Is it impossible for me to lose 2lbs a wk?

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CountryMom03
CountryMom03 Posts: 258 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Been trying for the past week to really grasp how MFP works and how it runs. I "think" I have a pretty good handle on it now FINALLY. But, I have a few "What????" moments on some things and was wondering if anyone could explain or help. I know that in order to lose 2lbs a week you need a calorie deficit of 1,000 a day. With MFP settings, it will only allow me to go up to .9lbs a week because it wont let you go under 1200. Does this mean that Im just destined to only be able to lose a 1/2 lb to a 1lb a week? If so, that would mean that its going to take me over a yr to get to where I need to be. Im all for patience and staying the course and slow and steady, but come on, you would think there is someway I could lose 2lb a week and it be safe!!

Me myself, I am 5'0 tall. 35 yo female. Taking my workouts out from the day I am extremely seditary, but I workout on average 30 mins to 60 mins a day 6 days of the week. Now every BMR calculator I go to online (and I have tried about 6 diff ones) all say the same thing for me, it says that my BMR is about 1400. MFP though has me set at 1600! Who is right?

I was eating 1200 a day and I was losing close to 1lb a week..but its very flip floppy for the past 2 mnths. I have lost a total of 9lbs in 2 mnths. I read how important it is to never eat below your BMR or at least 1200 so I have been trying to stay around 1200 when I dont exercise alot that day and eat 1400 on my harsh workout days. What Im wondering though is, is there anyway I can tweak something so that I can lose 2lbs a week? I thought about upping my cals but then I thought, well...then my exercise would just be burning off all those extra cals I was taking in and not actually burning fat thats already on me. How do people have a 1,000 deficit and not go under their BMR or 1200?? And why does MFP have my BMR set so high when every other calculator says lower?

And insight would be of great help!!:) I get so confused very easily when all this math and equations come into play that my mind just wants to shut down and not comprehend anything lol Thanks:)

Btw...I have about 50lbs to lose still

~Carrie~

ETA: On my workout days I usually burn on average about 700 cals, sometimes 600, sometimes between 700 and 800.

Replies

  • mommaPeach72
    mommaPeach72 Posts: 30
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    Bump :)
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,663 Member
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    1% of your body weight is reasonable. 2% is quite challenging and takes utmost discipline. So if you weigh 150lbs. then 1.5 a week is reasonable, but as you lose weight, that percentage will drop.
    This is why it's not reasonable to just look at 2lbs per week because the percentage loss will go up and usually become unattainable.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • DanaDark
    DanaDark Posts: 2,187 Member
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    Depends on how much you weight.

    I always like to imagine it like money really. Most people can get the analogy...

    If you have 300 dollars and someone takes 10, you kinda shrug. Now, if you have 20 dollars and someone takes 5... WHOA buddy...

    With weight loss, you cannot sprint to the finish line.
  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    tbh as it is you're not eating enough.
    Your heavy workout days for example 1400 cals - 700 burned from exercise cals = 700 net cals for the day. Even for a short woman this is too low.
    You're just going to have to be patient and enjoy the journey instead of rushing it and taking unwise shortcuts that will backfire in the long run. Good luck!
  • 4My40th
    4My40th Posts: 22 Member
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    bump
  • WaterBunnie
    WaterBunnie Posts: 1,370 Member
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    Its not a good idea to eat below 1200 but keeping generally active should help you lose more than predicted.
  • CountryMom03
    CountryMom03 Posts: 258 Member
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    I weigh 151 right now. Bazfitness, how much would you suggest I should be eating each day? I could even be ok with 1.5lb loss each week, it just seems that 1lb a week seems so drawn out and long before Ill ever see alot of diff
  • morgansmom02
    morgansmom02 Posts: 1,139 Member
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    1% of your body weight is reasonable. 2% is quite challenging and takes utmost discipline. So if you weigh 150lbs. then 1.5 a week is reasonable, but as you lose weight, that percentage will drop.
    This is why it's not reasonable to just look at 2lbs per week because the percentage loss will go up and usually become unattainable.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

    I never knew that! Thanks!!
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
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    Well, there's always that one guy who went through the year-long medically supervised water-only fast, and lost 276 pounds.

    it's also used for hypertension and diabetes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12470446
    http://dev.healthpromoting.com/sites/default/files/32727203-Medically-Supervised-Water-Only-Fasting-in-the-Treatment-of-Borderline-Hypertension.pdf because those risks go down as body fat % goes down.

    (Basically, if you don't mind losing some lean muscle mass as well, water-only fasting when medically supervised is safe.)
  • bacitracin
    bacitracin Posts: 921 Member
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    a 5'0" female? Why would you want to weigh only 100lbs? My GF is 5'0" and weighs from 120-130 and looks great!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,663 Member
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    Well, there's always that one guy who went through the year-long medically supervised water-only fast, and lost 276 pounds.

    it's also used for hypertension and diabetes. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12470446
    http://dev.healthpromoting.com/sites/default/files/32727203-Medically-Supervised-Water-Only-Fasting-in-the-Treatment-of-Borderline-Hypertension.pdf because those risks go down as body fat % goes down.

    (Basically, if you don't mind losing some lean muscle mass as well, water-only fasting when medically supervised is safe.)
    Wait, I didn't look at any of the links, but 1 year of only water? His metabolism must really suck now.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal/Group FitnessTrainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 28+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
  • bazfitness
    bazfitness Posts: 275 Member
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    I weigh 151 right now. Bazfitness, how much would you suggest I should be eating each day? I could even be ok with 1.5lb loss each week, it just seems that 1lb a week seems so drawn out and long before Ill ever see alot of diff

    This is the problem with a lot of people these days, myself included at times, no patience. If you lose 1 lb a week in 1 year you'll have the figure you want - in half a year, just 6 months - time for Christmas you'll already be in far better shape and will probably be in sort of shape which would qualify you as 'normal'. I don't know what age you are but seriously in a lifetime is that sort of timeframe really that much. I mean you probably took years to get in to your current situation, it's only going to take 1 year to get out of it, you could say you're getting off lightly (The pun is fully intentional :tongue: )

    I don't know all your physical data but I do know 700 net cals unless you have a gastric bypass or some specific medical reason is far too low. I'm wary of making any concrete suggestions as I'm not a professional, just another addicted mfp'er who takes an interests in all this sort of stuff, all we can really do! I'd normally say a net cals of 1200 is too low for most people but at 5'0" and with a low goal weight I think this is probably ok for you, but that's just an opinion.

    Anyway take your time on this. 9lbs in 2 months is perfectly respectable amount to lose. Don't try to copy all the success stories, tbh some of them are not always the best examples to follow. Take your time, do it right and better chance of it working out long term I reckon.
  • CountryMom03
    CountryMom03 Posts: 258 Member
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    My goal weight is somewhere between 100 to 110 actually, I just say 100 to round it off to a even number. I have been that weight before and 100 to 110 looks good on me, at 120 I had some flab going on lol. But I'll cross that bridge when I get to it and decide then:)
    I dont think a water diet would be good lol, seems like the minute you started to eat again you would gain it all back:) I was just wondering if there was a way to tweak things better by eating more, working out more, etc I could lose a bit more weight each week and it still be healthy.
  • fitterpam
    fitterpam Posts: 3,086 Member
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    I guess it depends on your goals. Are you just looking to lose weight or are you looking to get healthy? The reason the 1200 cal number is thrown around is because it is very difficult to get a nutritionally diverse diet with less than that amount. For each person that actual number for metabolism revving differs (for me if I go below 1400, I start to slow so I can't do 1200 cals as a base)so you may have to play. At less than your personal lowest calorie count, you'll find the weight loss slows, you feel worse, your health suffers, your medical numbers decrease (iron, B12, etc.). Most VLC diets (anything less than that will require supplements of some sort.....

    Also you are not factoring in the muscle mass you may be gaining. Most ppl talk about weight loss in terms of fat they want to lose. You've thrown 50lbs out there as your goal. Do you know if that is the amount of excess fat you have? What if you have less than that or if losing 50lbs will give you an unhealthy bf%?

    Just trying to bring up that goals are important and you need to clarify for your own purposes what you are trying to accomplish in terms on concrete goals. Are you looking to get healthy? What is your current BF%? What would you like to be at? What does that translate into lbs? Are your current expectations reasonable. Track your eating for a while then run some reports. Are you hitting your RDAs? Are you exceeding them? Can you cut back furhter?
  • CountryMom03
    CountryMom03 Posts: 258 Member
    Options
    I weigh 151 right now. Bazfitness, how much would you suggest I should be eating each day? I could even be ok with 1.5lb loss each week, it just seems that 1lb a week seems so drawn out and long before Ill ever see alot of diff

    This is the problem with a lot of people these days, myself included at times, no patience. If you lose 1 lb a week in 1 year you'll have the figure you want - in half a year, just 6 months - time for Christmas you'll already be in far better shape and will probably be in sort of shape which would qualify you as 'normal'. I don't know what age you are but seriously in a lifetime is that sort of timeframe really that much. I mean you probably took years to get in to your current situation, it's only going to take 1 year to get out of it, you could say you're getting off lightly (The pun is fully intentional :tongue: )

    I don't know all your physical data but I do know 700 net cals unless you have a gastric bypass or some specific medical reason is far too low. I'm wary of making any concrete suggestions as I'm not a professional, just another addicted mfp'er who takes an interests in all this sort of stuff, all we can really do! I'd normally say a net cals of 1200 is too low for most people but at 5'0" and with a low goal weight I think this is probably ok for you, but that's just an opinion.

    Anyway take your time on this. 9lbs in 2 months is perfectly respectable amount to lose. Don't try to copy all the success stories, tbh some of them are not always the best examples to follow. Take your time, do it right and better chance of it working out long term I reckon.

    Thank you!!:) And yes I know that in this you have to have patience, its just so darn hard sometimes and somedays hits you worse than others:)

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