Weight Loss

r85956230

Since starting Fitness Pal a week ago, my initial goal was to lose 1.5 pounds per week. On the bright side, I have lost 5 pounds. However, some days I feel weak especially when I want to engage in my exercise regimen of dumbbells and walking. Am I losing too much weight too fast? Do I need to increase my protein intake? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

AnnPT77

Hello, and welcome to MFP!

One week is pretty early to draw conclusions about loss rate, since many of us experience big water weight shifts in the first couple of weeks, and we start seeing more consistent-ish results after that's out of the picture.

Still, feeling weak is a bad sign.

Is all that exercise new? Even though both can be beneficial long term, both increased exercise and lowered calories are physical stresses on the body. Adding some big changes to both at once can be a bit much.

If I were you, I'd keep the exercise routine to something that's just a manageable challenge to your current fitness, something that in total leaves you feeling energized (not exhausted) for the rest of your day(s) rather than feeling draggy. (A few minutes of "whew" right after the workout is OK.) If you keep up the that manageable routine, what you're doing will gradually get easy: That's what fitness improvement feels like. Plenty of time then to increase the challenge (keeping it manageable) by increasing duration, frequency, intensity, or even changing type of activity.

If you're falling quite short of your recommended protein intake fairly often, it would be good to work on treating your protein goal as a minimum, something you hit or exceed most days. That would make your dumbbell work pay off more, and might help you feel more full/satisfied besides.

It really takes 4-6 weeks (whole menstrual cycles if you have those) to know whether our average weight loss is tracking close to our goal, then we can adjust calories at that point to fine-tune. Still, since you have a quick drop (that may be partly water weight) and are feeling weak, I'd suggest considering eating a bit more until you get that consistent 4-6 weeks in.

Timing some of the added calories around the workout might be especially helpful, if you're feeling worse during the workout. (Loosely, carbs before workout, protein after might make sense, though details are less important than just getting enough fuel to lose weight but stay strong and healthy at the same time.)

For sure, if you're trying to lose more than 0.5-1% of current weight per week, I'd dial it back (eat more). The 1% is more appropriate for someone who's so overweight that their bodyweight creates health risk in itself, and IMO even then they might also want to be under close medical supervision for deficiencies or complications. Otherwise, there's no penalty for slower weight loss, except that it requires more patience. On the bonus side, slower loss can help us establish the habits we'll need to stay at a healthy weight permanently.

Just my opinions from my experience, though - I'm not a dietitian or personal trainer.

Best wishes!

Retroguy2000

It's too early to say. I always say ignore the first week because of water weight change. Your delta weight change after that informs you better.

As for whether or not to increase your protein, we couldn't possibly know without knowing your target weight and current protein.

Although if you're feeling very weak already, that may be a sign you're going too fast. You should time some carbs, even something as simple as a banana, and maybe a coffee, an hour before working out to help with energy.

poodle_whisper

if you have started eating low carb...you may be going thru a bit of keto flu. it takes a couple weeks to get to the other side of that 'flu'. regardless...its sounds possible you've dumped out a bunch of water and may be having an electrolyte imbalance. try eating a dill pickle or something really salty...or a few sips of pickle juice to see if that changes anything about how you feel.