Lost 5.3lbs in 14 days.

CharleneMarie723

Hi There,

Age 29, Female, 5'4". Active lifestyle, always on my feet but I don't add my exercise calories into MFP; instead, I set my lifestyle to active.

On Dec 2, I weighed in at 140.9. Today, I am 135.6 (yay). Is it OK to drop over 5lbs in two weeks? I've been eating about 1300-1400 calories per day. I am not overweight: BMI went from 24.1 to 23.3. Three questions:

Can I have a cheat day tomorrow? My family is celebrating Christmas as I will be out of the country on the real holiday. I can do a good workout in the morning, but I would like to have a salad and some bread and homemade lasagna with cookies for dessert.

If not, how many calories can I eat? I've done some crunching and think my TDEE is about 2400-2600 calories per day. I've lost 5.3 pounds or 18,550 calories over 14 days. That's about a deficit of 1300 per day, plus the 1300 I've been eating.

Should I be eating more calories (skipping tomorrow) each day? I've been feeling fine but am usually hungry when I go to bed at night. What would you do? I'd like to drop another 15 or so to get back to my original weight from a few years ago.

Thanks.

missiontofitness

Most likely it was water weight/normal daily fluctuations. I can "gain" five pounds in a day, and have it be gone the next.

Also, you could probably aim to eat more, especially because you're active. 1,300 per day seems too low. Additionally, don't think of it as a "cheat day". You're enjoying a meal with your family. One meal will not derail your progress.

segacs

Did you recently start your weight loss? It's pretty normal to drop the first bunch of pounds quickly in the first couple of weeks, since some of it will be water weight. It should level off a bit after the first month or so. Your TDEE probably isn't as high as you think -- mine came down by several hundred calories after the first month when I started losing at a more accurate rate.

Depending on how active you are, though, you might be eating too low anyway. I eat around the same number of calories as you, and I'm shorter and less active and am losing around 0.8lbs/week. You don't have a ton to lose -- try setting your goal less aggressively, maybe around 1650 if you're moderately active, or closer to 1800 if you're highly active. Target somewhere between 0.5 and 1lb per week -- you don't have much to lose at this point, and slow and steady will get you there.

As for Christmas, sure, go ahead and eat -- one day won't set you back much in the grand scheme of things. Or, if you prefer, have a maintenance day. Whatever works for you.

malibu927

If you just began it's normal to lose a lot of water weight at first, so great job!

Cheat days are all personal preference. I don't do them, but when it comes to holidays I just enjoy being with my family and don't worry too much about food. It's one day, and you can get back on track Wednesday.

With 15 pounds to lose, you should probably set your goal to .5-1 pound per week. Yes, it will take some time to come off when you're that close, but you don't want to deprive your body of what it needs by going with a larger deficit than you can handle.

CharleneMarie723

Thanks for the tips!

lothquendi

I once lost 4 lbs in a week, and I kind of freaked out! But the next week I didn't lost at all, and my loss still averaged out to 1.6 lbs per week. I just had a good week, I guess!

caracrawford1

In the beginning you appear to lose more due to water weight. This will slow to 1-2 lbs a week of real weight.

segacs

For reference, I'm down 15 pounds so far in 9 weeks. I lost:

• 6 pounds in the first two weeks (last 2 weeks of October)
• 6 pounds in the four weeks after that
• 3 pounds so far in the past 3 weeks

My target is around 0.6-0.7lbs/week. So I'm still losing a bit faster than expected, but it's levelled off a lot from those first few weeks of rapid water weight drop.

Give it time. It'll level off.

Marianna93637

I just lost in 8 lbs in the first 3 weeks, which puts me at almost 3 lbs/week. I hope I can keep it up but I know eventually it will slow down.
I have this theory lol, that the first few lbs go faster because we gained those last, more recently, and the last few (or even last 10) go so slow because we may have been carrying them around for years (or a lifetime). The 8 lbs I lost, I gained in the past 7 months. When I lose 3 more lbs, it will put me back in June 2013. After that I'm sure it's gonna slow down, but I don't care, because it's 11 lobs lost and it's a big deal

to the OP: yes, you can have a cheat day, as long as it's not binge eating, and the next day you're back to normal.
When I'm hungry at night I have some scrambled egg whites, low calorie, no fat, no carbs, only protein and it fills me up.

mymodernbabylon

Dude. Why are you doing over a 50% deficit from your TDEE? Do you want to lose muscle mass? Make it difficult to eat normally later? A 15% deficit or 20% at the max is healthier especially being already a healthy weight. Why eat less than you should to lose weight? All you'll do is lose muscle and not learn how to eat in a healthier manner - once you try to eat at TDEE again, you'll just gain some of the weight again. Come join us at Eat More 2 Weigh Less...you'll appreciate it in the long run!
- http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/3817-eat-more-2-weigh-less
- http://eatmore2weighless.com

segacs

mymodernbabylon wrote: »

Dude. Why are you doing over a 50% deficit from your TDEE? Do you want to lose muscle mass? Make it difficult to eat normally later? A 15% deficit or 20% at the max is healthier especially being already a healthy weight.

The way I understood it, OP reverse-calculated her estimated TDEE based on her actual weight loss thus far. But since her actual weight loss thus far probably includes a rapid water weight drop that is common at the start of any loss program, her actual TDEE is probably not anywhere near as high as she's calculating.

CharleneMarie723

Not counting formal exercise, I track close to 18,000 steps per day on average. Down 8 pounds in 3.5 weeks. I constantly am on the move, sometime even carrying things, pushing, or pulling.

Liftng4Lis

It's very common to initially lose water. It will all even out so don't worry about it.