Losing Weight Too Quickly?

mcgin2sa1229 · November 2017

I’ve lost 10.6 pounds in 20 days. My goal is 1200 but I usually eat around 1400-1700. I’m a recovering bulimic and I’ve stopped purging but still binge. I binged almost very day one week and still lost three pounds. I walk for several hours a day, and I don’t log all my walking, do you think that is causing the weight loss? I eat high carb vegan, and I can’t weigh my foods because I eat in a college dining hall. Am I overestimating my portions? The thing is I don’t feel hungry most of the time, I feel full after eating and they’re medium sized portions of veggies and grains. The cooks here also use a decent amount of olive oil. If this continues should I see a doctor? Like I’d love this trend to continue because I’d hit my goal weight in a few months but I’m worried it’s unhealthy. Thanks for your advice.

Fitnessmom82 · November 2017

I'm no expert on weight loss but maybe have your thyroid checked? It could be too fast. Happened to me many years ago. I dropped a ridiculous amount of weight without trying, very quickly. Other symptoms (that I stupidly ignored) were rapid heart rate, shaky hands, too much energy, difficulty sleeping. Good luck!

Quasita · November 2017

It's hard to know whether that is actually "too much" for what your goals are without knowing your stats. If you're like me in recovery, I was exceptionally heavy when I started gaining control over my binge/purge cycle and when I started losing weight, I lost 3+lbs a week very healthy and naturally eating a LOT of food. You're talking about average around 3lbs per week and the normal person drops 5-10lbs in water weight when they first start a new weight loss program.

The goal of 1200 is pretty low as a goal so it's important to understand what your actual needs are and recognize that a binge from your perspective may not actually be putting you over your daily TDEE so even if you feel like you ate a lot, it may not be enough to keep weight loss from occurring.

What I will say though is that if you are still having daily binges, you're not in recovery, and you need to return to counseling if you've stopped.

TL;DR Yes, you need to go to the doctor and be honest, not only about your ED active status, but about what sounds like your compensatory behavior in exercise. Purging is not solely the use of laxatives and throwing up. Purging can also be in the form of excessive exercise and reflexive starvation. While I agree you should probably get testing for a baseline, it sounds more to me like you have an uncontrolled eating disorder situation for which you need to seek professional help.

mcgin2sa1229 · November 2017

I’m in therapy twice a week, I have a whole host of other mental illnesses and am kind of a mess right now tbh. I started at 191 as a 5ft 2in female and now weigh 180.4. I was throwing up almost everything I ate and binging daily but I started vomiting blood and have not purged by vomiting in over two weeks. The binges are getting smaller but they’re still putting me over my TDEE (~2200 calories) most of the time. I don’t let myself go below 1200 calories and force myself to eat if I’m not there. The walking is sometimes to burn calories but I also have a really bad anxiety disorder and it calms me. I’m only taking a couple of classes right now and this is what I do to keep myself calm in my excessive free time. I’m seeing my GP next week to talk about this and a concussion I’m recovering from. I’ll see what she says. I also see my psychiatrist the first week of December. Thank you for answering and thank you for your concern.

steveko89 · November 2017

Not knowing your height/weight/age/sex it's difficult to say with limited info. Given that you say at this pace you'll hit your goal weight in a few months I suspect you have weight to lose such that a high loss rate could be fine. 2lbs/week is typically cited as the maximum healthy loss rate, though given the margin for error on how much weight can fluctuate due to hydration levels and matter in your digestive tract, 10.6 probably isn't true fat loss (Could easily have been high by 2lbs on your initial weight and low by 2lbs on your most recent due to hydration). From a purely data-collection standpoint, I'm a fan of taking a daily scale weight and comparing the trends over time. Having your goal at 1200 is bare minimum and a pretty aggressive deficit unless you're very slight of build; 1400-1700 is probably eating at some semblance of a deficit.

Overall, three weeks isn't all that long to be tracking, as long as you don't feel as though anything wrong with your body I'd stay the course and see if it continues. If the trend continues and you think something else may be amiss then see a doctor.

janejellyroll · November 2017

mcgin2sa1229 wrote: »

I’m in therapy twice a week, I have a whole host of other mental illnesses and am kind of a mess right now tbh. I started at 191 as a 5ft 2in female and now weigh 180.4. I was throwing up almost everything I ate and binging daily but I started vomiting blood and have not purged by vomiting in over two weeks. The binges are getting smaller but they’re still putting me over my TDEE (~2200 calories) most of the time. I don’t let myself go below 1200 calories and force myself to eat if I’m not there. The walking is sometimes to burn calories but I also have a really bad anxiety disorder and it calms me. I’m only taking a couple of classes right now and this is what I do to keep myself calm in my excessive free time. I’m seeing my GP next week to talk about this and a concussion I’m recovering from. I’ll see what she says. I also see my psychiatrist the first week of December. Thank you for answering and thank you for your concern.

Does your therapist know that you're trying to lose weight and using a calorie counting website?

mcgin2sa1229 · November 2017

Yes and she was supportive. I tried intuitive eating like they originally wanted me to and gained ten pounds, which only made the bulimia worse. Restricting at a supposedly mild deficit has helped me stop vomiting because I feel in control of body and weight. Only now it may be doing too much of what I want.

janejellyroll · November 2017

mcgin2sa1229 wrote: »

Yes and she was supportive. I tried intuitive eating like they originally wanted me to and gained ten pounds, which only made the bulimia worse. Restricting at a supposedly mild deficit has helped me stop vomiting because I feel in control of body and weight. Only now it may be doing too much of what I want.

Cool, thanks for clarifying.

Three pounds a week is a lot. Is that what you lost in one week or what you're averaging?

If you are losing weight consistently, then your binges aren't putting you over your TDEE.

Would logging your walking be a trigger for you or is it an option to help you determine what your TDEE might really be?

mcgin2sa1229 · November 2017

I lost 7.5 in a week and a half, plataueted for for a while, then dropped three pounds over one week.
I set my activity level as “lightly active” in the counter so don’t log all my activity as some of it has to count for the baseline. Maybe I’m doing this wrong? Maybe I just have a naturally high tdee so the counter is off? I can start logging all my walking and eating accordingly and see if that slows the weight loss down to a more healthy rate, it won’t trigger me. In fact seeing the calories burned makes me happy.

Losing Weight Too Quickly?

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