Please help me understand if this is possible

I'm struggling to understand why it's considered unhealthy to lose more than 2 lbs a week.

My understanding is that the CICO method is to have a daily deficit in calories consumed if the goal is to lose weight.

So let's say I aim to achieve the deficit through diet only, without taking into consideration calories burned while exercising. Wouldn't that result in losing more than 2 lbs?

For example, let's assume my calories intake to maintain my current weight is 2600 calories. So to lose 2 lbs, I would need to consume no more than 1600 calories a day (1000 cals deficit). Theoretically, this alone should result in me losing 2 lbs a week. Now if I also add exercising to the mix where I'd burn around 500 calories a day, this would result in losing an additional pound a week with a total of 3 lbs a week. From what I've been reading, it's considered unhealthy/unmaintainable to lose more than 2 lbs a week.

I'm trying to figure out why that's not maintainable. As long as I achieve my 1000 cals deficit through dieting, and exercising would just be a bonus, shouldn't it be OK to lose more than 2 lbs a week?

submitted by /u/throwaway_mcghee12
[link] [comments]