Am I doing this right?!?!

Melistia
Melistia Posts: 16 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
After reading some of the posts about weight loss and how fast to lose it concerns me. I am 5'7 and currently weigh 247. I started Saturday with a low calorie diet and lost 4 pounds by weigh in Monday morning! I am staying loaded with fruits and veggie and eating a fiber bar everyday. That's excluding my meals. I've done this diet before and lost weight drastically! I feel like I'm going about this the right way but I've saw so much about losing fast will lead to health conditions:( Any advice would help. Thanks!

Replies

  • ashleyjohnstonn1
    ashleyjohnstonn1 Posts: 359 Member
    The more overweight you are, the faster you are going to lose in a shorter amount of time. Just make sure you're logging everything you eat and you're not under calories! As long as you're doing that you should be fine :)
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Not trying to be mean, but if you did it once, why do you need to do it again? Wouldn't making small lifestyle changes be a better approach.

    Depending on how low calorie your diet is, there is a point where yes it can become very unhealthy. There is a point where it becomes to low to meet your bodies Macro and Micro nutrient needs. That of course will have bad health site affects later down the road. Extreme calorie cuts should be done under the supervision of a doctor, so they can make sure your health isn't suffering.
  • nedtoloseme
    nedtoloseme Posts: 98 Member
    You're doing fine. Remember that the first few pounds are water weight because you're consuming less sodium (or pre-packaged foods). You may do this for the next few weeks. After that you will get down to the real weight and began losing at maybe one pound per week. I can't read your diary so I'm not sure how many calories you're taking in every day - but make sure it's not below 1200. This is not a race. I can tell you from past experience that I have done diets and lost a lot of weight quickly, but because I did not change my eating habits or starved myself the weight came back, plus some. Just remember to be consistent - it will happen. This is not a race. I was 249 in January of 2013 and am down to 170. You can do it!
  • Melistia
    Melistia Posts: 16 Member
    Trust me, I am so mad at myself for gaining weight back! I went through a bad break up after 16 years of commitment and then was in a really bad car accident that really hindered a lot of things. My worst mistake was going back to mt dew:( ugh! That is the change your talking about! Stress got the best of me and I'm tired of making excuses! Although I still suffer from the car accident that will keep me from doing a lot of exercises I'm still motivated! I did consult with my doctor the first time but that's been years ago! My calorie intake here says 1300 but I'm doing 1200! Everywhere I read says 1200 is OK of wanting to lose weight! Other than my injuries from the car accident I'm a really healthy person! I'm done with dew this time and I mean it! My first long term lifestyle change:-)
  • Melistia
    Melistia Posts: 16 Member
    I was on the site before but just rejoined today! Congrats on your loss! My goal weight is 175! That's about 10 pounds more than my ideal weight! Thank you all for the great replies!!!
  • SezxyStef
    SezxyStef Posts: 15,267 Member
    Losing too fast usually is an indication you are losing muscle and fat...and that your calories are too low.

    You are not obese....you have 71lbs to lose which should indicate about 1.5lbs a week loss....if you have a bigger weight loss goal you should change that.

    Make sure you get in enough protien to help with keeping feeling fuller longer and if you chose to lift weights or do some sort of resistence training it will help repair those muscles.

    If you want this to be a solid change then choose a reasonable weight loss goal and stay in a reasonable deficet...don't punish yourself short term for being over weight.

    The goal here should be to eat the max number of calories and still lose weight not the least amount. I am 5 ft 7 as well and at 1200 calories (yes I did it one day) I was weak, lethargic and my workouts suffered for 2 days...it wasn't pretty.

    There is no reason you can't have mountain dew...just fit it in. If you take a look at my diary you see i eat fruit loops, cheese popcorn, chocolate every day in some form, I drink cream and sugar in my coffee, eat bacon, burgers etc..and still lose weight.
  • Aaron_K123
    Aaron_K123 Posts: 7,122 Member
    I started Saturday with a low calorie diet and lost 4 pounds by weigh in Monday morning!

    That is definitely a loss of water weight. Quite possible that in changing your diet you went from a high sodium intake to a low sodium intake. Small changes in sodium intake can drastically effect water retention and change your weight by a lot over a short period of time. This is one of the reasons its pretty much impossible to accurately track your progress on short timescales (days, weeks) using only a scale.

    If your fear is that you are losing weight at an alarming and unhealthy rate then this isn't really an indicator of that as its almost certainly just water. That said that doesn't mean your diet is healthy just that 4 pound weight loss in 2 days is not due to drastic fat loss.

    What I would do if I were you is plug in what you think you were eating most days before your diet started into MFP and see how much sodium that is. Then compare it to your sodium intake on your diet. I'm betting that your sodium levels dropped substantially which would explain the quick shedding of 4 pounds.
  • shadow2soul
    shadow2soul Posts: 7,692 Member
    Trust me, I am so mad at myself for gaining weight back! I went through a bad break up after 16 years of commitment and then was in a really bad car accident that really hindered a lot of things. My worst mistake was going back to mt dew:( ugh! That is the change your talking about! Stress got the best of me and I'm tired of making excuses! Although I still suffer from the car accident that will keep me from doing a lot of exercises I'm still motivated! I did consult with my doctor the first time but that's been years ago! My calorie intake here says 1300 but I'm doing 1200! Everywhere I read says 1200 is OK of wanting to lose weight! Other than my injuries from the car accident I'm a really healthy person! I'm done with dew this time and I mean it! My first long term lifestyle change:-)

    1200 is fine as long as you feel fine eating that amount. The serious health issues come from eating well under that, so your good. :D

    Reasons to increase calorie intake:
    - you find yourself binging a lot (can be a sign of not eating enough/ or limiting your foods to much)
    - you start having trouble completing workouts
    - you become hangry

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