I know that when I signed up, my center told me that I could expect to lose between 3 to 5 lbs a week, and I've never hit that except for maybe the first week.

Has anyone lost this much in a week?

I don't do MRC but I do medifast and besides the first week I haven't lost 5 lbs (they promise 2-5 lbs), since then I'm averaging 1.5-2 lbs a week- I guess all you can do is keep going- a loss is better than a gain.

I have lost anywhere from nothing to 6 pounds in a week (not counting the first week...that is all water weight). I average 2.5 I think. The center keeps up with your weekly average...you can ask them for that.

2.5-4 lbs per week should be completely expected, at least at start for the first 2-4 months, from my experience.

I've been averaging 3.9 pounds per week, but I've slowed down tremendously. It feels like the first 15 came off in a breeze, but the next 5 took about 3.5 weeks to drop.
Does anyone know if it gets more difficult for the body to lose as I get closer to goal?

Its not necessarily more difficult, but it is different.

For instance, my 209 lb starting out body needed, let's say, 2300 calories to do its daily function. So my MRC diet of about 1000 a day was a big impact, leaving me deficit of 1300 or so calories a day..resulting a pound of loss every 2-3 days, faster if I excercised. Now, my 175 pound body only needs 1750 to function daily...so I'm only deficit 750 calories a day....almost half. So I'm losing slower because my deficit is smaller.

My center explained this to me and told me if I was super concerned about the slower loss, to really watch my calories as I choose foods. For instance, ounce for ounce, some protiens are fewer calories...so only eat those (chicken as opposed to cottage cheese). Or some fruits are lower in calorie (apple vs. peaches), so when I choose a fruit, choose a lower calorie one to cut down on some calories while still eating the same amount of food. Also, they told me to cut my creamies to 1-2 a week rather than one per day, as creamies have more calories.

Now, this was only if I was unhappy with my losses, which I'm not yet...so I'm not sweating it. As long as I'm losing 1-2 pounds a week...I am happy with it.

Hope that helps.

PS. I made up those calories...not sure what my body needs now (or before) but I do know its less now that there is less of me!

Razorback- You completely made sense to me! I never really understood what it took to lose weight, or how eating less calories created the weight loss. Like I knew it, but it just didn't click until now lol. Thanks!

Excellent info! Thanks so much! I'll def. keep that in mind as I get closer to goal.

I average right around 2 lbs a week (week 14 for me). In December I went through a 3 week plateau. But I lost 4.5 lbs then 2 lbs. the same week after the plateau. I can't seem to find a rhyme or reason for more weight loss one week vs. another. As with Teacherlady, I find that if I eat only chicken and fish for too many days in a row then my weight loss slows down. I try to eat bison at least a couple days a week. And I work out 4 -5 days a week/45 - 50 mins a day.

I won't be reaching 52 lb weight loss in 17 weeks but I am extremely happy with my results so far and plan to continue until I reach my goal weight.

This is a difficult stage for clothing .. my old clothes are way too big after losing 30 lbs yet I have 20 lbs to go. So I don't want to buy too much. For every pound I lose I put $10 into my clothing fund. I look forward to shopping once I hit my goal weight.

I think hatesthesweatpants explained this once...but your body falls into ruts...and your fat doesn't come off in a steady slope, your body will cling to it until it must use the fat (for the calorie deficit) and then your weight will drop. Some weeks, you will retain water or your body isn't ready to let go of the fat yet. She explained it better...I will try to find what she said.

But basically, weight loss is never linear...it drops and adjusts, drops and adjusts. And often after a big loss, your body takes longer to adjust, hence a plateau. It is getting used to the smaller size and must adjust before letting go of more.

It is frustrating for sure, but if you think that during the plateau you are fighting your body for a loss...you have to stay strong!

That's a really good reward system for losing weight! You're gonna have so much money to go on a shopping spree with!

My average is about 2 pounds per week now. It has been continuously going down since I started the program last May. I've never lost more than 4 pounds in a week, including my first week.

At first, I averaged 2-4lbs per week. Usually, if I had a 3 or 4lb loss in a single weigh in (I weigh in twice a week), my weight did not change for the next one or two weigh ins.

I noticed a significant slowdown in January/February, though. Part of it was due to some snacking and other issues. But I'm sure it was also partly because I'm getting closer to goal. It seemed like once I hit the -40lb mark, everything slowed down for me. I'm still losing--but more slowly; probably about 1-2.5 lbs per week now, with more frequent plateaus.

After 7 mos on the program last year I averaged 2.9 lbs/wk.