Losing too quickly

Iguessicandothis

I've been slim all my life, but after 35 I noticed the weight slowly start to creep on. I joined because I'd like to lose 5 pounds and be more conscious of what I'm putting in my body. I'm 5'8 and was 127.4 pounds when I started. To lose a pound a week, I was told I could only eat 1340 calories. I'm a fairly inactive person. For the past 5 days I've been sticking pretty close to that, going over by only about 200 calories on average. When I weighed myself today I was 124.2 pounds. Why did I lose 3 pounds so quickly? Should I be eating more? Surprisingly I haven't been too hungry, I've mainly reduced sweets and alcohol.

stroutman81

I wouldn't go basing everything on a target weekly rate of weight loss. Weight loss is far from a linear process... especially the closer to lean you are. For example, you could go losing a few pounds of fat in a given month while also holding onto 5 extra pounds of water. The scale wouldn't indicate the loss of fat... but it's real.

Why did you lose so quickly? Hard to say, but a bulk of it is water. Maybe you're restricting carbs? And if so, water loss typically accompanies such a strategy... especially early on.

More importantly, I'd argue that you'd be better served eating as much food as possible while still allowing for a reasonable rate of weight loss month to month rather than week to week. You can't really tell what's going on with fat on a weekly basis. By eating as much as possible while still triggering a reasonable monthly rate of weight loss you:

1. Stay sane and improve your chances of this being actually sustainable rather than falling into the trap so many others do where they brute force things and wind up rebounding.

2. You keep your body happier. The female body, especially when relatively lean, can get pretty angry in a hurry when you try and rush things.

3. By starting calories on the high side, you leave wiggle room to adjust as needed later on, which is almost an inevitable necessity.

4. You improve your chances of preserving as much muscle as possible.

Long story short, I'd look at this as a self experiment. You tested 1340 calories. At 127 lbs, that put you at roughly 10.5 calories. In general I tend to start my clients at roughly 12 cals/lb unless something specific to the client calls for something different. From there, we'll monitor what's actually happening. What is weight doing? What are measurements doing? How's hunger? How's energy and performance? How deprived do they feel? Etc etc.

If we're not getting the intended results over meaningful periods of time (2-4 weeks), we'll adjust accordingly. For example, if nothing really changed in the weight/inches departments... maybe we'll drop cals down to 11 cals/lb.

Taking this adaptive approach rather than a fixed approach makes a lot more sense to me. It gives you power to adjust things as needed and it tends to feel out the optimal intake rather than just relying on a generalized calculator and praying it meets your current situation.

Food for thought.

Iguessicandothis

Thanks for your reply. You're likely right about the water loss. I normally eat a lot of chips and dip and fried foods. By a lot, I mean daily. So cutting those out I've probably drastically reduced my sodium intake.

loulamb7

If you only have 5 lbs to lose, you may want to consider changing your goal to .5 lbs per week.

Initial weight loss is usually higher because of water weight. That will level off. Keep in mind that calories calculators are just estimates and you will need to adjust based on 2-4 weeks of actual personal data.

lynn_glenmont

moyen2 wrote: »

Thanks for your reply. You're likely right about the water loss. I normally eat a lot of chips and dip and fried foods. By a lot, I mean daily. So cutting those out I've probably drastically reduced my sodium intake.

It's not only sodium reduction that causes your body to shed water. When you're not eating at a calorie deficit, your body will store glycogen in your liver and muscles, and it can only store glycogen by storing water as well (about four grams of water for every gram of glycogen). When you start eating at a calorie deficit, your body uses the stored glycogen to make up the deficit, and it doesn't need the water anymore.

LaurenAOK

loulamb7 wrote: »

If you only have 5 lbs to lose, you may want to consider changing your goal to .5 lbs per week.

Initial weight loss is usually higher because of water weight. That will level off. Keep in mind that calories calculators are just estimates and you will need to adjust based on 2-4 weeks of actual personal data.

Agreed! With such a small amount to lose .5 pounds a week is a better goal for you. Then you can eat a bit more and the weight should come off more steadily. The first week or so is usually a bit of an anomaly due to water weight.

Iguessicandothis

It's not only sodium reduction that causes your body to shed water. When you're not eating at a calorie deficit, your body will store glycogen in your liver and muscles, and it can only store glycogen by storing water as well (about four grams of water for every gram of glycogen). When you start eating at a calorie deficit, your body uses the stored glycogen to make up the deficit, and it doesn't need the water anymore.[/quote]

Huh. Interesting!

Iguessicandothis

LaurenAOK wrote: »

loulamb7 wrote: »

If you only have 5 lbs to lose, you may want to consider changing your goal to .5 lbs per week.

Initial weight loss is usually higher because of water weight. That will level off. Keep in mind that calories calculators are just estimates and you will need to adjust based on 2-4 weeks of actual personal data.

Agreed! With such a small amount to lose .5 pounds a week is a better goal for you. Then you can eat a bit more and the weight should come off more steadily. The first week or so is usually a bit of an anomaly due to water weight.

I pigged out on nachos and deep fried pickles last night and weighed in at 126 this morning! So yeah, water weight for sure. My body wasn't thrilled with all the fat-my stomach was in agony this morning!