Healthy weight loss goals

One of my readers asked me what was a good healthy weight loss goal/week. The answer: 1-2 lbs/week. We're talking BODY FAT here (which is what you're trying to lose, right?), not muscle mass or water weight. If you do the math, to lose (or gain, for that matter) 1 lb. of body fat, you have to consume 3500 calories LESS than what you put out (opposite to gain). If you divide 3500 into 7 days/week, that comes out to 500 calories/day! For example, if you normally eat 2,000 calories a day without exercising and you're MAINTAINING your weight, than you will need to eat approx. 1500 cal/day in a weeks span to lose 1 lb. of body fat. If you add exercise in and burn 500 cal/hr, 5 days a week, then you'll lose a little more than that (unless you're eating more). Make sense?

It's all about calories in vs. calories out. When you see these diets where people are losing 7 lbs/week, let's face it, it's not all body fat. If you do the numbers, that would look like nearly 25,000 calories/week that they're burning (impossible unless you're expending calories like Lance Armstrong or Michael Phelps and spend hrs a day burning loads of calories!) And let's face it, although that would be nice, I GUARANTEE if you're losing more than 1-2 lbs/week, you're going to gain it back because that's water weight! So, if you're looking for real weight loss, steady wins the race!