Can I lose 12 pounds in 54 days?
helaurin
Posts: 157 Member
Let's say I need to lose 12 pounds in the next 54 days (roughly 7.5 weeks). I'd need to consistently lose a little more than 1.5 pounds per week. If one goes by the concept of 3,500 calories = 1 pound, then I need to create a calorie deficit of about 780 calories per day.
Can I manage that just by diet & exercise?
Here's where I'm at:
Female
Nearly 59 years old
Short (5' 0")
Desk job, so mostly sedentary, working full-time. When not working, I tend to be doing a lot of driving of a child to/from a ton of appointments. So exercise is often something I have to "sneak" in or do more on weekends.
Exercise options are limited due to psoriatic arthritis, herniated discs in lower back and joint damage. I literally can't run, nor will my knee joints tolerate the rotational movement associated with bike riding.
I do have access to an elliptical and a treadmill. I find the elliptical is easier on my knees than the treadmill.
Most calorie calculators say that to just maintain my weight (not lose), that I should be eating about 1,400 calories per day.
I get that I can't just "not eat" the calories to create the calorie deficit, because that would put my calorie intake at an unsafe level. (1,400 minus 780 = 620 calories).
If 1,200 is considered the bottom "safe" level for calorie intake, which accounts for 200 calories of the deficit to be created, that still leaves 580 more calories I need to somehow burn. Looking at my Fitbit, I see that I took about 8,000 steps today, which got me about 400 calories burned. Using that as a basis, is it reasonable then to assume that if I could get to about 12,000 steps a day with a 1,200 calorie intake, that I MIGHT be able to reach that weight loss goal by day 54?
So yeah, I know this is going to be odd.... If I got this right..... to lose 12 pounds, I need to reduce my calorie intake to 1,200 per day and up my exercise to 12,000 steps per day in order to make my goal weight in the desired time.
Am I missing anything?
Can I manage that just by diet & exercise?
Here's where I'm at:
Female
Nearly 59 years old
Short (5' 0")
Desk job, so mostly sedentary, working full-time. When not working, I tend to be doing a lot of driving of a child to/from a ton of appointments. So exercise is often something I have to "sneak" in or do more on weekends.
Exercise options are limited due to psoriatic arthritis, herniated discs in lower back and joint damage. I literally can't run, nor will my knee joints tolerate the rotational movement associated with bike riding.
I do have access to an elliptical and a treadmill. I find the elliptical is easier on my knees than the treadmill.
Most calorie calculators say that to just maintain my weight (not lose), that I should be eating about 1,400 calories per day.
I get that I can't just "not eat" the calories to create the calorie deficit, because that would put my calorie intake at an unsafe level. (1,400 minus 780 = 620 calories).
If 1,200 is considered the bottom "safe" level for calorie intake, which accounts for 200 calories of the deficit to be created, that still leaves 580 more calories I need to somehow burn. Looking at my Fitbit, I see that I took about 8,000 steps today, which got me about 400 calories burned. Using that as a basis, is it reasonable then to assume that if I could get to about 12,000 steps a day with a 1,200 calorie intake, that I MIGHT be able to reach that weight loss goal by day 54?
So yeah, I know this is going to be odd.... If I got this right..... to lose 12 pounds, I need to reduce my calorie intake to 1,200 per day and up my exercise to 12,000 steps per day in order to make my goal weight in the desired time.
Am I missing anything?
1
Replies
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Why 12 and in 54 days?
A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
2 -
Basically, it boils down to a weight loss bet. I wasn't able to focus on diet/exercise as much as I should have been during the past couple of months, and now it's coming down to the wire as to whether or not it's even going to be possible.0
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How much do you currently weigh?1
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159 currently1
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It's not possible. I hope you're not losing anything big in the bet1
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The good news is, now is a great time to focus on life long habits, rather than extreme measures to pursue unrealistic goals.1
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Accept losing the bet.
Eating 1200 cals and getting in 1200 steps will leave you with a too low calorie intake.
Low cals will lead to nutritional deficiencies, no matter how well you try to eat or supliment with vitamins etc.
Nutritional deficiencies, especially as a post menopausal woman can cause a number of problems, hair loss, brittle nails, etc. Health issues can also happen, bone and muscle loss come to mind as well as brain fog.
Think of how you want to enjoy playing with that grandchild (?) in years to come and how compromising your health may mean you can only sit on the sidelines.
Just not worth the bet in my opinion.
I’m older than you and wouldn’t have considered such an extreme plan.
Cheers, h.
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You can increase your odds through glycogen/water depletion with a ketogenic diet. I am pretty lean and even i can lose 5 lbs of water weight. Just put carbs at 20-30g daily, with moderate protein and fats, and 3000-5000mg of sodium. That should take care of some weight.
And still runa deficit and use a food scale for accuracy.2 -
Psu has a point about glycogen/water depletion: You probably wouldn't need to lose the whole 12 pounds as fat. But I still agree with haitch, not worth the health risk.
At about your age & weight (59, somewhere in 150s pounds), I accidentally lost weight too fast for a while (because MFP underestimates my calorie needs, a somewhat rare thing). It was Not A Good Thing, even though I corrected quickly once I realized.1 -
middlehaitch wrote: »Accept losing the bet.
Eating 1200 cals and getting in 1200 steps will leave you with a too low calorie intake.
Low cals will lead to nutritional deficiencies, no matter how well you try to eat or supliment with vitamins etc.
Nutritional deficiencies, especially as a post menopausal woman can cause a number of problems, hair loss, brittle nails, etc. Health issues can also happen, bone and muscle loss come to mind as well as brain fog.
Think of how you want to enjoy playing with that grandchild (?) in years to come and how compromising your health may mean you can only sit on the sidelines.
Just not worth the bet in my opinion.
I’m older than you and wouldn’t have considered such an extreme plan.
Cheers, h.
Yep, that's what I was wondering, about the low calorie intake. I get that 1,200 calories is generally considered the minimum, but wasn't sure if that's the minimum net calories (after exercise) or just minimum intake (before considering exercise).
Not post menopausal yet. No signs of even being pre-menopausal. Doc says not to worry, I'm only turning 59 next month.
Yes, I adopted my eldest grandchild, so she's both my legal child and my biological grandchild. The youngest grandchild (age 4) is with her mother. I already find myself sometimes sitting on the sidelines for certain activities, due to the psoriatic arthritis and joint damage.
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Psu has a point about glycogen/water depletion: You probably wouldn't need to lose the whole 12 pounds as fat. But I still agree with haitch, not worth the health risk.
At about your age & weight (59, somewhere in 150s pounds), I accidentally lost weight too fast for a while (because MFP underestimates my calorie needs, a somewhat rare thing). It was Not A Good Thing, even though I corrected quickly once I realized.
It's hard for me to imagine anyone losing weight too fast.... it's never been easy for me at all.0 -
You can increase your odds through glycogen/water depletion with a ketogenic diet. I am pretty lean and even i can lose 5 lbs of water weight. Just put carbs at 20-30g daily, with moderate protein and fats, and 3000-5000mg of sodium. That should take care of some weight.
And still runa deficit and use a food scale for accuracy.
I do use a nutritional food scale - I know that eyeballing my food doesn't work well (at least not for me). That 3,000 to 5,000mg of sodium seems high? Wouldn't more sodium equal more water retention?
I'm a little (or a lot) confused.... I thought ketogenic diets were supposed to be high on the fat, medium on the protein and extremely low on carbs?1 -
If you have a Fitbit it tells you how much you burn every day
It can be done
I lose about 10-15lbs in a month when I kick *kitten* enough
I burn on average sitting on my butt 2200-2400 calories a day
If I toss in house cleaning and a workout and keeping busy I can easily burn more than 3000
The smaller and less you weigh the less you will burn per day.
You gotta weigh all your food
Usually how it goes is depending on how many calories you burn a day you eat about 1000 less but never under 1200 for females, 1800 for males because you won't be eating enough.
Progress is 80% what you eat, 20% comes from workouts
Building muscle helps burn more fat.
Drink your water and get stepping
You can do it!
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I find that if I eat more than 1,500 calories a day, I either gain weight or maintain where I'm at. That's with me working (sitting), but also doing some household tasks, such as taking 3 dogs out, cleaning crates, refilling bowls, giving an elderly dog his medicine, feeding the rabbit, fish, cleaning the cat litterbox and feeding them, etc. I can do all that in about 600-700 steps, so it's not a lot of activity, but does take a bit of time.
I have no idea how you can burn 2,200 - 2,400 calories a day sitting on your butt, as you put it... like I said, I burn about 1,400 on a "normal" day.
However, I'm not going to give up. I know that if I do an hour walk, I can burn about 300 calories. And I know I need to drink more water, so that may help if I focus on that more.2 -
You can increase your odds through glycogen/water depletion with a ketogenic diet. I am pretty lean and even i can lose 5 lbs of water weight. Just put carbs at 20-30g daily, with moderate protein and fats, and 3000-5000mg of sodium. That should take care of some weight.
And still runa deficit and use a food scale for accuracy.
I do use a nutritional food scale - I know that eyeballing my food doesn't work well (at least not for me). That 3,000 to 5,000mg of sodium seems high? Wouldn't more sodium equal more water retention?
I'm a little (or a lot) confused.... I thought ketogenic diets were supposed to be high on the fat, medium on the protein and extremely low on carbs?
Sodium doesn't work the same on ketogenic diets. You deplete glycogen/water from your muscles, which ends up reducing insulin and and electrolytes levels. You need high sodium to ensure balanced electrolytes and to prevent cramping.
The only thing needed to produce ketones and be ketogenic is carb restriction. I reduce my fats a bit and increase protein as protein is more important. It also satiates people more. There are actually several variations of ketogenic. The one your thinking is probably a modified ketogenic diet. For that one, you consume 5-10% of calories from calories, 20-30% protein and the rest fats with 3000mg sodium at least.
I run a cyclical ketogenic diet which incorporates carb refeeds every 12 days for 2 days to help aid gym performance.
To my point though, i just came back from vacation on Monday night. Tuesday morning I was 172.3. This morning i am 165.9. This is a way to help cheat the scale.
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I have no idea how you can burn 2,200 - 2,400 calories a day sitting on your butt, as you put it... like I said, I burn about 1,400 on a "normal" day.
@helaurin not sure how either but fitbit says I do!
Remember a person who weighs more burns more even just sitting around.
I do spend a lot of my time at a desk myself typing/gaming/doing art and whatever
I scoop litter boxes and clean the house and cook and meal prep a lot too
I have even been working on spring cleaning projects
I average around 5000-6500 steps on a lazy day when I don't workout
My heart rate averages 85-110 when I am just sitting around relaxing
This also depends on your calorie burn
When I workout my HR can go from 110-180 depending on what I am doing
I do Zumba a lot
So my steps a day can go from 7500-10,000+ in a day on those days
how I also get mega calorie burns when I do a workout
I am almost 230lbs now
and I've lost almost 230lbs
no surgery just kickin applesauce
Edit: Just checked Fitbit says I spend about 80% of my day in fat burn mode, so that could have something to do with it too
1 -
If you have a Fitbit it tells you how much you burn every day
It can be done
I lose about 10-15lbs in a month when I kick *kitten* enough
I burn on average sitting on my butt 2200-2400 calories a day
If I toss in house cleaning and a workout and keeping busy I can easily burn more than 3000
The smaller and less you weigh the less you will burn per day.
You gotta weigh all your food
Usually how it goes is depending on how many calories you burn a day you eat about 1000 less but never under 1200 for females, 1800 for males because you won't be eating enough.
Progress is 80% what you eat, 20% comes from workouts
Building muscle helps burn more fat.
Drink your water and get stepping
You can do it!
The burns aren't true even if a piece of tech says so. Fitbit and all other trackers estimate, and these can be widely off in some people. Also, weight and gender play a huge role in how much energy your body burns when 'sitting in the butt'.6 -
I have no idea how you can burn 2,200 - 2,400 calories a day sitting on your butt, as you put it... like I said, I burn about 1,400 on a "normal" day.
@helaurin not sure how either but fitbit says I do!
Remember a person who weighs more burns more even just sitting around.
I do spend a lot of my time at a desk myself typing/gaming/doing art and whatever
I scoop litter boxes and clean the house and cook and meal prep a lot too
I have even been working on spring cleaning projects
I average around 5000-6500 steps on a lazy day when I don't workout
My heart rate averages 85-110 when I am just sitting around relaxing
This also depends on your calorie burn
When I workout my HR can go from 110-180 depending on what I am doing
I do Zumba a lot
So my steps a day can go from 7500-10,000+ in a day on those days
how I also get mega calorie burns when I do a workout
I am almost 230lbs now
and I've lost almost 230lbs
no surgery just kickin applesauce
Edit: Just checked Fitbit says I spend about 80% of my day in fat burn mode, so that could have something to do with it too
If your Fitbit is telling you that you're in "fat burn" mode when you're reading, then you don't want to rely on the calorie burn estimates from that device. Having a high resting heart rate isn't an indicator that you're burning hundreds of calories more than someone else for the same activity.
A Fitbit is just using data to estimate how many calories you're burning. Like any tool, it's not infallible. You do burn more calories through daily activity when you weigh more, but you've also got to use common sense. It's just true just because Fitbit displays it.6 -
I have no idea how you can burn 2,200 - 2,400 calories a day sitting on your butt, as you put it... like I said, I burn about 1,400 on a "normal" day.
@helaurin not sure how either but fitbit says I do!
Remember a person who weighs more burns more even just sitting around.
I do spend a lot of my time at a desk myself typing/gaming/doing art and whatever
I scoop litter boxes and clean the house and cook and meal prep a lot too
I have even been working on spring cleaning projects
I average around 5000-6500 steps on a lazy day when I don't workout
My heart rate averages 85-110 when I am just sitting around relaxing
This also depends on your calorie burn
When I workout my HR can go from 110-180 depending on what I am doing
I do Zumba a lot
So my steps a day can go from 7500-10,000+ in a day on those days
how I also get mega calorie burns when I do a workout
I am almost 230lbs now
and I've lost almost 230lbs
no surgery just kickin applesauce
Edit: Just checked Fitbit says I spend about 80% of my day in fat burn mode, so that could have something to do with it too
The bold is a great reason for you NOT to use heart rate as a way of guessing calories.
Am I burning half the calories compared to you because my resting HR is 48?
Don't confuse counting heartbeats with counting calories - two very different things.9 -
If 1400 is your non-exercise maintenance...just you going about your day to day, then this would suggest that you do not have the capacity for that rapid of weight loss. Let's say you exercise and burn 400 calories extra in a day...that would put your TDEE (maintenance with total activity including exercise) at 1800 calories...you're still not quite there on 1200 calories per day which is pretty much bottom of the barrel.
Basically, you don't have the fat stores or a high enough TDEE to support rapid fat loss without dropping to unsafe calorie levels.
To add to that, weight loss isn't a linear process. Even if you're doing everything "right", you're not going to lose 1.5 Lbs week to week...you'll have weeks with smaller losses, bigger losses, no losses, and sometimes gains due to normal body weight fluctuations. This is why having a timed deadline to reach a weight loss target is generally not a great idea...weight loss just doesn't happen that way.1 -
Wow!
I have a Fitbit too. When I am "just sitting around" - like typing, working on my laptop, etc. - my heart rate goes up to about 62-65 bpm.... nowhere near your 85-110. My typical resting heart rate is in the mid-upper 50's, and when it's in my upper ranges (90-110) - I'm usually huffing and puffing about as fast as I can go on an elliptical or trying to trudge up a hill made slippery from ice and half-melted snow (without falling on my face, of course).
Depending on which scale I step on (I have three, don't ask), this morning I weighed either 154.5, 159.4, or 159.6 lbs. Literally stepped from one to the other, same clothing, etc. I'm thinking the 159.4 - 159.6 is the more realistic from this morning. My goal is 148 lbs by April 26th.
I have no idea how you can burn 2,200 - 2,400 calories a day sitting on your butt, as you put it... like I said, I burn about 1,400 on a "normal" day.
@helaurin not sure how either but fitbit says I do!
Remember a person who weighs more burns more even just sitting around.
I do spend a lot of my time at a desk myself typing/gaming/doing art and whatever
I scoop litter boxes and clean the house and cook and meal prep a lot too
I have even been working on spring cleaning projects
I average around 5000-6500 steps on a lazy day when I don't workout
My heart rate averages 85-110 when I am just sitting around relaxing
This also depends on your calorie burn
When I workout my HR can go from 110-180 depending on what I am doing
I do Zumba a lot
So my steps a day can go from 7500-10,000+ in a day on those days
how I also get mega calorie burns when I do a workout
I am almost 230lbs now
and I've lost almost 230lbs
no surgery just kickin applesauce
Edit: Just checked Fitbit says I spend about 80% of my day in fat burn mode, so that could have something to do with it too
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Its this kind of antics that obscure the whole point of calorie counting. This is not a sacrifice. Its a plan to enjoy eating, but just withing parameters. And, the parameters don't come from a "bet." They come from science.2
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I want to read what she is reading to get her HR up that high!
Or maybe not, lately it seems to be the news that gets me worked up and I just don't need any more of that kind of racing HR.5 -
wilson10102018 wrote: »Its this kind of antics that obscure the whole point of calorie counting. This is not a sacrifice. Its a plan to enjoy eating, but just withing parameters. And, the parameters don't come from a "bet." They come from science.
Sure, and I am asking if it is scientifically reasonable or possible to reach a particular weight by a particular date. The bet is a tool I use to help to try to keep me focused and motivated.
I struggle with trying to ignore the foods that my family chooses to eat around me, such as butter-and-syrup slathered slices of thick-sliced french toast fried in butter, double quarter pounders (740 calories) and large fries (490) from McDonalds, stuffed hash browns, vanilla milk shakes, etc. - and try (not always successfully) to eat healthier options. I'm trying to carefully increase my physical activity without triggering a flareup of my psoriatic arthritis as well.
From a scientific viewpoint, I am trying to eat healthier, reduce calorie intake, and increase calorie expenditure. I just don't know mathematically if it could be possible to reach 148 pounds by April 26th or not.
Using a typical calorie/weight calculator, if I were to set my maintenance calorie level to what my ideal goal weight would be for me by age, gender, height and activity level, I shouldn't be eating more than 1,275 calories in a day. And frankly, even that might be too high. I'm generally averaging between 1,100 - 1,300 calories a day now, and the weight really isn't coming off.
3 -
Perhaps my comment came off a bit harsh. Sorry.
But, a bet for a difficult or maybe impossible goal will not really help. What makes sense is to ease into a realistic calorie reduction program including the items of food that you enjoy. Pay off the bet and set your sights on 1 pound every 10-14 days which is about a 350 calorie per day reduction from your maintenance level. And, if you can afford to do so, escalate the quality of the food that you do eat. Finally, note the alternatives for those items that are too calorie dense for your food plan. For example, oven baked Ore Ida Golden Fries which I really like are 1.1 calories per gram. Use powdered salt like they use for nuts and popcorn. Even the equivalent of McD large only gets you to 150 calories and the ketchup is not really that dense.
Relax and take control. A bet puts you on defense. Go on offense.
1
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