2 pounds per week
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dorkboy2650
Posts: 8 Member
Hello team I am a male, 5’6, and 225 pounds. I usually run 2-3 miles every morning and rest two days out of the week. Is a plan of 2lbs a week to extreme or should I be able to manage it. Also I can eat back the calories from my runs..or rather should I? And lastly if I run almost all week what should my activity level be set to?
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Replies
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1500 calories is the minimum amount of calories for a sedentary male. So, your deficit needs to reflect this.
1500 calories is what is used daily to pump your heart, lungs and other organs and muscles.
Then you need to consider what you need calorie wise after that, you are a runner, and I dont know what your goal is.. I'll guess 180 for now but that's only about 45 pounds to lose, 2lbs per week is for someone who has 100 pounds to lose or more... so for you, 1 pound per week is a more reasonable goal.
You need to be able to fuel yourself beyond what your body minimally requires, 1500 is as low as mfp will go for a male. Eating back exercise calories only replaces the 1500, you will still need energy to get through your running and daily life. That's where having a more reasonable deficit comes into play. Yes you should eat those calories back that's how mfp was designed to work.
Your activity level is based on what you do outside those runs, if your busy and depending on how physical your job is, you can set yourself to either lightly active or active.
Eat those calories over a couple months and gage the process over that time span, what were the average of your losses in that time? Was it too aggressive still or not enough? And make adjustments of 100 calories adding or subtracting and then take another couple months and review.6 -
Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds2
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dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.5 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.
This ^^ If that all you have to lose, 2 lbs per week is waaaayyy too agressive.3 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
At 5'6" that would make you still fairly overweight. Is that an interim goal? Also, besides weight, what are your goals? Are you going to be doing some resistance training (whether body weight, dumbbell, barbell, etc..)?5 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.
This ^^ If that all you have to lose, 2 lbs per week is waaaayyy too agressive.
Why is 2lb waaayyy to aggressive ?
It’s not even 1% bw per week for someone
Who is boarder line morbidly obese
If if he loses 20lb he’ll still be over weight1 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.
This ^^ If that all you have to lose, 2 lbs per week is waaaayyy too agressive.
Why is 2lb waaayyy to aggressive ?
It’s not even 1% bw per week for someone
Who is boarder line morbidly obese
If if he loses 20lb he’ll still be over weight
2 reasons:
1) Muscle retention
2) A 1k calorie deficit for someone who does not weigh enough to support it without exercise will likely be miserable4 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.
This ^^ If that all you have to lose, 2 lbs per week is waaaayyy too agressive.
Why is 2lb waaayyy to aggressive ?
It’s not even 1% bw per week for someone
Who is boarder line morbidly obese
If if he loses 20lb he’ll still be over weight
2 reasons:
1) Muscle retention
2) A 1k calorie deficit for someone who does not weigh enough to support it without exercise will likely be miserable
225lb at 5.6
Runs 3 miles a day
At 225 and active its extremely easy
1 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.
This ^^ If that all you have to lose, 2 lbs per week is waaaayyy too agressive.
Why is 2lb waaayyy to aggressive ?
It’s not even 1% bw per week for someone
Who is boarder line morbidly obese
If if he loses 20lb he’ll still be over weight
2 reasons:
1) Muscle retention
2) A 1k calorie deficit for someone who does not weigh enough to support it without exercise will likely be miserable
225lb at 5.6
Runs 3 miles a day
At 225 and active its extremely easy
And you know this to be a universal truth because?
I am at about the same BMR as the OP. I earn around 1200 calories a day in activity. A 500 calorie deficit is not always easy. If I tried 1k I would be hurting my ability to stay as active as I currently am. I doubt the OP wants to start going for misery runs just to lose weight faster.
Unless the OP has a pressing medical need to get the weight off there is no reason I can see for going faster.5 -
What’s the op’s BMR ? Im about the same weight but taller
Certainly not a universal truth as you well know, just 25 years of training and training others,
The experts Like M McDonald, Aragon etc seem to agree. With Martin been very aggressive when someone’s bmi is over 35
0 -
What’s the op’s BMR ? Im about the same weight but taller
Certainly not a universal truth as you well know, just 25 years of training and training others,
The experts Like M McDonald, Aragon etc seem to agree. With Martin been very aggressive when someone’s bmi is over 35
I concur as well. Eric Helms, Bret Contreas, etc.. all seem to agree that 1/2-1% bw per week, given sufficient protein and resistance training, will help retain mass. "Aggressive" weight loss can inhibit some muscle growth during weight loss, but if that isn't a goal of the OP, but rather to just lose fat as fast as possible, I don't see a reason that it's unreasonable. It should also take into consider the OP's lifting/resistance training age and other factors. Also, it's not like we are talking PSMF or anything crazy.
1 -
What’s the op’s BMR ? Im about the same weight but taller
Certainly not a universal truth as you well know, just 25 years of training and training others,
The experts Like M McDonald, Aragon etc seem to agree. With Martin been very aggressive when someone’s bmi is over 35
I concur as well. Eric Helms, Bret Contreas, etc.. all seem to agree that 1/2-1% bw per week, given sufficient protein and resistance training, will help retain mass. "Aggressive" weight loss can inhibit some muscle growth during weight loss, but if that isn't a goal of the OP, but rather to just lose fat as fast as possible, I don't see a reason that it's unreasonable. It should also take into consider the OP's lifting/resistance training age and other factors. Also, it's not like we are talking PSMF or anything crazy.
I think M McDonald says it best, what’s more important reducing the risk of heart disease
And diabetes or losing a little muscle that’s easy to regain. He recommends BF divided by 15 as the % loss per week while Greg nuckols is more conservative at BF divided by 17 as the % loss per week0 -
I don't see a problem with someone your size losing weight at 2lbs a week for just 10 weeks - especially as you are cutting to what will still be a high weight for your height.
(Rate of loss isn't a one size fits all approach solely depending on how many pounds someone wants to lose.)
To address the other questions:
Yes you should account for the calories you burn running. (Body weight in lbs x miles run x 0.63 efficiency ratio is a reasonable net calorie estimate.)
Your running is absolutely nothing to do with your activity setting - on MyFitnessPal they are completely separate entities. You could be sedentary and a very high exerciser or very active lifestyle and do no purposeful exercise or every other combination.
The two items go together, your exercise isn't accounted for as part of your activity setting which is why your daily goal is nnnn cals + a reasonable estimate of your exercise calories and is only nnnn cals on a day you do no purposeful exercise.
PS - suggest you keep your protein high and swap out some of your running for resistance training.2 -
What’s the op’s BMR ? Im about the same weight but taller
Certainly not a universal truth as you well know, just 25 years of training and training others,
The experts Like M McDonald, Aragon etc seem to agree. With Martin been very aggressive when someone’s bmi is over 35
I concur as well. Eric Helms, Bret Contreas, etc.. all seem to agree that 1/2-1% bw per week, given sufficient protein and resistance training, will help retain mass. "Aggressive" weight loss can inhibit some muscle growth during weight loss, but if that isn't a goal of the OP, but rather to just lose fat as fast as possible, I don't see a reason that it's unreasonable. It should also take into consider the OP's lifting/resistance training age and other factors. Also, it's not like we are talking PSMF or anything crazy.
I think M McDonald says it best, what’s more important reducing the risk of heart disease
And diabetes or losing a little muscle that’s easy to regain. He recommends BF divided by 15 as the % loss per week while Greg nuckols is more conservative at BF divided by 17 as the % loss per week
Considering that most weight loss efforts fail the risk is losing muscle and still either remaining a risk or resuming the risk after some, all, or more regain. You should not make decisions on statistical risk anyway. They should be based on personal medical history. If the health is not in immediate jeopardy then the focus needs to be on sustainability.
I didn't catch that the OP was as far from a "healthy" BMI as he is but that does not mean the best course is absolutely 2 pounds per week. I do agree that there is no reason to rule out the option.
3 -
What’s the op’s BMR ? Im about the same weight but taller
Certainly not a universal truth as you well know, just 25 years of training and training others,
The experts Like M McDonald, Aragon etc seem to agree. With Martin been very aggressive when someone’s bmi is over 35
I concur as well. Eric Helms, Bret Contreas, etc.. all seem to agree that 1/2-1% bw per week, given sufficient protein and resistance training, will help retain mass. "Aggressive" weight loss can inhibit some muscle growth during weight loss, but if that isn't a goal of the OP, but rather to just lose fat as fast as possible, I don't see a reason that it's unreasonable. It should also take into consider the OP's lifting/resistance training age and other factors. Also, it's not like we are talking PSMF or anything crazy.
I think M McDonald says it best, what’s more important reducing the risk of heart disease
And diabetes or losing a little muscle that’s easy to regain. He recommends BF divided by 15 as the % loss per week while Greg nuckols is more conservative at BF divided by 17 as the % loss per week
Considering that most weight loss efforts fail the risk is losing muscle and still either remaining a risk or resuming the risk after some, all, or more regain. You should not make decisions on statistical risk anyway. They should be based on personal medical history. If the health is not in immediate jeopardy then the focus needs to be on sustainability.
I didn't catch that the OP was as far from a "healthy" BMI as he is but that does not mean the best course is absolutely 2 pounds per week. I do agree that there is no reason to rule out the option.
I think we just have to agree to disagree on our methods, some people give up because what they are doing is unsustainable while others because they see little progress. judging on the very basic knowledge of the OP I’d still be aiming for at least 1% bw per week until he’s in a more healthy range of bf
If I were training/coaching someone I’d carry out a basic PAR-Q and go from there1 -
dorkboy2650 wrote: »Thank you so much for putting it into perspective! My goal is to be 195-200 so really just looking to lose 20 pounds
If your goal is to lose 20 lbs I'd reccomend setting your goal to .5-1 lb a week.
This ^^ If that all you have to lose, 2 lbs per week is waaaayyy too agressive.
Why is 2lb waaayyy to aggressive ?
It’s not even 1% bw per week for someone
Who is boarder line morbidly obese
If if he loses 20lb he’ll still be over weight
2 reasons:
1) Muscle retention
2) A 1k calorie deficit for someone who does not weigh enough to support it without exercise will likely be miserable
225lb at 5.6
Runs 3 miles a day
At 225 and active its extremely easy
I has missed the 5'6" thing and only saw the 25lbs to lose. At only 5' 6" and at 225, he could lose as much as 75 lbs.
I am going to change opinion on this and agree that he could, if he chose, lose at a rate of 2 lbs per week until he is closer to goal. All depends on what is sustainable for him.3 -
I started cutting down on what I ate properly around 5th March when I was leaving New Zealand as I was starting to feel unhappy with my size. I have always been slim but could see I was gaining weight from eating out sometimes 5/6 nights a week in NZ! I have been a size 10 in clothes since I was around 13 (I'm 23 now) but could see that these were now becoming tight.
I started this app and put my calorie restriction to 1630 calories a day, as that was the reccomended intake for someone of my height and weight (I was approx 10 stone 9/10 and my height is 5'11)
What I hate most is about how bloated I can get, it seemed like for years I would constantly look pregnant by the evening and everythign would feel so much tighter. Restricting how much I ate has improved my bloating SO much.
I could tell by the end of the two week trip that i had coming back from NZ that I had lost a bit of weight, but was surprised when I found out that I had lost nearly 9 pounds in the space of just under 2 and a half weeks. I was incredibly impressed and happy.
Then when lockdown started, I knew I wouldnt be exercising half as much, so I decided to start intermittent fasting, and only eat between the hours of 12pm and 6pm (usually, if i don't eat until 1pm then i allow myself to eat til 7pm etc). I find it easy in the morning as I'm not a breakfast person, and lockdown has let me stay in bed until sometimes 10:30am. I allow myself to have a weak white coffee when I wake up but then I don't eat my lunch until 12pm. I will usually have soup with a pitta bread for lunch, or pitta bread with tuna.
I will then not eat until dinner time, which I usually have at 4:30/5pm due to being so hungry! I will have normal meals and portions such as homemade lasagne or haddock, chicken curry, pizza but instead of fries I make sure that I have a substanital amount of vegetables such as broccoli, sweetcorn and sprouts instead. I do sometimes treat myself to chips but this is probably once a week/2 weeks.
I will eat a dessert, as I have a sweet tooth, and this is my treat for the day. I try eat this before 6pm. I like chocolate fudge sponge, sticky toffee pudding etc. I wont have cream or icecream with the desserts. I work every wednesday as a key worker at a school and let myself have a glass of wine on this night too.
I then have a couple of hours of not eating but if I am feeling peckish I let myself have a nescafe sachet flavoured latte before 8pm but will not eat until the following day at 12pm. Since doing the intermittent fasting on 1630 calories a day, I have lost a further 7 pounds (in 3 weeks).
I am now approx 9 stone 7 and my bmi is healthy. I have dropped a dress size to a size 8 for the first time ever.
I understand that I am not overweight, and have realised that 9stone 6 for someone of my height is the minimal 'healthy weight' so I am planning on stopping to lose weight. It will be hard because I have loved the progress but I think now I am going to concentrate on toning up rather than losing weight.
This may help you if you are wanting to lose some weight, it has definitely helped me and find it a lot easier than fasting or completely cutting a food source out of my diet1 -
Hey team just checking in after a bit, first and foremost thank you everyone who answered it’s great to know that I am here and building rapport with people who have been through it and are super knowledgeable! It’s been going great with the app so far..I have been sticking to the 1 1/2 pounds a week and it’s working slowly but steady. After reading a few of the post I have made the decision of switching to 2lbs a week, really it’s only 200 calories less than what I’m doing now so I thought I’d give it a shot. Also I know 200 would still be overweight for my height but 200 was just a set goal to give the app a whirl I’m planning to lose a bit more but taking it nice and slow. So let me give you guys a run down of what I use to do before. I love running, hiking, just the outdoors in general and I use to run for distance and I could clear 6-10 miles every morning like nothing. Then you know life happens and you get busy, fall in love, get promoted at work which comes with more responsibility (accountant) and you know the rest you don’t make time for yourself anymore. (sob, sob, sob) by the time I knew it a year had passed lol. So I just want to get back to kicking *kitten* on the track and sidewalks. So currently here is my day to day..with all the craziness going on outside I was fortunate enough to be able to work from home so I get up early around 5 AM and run (about 3 miles) then go about my work day and around 1pm I get a little more sun and go in a nice 2 mile walk for lunch and that my exercise in a nutshell for the day. The reason I love the app is because I don’t have to give up anything to eat, don’t get me wrong I don’t snack on pizza and chips all day and I am making better decisions which I think is contributing. Now for the sake of not sounding like a broken record with my exercise I add about another almost 650-700 calories to my calorie count (I take the active calories from my Apple Watch, not sure how accurate that actually is) is should be eating those back right? At the end of the day when I close my log I have about 200 calories left over...the reason I keep asking is because I don’t want to be feeling weak throughout the day (which I have not) but also don’t want to be sabotaging myself as well. Here’s to May being an awesome month will check back at the end of it!!1
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