Lost 25 lbs in 3 weeks now nothing on 4th week
dirtycory
Posts: 32 Member
So this is my 4th week taking on only 1500 calories per day. And very accurately I think so as well. I weigh everything, I mean everything. Wife says I'm crazy...lol and I stay very close within the parameters of the macros that MFP has laid out for me. 25 lbs gone in 3 weeks. Nice. Feel great too. Lots more energy. This 4th week is almost over and didn't lose 1 even pound. Like I said I weigh everything and log everything I have been eating on MFP. Why the sudden plateau? Started at 250 and my goal is 200. So halfway there. Hate to see it stop now.
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Replies
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One week without a loss isn't a plateau. Weight fluctuates naturally. And 25lbs in 3 weeks is really fast, especially when you are trying to lose 50lbs. I would suggest you enter your information into the guided setup here, select 0.5lb/week loss and eat those calories.25
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25 pounds in three weeks is an incredibly fast rate of loss. After losing that quickly, it's not uncommon to have a rapid slowdown. A week without a loss isn't a plateau.
How did you reach your goal of 1,500 calories? That's pretty low.22 -
One week without a loss isn't a plateau. Weight fluctuates naturally. And 25lbs in 3 weeks is really fast, especially when you are trying to lose 50lbs. I would suggest you enter your information into the guided setup here, select 0.5lb/week loss and eat those calories.
with amount he has to lose 1.0 lbs/week is approprate. in 3 weeks he should have only expected a loss of 3-4.5 lbs, not 25... sounds unsafe
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Losing 10% of your weight in 3 weeks is, frankly, terrifying. You need to immediately go to the setup, tell it you want to lose .5 lbs/week, and eat all of the calories it says plus exercise calories.
Otherwise, I honestly hope that you have a good life insurance policy in place for your family.13 -
A plateau is really not a thing until you’ve been at the same weight for 6-8 weeks.
At the rate you’re going, you schools be right about back at your birth weight by then.
Set yourself in mfp to lose a pound a week at most, log and eat your exercise calories. 1500 is really (really) low. And 8+ pounds/week is .... not safe.14 -
I know other have written this, but 25 pounds in three weeks is really fast. I would slow down to be safe if you want to be able to maintain.9
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At the risk of sounding like a broken record, 25 lbs, lost in 3 weeks is really fast!! There, I said it.
It's quite common to lose a lot the 1st week of changes, as much as 10 lbs. or so. But after that, it really should taper off to 1-2 lbs. a week, and much less later on as you near goal weight. Please do recheck your entered stats in MFP; just want to make sure you do this the healthy way so you can keep it off, and you don't crash and burn.
Good luck with the rest of it all!! Slow and steady wins the race. 5 -
So let me guess as a male you chose 1500 as was the lowest you could choose. And by chance are you also doing some exercise and not eating those calories back? As you have gathered the theme of responses is you have lost a huge amount of weight in a very small window of time.
And now it has slowed down, which is very predictable. You could easily not really lose weight for a few weeks now.
Maybe 10 or lbs was the so called water weight factor. If you read any of the notes the suggested fast weight loss is either 2 lbs a week or 1% of your body weight and really is for people that have 75 or more pounds to lose. So even at 2.5 lbs a week at first you still went way over.
With 25 lbs left to lose, you should not really be looking to be losing 2 lbs a week, that is unreasonable.
Something to think about. What have you really learned about changing what you eat, how much you eat, and how are you going to sustain that going forward? Because doing a restricted calorie diet just to get the weight off. Does not teach you how to make lifelong changes. Otherwise you become just another yo-yo dieter up and down.
Good Luck!13 -
Enjoy the bounce-back to 255 (all the weight back + 10%) OR... slow down and smell the roses to have a kittens hope in somewhere to manage to control this when you try to maintain.
You're not in a movie or TV. You're playing with your own health. The goal is NOT losing. The goal is LOSING AND MAINTAINING.
Eat more. Lose slower. if you continue at 1500 expect to not lose anything for a while after your 25lbs dropped and to then see a sudden drop that will also include a lot of non fat mass. I hope you've kept your protein intake fairly high out of that 1500. if say protein was 600Cal or 150g... this leaves just 900Cal for both fats and carbs.
If you're low carbing some of the 25lbs is water weight and will come back (this is physiology, not a diet failure) when you re-introduce carbs. be aware so that you don't misinterpret this.
Check out weight trend applications. Expecting the scale to move every day means you're applying too large of a deficit in most cases of people who are not morbidly obese.
Best of luck.12 -
Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?5
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Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
Of course you feel good. It’s been 4 weeks.
Everyone feels great in the first month or three or six. You’ve changed your eating (you’re probably eating “clean” and feeling like the angels sing when you biuy groceries), you’re dropping weight, you’re seeing big results, you’re filled with motivation, you’re not even craving pizza-everything is coming up Millhouse!
I think the average tenure in this thread is probably 4-6 years. That’s people who have lost lots of weight and kept it off. We know what’s coming for you once the overly aggressive deficit catches up with you.
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Duck_Puddle wrote: »Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
Of course you feel good. It’s been 4 weeks.
Everyone feels great in the first month or three or six. You’ve changed your eating (you’re probably eating “clean” and feeling like the angels sing when you biuy groceries), you’re dropping weight, you’re seeing big results, you’re filled with motivation, you’re not even craving pizza-everything is coming up Millhouse!
I think the average tenure in this thread is probably 4-6 years. That’s people who have lost lots of weight and kept it off. We know what’s coming for you once the overly aggressive deficit catches up with you.
So much this!
Couple years ago I ate very little against the advice of people here bc I thought I knew better. I started losing weight quickly and it in my mind further validated that I knew what I was doing and everyone else was wrong. I got down to within a couple pounds of my goal weight super quick and I felt pretty darn proud of myself. The problem: I had no idea how to maintain it and I gained it all (plus some) back and here I am again now taking advice and doing it slowly and correctly so that I can make it stick this time.
Will my situation happen to you? No way to tell the future and I hope for your sake it doesn’t. A lot of time wasted is all I managed to accomplish being stubborn and not listening to some of the excellent advice that is in here.
Good luck with whatever you decide to do!16 -
Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
I didn't lose as fast as you have been, but I lost too fast at first (not by trying to, but because I'm one of the rare people for whom MFP underestimates calorie needs). How you feel in the short run is not a good guide.
I felt great, and not hungry . . . until, suddenly, I didn't. I got weak and fatigued. Even though I corrected as soon as I realized, it still took several weeks to recover normal strength and energy level.
I was lucky. Other people experience things like hair loss (which typically won't start to show up for a couple of months or so), gallstones, and worse, like the previously-healthy woman in this thread who experienced permanently life-altering heart failure:
https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1
1200 is the female equivalent of 1500 for men, BTW.
Will that kind of thing happen to anyone and everyone who's losing ultra fast? No. It's a "how lucky do you feel" kind of question.
Losing too slowly can be frustrating. Losing too fast can be a health risk. What to do depends on your personal risk tolerance.
Like someone else said, you're hearing from people who've successfully lost weight here, and maintained a healthy weight long term, which is what most people really want. Some of us have also lost weight too fast, and had some problems, then recovered. I wouldn't want to see anyone go through that part, even on the way to ultimate success.13 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
Of course you feel good. It’s been 4 weeks.
Everyone feels great in the first month or three or six. You’ve changed your eating (you’re probably eating “clean” and feeling like the angels sing when you biuy groceries), you’re dropping weight, you’re seeing big results, you’re filled with motivation, you’re not even craving pizza-everything is coming up Millhouse!
I think the average tenure in this thread is probably 4-6 years. That’s people who have lost lots of weight and kept it off. We know what’s coming for you once the overly aggressive deficit catches up with you.
I'm married, but I think I love you
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So what do you guys think my daily intake should be?0
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So what do you guys think my daily intake should be?
If you plug your stats into mfp., pick a proper activity level (meaning don’t pick sedentary if you work as a nurse or something on your feet all day), set it to lose 1 pound a week. If you do exercise, log that as well and eat at least a portion of those calories.
You will be eating quite a bit more. Which means more nutrients (which you need) and more room for the occasional “fun” food - because those moments will happen and you can enjoy them.
Also keep in mind that with higher intake, you will have more food passing through your body, more carbs, more sodium, just...more. Which is good. Fueling your body is a very good thing. But it also means all that water and food will be reflected in your scale weight. You will not be gaining fat.
That would be a very healthy and very sustainable way to go-and you will still lose fast enough to see progress-and when the time comes, you will have established healthy, sustainable eating habits that can carry you through the rest of your life - at your lower weight.5 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
Of course you feel good. It’s been 4 weeks.
Everyone feels great in the first month or three or six. You’ve changed your eating (you’re probably eating “clean” and feeling like the angels sing when you biuy groceries), you’re dropping weight, you’re seeing big results, you’re filled with motivation, you’re not even craving pizza-everything is coming up Millhouse!
I think the average tenure in this thread is probably 4-6 years. That’s people who have lost lots of weight and kept it off. We know what’s coming for you once the overly aggressive deficit catches up with you.
I'm married, but I think I love you
Years and years ago someone called the aggressively “clean” eaters something like the organic rainbow lettuce brigade. That’s always stuck with me and I always had visions of like an angel militia in the produce section.
So when people talk about eating “clean” that’s what I think of-and it seems as good a definition as anything else really.
OP didn’t say anything about eating “clean” but I extrapolated.6 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »So what do you guys think my daily intake should be?
If you plug your stats into mfp., pick a proper activity level (meaning don’t pick sedentary if you work as a nurse or something on your feet all day), set it to lose 1 pound a week. If you do exercise, log that as well and eat at least a portion of those calories.
You will be eating quite a bit more. Which means more nutrients (which you need) and more room for the occasional “fun” food - because those moments will happen and you can enjoy them.
Also keep in mind that with higher intake, you will have more food passing through your body, more carbs, more sodium, just...more. Which is good. Fueling your body is a very good thing. But it also means all that water and food will be reflected in your scale weight. You will not be gaining fat.
That would be a very healthy and very sustainable way to go-and you will still lose fast enough to see progress-and when the time comes, you will have established healthy, sustainable eating habits that can carry you through the rest of your life - at your lower weight.
I work as a heavy equipment operator and dont get much activity. On my *kitten* pulling levers for about 12-14 hours a day. The most of my activity comes from turning my head and looking behind me 100 times a day. In the summer I get more activity because I get some daylight after work to be outside. Sedentary is probably accurate during winter months.5 -
Duck_Puddle wrote: »So what do you guys think my daily intake should be?
If you plug your stats into mfp., pick a proper activity level (meaning don’t pick sedentary if you work as a nurse or something on your feet all day), set it to lose 1 pound a week. If you do exercise, log that as well and eat at least a portion of those calories.
You will be eating quite a bit more. Which means more nutrients (which you need) and more room for the occasional “fun” food - because those moments will happen and you can enjoy them.
Also keep in mind that with higher intake, you will have more food passing through your body, more carbs, more sodium, just...more. Which is good. Fueling your body is a very good thing. But it also means all that water and food will be reflected in your scale weight. You will not be gaining fat.
That would be a very healthy and very sustainable way to go-and you will still lose fast enough to see progress-and when the time comes, you will have established healthy, sustainable eating habits that can carry you through the rest of your life - at your lower weight.
I work as a heavy equipment operator and dont get much activity. On my *kitten* pulling levers for about 12-14 hours a day. The most of my activity comes from turning my head and looking behind me 100 times a day. In the summer I get more activity because I get some daylight after work to be outside. Sedentary is probably accurate during winter months.
So put that into your MFP profile, along with the other stuff it asks for, and set it for a pound a week loss rate. What do you get?
Eat that, or very close, for at least 4 weeks, plus a fair fraction of any calories from intentional exercise. Then look at your average weekly losses over that time period. If it's about a pound a week, you're golden. If it's much more, or much less, modify your calorie goal using the assumption that 3500 calories (cumulatively over 7 days) = one pound a week loss.
Use the weight loss period as a chance to experiment with what foods and eating schedules meet your calorie goal, plus keep you full and satisfied, give you reasonable well-balanced nutrition (optional for weight loss, but good for health), are practical for your lifestyle, that you find tasty/enjoyable, and that give you ways to enjoy social events that are part of your life and that involve food. Same deal for exercise modes and schedules.
Basically, weight loss can be a time to figure what's going to be sustainable, easy, happy and successful long term. Then, when you hit goal weight, you just up your calories to maintenance, and go on with your happy life. 6 -
Even at 1500 I always feel full and satisfied. That's with 3 meals and 3 snacks through the day. Just tried to add another 250 to it and I don t even know how I'm going to eat all that. Either you guys are messing with me or I just got a slow metabolism right now0
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Duck_Puddle wrote: »So what do you guys think my daily intake should be?
If you plug your stats into mfp., pick a proper activity level (meaning don’t pick sedentary if you work as a nurse or something on your feet all day), set it to lose 1 pound a week. If you do exercise, log that as well and eat at least a portion of those calories.
You will be eating quite a bit more. Which means more nutrients (which you need) and more room for the occasional “fun” food - because those moments will happen and you can enjoy them.
Also keep in mind that with higher intake, you will have more food passing through your body, more carbs, more sodium, just...more. Which is good. Fueling your body is a very good thing. But it also means all that water and food will be reflected in your scale weight. You will not be gaining fat.
That would be a very healthy and very sustainable way to go-and you will still lose fast enough to see progress-and when the time comes, you will have established healthy, sustainable eating habits that can carry you through the rest of your life - at your lower weight.
I work as a heavy equipment operator and dont get much activity. On my *kitten* pulling levers for about 12-14 hours a day. The most of my activity comes from turning my head and looking behind me 100 times a day. In the summer I get more activity because I get some daylight after work to be outside. Sedentary is probably accurate during winter months.
I wouldn't assume your job is the equivalent of sedentary. In fact I'd very much say it isn't. You are pulling levers and pushing pedals all day long, that burns calories. Given your rapid weight loss, even allowing for a large chunk of water weight the first week, you are clearly burning a lot of calories somehow, and my guess is it's your job. I'd probably set MFP to active.
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Even at 1500 I always feel full and satisfied. That's with 3 meals and 3 snacks through the day. Just tried to add another 250 to it and I don t even know how I'm going to eat all that. Either you guys are messing with me or I just got a slow metabolism right now
I really do get this. You’ve probably completely overhauled the way you eat and now you’re eating a whole lot of low calories/high volume foods (kind of the opposite of what you were eating before). That is good because those foods are usually full of nutrients and often fiber and other stuff that’s good for you.
Couple that with the extreme elation of the “honeymoon phase” and you probably genuinely feel quite satisfied.
Also-given your complete overhaul and rather extreme results, even if you’re not consciously thinking it, you’re likely hesitant to make any change to that.
250 calories is a couple TB of peanut butter. It’s also a larger portion of protein or gasp-some max & cheese or a baked potato (with fixings) or some ice cream or a cookie. Or a couple of apples/bananas throughout the day. Or a couple pats of butter or more cooking oil (fat isn’t bad for you-it’s actually critical for brain function).
I’m female, weigh 65-Ish pounds less than you, and I ate 1792 calories today. I’ll lose just under a pound a week. In addition to salad, soup, oatmeal, veggies (lots), I also had prime rib, a stuffed portobello mushroom and a cookie. Plus coffee.
I am WAY past any honeymoon phase though so I’m just mad I’m out of calories.16 -
Even at 1500 I always feel full and satisfied. That's with 3 meals and 3 snacks through the day. Just tried to add another 250 to it and I don t even know how I'm going to eat all that. Either you guys are messing with me or I just got a slow metabolism right now
Consider adding full-fat versions of things you're eating reduced fat versions of (like dairy foods), nuts or nut butters, avocados, fattier cuts of meat or fattier fish, using a bit more oil or butter on veggies/salads or in cooking, and things like that, that are calorie-dense but perhaps not as filling.
Some people find drinking calories less filling than eating them, so something like smoothies or juices could be a help.
If you've already got your nutrition dialed in pretty well on the low calories, it's also OK to add some less nutrient-dense treat foods to get to your calorie goal, too.
Losing as fast as you are, you don't have a fast metabolism. And a fast metabolism isn't really a thing, anyway (though some people do burn more calories than others, it's mostly behavioral).3 -
Mfp sedentary is an activity factor of 1.25. lightly active 1.4. active 1.6; very active 1.8 for 24 hours.
Sleeping is actually a less than 1 MET activity. Off the top of my head I think it is .95 because it approaches BMR as opposed to rmr.
Heavy equipment operator sits on his *kitten*, but he is wearing boots, dressed with hard hat on, alert, functioning, dealing with vibration, twisting and turning.
MET value is 2.0 for heavy equipment operator. More than driving for example. And more then standing in line quietly.
I don't know if I would go all the way to very active; but sedentary you're not.
A lb is worth about 3500 Cal. Add your lost lbs to what you've eaten and divide by days.
You get TDEE.
I will assume that will be too high a number due to logging errors and initial water weight loss.
So instead of cutting 15% from that number, cut 20%
Eat it. Move/exercise more. Figure out the balance between healthy food and fun food that you can keep to for the next five years.
You don't drop weight and forget about it and magically maintain.
Figure out the long term.
(What did you do when the guys wanted to go for pizza and beers or to watch a game? Is that going to be your answer during the next five years?)4 -
Mfp sedentary is an activity factor of 1.25. lightly active 1.4. active 1.6; very active 1.8 for 24 hours.
Sleeping is actually a less than 1 MET activity. Off the top of my head I think it is .95 because it approaches BMR as opposed to rmr.
Heavy equipment operator sits on his *kitten*, but he is wearing boots, dressed with hard hat on, alert, functioning, dealing with vibration, twisting and turning.
MET value is 2.0 for heavy equipment operator. More than driving for example. And more then standing in line quietly.
I don't know if I would go all the way to very active; but sedentary you're not.
A lb is worth about 3500 Cal. Add your lost lbs to what you've eaten and divide by days.
You get TDEE.
I will assume that will be too high a number due to logging errors and initial water weight loss.
So instead of cutting 15% from that number, cut 20%
Eat it. Move/exercise more. Figure out the balance between healthy food and fun food that you can keep to for the next five years.
You don't drop weight and forget about it and magically maintain.
Figure out the long term.
(What did you do when the guys wanted to go for pizza and beers or to watch a game? Is that going to be your answer during the next five years?)
Aha! I knew you would be along with MET info, dear @PAV8888, even though I forgot to tag you!
I have yet to meet a heavy machine operator who has to wear their hard hat in their vehicle, and I have met a lot! They get to take their hat off, roll up their sleeves, have air con...while I'm dying of heat in hard hat and full PPE head to toe out in the sun. Are you suggesting wearing a hard hat burns extra calories? Cos I will totally start wearing mine everywhere, if so!5 -
Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
One reason you lost so quickly in the first week is that you reduced the food in your digestive system, the stored glycogen in your muscles, and the water used to process both of these things. You didn’t lose 15 lbs of fat in a week. Now you are plateauing because your body is starting to adjust and replenish these things. Underneath the water and waste fluctuations you are probably still losing fat at a much more consistent rate.
I lost very quickly for my first two months (wasn’t trying, just worked out that way) and felt great for about six months, when I noticed my hair was getting thin all of a sudden because it had stopped growing new hairs back at the beginning of the diet. It isn’t always immediately obvious what damage you are doing. You also lose a larger percentage of muscle when losing too quickly, and your heart is a muscle!6 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Are you suggesting wearing a hard hat burns extra calories? Cos I will totally start wearing mine everywhere, if so!
Only works if it's pink! 1 -
Nony_Mouse wrote: »Are you suggesting wearing a hard hat burns extra calories? Cos I will totally start wearing mine everywhere, if so!
Only works if it's pink!
Oh boo, it's silver paisley. Surely that's close enough?3 -
Yes most all of it came off really quickly in the beginning. 15 lbs on first week. That first week I was at 1700 calories a day. So how is 1500 too low of I don't feel hungry at all? I am eating good food to get my calories. I physically feel great. Best I have in years. But according some of you I should get a good life insurance plan. My body feels satisfied so how is that a bad thing?
When I started MFP, I had no idea what I was doing, so I wound up undereating. I had fast progress and felt absolutely great . . . until I didn't. I figured out what was wrong pretty quickly (thanks to lurking the forums) and was fortunately able to make adjustments before I suffered any lasting ill effects like hair loss. Still, I'm sure I lost more muscle than I wanted to and my energy absolutely tanked until I got things back in balance.
It's really common to feel energized and fantastic during the beginning of a very low calorie plan. This doesn't mean that you're eating enough.2
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