What is unsafe weight loss?

[Anonymous]

Someone posted today that he lost 57 pounds in 4.5 months. About 13 pounds a month. I get that for someone who is really overweight but his SW was 237 and CW is 180. That's not healthy, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Someone posted today that he lost 57 pounds in 4.5 months. About 13 pounds a month. I get that for someone who is really overweight but his SW was 237 and CW is 180. That's not healthy, right?

Sorry, posted on Reddit s/ProgressPics

[Anonymous]

I don’t think so. I can loose 20 pounds in one month, and it I’ve lost 50 pounds in 4 months. Completely healthy. My problem is I always gain it back! 🤪

[Anonymous]

It really depends on how they did it. If he followed some high protein low calories approach it is fine. For those who can sustain it it is actually a great way to lose fat.

[Anonymous]

I'm 115 lbs, so that type of weight loss for me would be practically deadly. For the person you mention, I hope they exercised and kept up their protein intake, otherwise they'd lose a lot of muscle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think so. I can loose 20 pounds in one month, and it I’ve lost 50 pounds in 4 months. Completely healthy. My problem is I always gain it back! 🤪

The word is "lose", dammit. You can LOSE 20 pounds in one month, not LOOSE 20 pounds. Lose vs. loose: these words are not interchangeable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think so. I can loose 20 pounds in one month, and it I’ve lost 50 pounds in 4 months. Completely healthy. My problem is I always gain it back! 🤪

If you can’t sustain the weight loss, it isn’t healthy.

[Anonymous]

What do you think is “unhealthy” about it?

The truth is no, it’s not “unhealthy”. Decreasing calories for 4.5 months out of a lifetime? Nope. It’s really nothing.

I find that most people who say stuff like this are jealous that someone was able to power through and do something like this vs. any real actual concern over health isssues.

[Anonymous]

It’s about 3lbs a week, so just a little bit over the recommended 1-2lb per week loss.

Men have a much easier time. The key will be to maintain that weight.

[Anonymous]

Actually I believe the recommended is not to lose more than 1% of your body weight after the first two weeks (where there are often big losses of water weight) unless under a doctor’s care. Did he perhaps do this under the care and supervision of a doctor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is “unhealthy” about it?

The truth is no, it’s not “unhealthy”. Decreasing calories for 4.5 months out of a lifetime? Nope. It’s really nothing.

I find that most people who say stuff like this are jealous that someone was able to power through and do something like this vs. any real actual concern over health isssues.

We’re talking about more minor degrees of unhealthy, PP, meaning muscle loss instead of fat loss. Muscle is harder to rebuild. As others said, the key factor is whether he was able to keep it off. If you only so this once, it’s no big deal. If you do this several times, you deprive yourself of essential nutrients and at a certain age this had repercussions on your health, in terms of accelerated bone loss, dental issues, loss of musculature, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think so. I can loose 20 pounds in one month, and it I’ve lost 50 pounds in 4 months. Completely healthy. My problem is I always gain it back! 🤪

If you can’t sustain the weight loss, it isn’t healthy.

This.

Much better to change your eating and exercise habits long term resulting in a gradual loss of weight that you don’t put back on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is “unhealthy” about it?

The truth is no, it’s not “unhealthy”. Decreasing calories for 4.5 months out of a lifetime? Nope. It’s really nothing.

I find that most people who say stuff like this are jealous that someone was able to power through and do something like this vs. any real actual concern over health isssues.

We’re talking about more minor degrees of unhealthy, PP, meaning muscle loss instead of fat loss. Muscle is harder to rebuild. As others said, the key factor is whether he was able to keep it off. If you only so this once, it’s no big deal. If you do this several times, you deprive yourself of essential nutrients and at a certain age this had repercussions on your health, in terms of accelerated bone loss, dental issues, loss of musculature, etc.

So the guy lost 13lbs per month, which is about 3 lbs per week, implying a daily average calorie deficit of about 1500 calories. It should not be very hard for a 200lbs man to burn 3000 calories a day which leaves him with 1500 calories to eat. Let’s say he ate 200g of protein to maintain muscle mass, which still leaves him with 700 calories to spend on carbs and fats. The smart way would be to fill most of that allowance with high fiber veggies for volume and satiety and just eating the minimum necessary amount of fat. This is not exciting but it is also not unhealthy and some people prefer to see fast results. Yes, many gain it back, but even those who take the slower route often regain, so I don’t see why not go drastic for those who have the personality to sustain it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is “unhealthy” about it?

The truth is no, it’s not “unhealthy”. Decreasing calories for 4.5 months out of a lifetime? Nope. It’s really nothing.

I find that most people who say stuff like this are jealous that someone was able to power through and do something like this vs. any real actual concern over health isssues.

At some point you're just starving your body and that is unhealthy. - not a scientist

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What do you think is “unhealthy” about it?

The truth is no, it’s not “unhealthy”. Decreasing calories for 4.5 months out of a lifetime? Nope. It’s really nothing.

I find that most people who say stuff like this are jealous that someone was able to power through and do something like this vs. any real actual concern over health isssues.

We’re talking about more minor degrees of unhealthy, PP, meaning muscle loss instead of fat loss. Muscle is harder to rebuild. As others said, the key factor is whether he was able to keep it off. If you only so this once, it’s no big deal. If you do this several times, you deprive yourself of essential nutrients and at a certain age this had repercussions on your health, in terms of accelerated bone loss, dental issues, loss of musculature, etc.

So the guy lost 13lbs per month, which is about 3 lbs per week, implying a daily average calorie deficit of about 1500 calories. It should not be very hard for a 200lbs man to burn 3000 calories a day which leaves him with 1500 calories to eat. Let’s say he ate 200g of protein to maintain muscle mass, which still leaves him with 700 calories to spend on carbs and fats. The smart way would be to fill most of that allowance with high fiber veggies for volume and satiety and just eating the minimum necessary amount of fat. This is not exciting but it is also not unhealthy and some people prefer to see fast results. Yes, many gain it back, but even those who take the slower route often regain, so I don’t see why not go drastic for those who have the personality to sustain it.

Interesting post. What are you assuming as the base metabolic calorie burn for a 200lb guy?