7 pounds down in 2 wks normal?

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ashalily
ashalily Posts: 4 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello!

So for last year, maybe two years I've weighed on average 174lb. I decided that this time, for sure I was going to be serious about losing weight and I was going to do is as healthy as possible. I started this about 2.5 weeks ago and then I weighed 172.5lb. I don't count calories but i cut down on all fast food I consume. So before I was eating out 3-5 times a week and now its once a week and when I do I make better choices (as much as possible). I also stopped eating candy every day. I used to get a sweet tooth around 3pm which caused me to buy a chocolate bar at the vending machine. Instead at 3pm I eat fruit. I increased my water intake by regular water or tea. I cut out my nightly cocktails and now only have red wine on the weekend. I also stopped eating after dinner. Also let me say, since my changes I find I am nearly never really hungry except for maybe an hour before meals at which point I will either wait it out or grab a pear or an apple or eat literally 2 crackers. Enough to tide me over. Before the changes I was always "hungry" so believe me I am not starving myself or anything. Also for the past two weeks I have been exercising 5 days a week with 30 minute cardio/strength videos at home or 30 minutes on the elliptical and then a few minutes of weights at the gym.

Last week I weight myself and I was down to 168.5 and I was really surprised. I did feel less jiggly when i walked so I believe the weight loss. Then this morning I weighed myself and was down to 165. Now Im starting to not believe it. While I feel feel more tone and I do feel that my jeans are pretty lose I figured that my jeans were just cheap and are expanding due to time in them. While I can believe I lost the first 4lb...down another 2.5lb?? 7lb total? Is this normal or is my scale broken?

Also I have 5'5'' slightly curvy.


Replies

  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
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    At the beginning of weight loss efforts, it can be really common to drop weight quickly.
  • cbohling1987
    cbohling1987 Posts: 99 Member
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    Yeah you will tend to lose a lot of water weight right when you start a weight loss plan, especially if you weren't exercising much before, so you might see a big loss initially.

    Your weight loss will probably slow down, but if you keep eating a deficit, you will keep steadily losing.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    For the first two weeks it's fine, as you often lose a lot of water weight. If this rate continues, though, you'll want to eat some more.
  • ashalily
    ashalily Posts: 4 Member
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    Thanks for the replies. I figured it was water as I am drinking more water. I think before I was probably dehydrated which i read can make you bloated/gain weight. I also heard that the more you weigh the easier it is to lose a lot of weight quickly because your body weight make you burn more calories. I am welcoming this jump, I just hope i dont gain it back like you do when you typically lose water weight.
  • malibu927
    malibu927 Posts: 17,565 Member
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    Well water weight will always fluctuate. There will be weeks where you end up seeing the scale not move or go up due to it. It could be because you had a meal that was higher in sodium/carbs than normal, it could be because you began or increased your exercise routine, it could be based on hormones around your monthly cycle. So the decreased sodium from stopping eating fast food is most likely the cause.
  • ladyhusker39
    ladyhusker39 Posts: 1,406 Member
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    Totally normal. I lost 6 my first 2 weeks.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    edited November 2017
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    Cutting fast food plus increasing water intake is a recipe for eliminating sodium. Cutting sodium means retaining a lot less water. Retaining a lot less water means losing 5ish pounds practically overnight.

    That 7 pound loss is mostly water weight. If you were to eat a lot of salty foods one day much of that would come back (as water).

    That's not to say your weight loss plan isn't effective but yeah you didn't lose that much fat that quickly. Now that you've decreased the water you are retaining expect your loss to be much slower pace now. Also don't be dissolution ed if your weight rebounds a bit, water weight varies due to factors beyond just sodium consumption.

    I wrote a post explaining effects of sodium on this page not to long ago if you'd like to understand that better.
  • ashalily
    ashalily Posts: 4 Member
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    Aaron_K123 wrote: »
    Cutting fast food plus increasing water intake is a recipe for eliminating sodium. Cutting sodium means retaining a lot less water. Retaining a lot less water means losing 5ish pounds practically overnight.

    That 7 pound loss is mostly water weight. If you were to eat a lot of salty foods one day much of that would come back (as water).

    That's not to say your weight loss plan isn't effective but yeah you didn't lose that much fat that quickly. Now that you've decreased the water you are retaining expect your loss to be much slower pace now. Also don't be dissolution ed if your weight rebounds a bit, water weight varies due to factors beyond just sodium consumption.

    I wrote a post explaining effects of sodium on this page not to long ago if you'd like to understand that better.

    Yea I'm not getting my hopes up just yet lol.

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