Weight Loss Help - Calculation

[Lyndz13]

I am currently 87kg (190lbs) and my goal weight is 65kg (140lbs). How quickly can i lose this?

I plan on going to the gym (every day except Sunday) and this will involve 10 hours a week in total at the gym averaging 450 calories a time. I am also trying to follow a 1200 calories a day diet with Sat evening being a cheat night (but not a total blow out (approx 1400-1600 cals).

I want to be realistic and not set myself up for failure. How quickly will i lose 22kg (50lbs) at the rate above? I am going on holiday in 4 months (138days) and would LOVE to be comfortable in a bikini.

Thanks in Advance

[Dominique]

A recommendation for losing weight and keeping it off is to lose at max. 1% of your bodyweight per week, and no more than 10% of your starting weight in one stretch of weight loss no longer than 3 months. Once you’ve lost 10% in three months, you maintain your new, lower weight for another 3 months, and then go for the next weight loss phase (again, max. 10% of your new weight, no longer than 3 months). Rationale of this approach in the Losing All Your Weight At Once video (it’s presented by a meathead scientist, but would apply to anyone looking to lose a lot of weight IMO).

In your case, such an approach would look like this:

Week 0: 87 kg

Week 12: 78.3 kg

Week 24: 78.3 kg

Week 36: 70.5 kg

Week 48: 70.5 kg

Week 60: 63.6 kg

Yes, I understand we’d be looking at almost one year. It can be done faster, no question about it. But losing 50 pounds in 20 weeks (2.5 lbs per week) will be real tough, and you’ll probably hit a plateau at a point where you’re eating very little and exercising a lot, with little potential for further decreasing your intake or further increasing your activity.

Ask yourself this: how long did it take you to reach 87 kg? Did it happen in half a year?

[Lyndz13]

Hi Dominique, 

Thanks for your answer, this is helpful. Although just to be clear i never assumed i could lose all 50lb by my holiday, i just said i wanted to look good in a bikini. 

If i am reading this right. You are saying no more than 10% of your starting weight in 3 months so i should aim for 8.7kg a quarter?

[Baltoscott]

Hi @Lyndz13

Last year I lost 42 lbs in around seven months going from 202 lbs to around 159/160 lbs, and I then maintained 160 lbs for about five months.  (After that I gave myself a new goal to gain some weight and build some muscle, so I am currently at 168 lbs).

I’m not really sure how much I was eating at 202 lbs, but while losing weight I averaged1450 cal/day for the first month, 1550 cal/day for the second month, and between 2000 and 2200 cal/day for the next four months. (For perspective, the first month after I got down to 160 lbs, I was eating about 2500 cal/day.  I increased that to 2900 cal/day over the next four months without gaining any weight).  

Even with the low calories, the weight was pretty stubbern for the first couple of weeks, but things started moving in the third week or so with me usually losing between 1-2 lbs/week.  I started increasing calories because I didn’t want to lose faster than 1% my body weight in a week (i.e. 2 lbs at the start but small numbers as I got smaller), and because I was trying to build up habits from the start that would carry me beyond the weight loss.