Oh, I got this shit. 2 pounds a week is the maximum for retaining your health. Bodybuilders do this shit all the time for cuts. I've been scouring the internets and bodybuilding forums, as I'm trying to build muscle and preparing for when I might need to cut after this lean bulk.
They typically recommend 1 pound a week, but you can go for 2 pounds a week. You'll have to restrict your calories significantly more in order to do that, by finding your Basal Metabolic Rate (BMR), adjusting for your activity level, in order to find the amount of calories per day you need to simply exist, then cut those calories by 15-25%. 25% if you want to lose 2 pounds a week.
So, losing 22 pounds in 16 weeks isn't that bad. You could have got 32 pounds while still being healthy. However. The *most important* part is that you can *maintain* your eating and exercising habits. So if you find yourself starving all day, this is not a good level for you and you need to increase your calories by 100 until you can deal with it properly. Losing weight is a marathon, not a sprint. As it's a marathon, I personally would prefer a moderate speed. So between 1-2 pounds a week.
Now, if you exceed 2 pounds a week, then that can become unhealthy.
There was a study done by some dude. He ate hostess twinkies as his main source of calories. He lost like 50-100 pounds in a few months or something. I forget the exact numbers. *proooobably* very, very unhealthy. However, this shows that calorie restriction is the single most important factor in losing weight. So long as you consume less calories than you burn, you will lose fat.
In the past I lost 66 lbs within 3 months. I had over 210 lbs and I ended in 144. I have to say it was only because of the new job, which was really heavy job. I met my gp after that and she was literally scared. When I explained what's happened, she sent me to a lot of examinations anyway. But there was cons as well. My friends didn't realise me. And biggest issue was with my ID, driving licence and passport because of the photo. I had to make a new ones because of the big lose weight. Unfortunately I get most of my weight back when I quit the job. So it's not definitely healthy to lose weight quickly.
Any way you look at it, your body can't just boom transition from shit and junk food to 800 calories a day per say. It won't last long. You kind of have to get your body transitioned to exercises by stretching and weekly increasing your sets and as for diets, start out by cutting certain things and in good time, you'll have cut out all the bad things and you'll be accustomed to it too.
I know way too many people who cut calories and don't lose weight because their bodies refuse to give up the weight. Including myself. Now I AM dropping weight.
Oh I know you have to eat healthy but calories don't count as much as sugar and sodium intake. Calories count to a point but if you're doing a specific workout calories are bullshit. I used to eat a lot of sugar and gained a lot of weight from it because it contained more sugar and shit. I cut that out, started working out and eating healthy. It's not about calories all the time.
How you do it matters more than how fast. Lots of jogging is very bad and results in lots of muscle loss. Weight lifting and high intensity martial arts like wrestling or bjj will result in loss of mostly fat.
Faster is better though. After a 2-3 month bulk I will drop 10-15 lbs in 2-3 weeks. Eat nothing for 3-4 days while training bjj and you can lose 4-5 lbs in that time, not counting water weight.
Slower apparently increases your risk to gain it all back when you return to a normal diet but tbh I think it doesn't really matter because you won't gain weight back if you are disciplined enough and if you wanna lose weight fast you need to be disciplined :P Just remember to take in all the nutrients your body requires and you're good.
Losing weight quickly isn't unhealthy. Doing it in the wrong way can be unhealthy, but do it in the right way you'll be fine. If your goal is fatloss and keeping it off, then slower is usually better because you develop a pattern that is more sustainable long term.
Depending on your bodyfat percentage I'd say feel free to go faster. But if you're around 15%... just stop where you are now.
It's best to take it off gradually just as you put it on. If you loose weight too fast, you'll end up with excess skin and that's just nasty. Depends how much weight your looking to lose too. Generally, in order to maintain you new ideal weight you need to maintain the changes in your diet and activities.
I would focus on making sure you eat well (getting a balanced range of nutrients). If you do that and do a lot of cardio or exercise to burn additional calories, I wouldn't worry about it being too fast.
depriving yourself of nutrients is never good. How fast you lose that weight is never the problem. Its the lack of calories that is the real problem. Thats called crash dieting. eat what you need, then double your exercises
2 pounds a week is generally considered safe. that's 8 pounds a month. You only lost 5 pounds per month. You could up it a little bit and be perfectly fine.
I Have always Heard that Going Slow is the way to Go In... Keeping the Weight off. Good work and Take your time. Ten more Pounds Sounds like not Far by Far. Good luck. xx
Slower rate as your body adjusts to new limits set, to fast weight loss you'll be putting it all back on.. at a slow and steady pace your teaching your mind and body.. so slow is the best option
definitely slower. it allows your body to adjust to the changes. fast and especially drastic weight loss or gain puts a tremendous strain on joints, heart and other organs.
At a slower pace. I have seen people use supplements meant for race horses to lose weight and their faces fell in. Like integrity was lost and they looked a bit like zombies. Losing weight at a slower pace allows your body to adjust better.
Slower is the best way, that way you don't gain weight faster. You can eat anything and everything you want so when you stop "dieting" your body won't go against you and become fat again.
it doesn't matter, as long as you aren't hurting your body.. i lost 85 lbs in 5 months but i did it in a completely healthy way through hard work.. that is totally fine
Not true at all. People can go a very long time without food, easily a month or more. Diet companies spread lots of misinformation to keep you perpetually diet and buying their products and services.
@Ratiocinative That's correct, but if you don't take in protein your body can start breaking down muscle. So like I said, unless you are going to count and know how much to take it's not recommend you starve yourself. The average idiot risks becoming malnourished, losing muscle, and putting themselves in a worse metabolic position from a starvation diet that isn't done properly.
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