Is it healthy to lose about 3 lbs a week?!
Question:
I'm trying to lose 37 lbs in 14 weeks and I would need to lose 2.8 lbs a week. Is this healthy or too much? I'm also a huge person, so I'd probably lose weight faster.
Answers:
If you have a lot of weight to lose you might be able to lose that much safely in that time frame, but it nmay not be easy. I will include an answer I wrote recently about a person whose friend needed to lose over 200 pounds. Take from it whatever makes sense for you ..
Your friend definitely needs to see a doctor when losing this much weight. Yes, good nutrition and exercise will work, but your friend needs medical support to rule out and/or control some medical issues that could be going on as part of obesity - type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart problems, to name a few.
Your friend will need gentle exercise at first. He may need to start simply by taking a five minute walk. For weight loss purposes several five minute walks throughout the day to start are better than one 40 minute walk, for example. Gradually as he gets more comfortable and more fit, increase the length of the walks until he is able to do 2 or 3 walks of 30 minutes each every day. As this is happening he will also automatically gradually increase speed as he gets fitter and so he will get more exercise. He will also need to begin, in time, to incorporate some weight training (lifting) into his routine to build muscle.
Your friend needs to focus on better food choices - lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, lean meat and fish, whole grains, skim milk and low fat dairy products. A person who weighs as much as your friend does can actually eat considerably more food than a person of normal weight, especially if he is getting a little exercise. He needs to learn about the calories, fat content, protein and carb content of various foods so that he can figure out how much is ok. There are many great websites that will help. Two that I especially like are www.nutrawatch.com and www.caloriesperhour.com. They are both free.
Losing this much weight is a complicated process. Your friend must really want to do this. It takes a lot of motivation and will power and self control, especially in the first few weeks. He needs to be ready to change his life style, his behavior, his eating habits. He may be eating for emotional reasons, so that might need to be addressed through counselling. It will be a long term process, not a quick fix.
Good luck to you and your friend. Remember that the longest journey begins with the tiniest step.
The website www.nutrawatch.com may help you.
Other Answers:
If you are barely obese (BMI = 30), then I'd say losing 3 lbs per week is borderline. Anything above it would be unhealthy. 1 lb is more or less 3500 Calories. Losing 3 per week means a deficit of 10,500 Calories.
How much your body needs per day depends on how much you weigh right now. If you weigh, say, 200 lbs, are 5'6", 35 years old and female, you need 1670 Calories just to keep breathing. If you do some things daily, that exercise is added, so the Calories you need daily to maintain your current weight will be about 2100 if you don't do much per day (what is called "couch potato").
10,500 to lose in a week means eating 1500 Cals. less than the needed to maintain your weight per day. That would be 2100 - 1500 = 600. Too low, since the healthy minimum should be 1200. You could do it for a week, but cannot maintain such a diet long term without affecting your liver.
Let's try another example (I'll provide a link so you can calculate what applies to you): you are 5' 6", 35 and 300 lbs. You also lead a more active life style (say, you do aerobics for half an hour). Then your basal need is 1970, but you need 2956 Cal/day to maintain your weight.
2956 - 1500 = 1456, which is more than 1200, and means you can keep that lower intake for a much longer time.
Source(s):
Calculate your basal needs: http://www.room42.com/nutrition/basal.shtml
Calculate how much you consume per day: http://www.fitday.com/
The latter site has great Calories per food tables. Subscription is 100% free.
Yes that is a very good pace. Also loosing the extra pounds at that pace will make it easier for you to keep it off.
Answers: