i guess i can be proven wrong. but to lose 1 lb, you must burn 3500 more calories than you consume. but to lose 120lbs in 3 months is impossible. 100 in 6 months is more possible.
This is true 1lb of fat = 3500calories, but many people forget about bmr (basal metabolic rate). The amount of calories your body naturally burns at rest. If you're a large individual and you naturally burn 2500calories at rest, over a weeks period that is 17,500calories.
17,500 calories - 7000 calories (2lbs of fat) = 10,500 calories. Divide this by the 7 days of week and if you maintain a 1500 calorie diet daily, just by sitting around you'll burn two pounds of
pure fat. This doesn't account for any loss of water weight, which should be significant when someone goes from an unhealthy diet to a healthy diet (processed foods are regularly loaded with tons of sodium), exercise, or the effects that nutrient timing having on body weight.
The human body is complex and I cannot even begin to understand all of the complexities of the body, but the information that is regurgitated by the media is dumbed down by scientists so the laymen can understand the basic process.
Throw exercise into that mix that I described earlier and if you burn 1000 calories a day, thats another 2lbs of pure fat. Restrict the diet further, while still keeping correct nutrient profiles (necessary levels of carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals) and you can shave off another 1lb or 2lbs or pure fat.
That puts you up to 6lbs of pure fat a week or 24lbs over a month. Factor in the effect that increased muscle mass has on your BMR (pound for pound, muscle requires many more calories than fat to maintain). Nutrient timing is also a complex topic that effects metabolic rates and fat storage through insulin regulation (Canada uses the glycemic index in their nutrition labeling because blood gluclose and insulin levels are pivotal points to fat storage -> think of all the "insulin resistant" people in America that have Type 2 diabetes as a result of their diets).
Nick, if you're our weight, you're certainly not going to be able to shed pounds like a person thats 100lbs overweight but the difference between the way our bodies function and the way their bodies function is vast. Their muscles are in a continual state of atrophy because of lack of exercise. Hormone levels are in the tubes due to a lack of muscle mass, where as our bodies should be pumping near max levels at this point. All of these things combine to have drastically different effects on the weight loss of a fit person vs an unfit person.
FYI, doctors have retracted on the idea that its only healthy to lose 2lbs of pure fat per week. Doctors now say that this is only a guidelines for healthy individuals and not obese or morbidly obese individuals.
I hope some of this information was useful to someone out there in cyberspace and it wasn't just typed in vain.
I also hope that Bob is still on track with his diet and that Jordan is back on track with his goals. Good luck all.