Should I be concerned ?
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Wickedfaery73
Posts: 184 Member
I am a little worried that I may be losing weight too fast. I've lost about 18lbs in the last 45 days even though I am pretty sure I am eating/exercising to lose only 1 lb a week. I guess I am worried about losing too much muscle along with the fat. I'm probably being silly. Any thoughts? My diary is open if anyone wants to look.
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Replies
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That may be a bit fast, especially if you're not substantially overweight to start with, but if it includes a big-ish drop at the start, I'd suggest looking at your loss rate after that initial drop (which likely would've included a lot of water weight).
There are various rules of thumb about how fast it's safe to lose, but > 2 pounds/week is probably unnecessarily fast for anyone who's not substantially overweight. If muscle retention is a key goal for you, also be sure to get plenty of protein (say, at least .6-.8gm/pound of goal weight) - which it looks like you usually are - and do some type of serious resistance exercise (such as weight-lifting).
I think that's a wise goal, by the way, at our age - it's harder to re-gain lost muscle as an older female, so IMO it's good to keep as much as possible while in calorie deficit.0 -
Wise words by @AnnPT77.
Make sure you eat back 50-75% of your MFP calorie burn. Adjust those calories so you are losing at your expected rate.
30% protien will probably meet your needs, but double check it against the numbers Ann gave you.
Muscle retention is important, and after reading your profile you may want to start your strength training with the 2 programmes I will post below, then move on to something like strong lifts, 5x5, AllPro etc.
Following them first just gave me the strength and courage to up the ante and lift heavy. (I am older than you though)
This is a really good body weight programme that you can follow at home. By the time you can fully complete all 3 sets you will feel a lot stronger.
It is also great if you travel, no equipment needed.
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/
This is a simple, fast, hand weight routine. Good to start with, break it down if needed, and up the weigh as it gets easier so you are always progressing.
It is also a good fall back routine for when life gets busy.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U0bhE67HuDY
Cheers, h.0 -
Thank you
I am 5'4 and I started at 214lbs if that info helps any. I am not sure why it's coming off so fast and I usually eat back most if not all or more of the calories from walking on the treadmill. I think I have some hand weights around here somewhere LOL. 0 -
Wickedfaery73 wrote: »Thank you I am 5'4 and I started at 214lbs if that info helps any. I am not sure why it's coming off so fast and I usually eat back most if not all or more of the calories from walking on the treadmill. I think I have some hand weights around here somewhere LOL.
I'm kind of looking out for the "there are no special snowflake" police to come after me when I say this, but I'll risk it:
There is some variation around the mean in calorie burn. That is, you could be lucky, and in the ever-so-slightly-higher-burning segment of the population . . . y'know, maybe you fidget a lot, or something more subtle, who knows.
Regardless, I'd say it makes sense to work off what your body is doing, not what the calculators say, if the two differ noticeably. If the "lose 1 pound a week" recommended calories cause you to lose more than two, just eat a bit more, and see how that goes. I'm truly sedentary (outside of intentional exercise), but had to tell MFP I was "Active" (not just "Lightly Active") to get it to calculate my loss rate accurately, even while eating back all my exercise. Not gonna complain.
All of this involves a lot of estimation. Your own results are the most accurate guide.
Oh, and +1 to @middlehaitch's excellent recommendations.0 -
I did some double checking and it looks like the major drops were in the first couple weeks. I'm going to be more consistent with the timing of weigh ins (Fridays) and see if it has slowed down. Maybe add an evening hot soy milk too lol
When I lost weight the first time (went from 185 to 125) about 10 years ago I did do a little bit of weights before I went way off the wagon. Maybe I have retained more muscle than I thought. At the time I was thinking I wanted to be a kick *kitten* 40yr old woman with sexy muscles LOL. I didn't realize at the time how important it is to get adequate protein.
I've have some issues with being able to do anything w/out pain in recent years, mainly my neck, hips and feet were killing me. I am supposed to see a rheumatologist soon because my primary doc suspects arthritis in my feet and hips. I take mobic and losing 18 lbs has helped that a lot though. I think the mobic really helped get me going too.
I'm going to try doing the first workout instead of the treadmill today.
Thank you both @AnnPT77 and @middlehaitch so much for your help. I really appreciate it
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You sound very sensible, thoughtful, and determined, @Wickedfaery73 - I'm quite sure you're going to find a route to achieving your goals. Best wishes!0
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Wickedfaery73 wrote: »Thank you I am 5'4 and I started at 214lbs if that info helps any. I am not sure why it's coming off so fast and I usually eat back most if not all or more of the calories from walking on the treadmill. I think I have some hand weights around here somewhere LOL.
I'm kind of looking out for the "there are no special snowflake" police to come after me when I say this, but I'll risk it:
There is some variation around the mean in calorie burn. That is, you could be lucky, and in the ever-so-slightly-higher-burning segment of the population . . . y'know, maybe you fidget a lot, or something more subtle, who knows.
Regardless, I'd say it makes sense to work off what your body is doing, not what the calculators say, if the two differ noticeably. If the "lose 1 pound a week" recommended calories cause you to lose more than two, just eat a bit more, and see how that goes. I'm truly sedentary (outside of intentional exercise), but had to tell MFP I was "Active" (not just "Lightly Active") to get it to calculate my loss rate accurately, even while eating back all my exercise. Not gonna complain.
All of this involves a lot of estimation. Your own results are the most accurate guide.
Oh, and +1 to @middlehaitch's excellent recommendations.
I wish I could find the youtube video of 5 PT's that covered these same points which supports what you just typed @AnnPT77 .0 -
GaleHawkins wrote: »Wickedfaery73 wrote: »Thank you I am 5'4 and I started at 214lbs if that info helps any. I am not sure why it's coming off so fast and I usually eat back most if not all or more of the calories from walking on the treadmill. I think I have some hand weights around here somewhere LOL.
I'm kind of looking out for the "there are no special snowflake" police to come after me when I say this, but I'll risk it:
There is some variation around the mean in calorie burn. That is, you could be lucky, and in the ever-so-slightly-higher-burning segment of the population . . . y'know, maybe you fidget a lot, or something more subtle, who knows.
Regardless, I'd say it makes sense to work off what your body is doing, not what the calculators say, if the two differ noticeably. If the "lose 1 pound a week" recommended calories cause you to lose more than two, just eat a bit more, and see how that goes. I'm truly sedentary (outside of intentional exercise), but had to tell MFP I was "Active" (not just "Lightly Active") to get it to calculate my loss rate accurately, even while eating back all my exercise. Not gonna complain.
All of this involves a lot of estimation. Your own results are the most accurate guide.
Oh, and +1 to @middlehaitch's excellent recommendations.
I wish I could find the youtube video of 5 PT's that covered these same points which supports what you just typed @AnnPT77 .
I wish you could, too. And I wish I could find the research-based graph I (think I) saw once that showed the variation around the mean for TDEE for a group of people (or maybe it was BMR or some other similar thing). IIRC, the cluster of observations was fairly tight, but the standard deviation was definitely not zero.
Please understand that I'm not positing a big effect here, just a small one. And I'm definitely not arguing anything counter to the laws of physics!
If nothing else, when using our own calorie, exercise & weight-change experiential data (when available) rather than a calculator, we are factoring in an expectation that we'll continue making exactly the same sort of measurement and estimation errors we've made all along. 0 -
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Wickedfaery73 wrote: »I did some double checking and it looks like the major drops were in the first couple weeks. I'm going to be more consistent with the timing of weigh ins (Fridays) and see if it has slowed down...
If you eliminate the weight loss from the first two weeks, what does your loss per week come to? IOW, how much weight have you lost in the last month?
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kshama2001 wrote: »Wickedfaery73 wrote: »I did some double checking and it looks like the major drops were in the first couple weeks. I'm going to be more consistent with the timing of weigh ins (Fridays) and see if it has slowed down...
If you eliminate the weight loss from the first two weeks, what does your loss per week come to? IOW, how much weight have you lost in the last month?
It comes to about 2 lbs per week, I guess I was a little freaked out because it averaged to 3lbs a week0 -
middlehaitch wrote: »
I totally agree! I want to have guns like that some day0 -
Wickedfaery73 wrote: »Thank you I am 5'4 and I started at 214lbs if that info helps any. I am not sure why it's coming off so fast and I usually eat back most if not all or more of the calories from walking on the treadmill. I think I have some hand weights around here somewhere LOL.
Regardless, I'd say it makes sense to work off what your body is doing, not what the calculators say, if the two differ noticeably. If the "lose 1 pound a week" recommended calories cause you to lose more than two, just eat a bit more, and see how that goes. I'm truly sedentary (outside of intentional exercise), but had to tell MFP I was "Active" (not just "Lightly Active") to get it to calculate my loss rate accurately, even while eating back all my exercise. Not gonna complain.
All of this involves a lot of estimation. Your own results are the most accurate guide.
I had the same experience of having to increase my activity setting on MFP to "active" (not just "lightly active") to get MFP's estimate of my base (pre-exercise) daily calorie burn close to my actual base daily calorie burn (based on more than two years' worth of logging data), although I have a desk job, no kids to chase after, and I log pretty much every step I take outside (e.g., walking to and from the subway), any heavy housework, etc., as exercise (so all those burns are on top of what MFP estimates I would burn if were "active"). Also not complaining.
No calculator is going to be better than your own data.0 -
Wickedfaery73 wrote: »middlehaitch wrote: »
I totally agree! I want to have guns like that some day
With apologies, OP, I'm going to continue the derail briefly, to say:- (Blush) Thank you, ladies!
- Those are older muscles, mostly from over a decade of rowing (on water in summer, to a lesser extent on machine in winter). Weight loss has newly revealed them. I'm kind of stunned, frankly. I'm one of those rare women who does tend to bulk a bit from resistance exercise, but the situation under the fat layer is almost scary-looking on a 60 y/o woman. (Not really my only sign of excess T, either. ) I've weight-trained on and off in the past, but had been on a multi-year break until the last few months - not long enough to have added much muscle, at my sex & age. I do like being strong, though, so I'm pretty happy!
Let us now return to our regularly-scheduled conversation. (Feel free to PM or friend me if you want to continue the discussion for some reason.)
@Wickedfaery73, my suggestion would be that you continue to keep an eye on your loss rate, but I'm thinking 2lbs/week is probably still OK for a bit longer, at your current weight, unless you'd prefer to be more conservative, take it a little more slowly, have more calories to eat daily, and also be fueling your workouts better. Eventually, I'd suggest cutting the rate back (increasing calories) to 1.5lb/week, then 1, then 0.5, as you get closer to goal.lynn_glenmont wrote: »
No calculator is going to be better than your own data.
Yes. Kudos to you, Wickedfaery73, for keeping good enough records that you can use your own data. Some people don't, but it's a powerful tool.0 -
middlehaitch wrote: »Wise words by @AnnPT77.
Make sure you eat back 50-75% of your MFP calorie burn. Adjust those calories so you are losing at your expected rate.
30% protien will probably meet your needs, but double check it against the numbers Ann gave you.
Muscle retention is important, and after reading your profile you may want to start your strength training with the 2 programmes I will post below, then move on to something like strong lifts, 5x5, AllPro etc.
Following them first just gave me the strength and courage to up the ante and lift heavy. (I am older than you though)
This is a really good body weight programme that you can follow at home. By the time you can fully complete all 3 sets you will feel a lot stronger.
It is also great if you travel, no equipment needed.
http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2009/12/09/beginner-body-weight-workout-burn-fat-build-muscle/
This is a simple, fast, hand weight routine. Good to start with, break it down if needed, and up the weigh as it gets easier so you are always progressing.
It is also a good fall back routine for when life gets busy.https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=U0bhE67HuDY
Cheers, h.
Im gonna give this a try next time
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