Is 2lbs a week a realistic weight loss goal?

That's a stretch goal. Personally I shoot for 1 lb a week, and if I get more - great! But I also make sure I net at least 1000 calories a day. That means between BMR and exercise I need to burn 2000 daily in order to get my 1000 net. (My goal is set at 1100 daily, so I try to be within 100 calories.

Personally I find a 1000 calorie deficit feels like such a huge mountain to climb & it sorta sets you up for failure.

I would set myself for the 1lbs a week loss & then eat somewhere between the suggested calories & the number -500 ... so if you set yourself up as 1 lb loss per week & MFP tells you to eat oh lets say 1600 cals a day then try to eat between 1200-1600 cals but don't beat yourself up if you're eating close to the 1600 range cause you'll still lose that pound per week

I know 1 pound per week sounds horrible but it's not soo bad.. if you think of it this way.. 9 months to gain baby weight so 9 x 4 weeks = 36... in 9 months you'd be 36 pounds down. Lets see... in 3 years you've lost 10.. i'd take that pound per week!!!

I would try and aim for 1 lb a week as well and think that if you are consistent with your goal, in a year, you would lose 52 lbs in total (give or take a few lbs). I think a lot of us want a quick fix to our weight loss goals, but realistically, I think we've all tried and done that before and failed. I think focusing on being healthy by exercising and eating healthier foods (cutting down on the fats) will get you to your goal in a better way. Also, be kind to yourself and don't deprive yourself of the good food once in a while. If you work hard throughout the week, you deserve a little treat! This kind of mentality has helped me in my goals so far because I find that if I don't deprive myself of a little tasty treat, I don't end up obsessing over it and thinking about it the whole day - only to eat lots of it at night, which is so bad. I have a long way to go. Good luck with your goals!

1-2% of your body weight is reasonable. Anything above that would usually be really taxing on the body.

Can you please explain. Is that per month or week? 2% of my weight is 5.4 so that sounds very high for weekly loss -- does it?

The great thing about 1 lb per week is you will not feel deprived!! You will find it manageable, you will see results, it's a maintainable way to live for a long time. MfP will continue to drop your daily calorie allowance every time you lose more than 10 lbs & if you aim for 1 you usually end up losing a bit more anyway

Are you tired of giving it all you got for a few days/weeks to find you're back to the same place once you lose that initial oomph? Yah I did that like about 100 times.. It wasn't till I learned you take normal little steps everyday & just keep going at it does it KEEP coming off! Set yourself up for what you can do everyday without tons of effort cause you may feel great & focused right now but when you have a ****ty day or even just a busy day & you can't give it all you have then at least youve got portion sizes & pretty accurate calorie counts in your head (& a bunch other good habits you'll learn) & you will automatically use that without thinking too much!! That's the whole secret to this entire nasty beast!!!

So set yourself up for ongoing success!!

I read an interesting article in a bicycling magazine once that stated: your weekly loss should reflect how much weight you have left to lose.

I'm not sure on the details, but it recommended something like:

50+ - 5/week
40 - 4/week
30 - 3/week
20 - 2/week
10 - 1week
5 - 0.5/week

That way, you'll get down to your goal faster, but when you do reach your goal, you've slowly moved to a more sustainable calorie intake, so you don't have that "rebound" like you normally would.

That being said, I still wouldn't recommend trying to lose 5/week.

Another thing I've read which I think is a great idea, is only make your goal a 10% weight loss, and do it in steps. It'll be easier to achieve over time, and is healthier if you don't lose all your weight at once. Once you've lost 10, maintain it for a couple of weeks, then go for another 10%.