How Many Pounds Per Week Should I Lose
I have such a personal hang up with this topic. I have been in this industry for 15 years now and I have been playing around with personal weight gain and loss since High School. I know High School sounds like a bit much, however in hindsight I had a very unhealthy relationship with working and accepting myself at a younger age. I was a healthy kid, but I was addicted to training at a young age. Appearance meant way too much to me, to the point I would stay inside and miss doing things with my friends because I did not like the way I looked, felt, what the scale read or how I performed in the gym that day. On the flip side of that, yes, I started to understand at a young age how food really affected weight on both ends of the scale. I was never an overweight kid, so I do not have the experience of feeling overweight, however body dysmorphia works on both ends of that spectrum. Without getting into the dirty details, what I am trying to establish is some quick credibility that I have had years of obsessing over food and how it impacts me in every way physically, and more so emotionally.
HOW MUCH SHOULD I LOSE 
Easy, 1-2 lbs. per week. How much you should lose and how much you can lose are two different things. I personally work with a population who would want to lose 10-15 lbs on average. As a trainer you have to make sure that the person who wants to lose “x” weight can actually afford to lose that weight and still be healthy.
The more weight you have to lose, the more weight you may lose in 1 week, however 1-2 lbs. is a good healthy rate. We want to make sure your weight loss comes from fat and the process is sustainable for your body and mind
YOUR MIND HAS TO UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR BODY IS GOING THROUGH
Your body and brain are two different things. Your body is an organism which works a certain way and your brain is functioning on a high level, using desire, wants, and reasoning. If I work out hard for 1 week, then I deserve to lose 1 lbs. That makes sense, however your body does not always follow the same reasoning. So give it some time, You may find it need 2-3 weeks to understand what is going on and then break through the next plateau. You may be doing everything right, you just need to stick with the plan and give your body a minute to follow.
THE REALITY OF WHAT HAPPENS
I do have clients who come in with weight loss goals. I understand this and I feel ten times out of ten if they are committed inside and outside the gym around the clock, we are successful. However, to me weight loss goals are not really what the goal is. It starts out that way absolutely. We have an arbitrary number we want to hit and that becomes what we judge our failure or success with. To me, unless you are a pro fighter and need to make weight, I would not personally focus hard on a single number. A ball park number I will agree with, it is motivating to see the scale go down for sure and for most people that is the big picture because they have not been exposed to anything else. Without failure, once that person begins to perform better, sleep better, eat healthier, get stronger, builds confidence weight loss becomes a positive side effect to the lifestyle change.
Generally, when we have weight loss goals, we pick a number we remember ourselves being happy with in the past. The thing is that past could have been 10 or 20 years ago. Well, things change, our bodies change and our lifestyle change. I never want to say you can not looks a certain way, but for most of us, my life and what mattered to me when I was 18 is different now that I am moving into 40. So, lets scale what works for us today.
LAST WORDS OF ADVICE
You have to be in the right mindset. I have had people and I promise I can name a few from this past year right now who come in with weight loss goals. They say they want to just do 5 sessions and see where they are at after the 5 sessions. Some lose weight and others do not. If you have spent a large part of your life not taking care of yourself, and expect someone to fix you in 5 sessions you have already failed in my opinion. The frustrating part is the client will never understand or take responsibility for this because up to this point they have not taken any responsibility for their health. If you are not committed to do this all the way through, by having fun and appreciate the journey, then understand you are setting yourself up for failure. I don’t know any marriage, job, parenting journey that are successful without constant care and work. Health is no different. We can get great results, quickly, however effort and positivity, and a plan has to be a part of it. One to two lbs per week. Safe, effective, sure fire way to keep it off without a rebound effect. Make sure you and your trainer have a plan and can adjust when needed, and stays on course when needed as well.