I'm currently at a high weight of 260lbs or 18st 7. I want to know if it's realistic that I can lose 6 or 7st (that's 84 - 98lbs) by the end of August 2015?

What weight were you when the fast weight loss of, say, 2-4lbs per week slowed down? I'm guessing for me it'll be around 200, my GW is 160, possibly UGW of 140. Could I expect to get to 210lbs (50lb loss) by end of March, considering I have a lot to lose and I went from 290lbs to 260lbs in 2 months?

Is a 50lb loss in 4 months possibly going from 260 to 210?

Nobody?

I can't really answer the question directly because I've never experienced that. In the past when I lost 40 lbs (twice) I never got to the point where it slowed down... but I never got down close to my goal, either, which may be why.

I can, however, offer a theory.

When we lose weight, a lot of us are losing a good deal of lean mass along with fat. Losing lean mass can make it a LOT more difficult to lose weight... to the point where you need to take in WAY fewer calories to continue losing weight.

So I think if you work on maintaining lean mass while you lose weight, so that you're mostly (or entirely) losing fat, you'll still be burning roughly the same amount of calories as you lose fat. That would probably help to keep plateaus from happening.

Now, you might be saying "but my friend runs ALL THE TIME and she's plateaued" (I have a coworker who lost over 100 lbs and is having trouble losing more - actually is regaining - even though she runs half marathons all the time) - well, runners aren't necessarily building much lean mass. They're toning, and they're building their stamina... but "calories out" through exercise isn't everything. The amount of lean mass in your body matters, which is something more easily increased by lifting weights or doing weight-type activities like squats and lunges and the like. Cardio just burns - it doesn't keep working while you're sitting around.

Anyway, I'm not a medical or fitness professional. But that's what my nutrition counselor has told me so I'm attempting to go as slowly as possible and eat lots of protein to maintain my lean mass so I don't plateau, and so I have less difficulty maintaining once I reach goal.

I did not keep good track of where I got stuck. Now I wish I would have kept track of weekly or monthly weigh ins...

I do remember thinking I'd never get to 220. Seemed to be stuck there. And I spent about 3-4 months stuck in the 190s.

For me, making changes helped to break plateaus. Eating different things, doing different things at the gym.

180lbs. I remember it well. I was dropping 4lbs a week all the way down from 281 and then BAM!

This month will prob' be lowest month since starting my WOE just over 14 months ago. Don't mind at all since i never actually had a real plateau plus i met my main primary goal. Each person and body is different so you should never compare yourself to someone else.

The fast weight loss lasted just 2 months. I wouldn't quite say I'm at a plateau, it's just slow. My new mini-goals are modest, I hope to be down 3 lbs by the end of the year, then at my goal of 240 about this time next year.

I actually need to lose quite a bit of weight past 240 as well, I'm just trying to bite off small pieces so it's more likely this loss will be long term.

Do you think, because I'm 100lbs+ overweight, that getting down to, say....200lbs will be very difficult? I lost 30lbs in 2 months. I'm just a bit worried at the moment, I've been stuck at 260lbs for 2 weeks now, and I've been sticking to my diet and incorporating new exercises (as well as doing strength training x3 per week). I'm really really worried. I don't want it to take a year just for me to get down to a more reasonable weight like 220. I've noticed I've been losing very weirdly.... nothing for a week, then two weeks later I weigh in and suddenly I'm 15lbs down. Do you think that is more likely to be the reason I'm stuck at 260 for now (the way my body seems to lose weight?) or do you think my weight is low enough now that weight loss will slow to just 1/2lbs per week?

You are clearly not a daily weigher. If you are just weighing weekly (which some prefer to do...God knows why) you might be catching a day of waterweight which would explain no loss and then a big one the week after. Consider daily weighing to get a better idea how your body is working. You also need to be weighing at the same time in the day and naked. I wake up, piss/sh!t and weigh myself nude before doing anything. You must maintain consistency with weigh-ins. Food, waste, fluid, clothes, shoes...they all mess with the scale.


Strength training is also going to play with the scale as you may be losing fat and adding muscle/water weight. At 100lbs+ overweight, losing weight should be quite easy based on my experience so getting to 200 should be a breeze if your diet is in check.

I am a daily weigher recently (past month) which is why I was so weirded out by it!

Thanks for the advice though!

Your body was like "Whoa whoa wait a minute, you want to lose OVER 100lbs? Um, no. No, I don't like that. I think we'll stay right here. 100 was enough. Look you even got an extra pound out of the deal. Let's just call it a draw."

Previously when I dieted, I weighed in the morning naked every time. But not anymore. I actually like just weighing randomly and having a graph with lots of ups and downs in it. It's less accurate at any given point, but the overall picture is an average weight throughout the day, and I can put a trend line in the graph and predict where I'll be by my next DXA scan or doctor appointment.

Yeah, it's not my real body weight... it's my sometimes-with-undies, sometimes-bloated, sometimes-recently-fed weight. You know, the same weight the doctor is going to take when I go in for my appointment. :P

I guess it helps that I'm getting DXA scans every 4 months, which tell me how much lean/fat/bone mass I have within a relatively small margin of error. And yeah, my weight by DXA is always a bit less than I expect it to be, given my scale readings. But that just makes it all the more rewarding to go for my scans!

ALL OF THAT SAID: I know where you're coming from. There are days when I look at my scale reading and laugh because it's the same as one of my scale readings from over a month ago. I guess not everyone can look at that without being discouraged... but I weigh often enough that I know it's only water weight and it'll drop back down within a day or two. So yes, daily weighing can definitely be helpful.

Ian, do you have a "before" pic you're willing to share? Just curious.