Losing too quickly?

Lynette4321

I'm at an all time high of 327 lbs. Back in 2007 I lost 80 lbs and kept it off for 3 years. Medications I had to take made me gain back and then some. Last year I lost some weight using my fitness pal, but I gave up and gained it back.

Any time I have counted calories I lose weight quickly for quite a long time (when I stick with it). They are giving me over 2100 calories. The calculator from the EM2LW gave me 2075.

My question is this. If I am losing a pound a day does it mean I should be eating more? I'm willing to lose more slowly if it means keeping it off for good.

mymodernbabylon

Can you give me your stats so I can look at this a bit better?

mymodernbabylon

Height, age, activity level (any exercise, do you have kids you take care of/have to run after, active job, etc).

Lynette4321

I'm 5'7", 51 years old and I don't have a job. I clean the house and make dinner for my husband, but I am quite sedentary most of the time. I have started to take my dog for short walks. My pedometer on my phone says I average 1,456 steps a day.

heybales

So a Mifflin BMR which MFP uses, and is likely inflated from reality, is 2131.

I say likely inflated, because it's assuming a 45% bodyfat value in comparison to a better Katch BMR formula using BF% as it's main stat, instead of age, weight, height.

So if your BF% is actually higher than 45%, then your BMR is actually lower. Like if actually closer to 51%, better estimated BMR would be 1940, or 200 less.

Anyway, using 2131 and basically sedentary it sounds like, daily burn is likely about 2664.

So indeed, a 1 lb weekly loss goal, or 500 cal deficit, would take it back down to 2164.

15% deficit would be 2264, close enough, since I'm betting the Mifflin BMR is inflated by probably that amount.

So 1 lb weekly is about right, and with no exercise you really don't want to do more than that, because just natural part of diet is losing muscle mass. That is likely a small enough deficit that you don't need to worry though, if you can get your protein intake enough to help.

40/30/30 % ratios of Carb/Prot/Fat actually work for you right now.

1 lb daily is huge amount of muscle mass included in the weight, but I don't see how you could be accomplishing that if really eating that high.
If you really are, you'll just be yo-yo dieting again down the road.

Do you really want that? it'll be easier to gain, and harder to lose, with less muscle.

mymodernbabylon

It's not unusual at your weight to lose a lot quickly - water weight - but you want it to slow down. It's frustrating to have a slow path, but as Heybales said, you don't want to be losing a lot of muscle along with the fat. I'd go with the suggest of 2264.

Lynette4321

Thank you for your help.

VeryKatie

How long have you been restricting your calories and losing 1lb a day? If 3 weeks or less, that might be normal. If longer, then maybe not.

Lynette4321

That was a year ago that I was losing quickly. I lost 20 lbs in a month, so I guess it wasn't consistently a pound a day. Or maybe it slowed down like you said. I just started today again with counting calories. Of course I love to lose quickly, but I want what is good for the long haul. I always lose quickly and I know it's because I'm so big. I don't care about getting to a "healthy" weight. I just want to fit in an airplane seat and be able to cross my legs and tie my shoes.

heybales

If you really are just starting out again with diet, and you have for sure been eating high enough levels for awhile, I think you could get by with 2 weeks with 1000 cal deficit here at the start. Several studies have shown it takes about that long for body to feel the need to start adapting. And that was those in obese BMI range.
But then bounce it back up to only 500 cal deficit after those 2 weeks.

You'll lose fat and water weight, so it could be more than 4 lbs that the math says would happen. That may or may not help the joints out enough to feel a desire for more exercise.

Many people force the adapting faster though by not only doing that big calorie drop from normal eating levels, they then also go nuts with exercise compared to before, so the actual deficit in place is closer to 1500-2000 easy. Body sees that fast.

So if you keep your activity where it's at, and take a diet break every maybe 8 weeks, you could start out with a big deficit at first while body is in full burn mode.

And then if you do start walking more because the lighter weight makes it possible, you'll need to increase the calories to keep that deficit reasonable.

You are in a slightly different place for reasonable than those with only 20-40 lbs to lose to healthy weight.