new and wondering how much you can loose weekly

[allie]

just would like to know about how much I should expect to loose weekly. would love to hear some fedback on this.

[NoelFigart]

just would like to know about how much I should expect to loose weekly. would love to hear some fedback on this.

It's going to vary. If you have a substantial amount of weight to lose, have never dieted before and screwed up your metabolism, are tall, active and male, it'll be faster.

If you're short, older, female, have had a lifetime of yo-yo dieting.... It's gonna take a lot longer.

But if you're in the second situation you're in desperate need of fixing your habits, getting out of the "diet" mentality and fixing your relationship with food and eating, anyway.

I'd say focusing too much on the scale is not going to help a lot. Track habits

If you're losing about a half a pound a week, cheer! Seriously. That means you're losing fat, not muscle, and you're going to keep it off.

I lose much more slowly than that. But on the other hand, even a pound a month is 12 pounds a year lost. Creeping weight LOSS is better than the national average of creeping weight gain, right?

[kccc]

Don't expect.

Focus on building habits, and let the weight take care of itself.

This is not a fast-loss diet, but it is a permanent loss diet.

[FarmerHal]

Yep, what everyone said. We won't win the biggest loser show, that's for sure, but setting new and healthy habits with food (and largely emotions for me!) makes it a cumulative effort.
It all adds up.

For instance, even with several imperfect N days, over 15 months I lost (and have kept off) 22 lbs.
But what's more, I have improved my relationship with food, which has been a lifelong love/hate situation.

[reinhard]

I think KCCC's "don't expect" is the best answer.

I've heard "half a pound a week" as a reasonable rate of loss for moderate eating, which has the advantage of nudging you towards "don't expect," but obviously isn't very scientific since it takes no account of how much you have to lose to begin with (someone with a hundred pounds to lose will presumably lose faster than someone with 5 or 0 pounds to lose).

The thing to focus on is habits, behavior, a daily minimum level of compliance. I find keeping a habit calendar (marking off successful days in green exempt S-days in yellow, and failures in red) very helpful in keeping this focus. You can use either the online habitcal on this site, but a paper calendar works just fine, too. If you behave right, and eat moderately, in time you will hit your appropriate weight. It's not fast. But it works and it lasts. It's can be hard at first, but it gets easier and easier, and more and more pleasant as you stick with it. And soon, I think, you'll find yourself not only thinner, but enjoying food more than you ever have before.

Reinhard

[rose]

When I was still medically overweight I steadily lost about half a pound per week. At this rate, you can't really check your progress daily or weekly because of a lot of small glitches that add up to differences of up to 3 pounds in the same week depending on stomach/bowels/bladder contents, water retention etc. You have to compute averages over a longer period to see progress. After a month or two it shows both on the scale and on your body. After a year I had lost 22 pounds.

Now my weight is in the normal range and it looks like I am on a plateau - or perhaps my weight loss is even slower and the results will only show after several months ?

[Dawn]

Allie, The first thing you have to do is to get any expectations of weight loss out of your mind. You just started and are no where near the weight loss stage of this. This is not a get thin quick scheme and you may not see any results for a long time - scary huh? I don't mean to scare you but that is the truth. You have to see the big picture here and once you get going you can see that it has to work, that you will lose weight and you will not regain it - ever. For me that is worth waiting for. If you stick to this you will learn how to eat without guilt and with a sense of control - those are two things that I don't remember ever having until now. The side effect of this great way of life is that your weight will level off to a healthy amount - over time - maybe a lot of time. I am assuming it will take the better part of a year to reach my goal of around 20 pounds. Doesn't sound like the other plans does it? They promise 20 pounds in 20 days etc., and they may work, but how long does that stay off? My history tells me around 6 months max.

Good luck in changing your mind set - the rest will follow.