all about the person. Drastic, obsessive, weight loss is not my style. That doesn't mean it's wrong - it just means for me I've tried it, the weight came back on as fast as it came off. I need a lifestyle approach - not an all or nothing. It took me just over a year to lose 100 lbs. and I've kept it off for over 5 years. Now, I'm working on getting the final pounds off - slow and steady. My best advice - do whatever is right for you.2
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I lost my first 120 pounds in 12 months, which is fairly fast. I was also morbidly obese and needed for health reasons to lose weight immediately. It took me about 2 months to lose another 7 pounds as I gradually increased calories.
I maintained fine for ~3 years or so and then packed on 20 pounds last year. I'm taking them off very slowly.
So I'm in the "it depends" camp.3 -
I'm in the 'it depends' camp also.
I started at the top of my normal and went to close to the bottom, and I'm old and short.
My calories were low as it was, going any faster than a year for 30lbs would have been unhealthy.
If I had been 330, instead of 130, it would have been a different story. That first 100lbs I would have wanted to come off in less time than it took to lose the 30 I did lose. Then I would have done a graduated loss.
I also think those that work seriously at body composition can, and often do, manipulate their calories for fast brief losses. But they usually have good knowledge and an effective plan.
Cheers, h.0 -
The ones I know who have been most successful took a good couple of years to reach thier goals. Most of the ones I knoe whonhave lost quickly also regained quickly. I know everytime I've personally tried to lose quicly I failed. This time I'm going slowly, and though I haven't been 100% successfull atcyhis point, I have been losing fairly steadily since June, and have only had minor relapses, where before, I could never last 2 months.0
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Weight lifters are also, by definition, lifting weights during their cut, which helps to limit the lean mass lost during the cut. I feel that not lifting was my bigger mistake during my cut, not the speed of the cut.4
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Don't go be the weight number but the body fat percent I'd rather be 225 and 12-15% then 225 and 35-40%. Could I drop 10 lbs in a week absolutely would it be miserable and unhealthy absolutely. How long do you think I could maintain that? I started at 389 and did lose 11 lbs first 2 weeks was all water and just starting exercising and walking, but now at 280 much slower process.2
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These are my thoughts, and my personal experience, having had successes and failures with slow and fast fat loss over the past few years.
In an ideal world we're all patient and controlled. We make changes to our diet and exercise routines that put us ~500 cals per day under maintenance and over time we adapt perfectly to our new lifestyles. The issue us in most cases this doesn't happen.
Why? So many things can and do go wrong.
That extra one treat for a birthday, or a meal with friends, or a glass of wine, or a missed workout, or sickness, or a work lunch, or giving into a hunger craving, or forgetting to meal prep for a day or two, or, or or or or...
When you are in such a small deficit, accuracy is everything. Weigh improperly, forget to log a couple of snacks, overestimate a calorie burn, all of these things can turn a decent deficit into maintenence, or in some cases even a surplus.
This often leads to the mistaken belief that "It doesn't matter what I do, the scale doesn't move anyway!!" I had this discussion with someone who said this recently, and ate the same meal I did, but had a couple of crackers with cheese before dinner, a glass of wine, and a cookie after her meal (probably ~400 cals), but she had "been good" all day!
Giving yourself a larger deficit means you are more likely to see faster progress, which keeps motivation (and therefore adherence) higher. It also means that you can give yourself a little wiggle room by going a little over your goal but remaining in a deficit - knowing this (in my experience) is less likely to lead to writing off a whole day because you've gone over your goal.
I think there is a "sweet spot" for most people that is large deficit that can be maintained healthily and without physical or psychological crashes. What that deficit is will vary for every person; the frequency of cheat days, refeeds and other diet breaks are probably also best found through trial and error.
One thing to note though, is that more aggressive deficits have more rules. Your protein intake will have to remain the same, your fat intake can't dip too low, so by default it's probably going to be pretty low carb. Whether a more aggressive diet is right for you will also somewhat depend on your lifestyle, any sporting pursuits etc that might be impacted by this kind of restriction.
So all said and done, for me at least, I'd rather go more aggressive and keep the flame of motivation burning by seeing results every week. YMMV.12 -
I’m in the camp of it depends as I can only speak for myself. I’m currently in the 160’s as of now and have been maintaining for awhile... For me it took awhile to lose the weight because of my mind set.. I wanted results fast and instant gratification, and it absolutely was not a good thing.. I lacked discipline and proper habits... I think for me sloww and steady and not focusing on a aesthetic was the key to put me on the right path..
Nowadays I think of my aesthetic goal of looking long and lean for the summer time and it’s absolutely possible to achieve within the next three months, which is somewhat fast in my mind.. But I have the right discipline and tools that I need to achieve my goal.
1. You need the right tools at your grip
2. You need to have the right motivation and discipline
3. Lose the weight that is most sustainable for you.
4. Results differ from person to person focus on being the best version of yourself.0 -
So I've heard it said many times that slow and steady is the way to go with weight loss. Reasons cited being that
gradual changes in habit stick better,
you retain more muscle mass,
metabolism remains higher,
more realistic to stick to than more extreme calorie restriction.
I've always bought into that approach and have only aimed to lose ~1 pound/wk at most. But lately I've seen a lot of pushback to this way of thinking, especially from the body building community, and am curious what others think. One pro fast loss article I read posed the question (I'm paraphrasing), "do you actually know anyone who has lost noticeable weight by 1 pound a week for, say, 30 weeks? I don't." He continued, "The few people I know who dropped significant weight and kept it off did it fast, and made big changes. And they look great!" At first this struck me as simply bad advice and made me mad. BUT I couldn't shake the thought that the three people I can think of in my life who have transformed their bodies did lose quickly upon making radical changes and becoming a borderline obsessive about their diet and fitness routines.
So what do you guys think? Different strokes for different folks? Or are you firmly on Team Fast or Team Slow?
I've dropped 100 lbs in 16 months. I've still got a bit to lose, so I'm not ready for maintenance yet, but closing in. I just fit into a size 6 skirt today (and really fit, not 'managed to zip it up but look like a sausage in a casing in it'). I did it more slowly than necessary, i.e. never set MFP for more than 1lb/week even when I could safely lose 2. And the only 'big' changes I made were cutting back on bakery treats that I didn't feel I could ballpark the calories, or that I knew the calories and decided weren't worth it.4 -
It depends how much you have to loose from what I have read.
An aggressive cut, low calorie, intense workouts can and does shred fat fast, you are not doing it long enough to damage your body, muscle loss is no more than a drawn out deficit all is good.
If you are going to be in a deficit for a while though ... go slow so you don’t deprive your body of the nutrients it needs
Body builders favour the 1st approach as generally they are not trying to loose 160lbs ... but 10lbs and going from 15% back down to 9%3
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