Question:
Hey, I was wondering how much weight I will be lossing per week, I am 5.4, 160 pounds eating 1000 calories per day and working outdoors 5 days a week(mowing/trimming/raking and walk my dogs every morning as well. my goal is 140..that is what my doctor originally told me I Should weight.

Answer:
That’s a tough question. I would venture to say that you’re actually not going to lose any weight. Reason being is that you’re under eating way too much which will put your body into starvation mode, thus making it hold onto body fat.

For a woman your height and weight with how active you are, you are not eating enough food to even sustain proper functioning without the body taking measures to ensure survivial. This means, you will ultimately slow down your metabolic rate, hold onto fat, and likely lose precious muscle tissue in the process.

After doing well over 100 metabolic tests that measures metabolic rate, I’ve found that most active women like yourself need upwards of 2500 cals/day even in order to lose weight. In fact, eating anything below 1200 cals/day is considered starvation simply because the body cannot meet nutritional needs as it relates to fat, carbs, protein, vitamins and minerals. Add on the fact you are highly active throughout the day and you will have higher needs than someone who has a deskjob with very little activity.

I would strongly suggest looking into the services of a RD who can assist you one-on-one nutritionally speaking to give the proper education of nutrition that will help you reach your goals. Or at the very least check into some of the nutrition articles on this site.

I hope I’ve been able to shed a little bit of light on the topic for you. I will however say, that addressing the total answer via email in one session, will be utterly impossible.

-Mark Shields

Question:

I just had a baby 3 months ago and i gained quite a bit of weight with my pregnancy. I am no longer breast feeding and ready to try to lose the weight. I started counting calories and eliminated sweets and soda all together. I started walking between 30-60 minutes a night every night about 17 days ago. I am 5′7 21yrs old and started weighing 239. I am down 10 pounds already! Thats great but I have read some good stuff and bad stuff about losing more than 1-2 pounds a week and I am averaging about 4 or a little more. My question is am I losing fat or muscle mass and water weight? I drnk tons of water to stay hydrated. I want to get down to about 180 or so but I want to ensure I am doing it correctly so it ensures long term results!!! Should I slow down at all? Is this weight loss good? Thank you for your help!!!!!!

Answer:  
That’s a great question. Usually, I’m all over making sure people don’t lose much more than 2 lbs a week. The body simply isn’t capable of losing much more than 2 lbs of fat per week. And like you eluded too, we don’t want to lose muscle.
However, just starting out (especially after pregnancy and not breast feeding), you might be capable of losing a little more per week, in the initial phase here.
The fact that you cut out soda is a huge start (assuming it wasn’t diet soda). How many calories a day are you consuming? And what do you do for a living as that will play a role in the number of calories you want to be consuming.
Good job on the walking too. If I could strongly suggest adding in some type of resistance training into your program. This is a vital part for fat loss, and will help minimize muscle loss, to ensure you keep your metabolism going. Doesn’t have to be anything crazy, but just a simple routine to get you going.

-Mark

PS- as for the water thing, to make sure that you’re properly hydrated when you urinate your urine should be a light light lemonade color, the darker the more dehydrated you are.
typically, you want to aim for 1/2 your body weight in ounces a day, upping it a little more if you’re active.

Question:    

Hi Mark,
I just have a question about why every time I work out, I gain weight. I am by no means over weight, but would like to lose about 5 pounds.

I only work out about 3 times a week, alternating between jogging and walking for around 25 minutes on a tredmil. My diet consists of normally healthy meals, and every once in a while I splurge on some Dairy Queen or brownies. I’m 21 and around 116 lbs, and about 5′1”.

It’s frustrating to work out, and gain weight. I think this is because when you work out you gain muscle? It’s frustrating because I’m the type of person who thinks that if you can’t measure sucess you shouldn’t start.

Is there any advice you can give me?

Thank you for taking my question.

-Sarah

Answer:

Hi Sarah,
Here’s my advice. Don’t weigh yourself. I know that sounds absurd maybe even you’re thinking impossible.

Here’s the deal though. The scale can’t distinguish between water weight, fat or muscle. For example, let’s say that you weigh yourself and then immediately drink a gallon of water (not likely I know), but a gallon of water weighs 8 lbs. Now, you won’t look any different but you’re now 8 lbs heavier.

You’re body is constantly changing it’s water retention (through urinating and sweating). Depending upon the time of day you weigh yourself along with what foods or liquids you’ve recently eaten this can make your weight fluctuate.

I’m assuming by the stats that you’ve given me, you’re a slender person, so you’re not really after losing weight, you’re probably just looking for more muscle definition (toning). This really just comes down to fat loss, rather than weight loss.

You could build 5 lbs of muscle, lose 5 lbs of fat, the scale not budge, but you’ll look and feel better, as well as have clothes fitting better.
Instead of weighing yourself, I would go by how your clothes are fitting, if you’re seeing more definition when you look in the mirror or if others starting commenting on the changes they’re seeing in you.

I know this probably isn’t the answer you were looking for, but it’s the truth.
I also think another thing that would greatly help you is to do some resistance training (whether it’s with weights, your bodyweight, tubes, or stability balls), this will help in the process of losing fat, just as much if not more than running.

Hope this helps at least a little and gives you a starting point.
Also, define “healthy meals”, because sometimes healthy doesn’t always mean a meal that will help lose body fat.

Question:

Hi Mark,
My stats are 5′2 120lbs and 25 years old. About 8 months ago I had a baby and I gained about 35 pounds while I was pregnant. Luckily, all the weight came off afterwards and I’m back down to my pre-pregnancy weight (of 120). However, my problem is that I would like to be about 110 lbs. I have a very small frame so I look just a little chubby.

For the past 2 weeks I’ve been keeping track of my calories eating about 1000 – 1400 a day. I constantly take my daughter for walks and bike rides. Also, I tend to stay VERY busy working full time and doing laundry, vacuuming, etc. I barely sit down. However, my problem is that…I haven’t lost a pound! I’m so frustrated and I don’t know what to do. Do you have ANY idea as to why this would be happening? I really appreciate your feedback.

Answer:
I think I can provide some help for you. First,I would say that you’re undereating too much. I know this sounds “crazy”, but after doing well over 100 metabolic tests (where I actually use a device using that measures metabolism), most women, who are as active as you need more calories than what you’re consuming.

Secondly, anything below 1200 calories is consideration “starvation”, since you can’t meet nutritional needs as it relates to vitamins, minerals, protein, etc. I would suggest bumping up your caloric intake to a minimum of 1400 calories possibly going slightly higher (it’s tough to say w/o doing the measurement).

What happens when we undereat too much our body begins to hold on to fat best it can, because it doesn’t know that we’re trying to lose weight, it thinks we’re going through problems accessing food. You can also start to lose muscle by not eating enough, which will ultimately slow metabolism since to lose fat, it is burned in muscle tissue.

Also, I would suggest incorporating some resistance training into your exercise routine. This will help build a little bit of muscle which will increase metabolism and increase the number of calories a day you burn. This will also help you get that “toned” look that so many desire. You can lose all the weight you want, but if you don’t do something to help “shape” the muscle then you’re just going to be a skinnier fat version of your current self.

Also, how many times are you eating throughout the day, and also, what types of food are you eating? Let’s start with breakfast.
I know a simple short answer would be nice, but there’s actually a lot that is involved in all this fitness “stuff”.

Question: I’m losing more weight and I’m starting to see my muscles starting to protrude rather than the lumpy fat I had once before. My belly is becoming more firm. Granted I still have a small belly, it’s shrunk, and with great delight

only problem is this:
while the fat on my body is leaving my system and being burned, what do I do about the fat around my chin. It hasn’t really been burned as much. What do i do to get rid of that.

My guess is this (which i hope i’m wrong) it will probably be the last thing i burn off.

also how do I speed metabolism. How can I tell how slow/fast it is?

Answer:

Hi, great question. Our body burns fat systemically. Meaning that it comes off the body as a whole, with not much rhyme or reason. This can be somewhat genetic as well. Where you put on weight first, is usually the first place you’ll start losing it. You’ll have to keep reducing your body fat levels until you get to a comfortable % that will allow the jawline fat to reduce as well.

Metabolism is the speed your body burns through food.
There are 3 main components

1. T3/T4 hormones- means you have to eat enough food so that you don’t lower their production thus slowing metabolism (one reason crash diets don’t work, they slow the production of these hormones and slow metabolism)
2. Amount of muscle you have- fat is burned in muscle tissue, the more you have the more you burn. if you’re not currently weight training, start doing so
3. Types and frequencies of the food you eat not all calories are created equal, 2k calories of sugar will have a different effect on your body and metabolism than 2k cals of salmon, veggies, and sweet potatoes for example.

Be sure to eat every 3 hrs of a meal that contains a low-fat protein source, and a complex carb with some veggies.