Losing to much a week or normal?

AshleighAnn72

I'm 215 lbs and ive lost 8lbs in like 5 days... Is this is because I'm bigger? Everything online stats you should only lose 2.5lbs per week, but does this count if your big?

Thanks

Cifucanguess

I would say it depends b/c if you stopped drinking sodas (esp. if you were an avid drinker) or stopped eating fast food and etc. I think that would be a noticeable difference. Sometimes you lose more in the beginning when you make changes and then it may taper off to 1-2 lbs a week.

drpsamin

Well done first ofa ll.
Some of it could be water weight but yes you generally lose more the bigger u are.
When I first started losing weight I lost 2lb or so per week. Now its more like 1lb if I'm lucky.
Good luck.

shadow2soul

Most people experience a large water weight drop when they first start. Give it 4-6 weeks and see how things are averaging out.

The National Institute of Health actually doesn't recommend more than 1 - 2 lbs per week loss.

Typical recommendations are:
- No more than 1% of your body weight per week *
- 0.5 lbs per week if you have less than 25 lbs to lose
- 1 lb per week if you have 25-50 lbs to lose
- 1.5 lb per week if you have 50- 75 lbs to lose
- 2 lb per week if you have 75 + lbs to lose

If I remember correctly this recommendation comes from the fact that your body has a limit to how much of it's fat stores it can use in a day before it starts using your lean body mass (muscles, organs, etc). I believe it's like 30 calories per lb body fat. 1% body weight can actually be a hard deficit to sustain which is were the other recommendations come in.

TravisJHunt

I'm sure you'll get a ton of responses but yes, the bigger you are and the newer to eating well/being healthier you are, the more you can lose in a week easily. Some of this will be water weight that you've been hanging onto because of poor eating habits or lack of exercise and it goes quickly. The problem with quick weight loss is if you lose too quickly, you'll end up losing too much muscle along the way, thus your body is going to start rebelling and holding onto any extra you do supply it (slowing your metabolism). As long as you are eating healthy and enough calories, what you lose is what you lose in some aspects. Just make sure you aren't over doing it or you'll pay in the long run.

AshleighAnn72

Thanks! I never realised how many calories were in foods i thought were good for you. It's shocking lol.

Dove0804

shadow2soul wrote: »

Most people experience a large water weight drop when they first start. Give it 4-6 weeks and see how things are averaging out.

The National Institute of Health actually doesn't recommend more than 1 - 2 lbs per week loss.

Typical recommendations are:
- No more than 1% of your body weight per week *
- 0.5 lbs per week if you have less than 25 lbs to lose
- 1 lb per week if you have 25-50 lbs to lose
- 1.5 lb per week if you have 50- 75 lbs to lose
- 2 lb per week if you have 75 + lbs to lose

If I remember correctly this recommendation comes from the fact that your body has a limit to how much of it's fat stores it can use in a day before it starts using your lean body mass (muscles, organs, etc). I believe it's like 30 calories per lb body fat. 1% body weight can actually be a hard deficit to sustain which is were the other recommendations come in.

To be honest, I could never buy into those recommendations- I keep seeing variations of them spread around the board but they don't make a lot of sense to me because there is a wide variation in definitions of how much someone "has to lose"- to get to ideal body weight? To get to someone's goal weight? Goal weights vary widely between people. Someone who is 190 trying to get to 170 can certainly stand to lose faster than 0.5 lb/week healthily if they choose to. I'm not targeting you! You've provided great information here. I'm just confused about those recommendations themselves- if anyone can explain it to me, that'd be great.

But yes, when you're a heavier weight and just starting out, you're likely to lose a lot of weight more quickly (a lot of it which is probably water weight) as everyone else said here. If that rate continues you may want to think about consciously slowing yourself down. I know it's exciting to lose weight so quickly and we all wish things would happen now, but in the long run you'll probably do yourself more favors by taking it slow and steady.

Congratulations on your great start and good luck!

shadow2soul

Dove0804 wrote: »

shadow2soul wrote: »

Most people experience a large water weight drop when they first start. Give it 4-6 weeks and see how things are averaging out.

The National Institute of Health actually doesn't recommend more than 1 - 2 lbs per week loss.

Typical recommendations are:
- No more than 1% of your body weight per week *
- 0.5 lbs per week if you have less than 25 lbs to lose
- 1 lb per week if you have 25-50 lbs to lose
- 1.5 lb per week if you have 50- 75 lbs to lose
- 2 lb per week if you have 75 + lbs to lose

If I remember correctly this recommendation comes from the fact that your body has a limit to how much of it's fat stores it can use in a day before it starts using your lean body mass (muscles, organs, etc). I believe it's like 30 calories per lb body fat. 1% body weight can actually be a hard deficit to sustain which is were the other recommendations come in.

To be honest, I could never buy into those recommendations- I keep seeing variations of them spread around the board but they don't make a lot of sense to me because there is a wide variation in definitions of how much someone "has to lose"- to get to ideal body weight? To get to someone's goal weight? Goal weights vary widely between people. Someone who is 190 trying to get to 170 can certainly stand to lose faster than 0.5 lb/week healthily if they choose to. I'm not targeting you! You've provided great information here. I'm just confused about those recommendations themselves- if anyone can explain it to me, that'd be great.

But yes, when you're a heavier weight and just starting out, you're likely to lose a lot of weight more quickly (a lot of it which is probably water weight) as everyone else said here. If that rate continues you may want to think about consciously slowing yourself down. I know it's exciting to lose weight so quickly and we all wish things would happen now, but in the long run you'll probably do yourself more favors by taking it slow and steady.

Congratulations on your great start and good luck!

I believe they are more about keeping weight loss reasonable and at a deficit that doesn't feel to difficult to sustain. It also makes the transition to maintenance level calories not as drastic as a larger deficit.
Personally, I was able to do the 1% bodyweight per week until I got to around 130 lbs. Then I started finding that deficit hard to sustain so I switched to the other recommendation table at this point. Others find that 1% is harder earlier on than I did and this table gives them an easier target to shoot for.

Dove0804

Thanks for the explanation shadow2soul Makes sense to me!

godlikepoetyes

When I started I lost fast, too, but not 8 lbs. within a few days. However what I've found is that I may only lose 2 lbs. one week and then the next week drop 4. I only weigh once a week. The same thing when I have a bad week. The scale may not show my gain until the next week, even though I cut back on my calories.

kshama2001

AshleighAnn72 wrote: »

I'm 215 lbs and ive lost 8lbs in like 5 days... Is this is because I'm bigger? Everything online stats you should only lose 2.5lbs per week, but does this count if your big?

Thanks

215 isn't that high a starting weight

That said, people who dramatically change what they eat can have an equally dramatic weight loss the first week. This is mostly water and should level off by the second week. If not, you're likely not eating enough.

senennieves

i average 3-4 lbs a week, and i am trying to lose 130 lbs total, lost 25 lbs so far

AshleighAnn72

I've been eating more then my calories I'm supposed to have I finally got round to putting batteries in my exercise bike and ive been putting it down as loosing 200++ calories when it's only like 100 So I've been eating more then I should have and still losing weight lol.

I don't really understand the whole water weight thing...

brb_2013

Your body will hold onto water for many reasons, and release for many reasons. Hormones, new or more challenging exercise, and sudden changes to diet can all cause water loss or retention.

Your first few weeks of any diet change your body tends to let go of a lot of water weight and will produce a quick loss for the first week or several depending on your body. I also usually lost 5lbs quick the first week of a "diet", it slows to a normal rate soon and that's where you start to "assume" the loss is of fat and not water.

Caligirl95076

If you barely started your weightloss journey it could be just water but i say it doesn't matter. Any weightloss i'll take it! lol I too lost about 8lbs in my first 2-weeks. Its the change in food choices. For me it was i think the fast food i ate-was loaded in salt so when i switched to eating healthier and eating at home i had control over the salt. so all that water my body was retaining is gone.

rileyleigh

My first week I lost 8 pounds too. It's likely not all actual weight but just water weight. Water weight can change drastically from day to day based on exercise, sodium intake, sleep, and any other random thing it feels like reacting to.
Don't be surprised if you do everything right and don't lose any weight for a week or two. When it happens to me, I can go 2 or 3 weeks with virtually no weight loss, then lose another 5 pounds in about 3 days. The body is a weird thing.

Dove0804

Yup- a lot of the initial weight you lose is water weight. Usually when people get to their goal weight and switch to maintenance calories, they'll gain water weight back.
If it's that time of the month, or you ate a lot of salt, or started/increased your exercise regimen, you may have some water retention. The scale makes it look like your weight isn't budging, but if you stay on track it will balance out eventually.
For example, last week I started a new strength training regimen. Despite careful calorie counting and eating at a defecit, the scale just wouldn't budge. I recognized that the likely cause was probably some water retention from my new regimen and didn't let myself get discouraged. This week, I dropped over 3 lb in just as many days while not changing a thing (and had a couple days where I was peeing a lot more than usual). That happens to me once in a while, especially when it's that time of the month. When I look at the overall past couple of months though, I'm averaging a 2 lb/week weight loss (which is pretty easy to achieve since I'm still a bigger girl).

jb8tesxx

I believe it's like 30 calories per lb body fat. 1% body weight can actually be a hard deficit to sustain which is were the other recommendations come in.[/quote]

I think this is just a typo but, i'm sure its 3000 cals per lb.

shadow2soul

jb8tesxx wrote: »

I believe it's like 30 calories per lb body fat. 1% body weight can actually be a hard deficit to sustain which is were the other recommendations come in.

I think this is just a typo but, i'm sure its 3000 cals per lb.

@jbtesxx
Not a typo. I'm talking about the calories your body can use from your fat stores in a day; not the calories in a pound of fat. 30 calories per lb body fat per day is roughly what your body can use from your fat stores. 1 lb of fat is equal to 3500 calories (this is what your thinking of). So if you have say 50 lbs of fat on your body, your max deficit before your body starts using lean body mass is 1,500 calories per day (whether or not this deficit is sustainable or will allow you to get adequate nutrition or even achievable with a person's activity level is a different story ). As your fat mass decreases the max deficit you could achieve before your body starts using lean body mass will also decrease.

your body has a limit to how much of it's fat stores it can use in a day before it starts using your lean body mass (muscles, organs, etc). I believe it's like 30 calories per lb body fat.