Cautionary tale - don't lose weight too fast!

hazeljordan1974

I think sometimes we're at such a race to get to goal we forget about everything and just focus on numbers - number on the scale, number of calories, grams of fat, sugar etc. I managed to lose a lot of weight by eating a significant amounts of rubbish (chocolate, sweets, diet fizzy drinks etc) and exercising excessively - I was walking about 14 miles a day 4 or 5 days a week or running 6 - 8 miles. I ate back few of my exercise calories as I was in a race to the finish.

I did succeed - my current weight loss is 68lbs and I started in April (getting to goal in October). But there was a price to pay - my hair fell out and is in such bad shape I couldn't get a perm (and my hair is my thing). I only have about 2 or 3 toenails - a lot fell off with running, but some just fell off. My skin which has always been good is drier than it should be and I have flaky skin on my eye lids (not attractive). I had in between bleeding that meant I had to constantly "be prepared". I felt faint often and one morning I fainted at the top of my stairs and ended up with cactus spikes in my arm (knocking the cactus off). Although I didn't feel tired I didn't feel great. I have saggy skin in places which will never "bounce back". My sleep started getting affected as well - tired insomnia!

So now I am at goal - would I have lost weight at an average of 3lbs per week if I knew all this? No I wouldn't, because now I need to change my diet totally to nourish my poor body and get it back to health...

Don't be in such a hurry - it's a marathon and not a sprint....

bcattoes

Why would you continue that for 6 months?

ladynocturne

Thank you for posting this.

I have seen many members here who think they "feel fine" until they have a major health crisis and realize the amount of damage they were doing to themselves, sometimes too late. It is never okay to eat very few calories and then exercise off even more. It's a real disease called exercise bulimia and many people die from it.

Hopefully your example will help at least some people prevent this from happening to them. It's sad but there are going to be some people who read your post and think "it would still be worth it if I could lose that much weight"

It's a fine line between determination/pushing yourself and refusing to listen to your body and pushing too hard.

MyJourney1960

when was the last time you had a check up at the doctor? have you had your thyroid tested? a lot of what you are posting (hair loss, dizziness when climbing stairs, super dry skin) could be a sign of something else.

ETA: not that you are wrong in saying that we should take it slow and smart

jpolinisse

I think sometimes we're at such a race to get to goal we forget about everything and just focus on numbers - number on the scale, number of calories, grams of fat, sugar etc. I managed to lose a lot of weight by eating a significant amounts of rubbish (chocolate, sweets, diet fizzy drinks etc) and exercising excessively - I was walking about 14 miles a day 4 or 5 days a week or running 6 - 8 miles. I ate back few of my exercise calories as I was in a race to the finish.

I did succeed - my current weight loss is 68lbs and I started in April (getting to goal in October). But there was a price to pay - my hair fell out and is in such bad shape I couldn't get a perm (and my hair is my thing). I only have about 2 or 3 toenails - a lot fell off with running, but some just fell off. My skin which has always been good is drier than it should be and I have flaky skin on my eye lids (not attractive). I had in between bleeding that meant I had to constantly "be prepared". I felt faint often and one morning I fainted at the top of my stairs and ended up with cactus spikes in my arm (knocking the cactus off). Although I didn't feel tired I didn't feel great. I have saggy skin in places which will never "bounce back". My sleep started getting affected as well - tired insomnia!

So now I am at goal - would I have lost weight at an average of 3lbs per week if I knew all this? No I wouldn't, because now I need to change my diet totally to nourish my poor body and get it back to health...

Don't be in such a hurry - it's a marathon and not a sprint....

I think it is brave of you to admit that you went about weight loss the wrong way, by not paying attention to nutrition and running too large a deficit. Thank you for sharing, and I wish you luck in getting healthier.

BenjaminMFP88

I think sometimes we're at such a race to get to goal we forget about everything and just focus on numbers - number on the scale, number of calories, grams of fat, sugar etc. I managed to lose a lot of weight by eating a significant amounts of rubbish (chocolate, sweets, diet fizzy drinks etc) and exercising excessively - I was walking about 14 miles a day 4 or 5 days a week or running 6 - 8 miles. I ate back few of my exercise calories as I was in a race to the finish.

I did succeed - my current weight loss is 68lbs and I started in April (getting to goal in October). But there was a price to pay - my hair fell out and is in such bad shape I couldn't get a perm (and my hair is my thing). I only have about 2 or 3 toenails - a lot fell off with running, but some just fell off. My skin which has always been good is drier than it should be and I have flaky skin on my eye lids (not attractive). I had in between bleeding that meant I had to constantly "be prepared". I felt faint often and one morning I fainted at the top of my stairs and ended up with cactus spikes in my arm (knocking the cactus off). Although I didn't feel tired I didn't feel great. I have saggy skin in places which will never "bounce back". My sleep started getting affected as well - tired insomnia!

So now I am at goal - would I have lost weight at an average of 3lbs per week if I knew all this? No I wouldn't, because now I need to change my diet totally to nourish my poor body and get it back to health...

Don't be in such a hurry - it's a marathon and not a sprint....

I hope everyone on here finds this post and reads it. Everyone is in such a dang hurry to lose instantly what took them years to gain. Healthy weightloss begins with moderate alterations...

ninerbuff

Seeing a goal get closer and closer sometimes trumps what one is doing to attain it. Yes, not the best way to lose weight. Good luck on regaining some health through better nutrition.

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

broox80

I have a friend who has lost the same amount of weight I have but she lost hers in a few month where it took me a year. I am still working on losing more, but I PURPOSELY want to lose it slow. I have crash dieted a million times before and I always gain it right back. I am finally doing it the right way, but it is taking longer. I dont care!! I feel better losing it this way and I know it will stay off!! Great post!! I think people just want to lose it fast, and dont think about adverse effects to their health.

UpToTheChallenge

Congratulations to you for realizing this. You should be losing weight for your health not vanity. If you are worried about your health you should go about it the healthy way - eat well and exercise. Listen to your body.

Signs like that is your bodies way of telling you something is NOT right.

I hope you find a healthy way of getting healthy again. It may require you to put some of your weight back on, but remind yourself exactly what you said at the end of your post - it's a marathon, not a sprint.

Rainyday816

Wow, thank you so much for posting this! So many people go on this site and think they can start doing the "twinkie" diet and they'll lose weight. I'm amazed you kept it up for so long - even if I save calories for a sugary treat, it just makes me hungrier later!

VeroJuly

A brave post, thank you for sharing! Take care of yourself and I hope you feel better soon xxx

firstsip

Why would you continue that for 6 months?

You are very often in the threads of people ridiculing the anti-1200 folks, and you're asking this question?

Her main focus was, most likely, on losing weight. That's why EDs start. That's why people make money selling incredibly dangerous weight loss routines, drugs, etc.

As evidenced by an entire culture surrounding weight loss, let alone on MFP, people will do borderline insane things to get to a "desired weight." People often even think they're fine UNTIL something like what OP experienced happens. "Huh, my nails constantly crack and bleed... but I have 5 more lbs!" or "Huh, I keep getting sick and having a hard time fighting off this stupid cold... guess it's more reason not to eat!"

OP, I really appreciate you sharing this. I've been down that road, too, and it took me years of recovery from chronic undereating as an anorexic. I wish you all the best as you work on nourishing your body.

And to the person who suggested getting thyroid levels checked... yeah, those things can all make you lose hair, have brittle nails, etc... but that's what you look at when everything else is in order. Diet/nutrition is the Occam's razor of your body--if it checks out, go to the doctor. If it's poor, then that's the easy reason for many health problems.

DitchingTheScale

Congrats on reaching your goal. Good luck to you making healthier changes. Thank you for sharing this. i sometimes feel it's a race.. to lose weight slowly and not fast. I will definitely take the slow approach now.

lsorci919

Glad you posted this. Very brave admitting you went about it wrong. I think a lot of people that do that, don't know what the side effects are. Happy to see someone being clear cut about the effects that form of weight loss has had on them. Most people that make this mistake don't know the seriousness of their diet until it's too late.
Good luck getting back to your healthy self!

oklagirl

Wow, Thank you for posting this. I really needed to hear that. I've been trying to lose to and so far I've lost 41 lbs and I sometimes I'm still not happy with what I've done up to this point but you are absolutely right I think. I need to be happy with the accomplishments I've made and what's yet to come but I can't just rush to get there. Takes alot of courage and insight to post this again thank you.

kowajenn

Thank you for the reminder. It's easy to be frustrated when the loss isn't happening as fast as you want it to, but we all need to remember to make healthy choices.

aelphabawest

I'm glad you're back on track for being healthy and thank you for sharing! Hopefully people also going down that route read this before they experience the same thing.

beachlover317

I had a friend on MFP losing at 2x the pace I was and eating about 2/3 the calories I was eating. She ended up with the same issues you are having. Hair loss, vitamin deficiencies and sagging skin.

I truly hope you are able to get back to good health. Best of luck to you & thanks for sharing your story. I only wish the people racing ahead with aggressive weight loss would read this.

AllonsYtotheTardis

Thank you for posting this OP - it was brave of you to share your experience.

Best of luck to you in improving your health!

teerae326

Thanks for sharing your experiences. So many people would benefit from reading this! I was trying to lose as much weight as possible right before going on vacation at the beginning of October and I kinda had to pay for it. I was eating as little as possible, exercising as much as I could... I was trying to go heavy lifting working off of only 300 calories or something. I was in a race to get to my lowest weight right before going and when I got back, I had to start over. I had gained back 5 pounds in a couple weeks because I was binging, due to my starving myself. It's a viscious cycle, one I am working towards breaking. Stick to what you know works and don't go nuts... it only hurts you in the end!

ArroganceInStep

I'm sorry you had to go through that, and hope you can use that low point to find a healthy balance for yourself. Good luck to you.