Why Decrease Weekly Goals when You Have Less to Lose?

hedwighigh
hedwighigh Posts: 299
in Health and Weight Loss
Alright, I've read that if you've got more than 75 pounds to lose then set it to about 2 pounds a week. Then as you have less to lose, a person should decrease the pounds per week to lose.

So I have about 10-15 pounds to lose and "people" say to decrease my goal further to half a pound per week. Why is this? I have it set on maintenance calories and watch my weekly calorie intake so that I can zigzag my calories if I want but I'm still under maintenance by around 3500 calories a week.

Should I increase this so that I'm set for losing a half pound? Why?

I don't know if this information would be helpful but I do workout for about an hour, five times a week. This consists of 6 Week Six-Pack and Killer Buns and Thighs, which is pretty much circuit training.

Replies

  • ctraill
    ctraill Posts: 89 Member
    I don't have any advice re: your specific question (and I agree, that advice does seem counter-intuitive) but I just wanted to say congratulations on all your weight loss!
  • hedwighigh
    hedwighigh Posts: 299
    I don't have any advice re: your specific question (and I agree, that advice does seem counter-intuitive) but I just wanted to say congratulations on all your weight loss!

    Thank you! :happy:
  • hedwighigh
    hedwighigh Posts: 299
    Bump?
  • Glucocorticoid
    Glucocorticoid Posts: 867 Member
    One reason is that you have a greater chance of LBM loss when you have less to lose. LBM loss is less of a concern when you are significantly overfat.
    Although the correct manipulations in your diet/exercise can help against LBM loss.
  • TurtleTape
    TurtleTape Posts: 254 Member
    Thinking it through logically: When you're closer to your goal weight you'll naturally lose less. The closer you are to your goal weight the lower your required calories are and the less room you have for deficit. The closer you are to your goal weight the closer you are to moving into maintenance. It just makes sense to lower your deficit when you get closer. It'll make the transition easier and preemptively stop disappointments from lack of loss.
  • wackyfunster
    wackyfunster Posts: 944 Member
    Rate at which you can lose fat decreases as your body fat % decreases. At higher BF comp, lots of fatty acids are available in the blood stream, and will be gradually/automagically replenished from body fat stores. This makes fat loss very easy. Available fatty acids in the blood drop substantially by the time you hit <20% body fat, making fat loss quite a bit slower. At that point, a 2 pound/week deficit is likely to result in muscle loss as well, decreasing BMR and making future fat loss more difficult. At around 8-10%, there are virtually no fatty acids available in the bloodstream, so all fat loss needs to come from mobilized body fat stores, leading to even slower fat loss.

    With a "really good" regimen involving intermittent fasting, carb and calorie cycling, and strict macronutrient intake, you can still drop a LOT of fat at lower body fat levels without losing muscle (based on my experience, something like a pound a week down to around 8-10% and half a pound a week after that for a guy). For less OCD people, half that is probably reasonable. Not sure exactly how that translates for women, but I think you can probably substitute 15-18% for 8-10 and <15% for <8%.
  • hedwighigh
    hedwighigh Posts: 299
    Hmmm, I'm sorry. I understand how that would mean that I would start losing more muscle and I definitely do not want that cause my main goal is to reach 15-18% BF and the last time I checked, I was 21.8%.

    Should I continue working out and just do a .5 pound loss a week? I would love to reach 145 but I don't know if that is possible anymore cause I've toned up quite a bit and tend to gain muscle pretty easily it seems. I really want to fuel my workouts and I've just recently started working out an hour five times a week. About a two weeks ago I was just doing 30 minutes, five times a week. I've been rather tired the last couple of days too, I'm not positive if this is because I'm not eating enough or if it's just cause I'm not sleeping enough though.

    I want to lose fat which is why I've been paying more attention to my tape measure rather than my scale. I have a feeling that I might weigh 145 if I didn't work out but then I'd be "skinny fat" instead.
  • Glucocorticoid
    Glucocorticoid Posts: 867 Member
    Hmmm, I'm sorry. I understand how that would mean that I would start losing more muscle and I definitely do not want that cause my main goal is to reach 15-18% BF and the last time I checked, I was 21.8%.

    Should I continue working out and just do a .5 pound loss a week? I would love to reach 145 but I don't know if that is possible anymore cause I've toned up quite a bit and tend to gain muscle pretty easily it seems. I really want to fuel my workouts and I've just recently started working out an hour five times a week. About a two weeks ago I was just doing 30 minutes, five times a week. I've been rather tired the last couple of days too, I'm not positive if this is because I'm not eating enough or if it's just cause I'm not sleeping enough though.

    I want to lose fat which is why I've been paying more attention to my tape measure rather than my scale. I have a feeling that I might weigh 145 if I didn't work out but then I'd be "skinny fat" instead.

    Based on the limited information you've provided, the biggest hindrance I see toward your goal is the fact that you are solely doing circuit training.
  • wackyfunster
    wackyfunster Posts: 944 Member
    Hmmm, I'm sorry. I understand how that would mean that I would start losing more muscle and I definitely do not want that cause my main goal is to reach 15-18% BF and the last time I checked, I was 21.8%.

    Should I continue working out and just do a .5 pound loss a week? I would love to reach 145 but I don't know if that is possible anymore cause I've toned up quite a bit and tend to gain muscle pretty easily it seems. I really want to fuel my workouts and I've just recently started working out an hour five times a week. About a two weeks ago I was just doing 30 minutes, five times a week. I've been rather tired the last couple of days too, I'm not positive if this is because I'm not eating enough or if it's just cause I'm not sleeping enough though.

    I want to lose fat which is why I've been paying more attention to my tape measure rather than my scale. I have a feeling that I might weigh 145 if I didn't work out but then I'd be "skinny fat" instead.
    Sounds like you're doing really good! 15-18 is pretty low for a woman, so you may want to start incorporating intermittent fasting (it's really easy for women, since you have such great leptin levels compared to men)... if you want the simplest possible protocol, just stick with your current diet, and all you have to do is restrict your eating to a 10 hour window each day (sleeping counts as fasting). After about 12 hours fasted, your body is pulling almost all of your expenditures from body fat, so you get basically a free extra ~200 or so calories of fat loss a day, without having to do anything else.

    Once I hit about 12% body fat (about the level in my profile pic) I found it REALLY hard to keep losing fat. Once I started doing IF, I dropped to ~8% very quickly, and am now around 7%. I only work out 3 hours a week (heavy weight training), which is much less than what I was doing before starting IF (went from 4-day split 4-on 1-off to 3 days a week O_o), and am getting even better results.

    If you want a more advanced protocol, LeanGains and Eat-Stop-Eat are popular. I personally like LeanGains, but you have to be a little OCD to enjoy it I think. OTOH I have about a dozen friends/family who have used the protocol and got great results, ranging from 20-something already fit guys to a friend with Hashimoto's (serious thyroid disorder), to a 50-something woman, so it does seem to work for pretty much everyone.

    Note: Just had a baby (yay!), so my journal should be more or less ignored at this point, as I am just eating whatever I feel like under TDEE right now until I start sleeping more than a couple hours a day :)
  • sunshine83777
    sunshine83777 Posts: 80
    Bump

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