What is a realistic goal for inches lost? 1 a week, 1 a month? O_o Inquiring minds want to know!

I'd love to know that too. I was telling myself, i may not be able to stay off the scales each day, but i can wait a month before i take measurements again. But I'd love to know how often should we expect to see some changes?? I'm sure then, it would depend on how many pounds you've dropped or how hard you are excersizing. So, is there even a logical answer to this question?? Inquiring minds DO want to know. hahaha.

Oh, here's another question?? How many grams of protein, fat, and carbs should one get in a day? Is there a calculation?? A formula for determining this??

I have like 90 grams of protein today, 34 grams of fat, and 94 grams of carbs?? is this bad, or is this good??

I prefer to keep my carbs on the low side. I lose weight faster that way. How low you keep them depends on how much exercise you are doing. If you are working out really hard, it is still considered "low carb" if you are eating under 100. But if you are pretty sedentary low carb is around 20 to 30 to 40 a day depending on whether you can lose at the higher rates or not.

Atkins has you start his plan for the first two weeks at under 20. And you do drop weight really rapidly that way. Some I know have kept them under 20 for a long time and have lost weight really rapidly that way. I have a friend who lost 120 pounds by doing that for about six months to a year. That rapid of weight loss is hard on your body though, and it isn't for everyone. The percentages of carbs to protein to fats is different depending on who you talk to. Some say 40/30/30 percent is good. Which is protein and which is carbs according to that formula I don't know, but the fat portion is one of the 30s. Personally I think if you eat more protein you stay less hungry and you lose weight faster, assuming you aren't eating more of the other things than you need to be.

How may inches is "reasonable?" It does depend on how much you weigh to start with, how much you exercise, how many pounds you lose, how much water you are retaining and of course how many different points you are measuring.

From Jan 1 to very recently I measured and had lost 21.5 inches. This was after losing about 16 pounds. But I measured in a lot of different spots. I lost about 4 from my hips, about 3.5 from my waist around the widest point (my belly button area). I measured upper and lower thighs, calves, under the bust, across the bust, upper arms (each), and just under the ribcage. I also measured diagonally across my stomach from one hipbone to the just under the opposite breast. That is an odd measurement to take but I wanted to be sure my stomach was shrinking and I thought that would be a good way to tell.

I'm sure as I shrink, that amount of weight loss more than likely won't produce the same results in inches lost.

My guess is that you will just have to keep a record of your measurements and see for yourself what you "average" based on pounds lost. For me I set it up in an Excel spreadsheet. I have the dates across the top of the columns, and the places measured down the side, plus the weight weighed at the bottom. Then I have a column for subtracting the last measurement from the first, and also a place that adds all the inches lost together for a total. It is kind of fun to have all that calculated for me automatically and all I have to do is to input the newest measurements.

I don't know what a realistic goal is, like the others have suggested probably tends to base itself on fat/protein intake, and exercise and what kinds of exercise. For instance, working with weights may slow the scale but help you see inch changes faster. I've noticed though, that you may initially lose fast whatever your particular problem area is (for me it's the waist, but I know for some ladies it is the hips) but that will always be your problem area and inches from it will not come off as quickly as they will elsewhere. I guess I'd just say don't get too hung up on inches OR the scale, but other things as well, like feeling better from eating better and working out, or getting more in shape, or increasing your stamina. Anything and everything really, so you always have tons of little goals that you can reach all the time. Good luck with it!

a trainer once told me that for healthy, maintainable weight loss you should average 2.5 lbs a week. so some weeks you might be at 3.5 and the next only 1.5 but anything faster and your body is just eating its own muscle (wish i could spell that) and going into starvation mode.

take that with a grain of salt though.


i think with atkins the initial rapid loss is due to water loss so this might not be accurate when doing atkins. also you know your body= if you have energy and are feeling good and are losing you are probably doing okay. if you start feeling sluggish and weak- you might need to decrease your rate of loss a bit.


anyways- good luck to you! i think the answer is that it depends on your body and your workout regime. just thought i'd throw that # out there.

Yepper, this is the general rule of thumb. So, then about 10lbs a month could reasonably be attained.

Having said that, I personally have averaged about 5.5 lbs a month. So some people are just slowpokes.

BTW: Usually I have to lose about 10- 15 lbs to take an inch off of my waist!

When I was doing Herbal Magic, I asked them that question! I am not sure if it is correct, but the girl told me that the pounds lost should be almost equal to the total inches lost (they took complete measurements on me every week, and when I stopped going there I lost a total of 35 pounds and over 50 inches in total). I have since then been doing it on my own because of the expense, so im not sure of the inches lost, but I have now lost 43 pounds and met my goal this week! I do remember when I first started going to Herbal Magic, I was almost exactly inch per pound lost until towards the end then I started to lose inches quicker for some reason! Hope this helps and I am not sure if its true!

HOW?! HOW do you do that?

I'm entering in my meal plan for tomorrow in FitDay and, by breakfast, I'm at 17 carbs. Oh, oh, oh and here it comes! The mid-day yogurt, 43 carbs. That tangerine? 9 carbs. I'm baffled. I never could follow Atkins without relegating myself to spinach and romaine lettuce.

My average carbs for the week 225... And I thought I was pretty low carb! I only have one "bread" type thing a day....

How on earth are you all loosing that much weight could you please give me some advice or tips.

boy, wish i knew the secret too. i am only losing about one pound a week...if i'm lucky. sometimes, it's one pound every two weeks. i had to change my goal to 155 by july 21 instead of 130. to get to 130 by july 21, i'd have to lose 2.5 pounds a week.

and i know what you mean about trying to keep everything low but the protein. i have a lot of trouble keeping my fats and carbs below my protein. without resorting to eating the same meal all day everyday.

Inches where? Wouldn't this depend on how many places you measure? I mean, if you only measure bust, waist, hips you'll lost fewer inches than if you measure those and 8 other places too! [edited to add: I see Sherry made this point]

I think it would also depend on whether you're doing weight training. One pound of muscle is smaller than one pound of fat.

As for me, I've lost 70 pounds so far (had a LOT to lose to start), by eating sensibly (watching calories, fats and nutrients mostly), and writing down everything I eat, and exercising. I do not watch carbs per se, though I know eat "better" carbs than I used to (more fruits and whole grains). Personally, I aim for about 50% of my calories from carbs, which for me is over 200 g/day. There are many good and safe approaches to losing weight; you need to find the one that works for you.

my weight comes off at a rate of 1-2 pounds/week, which is also what I have heard is "safe"