Is losing 10+ lbs a month a safe, realistic goal?

I think you can do this. It doesn't seem dangerous at all. As long as you eat right and exercise you should have no problem reaching this goal. Make exercising fun and enjoyable. It really helps when it doesn't seem like your even working out. Good Luck! (And in case is does become too much, just slow down and pace yourself.)

I started at 201 and hit the 10lb mark yesterday. Took me 16 days. So I think it is doable. And you can look at my food diary. I am not starving myself by any means! lol Im sure my weight loss will slow down though. I will be happy with between 5-8 lbs a month!

About 3 yrs ago..I was the weight I am now and lost 20lbs (180lbs to 160lbs...I am 5ft10) in a month just by changing my food (I was eating really bad and drinking beer lol) and not exercising.... I went from that to going to the gym 5 times a week and eating a lot of chicken and avoiding "bad" foods. I did feel a little weak after the first month, so slowed down..but I didn't die or end up at the hospital and I certainly didn't starve myself lol! I think if you maintain a good nutrition and exercise you can loose 10lbs a month..or close to that!! Just make sure you eat properly..don't skip meals to try and loose more...that's when it can become dangerous because you're not giving your body the energy it needs.

I'm back to 184.. so I'm in the same boat as you..want to loose about 30-40 lbs by June...I'm going to try it again (I started only 3 days ago and already lost a pound!)

Good luck!

I started at 201 and hit the 10lb mark yesterday. Took me 16 days. So I think it is doable. And you can look at my food diary. I am not starving myself by any means! lol Im sure my weight loss will slow down though. I will be happy with between 5-8 lbs a month!

The first 10 lbs are always easy. Most of it is actually water weight.


10 lbs a month is very difficult considering you aren't very far from your goal. In reality, you want to aim for 1 lb per week. I will note, since it's bikini season you care about, stop worrying about weight, and start working on body recomposition. This is where you reduce body fat. And in fact, this is what will make you look amazing in a bathing suit. Weight is really meaningless as it doesn't mean you will look better (ever hear of skinny fat?) and below is an example of what I mean. If you work on lifting heavy (3 days a week) and do cardio (3 days a week) while maintaining a small caloric deficit and eat clean, you can shed the inches off and work in building muscle. And since muscle burns fat, the more you have the better off your body will be. I don't have much to lose, but I have been able to lose 1% body fat a month (doing p90x or p90x2) but I started with 18% and now have about 12%. For people who have more to lose, it will come off quicker.

I would look at the second link below and put your information in there and post your results. You essentially need to figure out your activity level and subtract 20% or about 500 calories. I generally add my activity into the calculation so you don't have to worry about eating back calories. Also, look to eat 1g of protein per lean body mass or .8g of protein per lb of weight (about 150g of protein) and .35 g of fat per lb and the rest can be carbs. You can adjust your ratio's (macro') after you figure out your caloric needs by using that site.



http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/392784-skinny-fat-vs-fit-photo?hl=skinny+fat&page=2#posts-5441852

http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/

Btw, when you do recomposition you will lose weight.

yes. as long as you do it through exercise and proper diet, it's fine and i've seen people lose that much in a week, so it's fine.

The closer you get to your goal weight, the harder it will come off. I have lost close to 40 pounds since March, 2011 and now that I only have 10-15 pds to go it is slowly coming off. I am not so worried about my weight anymore as I am worried about toning my body!! Right now, I am losing about 2 pds a month if that, but I am losing the inches. Good luck to you.

My current weight is 194. Ugh, I hate saying that. My goal is to lose 44+ lbs by June. Is this realistic and/or safe? I don't absolutely HAVE to lose that much, but I want that to be my goal. Usually by June, we start taking our boat out every weekend. That's bikini baring time... I really want to get my *kitten* in gear, but I don't want to set myself up for an unreachable goal. Any thoughts? I see so many people succeeding and I would love to know some tips!

3 good strong weight lifting sessions each week. You should feel sore the next day. Major muscle groups, meaning, don't waste time on triceps or such. Biggest muscles burn more fat all day more than little ones, build up the biggest first.

2 good cardio sessions with some level of sprint intervals in it, be that treadmill, elliptical, Spin bike, or outdoors.

1 long cardio session of 2 hrs. To use those big muscles now for extended periods of time.

1 good rest day. Good sleep. Good food.

Confirm the BMR from MFP or other site mentioned. Always have net calories above this slighly, and have decent estimates of exercise calories, so as not to eat back more than needed.

On the 6th week in, take a whole week off, only walk every day for an hour. Your body will need a rest. If you find effort to keep the same pace or lift the same weight has degraded by the 5th week, make that your rest week.
You will come back with stronger muscles and improved system. And still eating at BMR level still has you at a deficit for daily calories, so don't worry.

Did 42lbs in 4 months doing this.

You may be thinking, why am I doing all this exercise to just eat back those calories I'm burning?
Because the exercise is for getting in shape, trim, not so much about the weight loss, though the great benefit is, the stronger muscle will raise your metabolism and keep it burning along, as long as you don't underfeed it.

Your major weight loss is coming from making a calorie deficit to what would be your normal maintenance calories. Those activities that are pretty low key compared to exercise, can be fed by stored body fat mostly. You don't need to feed those while you are losing. Unlike the need to feed the exercise.

So, increase that light daily activity too. Park farther, more stairs, up at work (when the smokers go out, you go walk), ect.