Suddenly losing weight quickly?

msbridgetteanne

I have been doing MFP for a quite a while now and the targets set by MFP have always been fairly accurate for me.--i.e., if I tell MFP I want to lose a pound a week and stay within the calories allotted, I typically lose one pound a week, give or take a couple tenths of a pound.

Ever since October, however, I have been losing at a rate that's somewhat alarming to me: 2.5, 3 lbs a week, even 4 in a week once. I went to my doctor, whom I trust and who has always seemed to do right by me, and he ran a few blood tests (normal) but didn't seem overly concerned. We decided I was going to experiment over the holidays by not worrying about calorie deficits and just eat whatever I wanted, to make sure I still don't lose weight. Well, I gained 5 lbs, which actually comforted me, because if I somehow lost weight or even maintained while I was eating like I was over the holidays, something was definitely wrong!

But the holidays are over now. I've been back to counting for a few weeks and have continued to lose weight quickly. Last weigh in, I lost nearly 3.5 lbs within a week while aiming for a 1 lb loss and even going over my calories a couple days. I'm very careful about weighing and logging everything I eat. For as long as I've been doing this, I've had myself set at 'sedentary' and have just changed to 'lightly active' this week, in case I'm more active than I used to be without realizing it. (I don't feel like I have been. I have a desk job. I haven't been doing any more exercise than I was previously. If anything, I've been doing less!)

I'm due for another appointment with the doctor today to air my concerns, but I'm just curious if this has happened to anyone else before--if there may be a non-medical reason this is happening.

Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks in advance!

Stella3838

How many calories are you eating on average a day?

StaciMarie1974

How many calories a day do you eat? How much weight overall do you still intend to lose? Do you weigh everything out, then end up leaving some of it on the plate? Do you log your exercise and eat additional for it?

Are you consistently losing 2+ per week, or do you have a week where you lose 2, then maintain, then lose 3, then gain 1, etc. What has been your total loss in the last 4 weeks?

Francl27

In average, how much are you losing in a month?

I lost my weight in chunks too - sometimes 4 lbs in a week, but then I wasn't losing anything for 3 weeks. So it's totally normal as long as it's not EVERY week.

But yeah, how much are you eating and how active are you?

thielke2015

People normally lose a lot in the first week. I normally lose 3-4 lbs in first week

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish

From only the data available to me: your weight and how much you have to lose (75lbs), 2-3lbs per week is not bad in that range. Add to that fact scale error of +/- 1% easily, if you weigh say 200lbs (to make math easy), then your scale could be 4lbs over or 4lbs under on each weighing...easily accounting for this kind of difference. I have noticed in the past I can not have much loss then suddenly without seeming to do anything different go through a period of effortless substantial loss. Also if I'm "bad" one week and eat without logging, I can lose quickly a few weeks after. Now if we take your numbers as weeks above, and -2.5 one week, -3, -4, +5, -3.5, that's actually just an average of -1.6lb per week and a good rate, not a big deal with 75lbs to lose, if thats a good example.

Its good to check with a doctor, but it sounds within normal, and check things like consistent weighing times on one scale in the same spot on the floor.

msbridgetteanne

Stella3838 wrote: »

How many calories are you eating on average a day?

StaciMarie1974 wrote: »

How many calories a day do you eat? How much weight overall do you still intend to lose? Do you weigh everything out, then end up leaving some of it on the plate? Do you log your exercise and eat additional for it?

Are you consistently losing 2+ per week, or do you have a week where you lose 2, then maintain, then lose 3, then gain 1, etc. What has been your total loss in the last 4 weeks?

Before this week, I was averaging about what MFP recommended--1480 calories a day. I am currently at 200lbs and still intend to lose 70-75lbs.

I do log my exercise and eat most of the calories back. I usually leave a buffer of about 50 calories in case of errors with weighing and measuring, but there are days when I eat back my exercise calories and then some.

The weight isn't exactly consistent, but it is consistent in that I'm losing more than I intend. I lost 3.2 lbs last week, 1.2 the week before that, 2.6 the week before that. That's 7lbs in the three weeks. The week prior to that was my near 5 lb gain from the holidays.

Francl27 wrote: »

In average, how much are you losing in a month?

I lost my weight in chunks too - sometimes 4 lbs in a week, but then I wasn't losing anything for 3 weeks. So it's totally normal as long as it's not EVERY week.

But yeah, how much are you eating and how active are you?

I would be less concerned if this were the norm for me, but I've always consistently lost a similar amount of weight every week, unless I made changes that week, in which case I would expect to lose something different.

I'm not extremely active. I have a desk job. I take walks halfway through the day, which I count the calories from. I use a HRM for accuracy. I lift weights three times a week and do the elliptical five times--until lately. I've been feeling a bit fatigued, so I haven't been exercising as often. I had low iron in November, which I've been taking supplements for, so I would assume my iron stores would be better by now... I had a point earlier this month when I wasn't feeling so exhausted and was able to do my regular routine, but it's been torture for the past couple weeks.

ThatUserNameIsAllReadyTaken

Judging by your diary you are eating very well. Unless you are eating less than what you think you are. You could just be a lucky loser. I don't know. If you found yourself gaining when you increased your calories I would not worry. If you lose at that rate no matter how much you eat then I would worry.

msbridgetteanne

SoLongAndThanksForAllTheFish wrote: »

From only the data available to me: your weight and how much you have to lose (75lbs), 2-3lbs per week is not bad in that range. Add to that fact scale error of +/- 1% easily, if you weigh say 200lbs (to make math easy), then your scale could be 4lbs over or 4lbs under on each weighing...easily accounting for this kind of difference. I have noticed in the past I can not have much loss then suddenly without seeming to do anything different go through a period of effortless substantial loss. Also if I'm "bad" one week and eat without logging, I can lose quickly a few weeks after. Now if we take your numbers as weeks above, and -2.5 one week, -3, -4, +5, -3.5, that's actually just an average of -1.6lb per week and a good rate, not a big deal with 75lbs to lose, if thats a good example.

Its good to check with a doctor, but it sounds within normal, and check things like consistent weighing times on one scale in the same spot on the floor.

Thanks for the thorough response! I have been trying to look at it that way. I guess I'm mostly worried because I have already lost 80 lbs, and it's never been this 'easy' to lose. I know that weight tends to fall off in larger amounts the more you weigh, but even at my heaviest, I rarely ever lost more than 2 lbs a week.

Tacklewasher

I've done somewhat the same, losing 10-15 lbs a month over the last 5 (65 lbs in total) and am still seeing it come off pretty quick. Down 10 so far this month, but I'm still @ 270 so a lot to lose still.
But I'd be concerned if I was fatigued. Are you willing to up your calories by 250 a day to see if that helps the fatigue?

StaciMarie1974

The 5 pound gain was partially water weight IMO, and the next week's loss was that resetting to normal. So it very well be a ~2 pound average which is not unreasonable based on where you're at right now.

angelawrence11

Not certain, but part of the extra weight loss could be due to cold weather. Your body needs more energy to maintain its temperature in the winter, so many people increase their calorie goal in colder months.