QUESTION:
Dear Tom,
I already know you preach losing no more than two pounds per week. But does
this apply to everyone? I'm currently at a 32% body fat level. I was
curious to know if it's ok to lose up to three pounds per week
until I get to a 25%-20% body fat level. Will my body fight against
such a loss? Thanks in advance for your time, knowledge, and response
to this matter.
Sincerely,
Mark D.
ANSWER
It's usually best to aim for one or two pounds per week of weight
loss. This is the recommendation of most legitimate and respected dieticians,
nutritionists, exercise physiologists and exercise organizations such as the
American College of Sports Medicine and I'm in 100% agreement with this guideline.
However, it's definitely ok to lose three pounds per week when you have a
lot to lose. The more you have, the more you can safely lose per week
because fat loss is relative to total body weight. Makes sense, right?
Generally the rule is that it's safe to lose up to 1% of your total body
weight per week, so if you weigh 300 lbs to start, then 3 lbs a week is a
reasonable goal.
But there IS a catch.
What really matters is not how much weight is lost, but how much FAT is lost.
Where did the weight come from? Are we talking about fat weight or lean body mass?
For example, let's take a 260 pound man who has a lot of body fat to lose -
let's call it 32%. With 32% fat, a 260 pounder has 83.2 pounds of body fat
and 176.8 pounds of lean mass. Using this example, let's look at a few possible
scenarios with losses ranging from two to four pounds per week.
Scenario 1:
Suppose our 260 pound subject loses four full pounds instead of the recommended
one to two pounds per week. Is this bad? Well, let's see:
<>If he loses a half a percent of body fat, here are his body composition results:
256 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.6 lbs fat
175.4 lbs lean body mass
Out of the four pounds lost, 2.8 pounds were fat and 1.2 were lean mass.
Not a disaster, but not good either. Thirty percent of the weight lost
was lean tissue.
Scenario 2:
If he loses a half a percent of body fat and only three pounds, here are
his results:
257 lbs
31.5% body fat
80.9 lbs fat
176.1 lbs lean body mass
These results are better. Although he lost less body weight than scenario one,
in this instance, 2.3 pounds of fat and only 0.7 lbs of lean mass were lost.
Scenario 3:
What if he only lost two pounds? Here are the results:
258 lbs
31.5% body fat
81.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass
These results are perfect. Even though our subject has only lost two pounds,
which seems slow, 100% of the two pound weight loss came from fat.
Scenario 4:
Now let's suppose he loses three pounds but he loses more body fat: .8%
257 lbs
31.2% body fat
80.2 lbs fat
176.8 lbs lean body mass
These are the best results of all. When the weekly fat loss is .8%, 100% of
the three pounds lost is fat.
So the answer to the question is yes - it's safe to lose more than two pounds
per week... IF the weight is all fat or at least mostly fat with minimal lean
mass losses.
One thing you should know is that water weight losses sometimes tend to
distort these numbers, especially when you first begin a new nutrition and
training program. It's very common to lose 3 - 5 pounds in the first week
on nearly any diet and exercise program especially those that involve
low carbs. Just remember, its NOT all fat - It's water!
The lean body mass number isn't just muscle. Lean mass reflects all fat
free tissue, including water weight. That's why you shouldn't panic if
you see small drops in lean body mass - some of it is water.
When you lose large amounts of lean mass and/or if your lean mass drops
consistently week after week, that's an indication that you're definitely
losing muscle tissue.
The best advice I can give you is to focus on losing fat, not losing weight.
If you lose three to five pounds per week, and you know it's all fat, no
muscle - more power to you!
Of course the only way to know this is with body composition testing. I recommend
the Accu measure for home self testing as first choice. I suggest using the
Tanita bio-electric impedance analysis scale only as second choice behind
calipers for home self testing because this device gives some funky readings
sometimes.
Even better, get a professional caliper test from an experienced tester at
a health club, or even a water (hydrostatic) or air (bod pod) displacement test.
From literally hundreds of client case studies, I can confirm that it's
rare to lose more than 1.5 - 2.0 lbs of weight per week without losing some
muscle along with it. If you lose muscle, you are damaging your metabolism
and this will ultimately lead to a plateau and weight re-gain.
Lack of patience is one of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to
losing weight. If you want your weight loss to be PERMANENT, you have to take
off the pounds slowly.
This is one of the toughest lessons that overweight men and women have to
learn - and they are such hard learners. They fight me kicking and screaming,
insisting that they CAN and they MUST lose it faster.
Then you have these terrible TV shows (I won't mention any names like the Biggest
Loser, as I don't want to implicate anyone for their foolishness), and they
ENCOURAGE the masses that it's okay to lose more.
This makes it even harder for those of us who are legitimate fitness and
nutrition professionals because our clients say, "But Tom, look at Joe on
TV - he lost 20 pounds in a week!"
Sure, but do you have any idea what the long term consequences are for Joe? Yes,
that's right - when you lose too much too fast, your odds of gaining every ounce
back - plus a few pounds extra for interest - are about 95% (not to mention
the health and psychological consequences)
Short term thinking, folks... foolish.
I'm telling you... I'm pleading with you... do it the right way. Take pounds off
slowly... the healthy and sensible way and you will never have to take the
pounds off again - they will be gone forever the first time. No more yo-yoing.
If this makes sense to you and you need help with the logical, healthy, sensible,
smart way to take off the fat (while keeping all the muscle), then my Burn the Fat,
Feed The Muscle program will teach you how. No gimmicks or false promises.
Just the truth - you have to work at it and you have to be patient.
Go to my site to get started - click here NOW!
My very best to you,
Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCS
Certified Personal Trainer
Certified Strength & Conditioning Specialist
Fat Loss Coach
I'm Jon Benson, best-selling author of Fit Over 40 and too many other books to list. I have forgotten more about getting lean and fit than most people will ever know. I can put muscle on a twig and strip fat off of anyone who will listen to me. I've read enough books to fill a small library and spent more money on fitness and nutrition seminars, schooling and courses than most people earn in ten years. I know my stuff.
