Is it bad if losing weight faster?

orangegato

I set my weight loss goal to 1.5 lbs/week but seem to be losing faster. Lost 25.6 lbs/3 months, 16.2/2 months, 9/1 month, and 3.8/last 1 week. I'm really not underrating my calories and I do not exercise. Is this faster weight loss rate a bad thing?

gothchiq

If yr eating enough then I don't see a problem.

Wiggymommy

I lose weight much faster then my mfp says as well. It could be various factors. Maybe your metabolism is probably a bit faster or you're eating a lot of clean foods that our tougher for your body to break down thus not as much calorie absorption. Even though you're not exercising are you particularly active? Walk a lot? On your feet on a job all day?

skymningen

I guess if you feel fine, not deprived and not tired or dizzy, there is so far nothing wrong with it, especially if you keep a moderate deficit.

GottaBurnEmAll

Well, it depends how much weight you have to lose.

Does this loss represent more than 1% of your total body weight? If it does, you're running the risk of losing essential muscle mass with losing weight too quickly.

Some muscle loss is to be expected, and for the very obese, there's excess muscle tissue that's been built to help them carry the extra weight. That's fine to lose. That loss is accounted for in the 1% figure.

If you're losing quicker than that, you're being too aggressive with your losses and should eat more, unless you're under a doctor's supervision.

orangegato

Wiggymommy wrote: »

I lose weight much faster then my mfp says as well. It could be various factors. Maybe your metabolism is probably a bit faster or you're eating a lot of clean foods that our tougher for your body to break down thus not as much calorie absorption. Even though you're not exercising are you particularly active? Walk a lot? On your feet on a job all day?

No I'm not walking a lot, not super active. I average maybe 5000 steps/day but i don't take extra walks for exercise and the pace is leisurely not power walking. And not on my feet all day at my job, mostly sitting.

orangegato

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

Well, it depends how much weight you have to lose.

Does this loss represent more than 1% of your total body weight? If it does, you're running the risk of losing essential muscle mass with losing weight too quickly.

Some muscle loss is to be expected, and for the very obese, there's excess muscle tissue that's been built to help them carry the extra weight. That's fine to lose. That loss is accounted for in the 1% figure.

If you're losing quicker than that, you're being too aggressive with your losses and should eat more, unless you're under a doctor's supervision.

Then I think I am OK right now. The past week was strangely more weight loss, but I know that weight loss is not linear. Just wanted to see what everyone thought. I was lifting weights to prevent muscle loss, but went on vacation and stopped then didn't restart. I guess this is a good reason to restart now. Thanks

HarlemNY17

It's water weight! I was like that when I first started losing weight . It'll slow down more and more as you get closer to losing fat. You'll never lose fat in a fast pace

orangegato

HarlemNY17 wrote: »

It's water weight! I was like that when I first started losing weight . It'll slow down more and more as you get closer to losing fat. You'll never lose fat in a fast pace

But I'm not just starting out. Been losing for 6 months, now seems to be speeding up.

VeronicaA76

Eating healthy? Sleeping well? Feel good? If yes, then keep doing what you're doing. Some people lose faster, some slower. As long as you're healthy, that's what matters.

PAV8888

You stopped weight training. You lost water weight associated with training potentially.

Having said that, does your overall loss fall within the range of 0.5% to 0.75% of body weight per week?

If yes, well, I have yet to see someone consider that to be sub-optimally fast!

Standard formulas do have outliers....

ninerbuff

Depends on how much you have to lose and how much you're eating. If you're losing 4lbs a week and have been for 3 months, then you likely started out obese. It WILL taper off. However IMO, people who lose too fast seem to have to work much harder at keeping it off than clients I had that did it more moderately. That may be anecdotal, but again that's just something I've noticed.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

jayeso

Not necessarily, but it's likely not just fat you're losing. Muscle, water, etc. I usually lose weight faster than MFP says. When I first lost 75 lbs, I lost almost 20 lbs the first month.

orangegato

PAV8888 wrote: »

You stopped weight training. You lost water weight associated with training potentially.

Having said that, does your overall loss fall within the range of 0.5% to 0.75% of body weight per week?

If yes, well, I have yet to see someone consider that to be sub-optimally fast!

Standard formulas do have outliers....

I am losing between 0.76% and 0.97% of body weight so far

orangegato

ninerbuff wrote: »

Depends on how much you have to lose and how much you're eating. If you're losing 4lbs a week and have been for 3 months, then you likely started out obese. It WILL taper off. However IMO, people who lose too fast seem to have to work much harder at keeping it off than clients I had that did it more moderately. That may be anecdotal, but again that's just something I've noticed.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Yes I started out very obese, close to being morbidly obese. The weight was faster at the start then slowed to the MFP calculation of 1.5 lbs/week and now seems quicker again over the past month. It is not 3 lbs a week for several months.

PAV8888

Your sub 1% rate is fine especially if you're still obese or high overweight.

If you're mid-to-low overweight or in the normal weight range again your overall rate of loss does not seem extreme.

However I would consider a few other things too.

For example is your deficit more than 20% of your total energy expenditure?

If you're close to normal weight I would not exceed that 20%...

Other issues to consider would be that smaller deficits may enable you to start training yourself on how you will be eating at maintenance....

orangegato

Thanks everyone. So far so good. Soon out of the obese category and when that happens I will adjust my deficit to consume more. Will also start weight training again.