# 20 pounds a month?



## Gercarson (Nov 2, 2003)

I've seen ads for the Scarsdale diet and Medifast that promise a loss of at least 20 pounds a month. Has anyone had any experience with either of them? I am assuming (yes, I know) that if a diet is advertised as these two are, that they must remain (relatively) healthy.


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## WindowOrMirror (Jan 10, 2005)

well... at 6'3" and 275 lbs I had a BMR of around 3350 KCal a day (that's how many KCal I'd have to uptake to stay even).

To lose 1 pound of weight, you need a net loss of 3500 KCal. To lose 20 lbs a month, you need 70,000 KCal, or around 17,500 a week. That's a net detriment of 2500 KCal a day. So... if I ate 850 KCal a day, I'd lose 20 lbs a month... oh, until I lost some weight and my BMR dropped. At 6'3" and 200 lbs, my BMR would be around 2750 and I'd be down to 250 KCal a day... not too realistic all the way 'round.

Now, if I were 6'3" and 450 lbs, I could lose 20 lbs a week for a while.

R


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