How many pounds a week should one lose?

[JesseStylex]

My first 5 days i only dropped 3 pounds.

i want to drop 30 pounds , so going by my first week i figure it'll take me 10 weeks to drop 30 pounds. will my fat loss rate vary by week? is 10 weeks to soon for 30 pounds?

[Absolute0]

I think 2 pounds a week is about right. You go too fast and you'll cut into your muscle, and the fat will rebound more easily. Easy come -> easy go, and the converse is true!

If you have no significant muscle mass and lots of fat, then you can easily get away with a greatly accelerated rate. 10 weeks and 30 pounds is definitely doable if you've got significant bf to lose.

[Chris@UGA]

It really depends on how much fat you have to lose, but 2 pounds per week is a very good goal. Unfortunately the fat loss will slow down after a few weeks, but aiming for 2 pounds a week is a perfect rate.

[JesseStylex]

thanks guys. i just hate how slow the fat goes.

i hate how after you work your butt off do cardio and eat right you get someone that says you gaining weight arent ya? that happens to me every time. lol it kinda crushes your drive.

[TheNormalMan]

I find the fat loss only slows down if you don't keep your body guessing 24/7. In regards to training, I do it different every single day. Different types of cardio, different intensities, different intervals. Weight training is the same way. Diet not so much. If you never fall into a daily "routine" where you do the same exact thing every day, your body pretty much never slows down burning fat. I'm sure it's different once you get down to sub 15% bodyfat, but until then, the fat is just dying to be melted off your body.

[kycat2007]

calories are very important as 3500 calories equals 1 lb. This is why doctors say with limiting 500 calories under you maintenace basil metabolic rate and exercise you should see 7 days times 500 calories then 1 lb of loss.

Find out what your basal metabolic rate is by doing a search on the web. You basically burn so many calories a day just by existing. Watch your calorie intake and eat what we call clean and you will see loss.

The first couple of days you may see water weight loss as you can hold up to 5 lbs of water weight in a given day.

[selfmade]

I think 2 pounds a week is about right. You go too fast and you'll cut into your muscle, and the fat will rebound more easily. Easy come -> easy go, and the converse is true!

If you have no significant muscle mass and lots of fat, then you can easily get away with a greatly accelerated rate. 10 weeks and 30 pounds is definitely doable if you've got significant bf to lose.

True!!!

[Tomek]

thanks guys. i just hate how slow the fat goes.

yeah, most of us are the same... but on the same token have you seen just how much 2 pounds of fat really looks like... scary

[fittchica]

thanks guys. i just hate how slow the fat goes.

i hate how after you work your butt off do cardio and eat right you get someone that says you gaining weight arent ya? that happens to me every time. lol it kinda crushes your drive.

please remember that (I apologize for sounding like my mother,lol) "Rome wasn't built in a day"...
Do not get discouraged!! 3 lbs is really alot in one week hon. You need to remember that you didn't gain that 30 punds in a month,lol so don't expect to lose it in one...remember if you lose it too fast or too much too quickly, you are unfortunately losing muscle too. Losing Body weight is not the same as losing Body fat

[selfmade]

But i dont get it. If im following a routine, working out, cardio and diet how do i have control of how much fat im looseing each week and how much muscle im gaining? I didnt make up my diet/workout schedule i got a bodybuilding site to make it for me at intens************, im going to be following it pretty soon, im not gonna know how much im gonna loose each week, im just gonna follow the plan and w.e happens, happens, its not up to u haha!!!

[xucardsfan08]

3lbs/week would be nearly impossible to keep up. In addition, you will be risking serious muscle loss. Like kycat2007 mentioned, a pound of fat holds ~3500 kcal (nutritional Calories). So, on average, to lose 1lb/week you need to be 500kcal under maintenance each day. To lose 3lbs/week, you need to be 1500kcal under! If your basal metabolism is 2500kcal/day, that means you could only eat 1000kcal each day. Your body will not appreciate that very much.

In my opinion, the best goal is 1-1.5lbs per week, at 500-750kcal short of your BMR.

[xucardsfan08]

Another note, if you are weighing yourself daily, make sure you are doing it at the same time every day and don't be upset about 1-3lb fluctuations as water retention can add/subtract weight very quickly. Worry more about the general trend of your measurements. Keep a log book and even make an Excel graph and you'll be able to visualize your progress.

[PerpetualFlux]

Depends on how fat you are. If you're 150lbs then 1-3lbs seems to be the medium, but if you're 5'5 250lbs that's just a whole new story. The fatter you are, the more acceptable it is to lose excessive amounts of weight in a week. Also, 1-3lbs doesn't sound like a lot but depending on your diet and training, heavier individuals tend to lose about 0.5-1.5% BF per week. Something that has been touted a lot for great fat loss while maintaining or even possibly gaining mass is Poliquin's German Body Comp or Advanced German Body Comp.

Also, let go of numbers. Numbers are one of the key downfalls of people and why they never fully reach their goals. Focus on either more on measurements and visual gains/losses through pictures.

One more thing, avoid stressing yourself too much and doing too much steady state cardio. You're all going to probably kill me because I mention Poliquin so much but this is just another of his thoughts that is generally accepted.

First, stressing so much will hinder your gains. There's a reason why people who complain, get angry, etc while dieting and exercising don't lose as fast, don't lose at all, or maybe even gain fat. That's because of cortisol. Avoid stressing so much. Be happy, relax, enjoy yourself. The happier you are, the easier it will be to lose the weight.

This also goes for too much cardio. Steady state cardio is probably the most overrated form of exercise on the face of the planet. It's good to get rid of some extra calories, but there has been a link to prolonged steady state cardio sessions and cortisol. That's why if you ever try German Body Comp or the advanced version, he doesn't tell you to do cardio. And people have reported up to 1.5% BF lost per week.

Weight lifting is a far superior way to lose fat. Also, if you're going to do cardio, I prefer to do something shorter in length and more intense along the lines of HIIT or Tabatas. I believe they are far more effective then slow steady state cardio. High intensity steady state on the other hand is fairly effective, but again, there comes the small problem about cortisol. The problem may not even be that significant, but why risk it? People treat themselves like gerbils when losing fat. Don't bother.

My thoughts are debatable but seriously, if you've been doing a lot of a certain type of cardio or a certain type of training, bring in a new stimulus.

[AlexMR]

Tom Venuto says we should aim for a max 0.75% BF drop per week. That is a maximum.

[JesseStylex]

Thanks for all the input.

I havent been counting the cal intake. what i have done is cut out all the sweets and extra snacks, im down to just 3 meals a day, havent been real picky of what i eat but im am watching my portions and will replace a meal here and there with a salad.

For Cardio i run on the treadmill 30 minutes a night 7 days a week, and lift lite weights 2 times a week.

My job requires me to be on my feet moving around 8 hours a day. Some people might say im burning way more calories than i take in. But if that was the case how come 2-3 extra snacks a day made me gain weight? Is cutting the snacks and running going to make the difference?


btw im 5'8 197 pounds, how many cals should i be eating per day? im prob burning well over 3000k a day between work and Cardio

[thepointman]

Tom Venuto says we should aim for a max 0.75% BF drop per week. That is a maximum.

Are you sure he means body fat? Because that would take FOREVER for any person.

Someone who's 200 pounds with 20% body fat could only lose AT MOST 0.3 lbs/per week under that rule. With 30% BF, to be able to lose 1 lb/week you'd have to have 133 lbs of fat and weigh 440 lbs

[PerpetualFlux]

Thanks for all the input.

I havent been counting the cal intake. what i have done is cut out all the sweets and extra snacks, im down to just 3 meals a day, havent been real picky of what i eat but im am watching my portions and will replace a meal here and there with a salad.

For Cardio i run on the treadmill 30 minutes a night 7 days a week, and lift lite weights 2 times a week.

My job requires me to be on my feet moving around 8 hours a day. Some people might say im burning way more calories than i take in. But if that was the case how come 2-3 extra snacks a day made me gain weight? Is cutting the snacks and running going to make the difference?


btw im 5'8 197 pounds, how many cals should i be eating per day? im prob burning well over 3000k a day between work and Cardio

You burn most of your calories through running and you run 7 times a week? I think that's absurd unless you're a marathon runner or hamster. You're running way too much in my opinion. The whole idea is too lose fat and not take muscle with it. I would change the lifting regime to 3-4 times per week and focus on whole body with compounds being the foundation. Generally, cardio is suppose to be supplementary to the lifting since you want to maintain the muscle mass. I know you know what a marathon runner looks like. Do you want to look like one?

[infjspirit]

My first 5 days i only dropped 3 pounds.

i want to drop 30 pounds , so going by my first week i figure it'll take me 10 weeks to drop 30 pounds. will my fat loss rate vary by week? is 10 weeks to soon for 30 pounds?

0-4

These are the extremes

[Technitone]

Thanks for all the input.

I havent been counting the cal intake. what i have done is cut out all the sweets and extra snacks, im down to just 3 meals a day, havent been real picky of what i eat but im am watching my portions and will replace a meal here and there with a salad.

For Cardio i run on the treadmill 30 minutes a night 7 days a week, and lift lite weights 2 times a week.

My job requires me to be on my feet moving around 8 hours a day. Some people might say im burning way more calories than i take in. But if that was the case how come 2-3 extra snacks a day made me gain weight? Is cutting the snacks and running going to make the difference?


btw im 5'8 197 pounds, how many cals should i be eating per day? im prob burning well over 3000k a day between work and Cardio

Man I feel tiny compare to you. I'm the same height but 153 pounds and still gaining some more, slowly. Anyways, I think your maintenance is somewhere between 2600 to 2900 calorie.