If you started out very overweight, how long did it take you to lose your first 20 lbs?

TayzerFun

I started out at 233 (I'm 5'3) and lost about 7lbs in my first 14 days. A lot of it is water weight at first. It did slow down quite a bit after that. It may be possible, but it might be a bit too fast.

SouthPawSings

I weigh more than you and nearly 100lbs more than you when I started. And I am 5'5''. I averaged 7lbs a month during the about 8 months I worked on it. However depression kicked up and I basically stopped. I'm back at it and have lost 3lbs the first week and a half. I think 6-7 weeks for 20lbs is a bit much. maybe 2-3 months depending on how you approach it. That's just my thoughts.

sympha01

jdb3388 wrote: »

NoelFigart1 wrote: »

jdb3388 wrote: »

260 is morbidly obese at 5'8''. You'll lose 20lbs in 2 or 3 weeks. When you begin, the heavier you are, the more you lose. It's the next 20 you're gonna have to work for.

No, women generally don't lose that fast.

Not in the long rung, but when you stop eating fried food and go water only, kicking the cokes and sweet teas and all that mess, then you're body is gonna let go of a lot of crap and you'll see that huge initial dip in weight. After that is when it slows down, man or woman.

No. No no no no no.

Even just roughly back-of-the-enveloping it:

20 lbs in 2 weeks = 10 lbs per week.
1 lb per week = 500 calorie deficit per day, so 10 lbs per week = 5000 calorie deficit per day. A 260 lb person does not even expend 5000 calories per day unless they have a day job as a draft horse.

So a 5000 calorie deficit? No.

Even accounting for the initial glycogen / water weight loss people lose the first month or so -- let's say 10 lbs, that's a typical amount of glycogen loss for a morbidly obese person --no. So then there's another 10 lbs of fat to loose. From the calculations above, that would still be a 2500 calorie deficit a day. For a 260 lb woman of her age at that height, her estimated TDEE (no exercise) is 2350 calories per day. So again, no way to achieve that deficit -- even if she stopped eating altogether (protip: don't do that) she would still be short the target deficit by 150 calories per day. It's not just a matter of "kicking the cokes and sweet teas and all that mess."

Also, for what it's worth: I'm not sure if this person is assuming OP is on a VLCD. Unless it is doctor-prescribed, there is no need to do a VLCD (and in fact unless you are under medical supervision VLCDs are extremely dangerous, so please DON'T. Please continue to eat food -- just less of it at a reasonable level).

I started at 338 pounds (5' 7"; "super morbidly obese"). I lost about 9 lbs per month at that stage, and I was eating about 1400 calories per day at that point, which I now think was too low, I probably would have done nearly as well at 1600 or even more. I continued losing at about that rate for about 100 pounds, even increasing my calorie intake to 1850 per day after just a couple of months (while also increasing my exercise).

At this point I have lost over 160 pounds over about 20 months and am still losing (now I'm losing more like 5 lbs per month). I currently eat just under 2000 calories per day and I exercise quite a bit.

I think the OP is wise to be looking at short-term goals like losing the first 20 pounds. But I personally would also recommend not getting too hung up on a timeline, even for short-term goals. At the early stages, it is sooooo much more helpful to your long-term success to be focussing on process goals: what habit changes are you going to make to maintain a calorie deficit (e.g., logging food faithfully for a certain number of days / weeks, possibly making some changes to whatever foods (especially snacks) are in your refrigerator and pantry; sticking to whatever your calorie intake plan is for X weeks, exercise Y minutes per week if that's part of your plan). Using the first couple of months to focus on building some good habits will pay off not only in the short term but will also make it so much easier to stick to your long-term plan.

ephphy

I'm a fair bit heavier than you, and a smidge shorter. I started late September and have yet to reach 20lbs lost. Main reason for this? I'm not working my butt off with absurd (to me) amounts of exercise, and I haven't cut out all the mess that @jdb3388 refers to because I want this to be sustainable for life. I don't want to feel guilty for the rest of my days if I succumb to a fried snack every few days, or have a couch potato majorly inactive day. Don't get me wrong, I have cut back some of that messy stuff mentioned - at one time my soda of choice consumption was half a gallon a day. So far this month I've had only 0.7 gallons worth of it. It's not gone completely from my life, but it is a lot healthier relationship I have with it!

Another reason for my slow loss could be the result of a fairly rare genetic disorder my sister has just discovered to have, of which I can also point to a lot of the symptoms occurring in me. At this point in time, I'm almost holding status quo until her specialist has discovered enough to determine likelihood of extending the barrage of tests to the rest of the family. One of the complications of the disorder for her is an effect very similar to hypothyroidism, so if I too am genetically flawed as it were, this could be another reason for my slow rate of loss.

By having hypothyroidism yourself, I believe it will likely make comparing yourself to others and their rate of loss to determine if you're thinking on the right track could be a bit misleading. My advice would be to keep it in the back of your mind that so and so lost at this rate, but to just eat and exercise your way you believe sustainable for long term and see what the results say come March. Good luck

inchwormbyinchworm

I started last February, lost the first 20 by June and lost the second 20 by October. Plateaued through the fall and holidays. After a year of focusing on exercise, am now focusing on portion control.

livb528

Thanks everyone for the responses! I wish I could "like" every single one. They give me so much hope. I am going to aim for losing 20 by vacation (6-7 weeks) but of course if I "only" lose 5-15 I will still be thrilled!

hmcbride68

The thing you have to keep in mind is you are talking about scale weight, or overall body weight. Persons with large amounts of weight to lose, like yourself and me, will usually see rapid weight loss at first. A lot of that is water, some fat, and maybe a little lean tissue. 20lbs in 6 to 7 weeks, in your case, may be normal. However, if you are following a healthy plan, that will slow down, and it should. If it doesn't, that's generally not good. But, up front, you are likely to have a short burst of weight loss on the scale

OhCora

I started at 252 and lost 86 pounds in 8 months. kept it off for 6 months. And I was cranky the whole time, lol. Very restrictive (physician supervised) diet. fast forward a year and a bit and I gained about 40 pounds, clearly I did not learn how to maintain...here I go again.

musicandarts

You should consult with your physician, if you haven't done it already. Hypothyroidism can skew your weight loss. As you are also breastfeeding, it is important that you lose weight under guidance.

elansc

I started at 261.5 in January 2013 and am also 5' 8" So far I have lost 84 lbs (12.5 to go!) and the first 30 came off in about 30 weeks... 1 pound/week pretty consistently until a 30 lbs plateau (I seem to have a plateau every 25-30 pounds and then I need to change things up a bit). I did not lose a ton of weight at the beginning but I was eating 1860 cal/day and at that I very consistently lost 1 pound/week. I have kept the MFP at loss of 1/lb/week and it seems to work for me... Well works if you don't count the tweaking that I do to get out of the plateau (which usually includes eating at maintainence for a week or so -- I also maintained at my current weight for about 6 months just cause I was at my goal size and needed some time with the new me (I have tried to be very patient about this change -- figured I was obese for 16-17 years so it might take some time to be a skinny person ) I have wondered if 1.5 or 2 lbs/week would have "worked" as well at the beginning but I wasn't confident about experimenting... Good luck with your weight loss -- remember we are all different-- figure out what works to make you healthier and lighter!

livb528

musicandarts wrote: »

You should consult with your physician, if you haven't done it already. Hypothyroidism can skew your weight loss. As you are also breastfeeding, it is important that you lose weight under guidance.

Thanks! MFP has me at 2200 calories which seemed to be in line with advice I had read on other sites for nursing moms. Also, she's 9 months old so eating some solids which means less pressure on me! For the hypo, I am trying to eat low glycemic while not cutting too many carbs at the same time. Also, I am hoping to work out 3-5x a week. I am hoping this does the trick! I am down 2 lbs so far and this is my first week.

TheVirgoddess

No one can tell you how long it will take - there are 100 different variables.

I started at 232, my first 20 came off in a month, but I stopped drinking 6 soda's a day, so that was a pretty big factor in my rapid loss.

nicsflyingcircus

3w5d to lose the first 22.7lbs.

9 months to lose 123.9lbs.

I am 5'9" and I started at 375.3lbs.

I am shooting for 155lbs, or whatever looks good in that vicinity.

I feel significantly better than I have in at least a decade.

livb528

elansc wrote: »

I started at 261.5 in January 2013 and am also 5' 8" So far I have lost 84 lbs (12.5 to go!) and the first 30 came off in about 30 weeks... 1 pound/week pretty consistently until a 30 lbs plateau (I seem to have a plateau every 25-30 pounds and then I need to change things up a bit). I did not lose a ton of weight at the beginning but I was eating 1860 cal/day and at that I very consistently lost 1 pound/week. I have kept the MFP at loss of 1/lb/week and it seems to work for me... Well works if you don't count the tweaking that I do to get out of the plateau (which usually includes eating at maintainence for a week or so -- I also maintained at my current weight for about 6 months just cause I was at my goal size and needed some time with the new me (I have tried to be very patient about this change -- figured I was obese for 16-17 years so it might take some time to be a skinny person ) I have wondered if 1.5 or 2 lbs/week would have "worked" as well at the beginning but I wasn't confident about experimenting... Good luck with your weight loss -- remember we are all different-- figure out what works to make you healthier and lighter!

So great to hear from someone who started with the exact same stats! Slow and steady really does win the race. Congrats on your loss! And I hear you about having to mentally adjust to having a new body. When I have lost weight before, it was quite the adjustment to remember that I was now a "skinnier" person. Thanks for your response!

makelemonade14

I lost 21 pounds in my first 4 weeks, with a starting weight of 233. That was a cold start, so I dropped a lot of bloat right away. I'm at 2-3lbs/week now, and slowing to around 2. I'm 7 weeks in now, with a total of 27 pounds lost. I'm eating well and exercising 5-7 days/wk.

unmitigatedbadassery

I started out around 360. My first 20 came off within a month.

Kalikel

I'm a smidge taller than you and the last weight I saw recorded was 250 - I might have gone a couple higher, but I doubt it.

When I began losing, the weight flew off. In a month, the clothes were looser and I was moving down a size. It just disappears so fast at first. (It slows down, though!)

Take some pics of yourself, even if you don't want to. Get someone to take a full body shot in shorts and short sleeves or a tank - front, side and back. You may not want them now, but you will later!! I wish to God I had pics so that I could see how far I've come. I didn't take any. I regret it a lot!