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12th April 2009
But I want to lose more weight:
Why Hold me back at two pounds a week?
Cliff Baker
To be truthful, no one is really "holding" you back from losing more weight with the possible exception of your body!
Two pounds a week? No, it's not a "rule" of weight-loss management written in stone. But it is a healthy guideline
based on some very real physiological facts.
In reality, the advice of just about everybody from the U.S. government to your local health care practitioner cautioning
you to lose no more than a couple pounds a week is merely a "general recommendation."
Two pounds a week is also a healthy -- and realistic -- goal to shoot for. And no, it's not a number pulled out of some
magician's hat; it really is based on typical results of dieters just like you.
The truth of the matter is that the amount of weight you can lose -- safely and in a healthy manner -- depend entirely on
you. Or more specifically, your body and its unique composition.
Weight Loss Compared to Current Weight
The amount of weight you can safely lose in a week, first, depends on how much you weigh right now. The heavier you are,
the greater the odds are that you'll be able to lose more than two pounds a week in a safe manner and keep it off.
If you're only trying to lose 20 pounds then that "two-pound rule" is more appropriate for your situation than it is for
an individual who is 350 pounds and trying to lose weight.
In these two cases, some weight-loss experts add a caveat: a two-pound per week weight loss OR 1 percent of your total
body weight. A 350-pound person can then safely lose up to 3.5 pounds a week.
That means though that if you only weigh 150 pounds, your weekly weight loss goal may be as few as 1.5 pounds in a week.
But look at the bright side, even that is an achievement when you add up a month's worth of weight loss: 6 pounds.
And if you can continue that for six months, you've lost 36 pounds. Now that's impressive!
Let's look at that water weight
Another determining factor in the ongoing discussion centers on the actual composition of your body. Here again it comes
down to your unique individual body build. Most notably here, I'm talking about the amount of water weight you're carrying
around.
Wrestlers seem to know this aspect almost by osmosis. "I lost 10 pounds overnight. Just by sweating it off!" Tempting,
isn't it, to emulate these guys and sit in a sauna or go out and sweat a whole lot!
But keep in mind that when you "sweat off" your weight, it is, indeed, water weight - and the chances are that the weight
loss itself will only be temporary!
Wrestlers, after all, lose weight fast many times to make sure they're eligible for their specific weight class. After the
match, they don't mind a few pounds returning. If you're looking for lasting results you probably will be horrified to see
your weight return!
Now, back to that two pounds a week guideline . . .
Weight loss is nothing but math. You need to burn more calories than you consume. We're not going to talk about the "types"
of calories here for the moment, but. . . just the sheer amount of exercise it would take to burn enough calories to lose
more than two pounds in a week.
Standard practice says that in order to lose just one pound, you would need to burn 500 to 1,000 calories extra every single
day! Now, bear with me a moment. You also know that if you reduce your caloric intake by too much, your body "panics" by
switching your metabolism into low gear. This only makes it harder to lose weight.
And let's face it. How many of us have the time for the alternative -- to spend hours upon hours in the gym or out walking
or . . . well, you get the idea. Most of us are lucky to get an hour to hit the gym -- or to sneak a 30-minute walk while
the kids are asleep.
In order to lose more than two pounds a week, you'd have to seriously reduce the amount of food you eat -- which would
seriously reduce your metabolism and ability to burn calories -- or you'd have to spend a heck of a lot of time working out?
Now, you're really getting the picture about this two-pound a week weight loss recommendation! If you have the time and the
effort to put into it -- like the workouts the television show "The Biggest Loser" puts its participants through -- you can
lose more than two pounds. But, the average person just doesn't have the time for such a challenge.
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