Help! Skeptical of my (seemingly) fast weight loss.

ren3liz

Hello all - not sure if this is a good place to post this, but I'm new so it seems like as good of a place as any. Here's the deal:

11/17: Joined MFP, weighed 194. Set goal to 1lb per week.
12/16: Weighed in at 190, yeah! 4lb lost.
12/23: Weighed in at 188.
Holidays...
1/4: Weighed in for a weight loss challenge for work at 192, meh. This was on a Monday AM after a weekend of heavy eating and drinking with a friend in town. Changed goal to 2lb per week.
1/11: Weighed in at 185.
1/14: Today, weighed in at 183. 11lb lost total and feeling so proud!

My first couple of weigh ins I'm really not sure about time of the day, shoes on/off, etc. But since my 1/4 weigh in I have been weighing on the same scale, in the mornings, shoes and coat off (clothes on). I am just feeling skeptical because that is >2lb per week loss, what is the deal?

Thanks very much to everyone, I cannot speak highly enough of how much this app and community has helped me in getting the ball rolling to be my sexy healthy self! XOXO

-Renee
P.s. Diary is open and my goal is at 1200 cal/day. I don't have too much trouble sustaining this. I exercise most days.

Power7374

A lot of it could be water weight which would explain why it's such a fast weight loss in such a short period of time. Some days you'll wake up and be heavier than you were the day or week before and that's fine because as you said you're exercising and you might be putting on some muscle. I would suggest not playing much attention to the numbers on the scale, but more so to how your body looks, because that's where you want the real results to be. Just keep it up with your diet and exercise and you'll be fine. Last thing, I know everyone wants to lose weight the fastest so they choose the "2lbs per week" weight loss, but since you exercise everyday your body might need more nutrients than your giving it for it to recover. That's just my thoughts, you know your body the best so if you're feeling fine with how you're doing now, then keep it up. Much luck to you in your weight loss journey.

michellesz

Be cautious of true measuring and using quick adds as they only add calories and no other content factored in which may not assist in true factors. Consistency is key for continued logging and losing. Good news is that if you lose more than you want, you can eat more
Good luck,

dubird

The first round was probably water weight. Whenever you see the fad diet ads about how someone lost 10 lbs in just a few weeks? Yeah, they're actually talking about water weight.

Weight loss is not linear by any means. You will go up and down a LOT, so you need to look at the overall TREND. If you can draw a line from where you started to where you are and it's going down, you're fine. It's slower to do it right, but it'll last a lot longer!

For instance, this was part of last year for me:


You can see a lot of peaks and valleys, but the overall trend is down, so it's fine.

Another piece of advice: don't go cutting more calories just because your weight loss has slowed down! You can go too low and deprive your body of nutrition it needs. If you're concerned you're still eating too much, look up several different calorie calculators and enter your data the same in all of them, then take the average. Chances are, it'll be very close to MFP, but it's worth double checking if you're concerned.

ren3liz

A downward trend of 11lb over two months I am happy with I know that can't ALL be water weight (or maybe I don't know that, but I am hopeful!). I never took measurements and I wish I had. I will take some tonight so I have them. Goal weight right now is 155.

dubird

ren3liz wrote: »

A downward trend of 11lb over two months I am happy with I know that can't ALL be water weight (or maybe I don't know that, but I am hopeful!). I never took measurements and I wish I had. I will take some tonight so I have them. Goal weight right now is 155.

No, it wasn't all water weight. ^_^ Seems a little much to me, but then I remember that when I first started, it went faster at first. One thing to keep in mind is that every 10-15 lbs or so you need to recalculate your daily calories. As you weigh less, you require less to function, so if you don't ever recalculate, you will eventually hit a maintenance calorie goal without realizing it.

ElizabethOakes2

I can lose 2 lbs a week, if i work hard (which I'm doing right now) but I can't sustain that for more than a month or so, so I don't doubt that kind of loss at all. A more sustainable goal is 1 to 1.5 lbs a week. What dubird said is exactly right. As you weigh less and your body adjusts, you'll find a sweet spot for sustaining.

A better measurement than the scale is taking your waist, hip and chest measurements. Scales see everything- water weight, muscle gain, you name it: the scale sees that quarter pound of whatever. If you take measurements, you'll get a better indication of what you're losing.

WendyLaubach

I've lost 31 lbs. in the last ten weeks. Now, I started at 245, so it's to be expected that my initial rate would be high, but obviously that's neither water weight nor illusory.

queenliz99

ren3liz wrote: »

Hello all - not sure if this is a good place to post this, but I'm new so it seems like as good of a place as any. Here's the deal:

11/17: Joined MFP, weighed 194. Set goal to 1lb per week.
12/16: Weighed in at 190, yeah! 4lb lost.
12/23: Weighed in at 188.
Holidays...
1/4: Weighed in for a weight loss challenge for work at 192, meh. This was on a Monday AM after a weekend of heavy eating and drinking with a friend in town. Changed goal to 2lb per week.
1/11: Weighed in at 185.
1/14: Today, weighed in at 183. 11lb lost total and feeling so proud!

My first couple of weigh ins I'm really not sure about time of the day, shoes on/off, etc. But since my 1/4 weigh in I have been weighing on the same scale, in the mornings, shoes and coat off (clothes on). I am just feeling skeptical because that is >2lb per week loss, what is the deal?

Thanks very much to everyone, I cannot speak highly enough of how much this app and community has helped me in getting the ball rolling to be my sexy healthy self! XOXO

-Renee
P.s. Diary is open and my goal is at 1200 cal/day. I don't have too much trouble sustaining this. I exercise most days.

Awesome!!