When someone says they lose at a slow rate what does that mean?

Can you please give me some examples of what you lose a week or a couple of weeks if you are a slow loser? For example does it take you two weeks to lose a pound?

Replies

  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,427 MFP Moderator
    1/2 per week is generally slow.
    1 lbs is moderate
    2 lbs is fast.

    Outside of water weight of course
  • melissafeagins
    melissafeagins Posts: 1,421 Member
    I lose anywhere from .5 to 1 pound a week now (mid 160s). When I weighed 235, I lost at 3lbs a week.
    A lot of factors influence that. However, I think the biggest one is that I only have 10-15 pounds left to lose.
  • lin_be
    lin_be Posts: 393 Member
    When I was 225-170 I lost 2 lbs a week. Now at 160 I’m lucky to hit .5 lbs a week. I simply cannot sustain the steep calorie deficit to lose faster than that.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    It really depends on the person, as well as their stats. For example, slow for me would be 0.25lb per week. Normal would be 0.5lb per week, fast would be 0.75-1lb per week. That is for me since I am usually no more than 15lbs from goal.
  • klrenn
    klrenn Posts: 245 Member
    edited April 2019
    I lose at just over a pound a month, but that’s with a starting weight that was only 15lbs above goal weight. While I’d like it to be 2lbs per month, I’m not willing to cut that many calories.

    Gets a bit frustrating with daily fluctuations masking such a slow loss, but the numbers don’t lie and the trend downward is there.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    One should expect slow weight loss when they have a small deficit. Some people may intentionally create a small deficit because they want to lose slowly, or because they understand that they don't have enough to lose to sustain a large deficit. Unintentional reasons for having a small deficit usually involve inaccurate food/exercise logging. People can also believe that they're losing weight slowly when they don't have much to lose and therefore cannot safely create a large deficit, yet they expect faster weight loss.

    Another reason for slow weight loss is water fluctuation, constipation, or other reasons for body weight change that are not related to losing fat. These changes can happen much more suddenly than fat loss, and so they may "mask" fat loss on the scale.
  • lkpducky
    lkpducky Posts: 17,640 Member
    apullum wrote: »
    One should expect slow weight loss when they have a small deficit. Some people may intentionally create a small deficit because they want to lose slowly, or because they understand that they don't have enough to lose to sustain a large deficit. Unintentional reasons for having a small deficit usually involve inaccurate food/exercise logging. People can also believe that they're losing weight slowly when they don't have much to lose and therefore cannot safely create a large deficit, yet they expect faster weight loss.

    Another reason for slow weight loss is water fluctuation, constipation, or other reasons for body weight change that are not related to losing fat. These changes can happen much more suddenly than fat loss, and so they may "mask" fat loss on the scale.

    I want to lose slowly to minimize the chances that the loss is muscle. I've got 8 pounds to go and am losing 0.3-0.5 lb/week.

  • New_Heavens_Earth
    New_Heavens_Earth Posts: 610 Member
    edited April 2019
    I want to lose weight slowly for my sanity. Less dramatic swings on the scale, more time establishing healthy habits. Not rushing myself means I'm less likey to do things that are unhealthy or just plain stupid