Most of our clients are surprised when I tell them 1 pound of weight loss per week is the PERFECT pace.
Of course, most of us want weight loss to be way faster than 1 pound per week.
But think about it. If you AVERAGE 1 pound per week for the next year, you’ve had a REALLY good year…assuming you have 50+ pounds to lose.
Will you have weeks where you lose more? Of course!
You’ll also have weeks where you don’t lose any. Heck, you’ll have weeks where you do EVERYTHING correctly and you gain weight. That’s just the weight loss game. It’s up and down. It’s not linear.
So why is 1 pound per week the perfect pace? Why not more?
First, weight regain statistics are staggering. 95% of people who lose weight will put it ALL back on in 3 years.
This is largely do to HOW people lose it. If you lose weight super fast, the habits that caused you to lose that weight super fast are not sustainable. Crash dieting, starving yourself, 1,200 calorie workouts, etc… So the habits that you develop during fast weight loss do you no good (and honestly do harm) long term. If you lose weight more slowly, the habits that allow that slow weight loss will also help you keep it off. Moderation, sensible dieting, sensible workout plan, etc…
Second, losing weight super fast creates a drastic metabolic slow down. This means you burn way fewer calories day to day. Guess what happens when you burn way fewer calories day to day AND go off the rails with nutrition? You guessed it. More rapid weight regain. If you lose weight more slowly, the metabolic slow down is minimized, allowing you to fudge here that there and not regain nearly as much weight.
Third, it’s DOABLE. Two, three, four pounds per week isn’t always doable no matter how much you starve yourself (which we DON’T want to do by the way). It doesn’t sound like much but like I said, averaging one pound a week for six months or a year adds up quickly!!
Ever stronger!
Coach Levi
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