How Fast Can You Lose Weight
There is a difference between how fast you can lose weight and how maintainable it is.
Fat Loss Math
You must expend 3500 calories of energy to lose 1lbs of body fat.
Bad news is, we are energy efficient creatures. Which is great for survival, not well suited for losing fat though.
At a body weight of 150lbs you will expend 60 calories per km you walk, run, or jog.
Preserving Muscle
Another complication is we want to be losing body fat while preserving lean body mass(muscle).
Body fat to lean body mass ratio plays a major role in what weight is lost.
The more body fat you have in relation to lean body mass the more likely you are to lose fat.
As you get leaner it will get more difficult to lose body fat while preserving lean body mass.
My Recommendation
A sustainable rate of loss is 1% body weight per week.
If you are 200lbs that is 2lbs per week.
Making Adjustments
- Losing 1% or more body weight per week while performance is maintained or increasing.
- Change Nothing
- Losing 1% or more body weight per week while performance is decreasing.
- Increase food intake by 15%
- Losing less than 1% body weight per week.
- Decrease Food intake by 15%
Check the link for a more detailed explanation of how much to eat