The best advice I can give you is to focus on losing fat, not losing weight. If you lose three to five pounds per week, and it s all fat, no muscle - more power to you! Of course the only way to know this is with body composition testing. I recommend the Accu measure for home self testing as first choice. I suggest using the Tanita bio-electric impedance analysis scale only as second choice behind calipers for home self testing. Even better, get a professional caliper test from an experienced tester at a health club, or even a water (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.
The first 4lbs you lose when on a diet is most likely water. Some Experts say that its not possible to lose more than 2 lbs of fat a week unless you are an athlete. If you lose more than that its more likely to be muscle or water. If you are losing a lot and not eating enough, your body consumes the muscles that keep your organs strong. (hence why anorexics can die from organ failure). This can add strain to your organs and cause problems when your joints. You would need to have tests done to see how much fat you are losing. However most tests are inaccurate
Losing 2lb a week is the slow and steady way of doing so your more likely to stick to it in the long term, because you will be trying to keep this weight off for the rest of your life.
To lose 2 lbs a week you need a deficit of around 7000 calories. This is about 20 hrs of work outs at the gym, while eating moderately. Most people do not diet like this, choosing instead to starve themselves. When starved the body conserves energy because it does not know when the next meal is coming and when you begin eating normally it puts on extra lbs so that next time you starve yourself, there is more fat to survive on. You also need a certain amount of protein and if not eaten regularly each day the muscles and organs are broken down to supply it.
I lost on average 4 or 5lbs a week when I decided that I needed to lose. I lost 52lbs in 12 weeks in 2003 and I have kept this weight off since then. I was exercising and cut out sugary foods from my diet and reduced my portion size. It was clearly not unhealthy for me, but bear in mind that my weight gain was the result of being unable to move about much because of illness. As soon as I was mobile again I shed those excess pounds with ease. It may be different for someone who is trying to lose under other circumstances. I believe that everyone has a genetically predetermined weight and that if you drop below that you find it very hard to maintain weight loss or to lose anymore, plus you look ill. I m proud to be one of the 10% of people who have managed to keep their weight off.
the only reason they say this is because 9 out of ten people that lose a lot of weight fast tend to put it back on, as well as more than they lost, that is the only reason
i dont see the people on the biggest loser complaining about losing more than 2 pounds a week, if they can do it then why cant anybody else of course you would have to have medical attention frequently to supervise.
