Hey, Roger (re: how much to lose per month)

[Luna]

Hey, you were concerned about how I thought losing 4 pounds in a month was
too slow and I wanted to lose 8 pounds like when I started? Well, if
jamie is correct in her comments in the thread titled "Any advice please?"
she says "It's extremely difficult to lose more
than about one percent of your total weight in actual fat per week,
unless you exercise several hours daily."

Do you know if that means that 1% of total body weight per week would be
considered a good rate?

At my last official weigh-in at Curves I was 171. Calculating losing 1%
body weight per week, my weight loss would look like this:

Starting 171
Week 1: 169.29
Week 2: 167.5971
Week 3: 165.9211
Week 4: 164.2619

171 - 164.2619 = 6.7381

Ok, granted that weight loss isn't a perfect mathematical downward trend,
it looks like between 6 and 7 pounds for my current monthly weigh-in period
(Sep 16 - Oct 16) would be reasonable, and I wouldn't consider 8 pounds to
be way too much, but I'm not the type to stress if it is less than that, I
am still thrilled that the numbers aren't going up anymore! What do you
think?

--
-Michelle Levin (Luna)
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick
http://www.mindspring.com/~designbyluna

[Anne]

Luna, have you had your thryoid tested recently?

I'm hypothyroid and, even though I'm on Synthroid, it's still a bit
sluggish and definitely impedes my weight loss. :-(

- Anne

[Roger Zoul]

Luna wrote:
:: Hey, you were concerned about how I thought losing 4 pounds in a
:: month was too slow and I wanted to lose 8 pounds like when I
:: started? Well, if jamie is correct in her comments in the thread
:: titled "Any advice please?" she says "It's extremely difficult to
:: lose more
:: than about one percent of your total weight in actual fat per week,
:: unless you exercise several hours daily."
::
:: Do you know if that means that 1% of total body weight per week
:: would be considered a good rate?
::
:: At my last official weigh-in at Curves I was 171. Calculating
:: losing 1% body weight per week, my weight loss would look like this:
::
:: Starting 171
:: Week 1: 169.29
:: Week 2: 167.5971
:: Week 3: 165.9211
:: Week 4: 164.2619
::
:: 171 - 164.2619 = 6.7381
::
:: Ok, granted that weight loss isn't a perfect mathematical downward
:: trend, it looks like between 6 and 7 pounds for my current monthly
:: weigh-in period (Sep 16 - Oct 16) would be reasonable, and I
:: wouldn't consider 8 pounds to be way too much, but I'm not the type
:: to stress if it is less than that, I am still thrilled that the
:: numbers aren't going up anymore! What do you think?

Well, I think that if you aren't being unreasonable by eating too little and
exercising too much, then this is probaby okay. It could simply be that you
are young and active and LCing is decreasing your appetite. If you are
lifting at Curves and consuming adequate protein (which is not unlikely on
LC), then you could be fine.

The reason I commented in the first place is because of that thread where
you mentioned not being able to workout due to a cold that would not go away
(you started another thread about that, as I recall). I know in the past
that when I am dieting hard and exercising a lot, that I tend to get sick
more with colds, and they tend to last longer. So just pay attention....if
you find you get sick a lot while losing at that rate (due to calorie
restriction and exercise) then you might want to back off a bit. The fact
that you slacked off last month *might* be a sign that you are over doing
it....or maybe not. Everyone is different, and what works for you, at your
age, may not work for me at my age (and that may be true even if we were the
same age).

Now if you run the numbers...then at your weight you'd need about 13*171 =
2223 kcal per day (the multplier of 13 is the thing that is hard to nail
down as there is a range). That works out to 15561 kcals per week. So if
you lose 1% of your weight in fat, which is 1.71 lbs, in one week you need a
deficit of 1.71 * 3500 = 5985 kcals, or an 855 calorie deficit per day. So,
2223 - 855 = 1368 kcals net intake per day. So the question is can you do
that? If you eat 500 kcals less than what you need to maintain your weight,
which would be 1723 kcals, then you'd only need about 355 kcals per day in
exercise. Your Curves workouts are 3X per week, right, and they last how
long? 30 minutes? Assuming vigorious effort, you'd probably burn about 160
kcals per workout. So, your 3 workouts would come to about 480 kcals. Of
course, lifting weights causes your metabolism to kick up during a period of
12 to 24 hours after the workout, so you'd also tend to burn more calories
during that time as result. And since you are young....my guess is that
your metabolic rate is not as low as someone much older. That multiplier
could be higher than 13 for you, making it easier to create the deficit.

So, imo, the bottom line is that you're probably doing it right, as long as
you aren't overdoing it.

[Luna]

In article >,
(Anne) wrote:

> Luna, have you had your thryoid tested recently?
>
> I'm hypothyroid and, even though I'm on Synthroid, it's still a bit
> sluggish and definitely impedes my weight loss. :-(
>
> - Anne

Had my thyroid tested a few years ago, have no symptoms of anything like
that. My weight loss slowed one month because I slacked off, skipped
workouts and cheated on the diet. Otherwise it's been fine. Roger Zoul
was worried about me because I wanted to get back on track to losing 8
pounds a month like I had when I started, and he thought that was too much
and maybe I had some sort of problem or something.

--
-Michelle Levin (Luna)
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick
http://www.mindspring.com/~designbyluna

[Luna]

In article >,
"Roger Zoul" > wrote:

> Luna wrote:
> :: Hey, you were concerned about how I thought losing 4 pounds in a
> :: month was too slow and I wanted to lose 8 pounds like when I
> :: started? Well, if jamie is correct in her comments in the thread
> :: titled "Any advice please?" she says "It's extremely difficult to
> :: lose more
> :: than about one percent of your total weight in actual fat per week,
> :: unless you exercise several hours daily."
> ::
> :: Do you know if that means that 1% of total body weight per week
> :: would be considered a good rate?
> ::
> :: At my last official weigh-in at Curves I was 171. Calculating
> :: losing 1% body weight per week, my weight loss would look like this:
> ::
> :: Starting 171
> :: Week 1: 169.29
> :: Week 2: 167.5971
> :: Week 3: 165.9211
> :: Week 4: 164.2619
> ::
> :: 171 - 164.2619 = 6.7381
> ::
> :: Ok, granted that weight loss isn't a perfect mathematical downward
> :: trend, it looks like between 6 and 7 pounds for my current monthly
> :: weigh-in period (Sep 16 - Oct 16) would be reasonable, and I
> :: wouldn't consider 8 pounds to be way too much, but I'm not the type
> :: to stress if it is less than that, I am still thrilled that the
> :: numbers aren't going up anymore! What do you think?
>
> Well, I think that if you aren't being unreasonable by eating too little and
> exercising too much, then this is probaby okay. It could simply be that you
> are young and active and LCing is decreasing your appetite. If you are
> lifting at Curves and consuming adequate protein (which is not unlikely on
> LC), then you could be fine.
>
> The reason I commented in the first place is because of that thread where
> you mentioned not being able to workout due to a cold that would not go away
> (you started another thread about that, as I recall). I know in the past
> that when I am dieting hard and exercising a lot, that I tend to get sick
> more with colds, and they tend to last longer. So just pay attention....if
> you find you get sick a lot while losing at that rate (due to calorie
> restriction and exercise) then you might want to back off a bit. The fact
> that you slacked off last month *might* be a sign that you are over doing
> it....or maybe not. Everyone is different, and what works for you, at your
> age, may not work for me at my age (and that may be true even if we were the
> same age).

Well, I always get sick when summer ends, and then I get sick again when
spring shows up. Every single year. I think I'm sensitive to changes in
the weather. This is the first time I've been sick since starting exercize
and l-c, and I used to get sick a lot more. And I slacked off because I got
complacent and/or a bit scared about losing weight, but I got over it.


>
> Now if you run the numbers...then at your weight you'd need about 13*171 =
> 2223 kcal per day (the multplier of 13 is the thing that is hard to nail
> down as there is a range). That works out to 15561 kcals per week. So if
> you lose 1% of your weight in fat, which is 1.71 lbs, in one week you need a
> deficit of 1.71 * 3500 = 5985 kcals, or an 855 calorie deficit per day. So,
> 2223 - 855 = 1368 kcals net intake per day. So the question is can you do
> that? If you eat 500 kcals less than what you need to maintain your weight,
> which would be 1723 kcals, then you'd only need about 355 kcals per day in
> exercise. Your Curves workouts are 3X per week, right, and they last how
> long? 30 minutes? Assuming vigorious effort, you'd probably burn about 160
> kcals per workout. So, your 3 workouts would come to about 480 kcals. Of
> course, lifting weights causes your metabolism to kick up during a period of
> 12 to 24 hours after the workout, so you'd also tend to burn more calories
> during that time as result. And since you are young....my guess is that
> your metabolic rate is not as low as someone much older. That multiplier
> could be higher than 13 for you, making it easier to create the deficit.
>
> So, imo, the bottom line is that you're probably doing it right, as long as
> you aren't overdoing it.
>
>
I don't feel like I'm overdoing anything. I think the Curves workout is
supposed to burn more than regular aerobic excerize, because it is half
aerobic and half weight lifting. But, who knows really? And as far as the
eating goes, I think I'm hitting right in that calorie zone, at least I was
when I was using Fitday, and I never feel like I'm starving myself. So,
ok, I guess I'm doing alright then.

--
-Michelle Levin (Luna)
http://www.mindspring.com/~lunachick
http://www.mindspring.com/~designbyluna