When does losing weight slow down?

evilqueencathy

I lost a lot of weight, I started at 216 on October 10th, went down to 210 in one week, 204 in another week, this week I am 201 lbs. I know the first two weeks can be water weight, but I thought it would slow down by now. Should I readjust what I am doing? I don't want to lose muscle or bone or anything.

What I'm doing is trying to stay around 1200 calories, but have eaten as many as 1700 on some days. I try to eat 2-3 servings of fruits and 2-3 servings of vegetables, plus some protein and a calcium source everyday. I eat a bowl of oatmeal every other day.

I try to exercise everyday, usually about an hour, but spread out, like 15-30 minutes at a time, except yesterday, which was my rest day out of the 3 weeks I have been doing this.

Any help would be appreciated, thanks!

rede383

To begin with you will lose a lot of weight that your body now deems unnecessary based on your food intake and exercise ratio.

Once your body hits its recommend weight V food intake mark, the weight should slow down.

If I may be so forward as to ask, what is your weight goal?

evilqueencathy

rede383 wrote: »

To begin with you will lose a lot of weight that your body now deems unnecessary based on your food intake and exercise ratio.

Once your body hits its recommend weight V food intake mark, the weight should slow down.

If I may be so forward as to ask, what is your weight goal?

My goal is 140, I based it on what is healthy for my height from the BMI. I am 5 foot 4 inches. I just want to be a healthy weight.

wangshan

I started losing weight about a year ago. I lost 30 pounds in 8 months,and it would be like 1 pound off, half pound on then more off. Recently, it came to a screeching halt, but my BMI is close to the normal range I just restarted MFP to really tighten up the calories counting. I exercise 4-5 days a week. So I think if you stay with it you have a while to go before it really slows down.

evilqueencathy

wangshan wrote: »

I started losing weight about a year ago. I lost 30 pounds in 8 months,and it would be like 1 pound off, half pound on then more off. Recently, it came to a screeching halt, but my BMI is close to the normal range I just restarted MFP to really tighten up the calories counting. I exercise 4-5 days a week. So I think if you stay with it you have a while to go before it really slows down.

So is it healthy that I lost so much? I don't want to lose anything important.

cw106

So is it healthy that I lost so much? I don't want to lose anything important.[/quote]

is it healthy?
hopefully you got medical advice from doc prior to starting this journey.
if not ,please do so.

i got my bloods,blood pressure etc checked and have regular monitoring.

i lost 3+ lbs a week for 12 weeks ,never felt better.caveat below.

i dont want to lose anything important.

fact is you are losing huge amounts of fatAND muscle.inevetable part of deficit.
recommend you do you some core and strength training asap to alleviate the loss.
i overdid cardio,and paid price in reduced performance and muscle fatigue.
i now do 15 mins core( planks,abdominal stretches etc),plus 15-20 weight training daily,then full body cardio
( rowing / elliptical).
this was done by plan from personal trainer at gym.always pays to get knowledge from the informed imo.

good luck on your journey,its a long term plan to lose 60+ lbs.
fortunately,this forum can provide the majority of help needed.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Aemely

How did you decide on 1,200 calories? That is a very low amount for you. The MFP BMR calculator indicates you should be at 1,600 for maintenance. The TDEE calculator estimates that you would need 1,900 cals. if you exercise 3 times a week at a 15% reduction rate.

MFP BMR Calculator: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
TDEE Calculator: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

How to Change your MFP Goals:

Click Goals > Change Goals > Guided, Continue, enter in your accurate information and realistic goal weight, and click Update Profile. MFP will give you good information on how many calories you should eat each day to safely lose weight. You can lose weight without feeling like you are starving all the time. I promise!

Keep asking good questions, and good luck!

MFP Goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals

CJsf1t

If you put in that you want to lose 2 lbs then mfp automatically gives you 1200 cals limit. But its too low. Calculate your tdee and BMR like mentioned above. You can afford to eat slightly more cals and still lose weight.

ana3067

Based on an external calculator and estimating 8hrs sleep, 1hr standing/walking (easily achieved by cooking, walking to/from rooms and places, showering, etc), a possible healthy calorie range would be 1920-2050 for 25% or 20% deficit from maintenance, respectively.

So it'd be 1lb or more lost per week, which is really a very realistic goal for pretty much everyone. Even if overweight, I don't really recommend starting out with aggressive goals, especially since initially a lot of water weight can be lost anyways. Better to start of conservatively, wait until things start to stabilize, then reassess the goal if you feel it's going too slowly. At the very most, I'd not rec going greater than 30% deficit.

Based on the estimated maintenance needs I got, a 25% deficit would potentially be enough to lose 6lbs a month. This was without including exercise, though. So you'd log and eat back the cals, or at least half at a minimum.

health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
http://health-calc.com/diet/weight-loss-calculator
This one estimates lower:
http://exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

I personally use health-calc, but I'm also not THAT far from my goals, so you might prefer the lower estimate. Also, I do not rec IIFYM calculator. Lifestyle, y es. Calculator, no. Tends to estimate low.

BUt as far as your current rate, personally I would find it excessive if I were in your position. It's like 5lbs/week. I only started at 188, probably lost 5-6lbs my first month? And I was eating a bit too little. But I also never did the 1200 cal thing. I would recommend increasing the calories myself, not just to slow down the losses but also to allow you room to lower your intake once your losses slow down a bit.

lynn_glenmont

I'm your height, had a start weight within five pounds of yours, and am 30 years older. I asked MFP to calculate a calorie goal for a 1 lb a week loss. I was given something like 1450 for a goal (at your age I would expect your 1 lb a week goal to be higher), which I manually rounded up to 1500, and I ate at or a little above that (and generally eating most or all of my exercise calories back, including things like walking to the subway that I was already doing before I started my MFP weight loss journey), and I still averaged 2 lbs a week loss for the first two and half months, so I don't think I would panic over fast loss early on when you have a lot to lose. It doesn't look from your food diary as though you're engaging in extreme calorie restrictions, but you should be able to raise your intakes by 200 or 300 calories a day (so you're ranging between 1500 and 2000, instead of 1300 and 1700) and still lose at a reasonable rate -- and isn't it better to lose weight and still feel like you're eating plenty.

You might try to add more veggies (both total amounts and variety). What I saw looking over a week or so of your logging was just potatoes, tomatoes, and broccoli (and the broccoli was all in soup form, which is not likely to be very much actual broccoli). That advice is about your general health, though (which you obviously are concerned about based on your post); the source of your calories isn't going to affect your weight loss, just the balance of intake versus expenditure.

And there's no reason not to have oatmeal every day, instead of every other day (I mention that because the way you phrased it in your OP suggested you might be thinking you couldn't have it every day). It will be a lot cheaper if you buy it plain in a canister (round cardboard box) or other large or bulk container. Then you can fix it however you like, with whatever add-ins you like. A search of the message boards should turn up some threads on what kinds of things people add to their oatmeal (yogurt, pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, cocoa, molasses, fruits and nuts of all kinds are among the things I add to mine).

evilqueencathy

cw106 wrote: »

So is it healthy that I lost so much? I don't want to lose anything important.

is it healthy?
hopefully you got medical advice from doc prior to starting this journey.
if not ,please do so.


i got my bloods,blood pressure etc checked and have regular monitoring.

i lost 3+ lbs a week for 12 weeks ,never felt better.caveat below.

i dont want to lose anything important.

fact is you are losing huge amounts of fatAND muscle.inevetable part of deficit.
recommend you do you some core and strength training asap to alleviate the loss.
i overdid cardio,and paid price in reduced performance and muscle fatigue.
i now do 15 mins core( planks,abdominal stretches etc),plus 15-20 weight training daily,then full body cardio
( rowing / elliptical).
this was done by plan from personal trainer at gym.always pays to get knowledge from the informed imo.

good luck on your journey,its a long term plan to lose 60+ lbs.
fortunately,this forum can provide the majority of help needed.


[/quote]

Thanks for your advice. I have a dr appointment in two weeks. They know I want to lose weight, but I have not talked to them about it yet. I am trying to come up with a workout routine, is core like stretches? I try to do yoga or the fitness blender stretches every morning when I wake up and evening before bed. Is something like that what you mean?

evilqueencathy

MrM27 wrote: »

evilqueencathy wrote: »

wangshan wrote: »

I started losing weight about a year ago. I lost 30 pounds in 8 months,and it would be like 1 pound off, half pound on then more off. Recently, it came to a screeching halt, but my BMI is close to the normal range I just restarted MFP to really tighten up the calories counting. I exercise 4-5 days a week. So I think if you stay with it you have a while to go before it really slows down.

So is it healthy that I lost so much? I don't want to lose anything important.

It has only been 20 days since you said started and in the initial stages you will drop a larger amount of weight quickly. Mostly water. It will slow down soon enough. At your size you can sustain a loss of 2-3 lbs per week for a little while. In time that should be reduced. You need to make sure you macronutrient requirements are being met along with vitamins and minerals. Calculate your calorie requirements properly and not just picking a generic number like 1200. Many people will pick that number because they are told women shouldn't eat below that. Just because you can get away with 1200 doesn't mean you can't eat more and still lose weight.

I'd suspect that many of the people that randomly pick 1200 don't do the proper homework need to assure they get the proper nutrition out of a limited number of calories.

The MFP gave me 1200 after I put in my weight, that I want to lose 2 lbs a week and that my job is sedentary. It goes up when I exercise, that's why I usually eat a bit more than 1200.

evilqueencathy

Aemely wrote: »

How did you decide on 1,200 calories? That is a very low amount for you. The MFP BMR calculator indicates you should be at 1,600 for maintenance. The TDEE calculator estimates that you would need 1,900 cals. if you exercise 3 times a week at a 15% reduction rate.

MFP BMR Calculator: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/tools/bmr-calculator
TDEE Calculator: http://iifym.com/tdee-calculator/

How to Change your MFP Goals:

Click Goals > Change Goals > Guided, Continue, enter in your accurate information and realistic goal weight, and click Update Profile. MFP will give you good information on how many calories you should eat each day to safely lose weight. You can lose weight without feeling like you are starving all the time. I promise!

Keep asking good questions, and good luck!

MFP Goals: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/account/my_goals

Thanks for finding that for me. For my goals, I put my weight and that my job was sedentary and it picked 1200 for me. I also have it set for 2 lbs a week, should I change it to one? It changes as I exercise throughout the day, should I eat some of the calories it says I lose with exercise?

evilqueencathy

ana3067 wrote: »

Based on an external calculator and estimating 8hrs sleep, 1hr standing/walking (easily achieved by cooking, walking to/from rooms and places, showering, etc), a possible healthy calorie range would be 1920-2050 for 25% or 20% deficit from maintenance, respectively.

So it'd be 1lb or more lost per week, which is really a very realistic goal for pretty much everyone. Even if overweight, I don't really recommend starting out with aggressive goals, especially since initially a lot of water weight can be lost anyways. Better to start of conservatively, wait until things start to stabilize, then reassess the goal if you feel it's going too slowly. At the very most, I'd not rec going greater than 30% deficit.

Based on the estimated maintenance needs I got, a 25% deficit would potentially be enough to lose 6lbs a month. This was without including exercise, though. So you'd log and eat back the cals, or at least half at a minimum.

health-calc.com/diet/energy-expenditure-advanced
http://health-calc.com/diet/weight-loss-calculator
This one estimates lower:
http://exrx.net/Calculators/CalRequire.html

I personally use health-calc, but I'm also not THAT far from my goals, so you might prefer the lower estimate. Also, I do not rec IIFYM calculator. Lifestyle, y es. Calculator, no. Tends to estimate low.

BUt as far as your current rate, personally I would find it excessive if I were in your position. It's like 5lbs/week. I only started at 188, probably lost 5-6lbs my first month? And I was eating a bit too little. But I also never did the 1200 cal thing. I would recommend increasing the calories myself, not just to slow down the losses but also to allow you room to lower your intake once your losses slow down a bit.

Thanks, I did the bottom link and got 2444, so I subtract 25% of that number? I got 1833. That seems pretty high. Is that how much I should be eating?

evilqueencathy

lynn_glenmont wrote: »

I'm your height, had a start weight within five pounds of yours, and am 30 years older. I asked MFP to calculate a calorie goal for a 1 lb a week loss. I was given something like 1450 for a goal (at your age I would expect your 1 lb a week goal to be higher), which I manually rounded up to 1500, and I ate at or a little above that (and generally eating most or all of my exercise calories back, including things like walking to the subway that I was already doing before I started my MFP weight loss journey), and I still averaged 2 lbs a week loss for the first two and half months, so I don't think I would panic over fast loss early on when you have a lot to lose. It doesn't look from your food diary as though you're engaging in extreme calorie restrictions, but you should be able to raise your intakes by 200 or 300 calories a day (so you're ranging between 1500 and 2000, instead of 1300 and 1700) and still lose at a reasonable rate -- and isn't it better to lose weight and still feel like you're eating plenty.

You might try to add more veggies (both total amounts and variety). What I saw looking over a week or so of your logging was just potatoes, tomatoes, and broccoli (and the broccoli was all in soup form, which is not likely to be very much actual broccoli). That advice is about your general health, though (which you obviously are concerned about based on your post); the source of your calories isn't going to affect your weight loss, just the balance of intake versus expenditure.

And there's no reason not to have oatmeal every day, instead of every other day (I mention that because the way you phrased it in your OP suggested you might be thinking you couldn't have it every day). It will be a lot cheaper if you buy it plain in a canister (round cardboard box) or other large or bulk container. Then you can fix it however you like, with whatever add-ins you like. A search of the message boards should turn up some threads on what kinds of things people add to their oatmeal (yogurt, pureed pumpkin, cinnamon, cocoa, molasses, fruits and nuts of all kinds are among the things I add to mine).

I would eat oatmeal everyday and probably should, I just don't like it very much. I will try t add more things and see if that helps. Do you have any suggestions for fresh vegetables that are easy to snack on?

Tanie98

losing the last few pounds