Can I lose 12 pounds in 54 days?

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  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    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.
  • helaurin
    helaurin Posts: 157 Member
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    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.

    TNoire wrote: »
    helaurin wrote: »

    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 :wink:

    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 =)

  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
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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.
  • helaurin
    helaurin Posts: 157 Member
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    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.


  • wilson10102018
    wilson10102018 Posts: 1,306 Member
    edited March 2021
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    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.

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