Am I losing weight too fast?

bcdg24

I started tracking my food and exercise with MFP on March 28th of this year (3 weeks and 2 days ago). I set my weight loss goals for 1.5 pounds per week, with a sedentary lifestyle (i have a desk job, and previous to joining MFP didn't exercise regularly), for a total weight loss of 30 pounds. MFP has calculated that without exercise i should be eating only 1200 calories per day. I have made a point to eat my exercise calories and often go over my calorie count for the day or am barely within, but instead of only losing 1.5 pounds per week, i'm losing an average of 4.5 pounds per week, and now i've lost over 12 pounds in 3 weeks.

Am I losing weight too fast? I'm worried that MFP's calculation is just not enough calories for me to eat. I don't want to shoot myself in the foot by not eating enough.

Or, if it ain't broke don't fix it?

BigCountry00

Probably not a helpful response from me, but do you mean you started on March 28th, as April 28th is next week? LOL

bcdg24

haha, yes! i'm going to edit...

liftingbro

Unless you are short, that sounds like too fast to me. You only started at 175, so to lose 4-5 pounds per week is a lot for that weight. However, you're only 3 weeks in and people tend to dump a lot of water weight in the beginning so it can skew your true fat loss average. I would say if you keep losing 4-5 pounds per week over the next 2-3 weeks then you may want to take in 1400 calories per day instead of 1200.

JDMPWR

Trust me it will slow down. If you stayed at losing that rate you would be a genetic specimen. My first month I lost 24lbs but do keep in mind that you should be a little bit higher then 1200 cals per day IMO and I would like to know what it's telling you for protein, carb and fat requirements for the day.

If it is telling you to eat more carbs then protein I recommend changing that asap cause all that will promote is becoming a skinny fat person aka thinner but no muscle tone or substaining or creating of muscle.

bcdg24

i'm 5'6" ... when you said "short" were you referring to height?

bcdg24

Okay, as long as this is normal, then i can stay happy. But losing 24 pounds would make me super happy, since i only wanted to lose 30 to begin with!

CARNAT22

Considering you wanted to lose 30lbs in total (as opposed to say 100lbs) - I do think 12lbs in 3 weeks is a very considerable and pretty hefty amount to have lost?

I am not sure what to advise really?

Are you feeling OK? You're not too tired / lacking in energy are you?

How often are you working out?

12lbs in less than a month seems a little extreme to me, so I would def look into it? Maybe even consult a Dr?

casey12105

Most likely it's a lot of water weight, I know personally whenever I start a weight loss routine I drop a ton at first and then it slows down quite a bit because I up my water intake and then of course lose a lot of water during exercising.

katie9730

I've lost weight quickly before, and ended up gaining it back very fast. I've read that 1200 is the minimum amount of calories you shout eat. Maybe you should try going for 1500 cal.

vcatmb44

as long as ur losing weight and still eating i say screw it ias long as ur losing weight right? I dnt even eat 1200 a day somedays i only eat 500 and ive been losing so watever works for you

UnoDiamante

You might be losing alot of water and muscle weight as opposed to just fat..you want to try to make sure you get in at least 30 minutes of exercise 5 times/week because your body cannot tell the difference between INACTIVE muscle and fat (so it will take whichever) but it can tell the difference between ACTIVE muscle and fat so it will choose the fat. That might really help to make sure you are losing FAT as opposed to MUSCLE.

Like the previous post said, if you keep losing that amount of weight, you can also change your calorie goal manually instead of letting MFP choose.

Good luck!

liftingbro

i'm 5'6" ... when you said "short" were you referring to height?

5'6" is average for a female, I assume you are female.

I think you are losing too fast, but like I said it's only 3 weeks in so it will probably level off some over the next few weeks.

aflane

You always lose more in the first month. I wouldn't be concerned unless it continues well into month 2. Example, my first month, I ended up losing about 30 lbs... obviously much more than my planned 2.5 lbs per week (I have a lot more than you to lose though). Now I've evened out, and average 3 lbs a week.

Tulip1924

Are you hungry? Do you feel ok? If you are still hungry then you need to eat a little bit more. You shouldn't be hungry. When we are hungry that is our body's way of saying we need to eat more. Or if you aren't feeling well then you should eat more. Are you matching your exercise up correctly? It may be giving you too few calories burned, so in reality you may need to eat more.

Just some thoughts. Like said before, some people lose a lot in the beginning. If it continues though then I would increase the calorie intake in increments and see how you do. You really shouldn't lose more than 2.0 pds. per week.

jcott28

Give it another couple weeks, but in general, that's fast. However, as has been pointed out, you'll lose more now than later. So don't be discouraged when all of a sudden you're losing 1.5/week. But if you continue to lose at this rate after another 2-3 weeks, then you might need to adjust. Talk to your doctor if you're concerned. Losing at that rate is something you'll want to make sure your doc knows about and can give advice about.

MissJennaBelle

My god I am jealous lol. In my first month I didn't lose anything near that amount :laugh: It's took me since July 2010 to shift 29lbs :grumble: Seriously though, as long as you're not starving yourself or doing anything extreme then yeah I think that's fine... it will probably slow down soon good luck to you, your success is something to be proud of.

KCB1978

I hope I am just as successful as you have been in your first few weeks lol

It will slow down though xx