I've been reading Break Through Your Set Point by George Blackburn, the chairperson of nutrition at Harvard (there's a review of it in the Maintenance Library Forum). He said the best way to lose weight is to shoot for losing 10% of your weight, and then sustaining that weight for a few months before you try to lose your next 10%. He says you should take about 6 months before you try to lose the next 10%. The book is loaded with info, but wow, does that ever seem slow. He says your body will work really hard to regain unless your loss is slow.

I thought I had gotten rid of my "how fast can I get this weight off" mentality but my reaction to only losing 20lbs in 6 months made it clear I still have that in the back of my mind.

Today I had my annual physical with my doctor (he specializes in internal medicine) and I brought up how I haven't been very successful in my attempt to lose weight, even though I've been trying since December, my weight yo-yos because I just can't stick with it. He said maybe I was attempting something I couldn't sustain. I said, no my plan is pretty balanced and healthy. He said to keep trying, and he wanted to see me back in 2 months, and he wanted me to lose 5 lbs by then.

5 pounds! I scoffed. That's nothing! He said, it's 5 pounds. If you're trying to lose more than a pound a week no wonder you're yo-yoing.

My weight loss conceptions have been blown this week!

Wow....who knew? we all want results now..........I guess thats our problem.

there are so many scary stats out there about how hard it is to lose weight. how hard it is to keep it off.

this is my thinking: eat less and better, move more.

i'm going to try it. i couldn't really feel much worse than i do now. so i'll try being in control, planning and moving everyday and see how it goes.

the road is long. and probably bumpy. but i gotta be gentle with me on the way around.

so do you

isolde

I think it's really hard to get rid of that mentality. I'm trying to change my perception right now so that two pounds a week is a good, healthy loss. Even though of course I wish I could lose faster.

But the pace the book is recommending -- eek -- I don't know if I could ever talk myself into trying to lose THAT slow!

I think that's the right way to go. For one thing, to lose slowly, you HAVE to stay on plan, and you have to stay on it for a long time. That's how you form new habits.

It seems like a lot of folks who post on 3FC are trying to keep their calories too low. Then something happens and they go wildly off plan one day. Maybe even for more than one day. Then they grab hold again and shove their calories down too low. Up and down it goes, and so does their weight.

So, yeah, stay on your plan until next time you see your doctor and see whether you can hit that 5 pound mark.

Jay

I'm not going to dispute his logic. It seems very sound. HOWEVER at my weight, losing as slow as he recommends could result in my death given my current medical condition (blood clotting disorder.)

I should pick that up. It sounds like an interesting read!

You know.. losing 1/2 pound every week DOES add up. It's loads better than GAINING that much weekly.
We want quicker results though but this does make sense.

Yeah, I mean of course there are circumstances where you need to drop pounds more quickly. And I'm sure age and gender are factors in the healthy rate of weightloss too.

I'm in my forties, but no health problems at all (due 100% to my DNA, none of the credit goes to me, that's for sure). Anyway, at first it was pretty uncomfortable information, but now that I've been mulling it over its somewhat of a relief, and seems much more do-able.

That's why my goal this year is 52 lbs. in 52 weeks. My doctor "only asks for a pound of flesh...a week! (He cracks me up. ) At 15 weeks and 29.6 lbs. lost, I'm a bit ahead of my goal, but I'm much, MUCH healthier than I was in my old starve-and-binge days where I could lose 10 lbs. a WEEK.

You know, we have successful maintainers here who typically lost more than 1-2 pounds a week when they had large amounts to lose. Usually, their weight loss slowed down when they got closer to goal. Then, we have maintainers who lost slowly or plateaued frequently. I don't think it's unhealthy to lose higher weekly numbers if you have a significant amount to lose. I also don't think that losing 1-2 pounds a week is bad either. Just think. If I had lost 1-2 pounds a week, I'd be at goal!

Here's what I'm thinking. The quantity of quality weight loss information available is sadly lacking. So, I'm going to do everything I know I need to do and have learned from each of you here at 3FC. I'm going to let my body lose at the rate it so chooses. Then, when I have reached goal and have been there for a year, I can provide all of my newfound knowledge and statistics to the National Weight Control Registry for some quality research.

Who's with me?

Thankfully, I don't have a blood disorder like our dear cfmama, but I did view my weight loss as a life or death situation. I truly believed that with a BMI of over 56 that death was without a doubt in the very, very near future. Nevermind all the added risks of things that don't kill you immediately - like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, many cancers, etc. But there was no doubt in my mind that I could keel over at any given moment due to a heart attack. So once I made the decision to lose the weight, there was no reason *for me* to shoot for 5 lbs in 2 months. Not when my life was on the line and I have 3 daughters that I am responsible for. No siree. I had wasted enough of my life.

I believe it's all about finding something that you can stick to. But here's the thing - not only do you have to find something you can stick to - you have to be WILLING to stick to it. So, IMO, it doesn't make a difference how fast - or how slow you take your weight off. As long as you're willing to STICK with whatever method got you there. So if you take it off speedily and really when your life is on the line, it can't be speedily enough, it doesn't make one lick of a difference - AS LONG AS YOU'RE WILLING TO STICK TO THE CHANGES THAT YOU'VE MADE. No reason whatsoever to put the weight back on if you're WILLING. Speedily? My weight didn't come off overnight. No, I had more then enough time to learn what works for me & what doesn't and more then enough time to get the habits ingrained in me. Habits that I am more then willing to stick with.

I believe when you're talking about the morbidly obese - that would be the obese that are at risk of death due to their weight - that 1 - 2 lbs per week lost doesn't apply. We've got many, many long term maintainers here who lost *faster* then that AND have kept it off. There are so few morbidly obese who have actually lost the weight and kept it off for any length of time, that most doctors are clueless as to how to treat them. Most tell you it can't be done without surgery and we all know that's not a guarantee either.

Yup, it's all about being WILLING to STICK with a healthy lifestyle. Day in. Day out. Month after month. Year after year after year after year...... At whatever your pace might be. That is up to the individual.

Let this be stated for the record: when I grow up I want to be Rockinrobin

Awww thanks. But who are we kidding here? You're waaaay more "grown up" then I am in the respect that I think you're speaking about here. Way more.

Blackburn's theory is that if you lose too fast your body will create cravings, and suppress your fullness signals by messing with your hypothalamus. I don't know, obviously we've had a lot of people, you included Robin and CFmama, who are my heroes, and took off a lot of weight fairly quickly. And I think that weight loss is so individual because each body is different. I think for me this just pointed out that I still have a "diet" mentality hidden underneath my "healthy eating" motif. Like somehow losing weight that slowly is wrong.

I began in late May '08. I wouldn't say mine has been fast, but I would say it's been consistent. The first 4 or 5 months it came off pretty nicely, now it's very much slowing to a crawl but I am very okay with that.

For me when I decided I didn't want to be obese anymore, I just decided I didn't even want one more day of it. But on the most part, I feel it has been extremely healthy. I have learned so much about my body and it's needs through my own study and tracking.

I have five first-degree (immediate family) relatives with very serious medical conditions. They include Multiple Sclerosis, Heart Disease, Diabetes and breast cancer. Taking care of myself in each and every way that is feasible, really MUST happen.

I guess when I saw the "writing on the wall" so to speak I just went for it with all I had--on the most part anyway.