Has anyone consistently lost 3+ pounds per week for a significant amount of time?
My goal is to be in the 230s by July 4, which would mean almost 3 pounds per week. Assuming I stay on plan (which is a tough assumption, but just theoretically speaking here) do you think it would be possible to lose 3 per week for the next four months?
Judging by weight loss calculators, I'd have to eat practically nothing to do that, which I'm not going to do (I'm staying within a safe calorie range and exercising), but I have seen other threads where people around my size have said they'd been losing 3-4 per week. I'm wondering if that's at all sustainable even under perfect conditions (totally on plan, drinking water, etc).
So, anyone maintained a 3-pound-per-week loss over several months?
I haven't ever myself. I always bounced back and forth, so like 5lbs one week, nothing the next, 3lbs the next, etc. I'm sure you could if you were incredibly strict about it, but I remember reading that whenever you lose anything more than 2lbs a week you risk losing muscle instead of fat.
That feels a little aggressive... I've so far averaged about 10 lbs a month but that's an average.. bit more on the front end, bit more conservative on the back end... I understand the feeling though, it can't be gone fast enough!
Missjean, good point...I'm hoping the gym will keep me from losing muscle, but I should still look into it.
Fyreflie24, mind if I ask what plan you're following?
Losing 2 or 2.5 a week would also be a huge improvement, but I'm hoping for a liiittle more because I'm going to visit my best friend for a week and I want all the clothes that were a little tight at 255 to fit in time. Over the past 6 months I gained back the 45 pounds I lost last spring, and I'm refusing to buy anymore clothes until everything from last summer fits again!
Last edited by ParadiseFalls; 02-20-2012 at 07:35 PM.
No, I never have. I'd just work at it and let it be what it is. It isn't something you can control or dictate.
I also think weight loss is a RESULT. It is not a GOAL.
A goal is to workout x times in month. Or eat within X calorie range in a month. Something measurable you can control directly.
Then you see the results of meeting those goals or not as weight loss or weight gain or maintaining.
We never make body goals like "heal a broken bone or get over a cold by Friday." We just try to take care and let the body heal and do its thing on its own.
I don't know why people make goals like "Lose X by Y time." The body will respond to the care given at the rate it heals, and it can only heal from obesity but so fast.
I lost an average of exactly 3 pounds a week for the first 10 weeks I was "dieting" last year. The most I lost in a week was about 4.4 pounds, the least was 1.2. after that it tapered off slowly, but all in all I lost 90 pounds in 38 weeks. That's about 2.3 - 2.4 pounds per week on average.
I stayed pretty strictly on plan with very little potatoes, rice, pasta, or bread. Lots of veggies and fruit. Very lean meat. Very little sugar. Virtually no junk food. I kept around 1500 - 1600 calories. Sometimes I felt a little hungry, mostly I didn't. I never had a week where I gained, but had some where I lost .2 or even 0. I went to the gym almost every day and did cardio, strength training, yoga, or body conditioning.
I live alone and have no small kids anymore so my life is pretty much my own. I know that made things easier. No crap in the house. No one making any demands. My life is pretty stress free. We are all different.
I think we all lose differently. The heavier we are, the faster it is apt to drop off because we can maintain a pretty good calorie deficit. For someone trying to lose 20 pounds, a loss of more than 2 pounds a week might be unhealthy. Many seem to agree that 1% a week is very doable. I think you can do this if you put your mind to it. Keep us posted. Start a weekly weigh in thread here and challenge others to join you and keep you on track. Use this beginning enthusiasm to keep you on plan and motivated.
As a side note, I was over 250 pounds for over 25 years and I am 60 years old, so I feel like if I can do this, just about anyone can.
Lin
Edited to say: I was he** bent on losing all the weight I needed to lose in a little less than a year so I wouldn't have to buy new winter clothes twice. The thought of buying coats and sweaters and other relatively expensive clothing to get me through the winter and have to do it again the next year was one of the things that kept me going. Summer wasn't so bad - shorts and tees are pretty inexpensive. It was the bigger ticket winter clothing that I didn't want to buy on a temporary basis. Everyone has to find their own reason for pushing themselves to stay on plan. Everyone has to lose in a manner that suits them. My way worked for me. I posted so many detail based strictly on your initial question. I think it can be done.
I also think weight loss is a RESULT. It is not a GOAL.
A goal is to workout x times in month. Or eat within X calorie range in a month. Something measurable you can control directly.
I tend to agree with this. Also, over the years I've seen goals such as "lose X amount of weight by my reunion" is often not enough to keep you going over the months. There will be times of struggle, there will be backslides, water weight gain, binges/cheats (whatever you call them), birthdays, holidays, etc. that will all tempt you with off-plan food choices. Is a visit with a friend enough to sustain your willpower through it all?
Good luck with whatever you choose to do. Keep coming here...there's lots of support!
I don't know why people make goals like "Lose X by Y time." The body will respond to the care given at the rate it heals, and it can only heal from obesity but so fast.
^^THIS^^
I'm of the mindset that I don't want to set myself up for failure, and if I said I want to lose X lb by X time and I didn't make it, I'd feel like I failed. It's taken me two years to lose 37 lb, & I've been on a plateau since November.
Of course, I see nothing wrong with giving it a try, except if you don't meet that "goal", will you be so disappointed that you give up altogether?
Last edited by Beach Patrol; 02-21-2012 at 09:30 AM.
I have totally slowed down now. I was losing an average of 2.5lbs a week for the frist few months and then it tapered to about 1.5lbs a week and well now....don't ask! LOL I think you just need to stick to plan and accept what your body gives you that week. We can't change that aspect of weight loss. The body body will shed it when it's ready....such a hard lesson to learn!!! AHHHH we want it NOW
We never make body goals like "heal a broken bone or get over a cold by Friday." We just try to take care and let the body heal and do its thing on its own.
I don't know why people make goals like "Lose X by Y time." The body will respond to the care given at the rate it heals, and it can only heal from obesity but so fast.
Heal from obesity. I never thought of it in that way. I like that.
More than 2 pounds a week so unhealthy! You are setting yourself up for failure with an unreasonable goal. Did you gain 3 pound a week for many weeks in a row? Why the rush to get it off.
Hey! I was calorie counting and eating 1200-1400 calories. I started working with a nutritionist in January who upped me to 1650 as I'm working out a lot more now, so I really need the extra fuel. I was feel pretty cruddy and crashing a lot on increased workouts and fewer calories. I try to eat whole foods as much as possible and she has me on lean proteins, some starches, low fat. It's an exchange program like weight watchers except I really focusing on health/whole foods. She's also big into high fiber and low sugar.
I TOTALLY understand goals! We leave for the beach in June and I promised my husband I'd be wearing a bathing suit. If I'm lucky, I'll be 10 lbs from goal, and that's hard for me to say. I'm really working to embrace that. How distorted is my brain that I'm having a hard time embracing that I'll be 10 lbs over my goal (and still within a healthy or normal weight range) and not overfreakingjoyed that I'd be 90 lbs lighter than the last time I set foot on that beach. Ugh. Distortions, right?
My body doesn't seem to do it any more (even on starvation calories I don't always lose every week), but when I was younger and this size, I often could lose 3 to 5 lbs on a consistent - severeal month long basis.
But you know, I wish I never had lost weight that quickly. I think losing quickly actually set me up for failure, because when the weight loss slowed, I felt like I was failing, even when I was making a good loss. After losing 11 lbs (as my max) for the first week, and having often lost 3-5 lbs on a regular basis, I always compared my losses to my best losses. Instead of saying "hey, losing a half pound per week is awesome," I said "hey, losing only two pound per week, sucks @#$%").
Ironically, now that my body won't lose weight that way, I've learned to appreciate whatever the scale gives me (even if it's just "not gaining.")
My doctor really helped me put it in perspective, when I was still closer to 400 lbs than 300. I complained that I was only losing one pound per month, and that I should at least be losing two pounds a week, "like a normal person."
He scolded me for thinking like that, reminding me that "normal" is losing nothing. Normal is losing, getting discouraged, giving up, and regaining it all (plus some extra) back. He told me that even at my size, losing one pound a month was awesome success and that if I kept up with that one pound per month, or even if I just maintained the loss I had made so far, it would put me in the "extraordinary" category. Just by "not regaining" I was extraordinary.
So even now, my first and foremost, and most important goal is "not gaining." And I remind myself of that every day, and every day that I see "no gain" I celebrate and congratulate myself (at first it felt a litle phony, but now it feels entirely wonderful and natural). And my second goal (a far distant second) is to "maybe lose just one more pound."
I constantly remind myself that even if I feel like I can't lose another pound, that's ok - I still can, should, and want to maintain the loss I've made so far (always in the past, if I felt that I wasn't able to lose any more, I'd abandone the diet entirely thinking that gaining wasn't any worse than not losing. I now know that losing is much less important (in the long run) than not gaining. If I lose but then give up and regain, I've accomplished nothing. If I lose only a small amount, but keep it off, I'm making progress - and that progress is worth jealously guarding and protecting even if I can't lose any more.
I never would have imagined to get this far. I've lost 105 lbs just by working at "not gaining and maybe losing just one more."
We're TAUGHT to fail at weight loss, because we're taught to make unreasonable goals, and we're taught that small failures are just as bad as big failures (and if we're going to fail anyway, we might as well do it in grand style and make it as big a failure as possible).
We're not taught that small successes are worth anything at all. Only perfection means anything at all. If you plan on losing 20 lbs in six months, and you only lose 15 - you've FAILED (and if you can think of any mistakes you made in those six months, it's an unforgiveable failure and you obsess on how you COULD HAVE made the 20 lbs if you'd tried harder). Instead of focusing on the success, you focuss on the failure.
At least that's the pattern most of us follow (and I strongly suspect it's why most of us fail). If we were taught to see the success in simply "not gaining" I think we'd see more success than failure. I know it was vital for me. Now, I get to succeed 100% almost every time I step on the scale. Even when I step on the scale and see a small gain, I remind myself of the success. If I gain 2 lbs, I remind myself that while I failed to maintain my 105 lb loss, I have succeeded at maintaining 103 lb loss. That way, I never thing I "might as well gain more," because I want to succeed at maintainance.
The book, Refuse to Regain, really helped me realize that maintenance starts with the very first pound lost. I no longer have to worry about regaining, because I don't consider giving up an option. And as long as I don't give up, I will keep moving in the right direction.
I don't care if I never get to where I want to be, as long as my feet are always moving in that direction. I don't intend to ever face away from my goal ever again, because I will never again believe that if I'm not losing, I might as well be gaining.
I usually lose 2-3lb one week then nothing the next, then lose again, then nothing and etc etc. My DH on the other hand...</3 LOL he has been doping between 2 and 3 LB steady weekly since January. Drives me nuts. But he has a really high metabolism and the testosterone to back it. Plus hes burning around 600calories a night in his workout, and that's after coming home for 10-12hr shifts in a warehouse(very very active job).
While I wish I could lose as fast as him, I know its not healthy for me nor will my body ever be willing to let it go that fast. Before you all ask, yes my DH is doing it the healthy way-eating around 1800-2000cal a day with protein supplements after workouts. His body just naturally sheds it that fast. He also hasent been overweight for as long as I have either, so I guess his body is used to the weight not being there and has no problem letting it go.
Yes......for awhile.
I shoot for around 1200 a day. A bit more or a bit less doesn't matter so much to me. I have not incorporated exercise....until this morning.
I lost a lot during the first few months, 2-3lbs or even more sometimes. It can slow down and it has for me and as I discover - other people as well. I'm probably now about 1lb a week for the last few weeks.
You may not have that problem, I don't know, but just be aware that it can slow down and not to set yourself up for disappointment then.
It would be awful to lose a lot and then get too discouraged to keep going if it slowed down.
Has anyone consistently lost 3+ pounds per week for a significant amount of time?
