I'm posting this because I suspect that most people think they're losing more slowly than everyone else. The forum always seems to be swarming with people who are losing several pounds a week, and other people saying, "I'm losing weight so slowly, only 2lb/week". My suspicions are that people are more likely to post about it when they're losing faster, especially since more rapid weight loss is common at the start of a diet when enthusiasm is at its height. I also reckon that we selectively remember what people have said, and the ones who have just lost 10lb in two weeks stick in our minds much more than the ones who have been losing half a pound a week for the last year. And then, of course, we get bombarded with magazine articles and diet ads which make it seem as if losing 5lb/week is the norm, even though I hear that if you go to WW meetings, for instance, people are generally losing 1-2lb a month.

Now this doesn't mean that faster weight loss is bad! But I think it would be immensely comforting for all the people who feel lousy about what they perceive as their snail's pace to find out that they're not actually that slow after all.

So here are the rules for this poll.

First of all, it's anonymous, no one will see your results. Please fill it out even if you hate how slowly you're losing, because we're trying to get accurate results here. Go for an overall average for while you're dieting, including the times when you had the odd cheat meal or bloated because of your period or what have you.

Secondly, please note that it's for rate of weight loss per month and not per week.

Thirdly, it's probably best if we restrict this for people who have been dieting long enough for the initial speedier weight loss to have settled down and a general pattern to have emerged. I'm not quite sure how long that should be, but my guess is that we should exclude the first month of dieting to be on the safe side. You are very welcome to comment if it's still too early for you to be able to fill in the poll.

If you're currently maintaining, answer the poll for when you were losing weight.

If you don't measure your progress through weighing, then I'm sorry for excluding you, I had to keep it simple!

If your answer is between options because it's a fraction e.g. 4.6, and I've just realised this applies to me, then round down if the fraction is less than a half, and round up if it's more than a half.

And remember that there are four and a half weeks in a month!

I generally lose about 7 or 8 pounds per month. The first month I started (and then subsequently stopped) I lost 8 pounds. My restart month I lost 13! From there on though it's been 7 or 8 pounds, and one month I did have a six pound loss.

This month I'm expecting to be around 6 pounds, simply because I'm heading into the normal weight territory and I figure it's going to slow down a bit

I have no idea how much I lost in that mythical starting period, because it took me a month to summon up the courage to buy a scale.

As for slowing down near the end, I think I may be hitting that now, but only in a small way. I'm a featherweight anyway, there isn't as much data to play with.

I've only been at this a little over a month. The first month I lost 9lbs. I sure hope I can keep that up! Highly unlikely though.

If I'm lucky, I lose 2 to 3 pounds a month, usually around 1-2.

Crazy hormone imbalances, yay!

It's possibly a bit too late for this, but does anyone fancy guessing in advance what the pattern of results will be?

I'm very interested to see people respond to this poll.

I think it's a great idea to show that people are all over the map when it comes to weight loss, and how so many factors can affect the rate at which we lose.

And also to promote that it doesn't matter where in the pack we are. We're all in the same pack! The moving forward pack.

I am so happy that you posted this survey. I know I tend to lose 10 lbs a month... but often wondered why those on Biggest Loser were sometimes losing 20 lbs! ... I would often think I wasn't dieting right.. but now I know that I am losing weight safe and at a normal rate...

I've lost 36lbs in 4 months. So that's about 9lbs a month.

I totally forgot about things like the Biggest Loser! See, this is what happens when you don't have a TV. No wonder we get so many people saying they're losing terribly slowly when they're actually managing a very respectable turn of speed. My first attempt to research dieting led me to the Hacker's Diet (not really a diet, just an in-depth explanation of how weight loss and calorie counting work), and that was talking about a calorie deficit of 500 for a loss of 1lb/week, so I obediently went for a calorie deficit of 500 and a loss of 1lb/week. Thankfully it happened to suit me.

I've completely come to hate shows like that because I think they HURT people's weight loss efforts rather than help them. They make folks have unrealistic expectations of weight loss and cause them to get frustrated when they don't get the same results on the show.

Except that the contestants on those shows have spoken out and revealed how the shows made them do deadly things to achieve those numbers (Kai from the Biggest Loser and James from Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition), which the average person doesn't see.

In the end I think it doesn't matter HOW LONG it takes us to get there, but rather that we get there in the first place.

My weight loss has been unusually slow by most standards, but as my doctor told me when I was losing only 1 lb per month - I was ahead of the game, just by staying in it - that most people do not lose even 1 lb a month. They either give up and lose nothing - or even gain.

I also think shows like The Biggest Loser are detrimental to health and safety. I've thought so for several years, and I was still influenced them. I hurt myself at the gym on Sunday because I had forgotten that I can't exercise like the people on tv, or even "normal people" because of my health issues. I knew this, but I wanted to be "normal" so badly that I pushed through even after my body was screaming for me to stop (even though I realize in hindsight that what I did wasn't "normal" for someone my size - it was crazy).

I'm glad you posted this! Because I can't let things go I want to add something, though....

Rate of weight loss depends on A LOT of things
-age
-gender
-previous weight loss attempts
-types of workout
-current weight
-amount of calorie deficit one is willing to experience
-other medical issues
etc

My current weight loss has sped up a bit to about 4lbs/month but I was at 2lbs/month for most of this year so that's what I put. That being said, even though this journey has taken me longer than some I'm getting there and am only 20lbs away from a healthy BMI.

I don't really blame shows like the Biggest Loser but I also had enough sense (life experience maybe too!) to know that they get extremely unrealistic expectations due to the contestants living in a workout/dieting bubble. I actually find them quite motivational because you can see Courntey from last season whose weight loss did slow down quite a bit (compared to the other contestants that is!) still push herself and stay the course.

I'd be nice to get this info out there more. I do see so many posts where men and women are stressed because they're "only" losing a pound a week. Dear Lord, I'd love to be losing that much!

as of my vote, 3-4 pounds per month is winning
with 1-2 lb a close 2nd

I'm in the 1-2 lb category.
still seems slow to me.
I would very much like a 1-1.5 lb loss per week.

~sigh~

When I'm on plan I generally lose around 10lbs a month. Of course I'm still pretty big now, but I expect it to start slowing down once I get under 200.