Losing 5 lbs a week - been working out for over 10 years

[bigleonard]

I tried searching this topic up, but I wasn't able to find someone who's exactly in my shoes. Curious what people might think.

Due to variety of circumstances - lost job, covid, etc. I went from 200 lbs at 6'4'' (30 years old with the type of metabolism that let me eat anything my entire life) to 250 lbs over the course of 2 years. I did go to the gym 2-4 times a week the first year, but then lost my job and **** really hit the fan mentally, so I was lucky to get to the gym once a month. I point all of this out because there's some stuff I've read that mentions the longer you are around a base weight, your body naturally wants to be there. So, I've started dieting recently, intermittent fasting and doing my usual workout regime 3-5 times a week.

Is 5 lbs really going to wreck my body as a lot of people say? If my base need is ~2,400 calories for my build, and I eat 1,800 and do a bit of cardio is this a recipe for disaster?

[Spanishdream]

If you've just got back into the swing of things, a dramatic weight loss is to be expected for the first week or two. You're restricting calories so you have less carbs & sodium which typically cause water retention.

At 6"4 though at 250lbs, 1,800 is a massive deficit which is ~2.2lbs a week. You can keep this up for a bit if you have a lot of fat but you'll want to slow this down eventually for fear of burning muscle as well as fat. Calculate your TDEE here; https://www.fatcalc.com/rwl

[xsquid99]

I have a similar build (6'4") and started my weight loss at 255 about 6 years ago. It took me about 6-7 months and I went all the way down to 190. You're always going to drop a lot more in the beginning, 5-8 pounds over the first couple weeks is not something that would be entirely unusual for someone at your stats who is just getting back into weight loss. However, eating at 1800 calories is definitely not something you should need to do. I'm in the middle of a little mini-cut right now about losing just under 2 pounds a week (-1.8 this week) eating at 2400 cals. My strength and energy are good at that level and I could keep this up right to the end of my cut (should be about 202 pounds when done).

[410Stroker]

If you've just got back into the swing of things, a dramatic weight loss is to be expected for the first week or two. You're restricting calories so you have less carbs & sodium which typically cause water retention.

At 6"4 though at 250lbs, 1,800 is a massive deficit which is ~2.2lbs a week. You can keep this up for a bit if you have a lot of fat but you'll want to slow this down eventually for fear of burning muscle as well as fat. Calculate your TDEE here

You say that is a massive deficit, I am not disagreeing, but how do you know? I have read 10xodyweight in cals but ive heard that from the bro-science crowd. Is there a basic formula\ratio for figuring that out?

[Spanishdream]

You say that is a massive deficit, I am not disagreeing, but how do you know? I have read 10xodyweight in cals but ive heard that from the bro-science crowd. Is there a basic formula\ratio for figuring that out?

Nutrition stickies - https://forum.bodybuilding.com/showt...hp?t=173439001

Fat oxidization rate is tricky to calculate but bodyweight x 10 comes out very close for me. The bigger you are, the more you can lose faster as it's in such excess.

[longrob]

You say that is a massive deficit, I am not disagreeing, but how do you know? I have read 10xodyweight in cals but ive heard that from the bro-science crowd. Is there a basic formula\ratio for figuring that out?

I've found those calorie calculators and multiples to be totally worthless. We all have different bodies. Food quality and meal timing also matters. We don't all digest the same foods in the exact manner. Those methods do more harm than good when losing weight. Most people should eat a consistent diet of whole foods at a specific amount of calories for a week or 2 and see what their weight does. I've bombed so many diets by dropping my calories too low to start that it's crazy.

[Spanishdream]

I've found those calorie calculators

We really need a new mod team lol

[RayBcomplex]

When i first started i calibrated for 3lb/week loss. started at ~250 and got down to 200 like that over about 5 months. It's a bit slower now, a pound, maybe two a week but i'm just about eating at maintenance....

make sure you're getting at least your protein and fats daily requirements, if you have anything left over for the day then eat whatever. i've heard the floor is around 1500 calories but you're a bigger dude so 1800 might be spot on.

[Tommy W.]

Is 5 lbs really going to wreck my body as a lot of people say? If my base need is ~2,400 calories for my build, and I eat 1,800 and do a bit of cardio is this a recipe for disaster?

That would only be a 1lb a week loss. 5lb loss per week you'd need a daily deficit of 2,500 calories EVERY DAY and this obviously won't happen.