How much weight can I lose in a month? I’m a 5’4″ 110-112 lbs. female and I’m 16. How much weight can I lose in a month if I’m eating between 600-800 calories a day? I’m also running 3-4 times a week (burning 1,000 calories during each run), and doing other exercises every other day, how much weight can I lose in a month or how much weight is it possible to lose in a given amount of time? Thanks! Dakota. [via Ask Questions]
The “how much weight can I lose in a month?” is a very tricky question. Why? Because the amount of weight one can lose in a given time is highly dependent on a number of individual factors and variable that are hard to assess without doing certain tests. Having said that, some answers can be found in the how much weight can I lose in a week post.
But let’s take a closer look at your numbers. First of all, you are not burning 1,000 calories during each run; this number of way too high. To estimate how many calories running burns, read the how many calories does running burn post.
Second, you do not need to exercise so much. Too much exercise can actually slow your weight-loss progress. Why? There are two reasons: when you do too much cardio, you lose muscle mass, which slows down your metabolism. Sluggish metabolism decreases your body’s ability to burn as many calories as possible. The second reason why you do not want to exercise too much has to do with overtraining.
Your body needs time to recover from exercise. The more you exercise, the more time your body needs to recover. Not giving your muscles enough time to rebuild and recover hinders weight loss. Too much exercise does not make losing weight easier or faster, just the opposite. As for your diet, if your numbers are correct, you calorie consumption is very low, especially given the amount of exercise you do. It is unhealthy to consume fewer than 1,300 calories each day.
What I am about to say might sound counterintuitive, but you need to eat more and exercise less. If you are not losing weight, you daily calorie estimates are incorrect. Write down everything you eat for two weeks and check the numbers carefully.