It’s normal to expect maximum weight loss and sometimes even more than possible when your goal is losing extra pounds. Some people try to avoid that trap and then set their goals too low. What is the right amount of weight to safely lose per week? Most people think a pound or two is plenty, while others want to aim for far higher and often have unrealistic goals.
It’s all about calories consumed and calories burned.
In order to lose one pound, you have to have a 3500 calorie deficit. That means eating 3500 calories less, burning 3500 calories more or a combination of the two. One quick way to find out how many calories you can cut is to multiply your weight by 14 if you live a sedentary life, increasing all the way to 18 if you live an active lifestyle. If you’re moderately active and weighed 200 pounds, multiply 200 times, 16 (between sedentary and active). The answer, 3200 calories, is what you’d need to maintain your weight. If you cut that back to 2000 calories a day, you’d cut out 1200 calories a day and in three days, lose one pound.
The amount you weigh should play a role in your goal.
As you can tell, the more you weigh, the more calories you need to maintain that weight. If you’re twenty pounds overweight, it’s like carrying a 10 pound dumbbell in each hand everywhere you go. You/re burning far more calories than you will when you lose the extra weight. It will be easier to lose more weight initially, but as your weight drops, so do your calorie needs, making it harder. That’s why some dietitians and weight loss experts suggest you try to lose 1% of your weight every week. If you weigh 200 pounds, that would be two pounds.
It’s more about changing lifestyle habits.
If you lose those 20 pounds by strict dieting that can’t be maintained, the odds of it returning increases. Instead of focusing on the pounds to lose, focus more on changing to healthier eating habits. Automatically, you’ll eat fewer calories, because most healthy foods are lower in calories. Also, exercise the same time every day. By the time you lose the weight you want to lose, you’ll have developed healthy eating habits and the habit of daily exercise that can keep weight off permanently.
- What you eat plays the biggest role in weight loss, since you can’t out-exercise a bad diet. Not only do the calories count, so does the type of food. Foods high in fiber or protein can also burn more calories during digestion.
- Exercising can build muscles and the more muscle tissue you have, the easier it is to lose weight. Muscle tissue requires more calories to maintain than fat tissue does.
- Not only is trying to lose weight too fast unhealthy, but it’s also often doomed to failure. When people deprive themselves too much, one slip causes them to throw the rules out the window and binge out.
- Losing weight too fast, just like over-exercising, has side effects. Both can cause depression. Fast weight loss can also cause gallstones and excess wrinkled skin.
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