Has anyone consistently lost 8-10 pounds monthly?

Curious if anyone has lost 8-10 pounds monthly? I put my setting to lose 2 pounds weekly but at the end of the month the most I lose is 5ish.

Is this just me or does 8-10 pounds seems really hard to do?

Replies

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    weight3049 wrote: »
    Curious if anyone has lost 8-10 pounds monthly? I put my setting to lose 2 pounds weekly but at the end of the month the most I lose is 5ish.

    Is this just me or does 8-10 pounds seems really hard to do?

    It may be hard to do if you do not currently weigh enough to support that level of loss. It was easy for me but I started out huge.

    If you do have more than about 80 pounds to lose and you are only losing 5 a month it means you are eating more than you realize, you are eating back too many exercise calories, or your activity is set too high.

    Your average daily deficit for 5 pounds per month is 583 calories per day. To achieve 2 pounds per week you would need a 1000 calorie deficit per day.
  • weight3049
    weight3049 Posts: 72 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    How much do you have to lose? You shouldn't be targeting 2 pounds a week unless you have 75 plus pounds to lose. 5 pounds a month is more than enough for most people.

    I have about 60 more pounds to go to reach my goal.
    NovusDies wrote: »

    It may be hard to do if you do not currently weigh enough to support that level of loss. It was easy for me but I started out huge.

    If you do have more than about 80 pounds to lose and you are only losing 5 a month it means you are eating more than you realize, you are eating back too many exercise calories, or your activity is set too high.

    Your average daily deficit for 5 pounds per month is 583 calories per day. To achieve 2 pounds per week you would need a 1000 calorie deficit per day.

    I'll try to make adjustments and see how it does in a couple of weeks. Thank you.

  • weight3049
    weight3049 Posts: 72 Member
    MikePTY wrote: »
    Then 2 pounds is still probably a bit too aggressive for comfort. 5 pounds a month is a good rate of loss. What is the calorie goal that MFP gives you?

    1,500 is my daily goal.

  • NovusDies
    NovusDies Posts: 8,940 Member
    edited October 2019
    With 60 pounds to go you need to start thinking about 1.5 pounds per week.

    If your 1500 calorie deficit is meant to include 1000 calories of deficit you will need to tighten up your logging though before your calorie margin decreases even more.

    Here is a good thread about why a food scale is important:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10634517/you-dont-use-a-food-scale/p1

    Also remember that you cannot trust the food db and that includes green checked items. You need to personally verify the calories you are eating.
  • Terytha
    Terytha Posts: 2,097 Member
    Yeah, I was losing that much when I was 270 pounds. Now that I'm down it's more like 5 to 7 a month.
  • apullum
    apullum Posts: 4,838 Member
    edited October 2019
    I did it for a very short time when my BMI was 42. Then as I lost weight, I could no longer safely sustain a deficit that large.

    8-10 pounds per month is really hard for most people because most people cannot safely create such a large deficit. That includes you. At your stats, you really shouldn’t be attempting to lose more than 1.5 lb/week.
  • amy19355
    amy19355 Posts: 805 Member
    I'm lucky if i can lose 2 pounds a month now that i've lost half of my excess weight.
  • sammidelvecchio
    sammidelvecchio Posts: 791 Member
    I started with a goal to lose 73 lbs. The most I have lost in one month is 6. I've accepted that slow is better and there is no end date to this, so no need to rush.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,023 Member
    edited October 2019
    i lost my first 50 in around 3 months but I had 100 lbs to lose. now I am down 75 total lbs and it's been 6 months. Perfectly fine with that slower progress.
  • lgfrie
    lgfrie Posts: 1,449 Member
    I lost my first 50 pounds at 9-10 lbs/month, but now it's slowed to 7-8. I don't think you can lose 8-10 lbs a month indefinitely. Declining TDEE as you lose weight is a thing.

    Having studied the online TDEE calculators, it appears you lose right around 50 calories in TDEE for every 10 pounds lost. So for an aggressive dieter, that TDEE number is going down 50 calories every month. It adds up. Soon enough, it is impossible to slash more than 7-8 pounds in a month without undergoing extreme (and entirely unnecessary and counterproductive) deprivation.
  • nighthawk584
    nighthawk584 Posts: 2,023 Member
    i lost my first 50 in around 3 months but I had 100 lbs to lose. now I am down 75 total lbs and it's been 6 months. Perfectly fine with that slower progress.

    I wouldn't consider that 'slow'.

    I was referring to the last 3 months to lose 25 lbs. That's slow for me. And no, I haven't lost muscle mass, I've gained it with lifting.
  • teresa19622015
    teresa19622015 Posts: 34 Member
    Yes I did last time lost slightly more the first month but then around ten a month for a total of 120lbs in a year. I exercised a lot as well as being strict (didn’t weigh food then though). This time I’m losing about the same rate.
  • Hollis100
    Hollis100 Posts: 1,408 Member
    I've lost about 20 pounds in 2.5 months, and 3-4 lbs before that -- so about 24 lbs in 3 months (averaging 8 lbs a month).

    I'm very happy with what I'm eating and not doing extreme exercise. I usually walk/jog outside about 5.5 miles a day, but I'm getting over an injury and have reduced my exercise for the past 3 weeks. My weight right now is 6 lbs outside "normal." After I reach "normal," I intend to keep doing the same things. I enjoy the food I'm eating and am getting plenty of nutrition.
  • toetotoe
    toetotoe Posts: 11 Member
    I started this in August. I'm 6'5" and was 250 when i started and I'm currently at 218. I try to watch and meet every number they gave me and not just the calories. When I'm doing good with weight loss it's because I'm at the calories they wanted me to be, i try to keep my sodium and cholesterol lower than what they gave and try to match the macros of fat, carbs and protein. I also have the mfp app coupled with my fitbit.
    I hope that can be helpful
  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 14,254 Member
    edited October 2019
    I had lost a bunch of weight before I joined MFP.

    My first year on MFP I went from about 240.6 to 168.1 <-72.5> or an effective deficit of 695 a day or 21.35% of my TDEE.

    This was plenty fast enough. It took me another year during which I lost another 11.1lbs at a deficit of 106 Cal a day or 3.14% of TDEE to end up in the upper ranges of normal BMI, fully "catch up" with my loss and stop double checking my pant legs before committing to pushing a second leg through :smiley:

    In my opinion a 20% of TDEE deficit limit (25% while carrying energy reserve levels that would properly classify one as medically obese) makes sense!

    10lbs a month will not be suitable for people who don't have a lot to lose. And even for this sub-set, compliance, sustainability, and time to internalise changes should come before speed!
  • Cat_A_89
    Cat_A_89 Posts: 93 Member
    I started at 225 as a 5'2 female and have lost 50 pounds in 5 months but it has slowed down and I also upd my calories because Ive started working out 6 days a week so now I lose on average a pound a week
  • koalathebear
    koalathebear Posts: 236 Member
    I lost 4kg a month in the early days but as I approached goal, I slowed it down to 1/2kg a week and then 1/2 kg every few weeks because I wanted the transition to maintenance to be easy rather than traumatic
  • bscoordsen2
    bscoordsen2 Posts: 1 Member
    I started at 245 lbs, and today I'm 190. Down 55 lbs in 5 and a half months. I eat 1300-1400 calories a day, and walk 3-4 miles nearly every day. I'm 51. It's just been a steady loss the whole time. I don't have a firm goal weight, but I probably have 30-35 more lbs to go.