afraid im losing weight too fast???

seano4121

Ok I've been actively dieting for 2 weeks now, before i started I would eat pizza and nothing but fast food or fried foods, i would drink close to a case a beer a day, i was a huge couch potato except for work, drank nothing but soda, and every night had a very large bowl of ice cream. I now follow a vegan diet except i do eat fish once a week, i hit the gym for two hours a day, drink lots of water. i've lost 19 lbs in 2 weeks, and im happy for the results but everyone tells me thats not healthy. I feel its because i went from about 3,000 cal a day to under 1600 cal a day. But any suggestions or advice, am i doing something wrong?

TavistockToad

i dont think you're doing anything wrong, its the complete change in lifestyle that has lead to the drastic weight loss.

You will probably find it will tail off to a couple of pounds a week soon anyway, so i would just say, eat your exercise cals (or at least half of them) and have a days rest once a week.

Cngratulations on making such an amazing change to your life, long may it continue!!

kmeekhof

as long as you FEEL okay, you should be fine. Since you are easting healthier it was probably a lot of water weight.
It will eventually slow down

poseyj88

Just make sure you're eating enough.It can be healthy. 1600 seems extremely low for a guy like yourself. Also, make sure if you're exercising to eat a bit more making sure your NET is what MFP suggests (aka your net is supposed to be 1600 and you're at the gym 2 hours, you're probably burning about 800 calories... so you really need to eat 2400 cals for the day to maintain your net).

My only other piece of advice would be to not limit yourself 100%. It sounds like you're on a very strict diet and dramatic change from 2 weeks ago. More important than taking the weight off in the first place is keeping it off. Sometimes when we change things to drastically, it's really hard to sustain that lifestyle in the long run, which is what we want!

JulieBoBoo

There's a good chance, given your previous diet, that a good part of what you lost was water weight (this does not diminish the loss because water weight or not, it was putting undo pressure on your joints and causing you health problems nonetheless). Water weight does tend to come on and off rather quickly. You are also male which tends to result in faster initial weight losses given your higher muscle mass and testosterone. Give it a month or two and your body should settle down to a less drastic weekly loss. If you're still losing that much two months from now then consult a physician to be sure that you're not endangering yourself.

I do find 1600 calories a day rather low for a male so maybe double check you MFP settings to be sure that you've plugged everything in correctly.

Also, please be sure to eat back at least some (preferably most) of your exercise calories. Your body needs the fuel (especially protein) to build muscles and keep your metabolism running correctly. When we lose weight we lose both fat and muscle. Replacing that muscle is essential to long term success and health and can be more easily achieved if you're hitting optimum protein levels.


Good luck!

cem789

i wouldnt worry. your bad diet before will have caused you to retain a lot of water especially if you were already overweight. im only about 118 and i can drop 8 pounds in two weeks. it will level off to 1-3 pounds a week

BeautyFromPain

it was most likely just water weight.
when people change their diets drastically, you may lose A LOT in the first month or so and then slow down

Paulette56

Everyone loses more than normal in the first couple of weeks, but that is a lot. Following a vegan diet, you are going to have to make SURE that you are getting plenty of protein. If not, some of that weight loss may be muscle and you sure don't want to do that. Muscle burns calories, so end the end, if you lose it you will eventually stop losing weight and be totally unhealthy.

psychmz3

Water weight. It wasn't 19 lbs. of fat. Maybe 2-3 lbs. of fat. Once you get that out of your system, you'll only see 2 lbs./week lost. I lost 17lbs. in 9 days. Keep doing what you are doing and visit the Losing fat section of bodybuilding.com

Mirabilis

I know it's a pain sometimes, but if you're really not sure, check with your doctor. MFP will give you a healthy goal imho if you let it set your numbers for you.

What you're trying to do is manage a consistent lifestyle, so are you really going to be in the gym 2 hours every day in a year or are you overdoing it now and heading to burnout?

That big bowl of icecream could become a small bowl of low fat frozen yogurt so you don't lose all your treats, and the chips could become popcorn (non-greasy variety).

Right now, you should be doing a somewhat more extreme version of what you'll be doing at maintenance. It depends on your weight when you start and what weight you want to be when you're done, because you have to maintain that. If you're quite heavy to start, it's normal to have a huge loss off the bat, but that does taper off because you've lost excess water and have to lose the fat after that.

Skinnyjosie

The vegan Diet is the best thing you can do, It will make you lean and healthy I think is awesome!!! congrats

Cdcaldwe

Trust me it will slow down. In the beginning I did the same thing.

Tonnina

It will slow, you've made a HUGE change, not only going from 3,000 calories to 1,600 but also becoming vegan! What a commitment! As long as you feel fine and not dizzy or light headed you should be okay. Make sure you are taking a multi vitamin to get all your nutrients. Great job on the water intake too! We can forget how much our body NEEDS water sometimes!

imsmellie

I think you're doing great!!

If you actually went from a beer and fast food diet to one that is incredibly clean, most of the weight you have lost is due to water accumulation. Your body was in constant dehydration mode because you were eating a high fat, high salt, low water diet. Your body is just welcoming you with arms outstretched!

The first 5-15 pounds should melt off in the first couple of weeks just because you are drinking more water. Osmosis is pretty cool isn't it?

I personally would be careful about burning out though. You have to think about the long term, unless you want all 17 pounds and probably more to come right back and bite you in the tuchass. There are a lot of people that can make a drastic change and stick to it; but, there are even more who fall off the wagon within the first couple of months because the diet they put themselves on was too stringent.
If this is a lifestyle change rather than a quick fix diet, then you should slow down and go into a marathon mode, not a sprint.

The challenge should be how long you can keep the weight off.... not how much you lose.

Try to stick around 1-2 pounds a week for loss. You may need to eat more calories in the coming weeks or eat back all the exercise calories you are logging. Trial and error.
I'm 5'1'' and eat the same amount.. so, keep that in mind.

Keep up the good work!
and keep drinking that water!!!

webberhouse

I don't think you are doing anything wrong. You made deastic life style changes. You will probably see it slow down as your body adjusts. Kepp up the great work!

jjs22

Others have said it, but lets see if one more version adds anything...

Clearly your "before" situation was a disaster ! You made a decision to change, and that is awesome !

The biggest thing to pay attention to is not the weight, but the sustainability of your new lifestyle. Try to really think of it in those terms. "Can I (realistically) continue to live this lifestyle for years and years to come without feeling like it is constantly demanding willpower ?" Are you craving a huge greasy pizza and forcing yourself to eat brown rice and tofu instead ? If you do feel like you've found something you can be content with for the long term, that's wonderful.

The ultimate diet (and maybe the only successful diet there is) is when you are content and fulfilled with your choice of food, the amount of food you eat, the amount of exercise you get, and are still able to lose excess pounds and/or maintain your target weight.

Sorry if this sounds preachy. I think the reason I felt like writing this (and a few others mentioned similar concerns) is that the change you describe sounds so drastic.

For me, the key to turning my old way of eating/living into a healthier lifestyle has been realizing that I don't *have* to make any painful sacrifices. I love fat, and learned (to my surprise !) that I can still eat a reasonable amount of fat and be healthy. I had no idea how much "empty carbs" were contributing to my weight, so I was able to cut way back on bread, pasta, soda, and fruit juice pretty easily. And even though I was really, really out of shape, I don't like the "no pain, no gain" approach to exercise. So I've taken a very modest approach : I'm taking brisk walks nearly every day and really enjoying it.

The point is, before I started this, I thought I *had* to do something drastic in order to lose weight, so I avoided it. Now that I've started, I've discovered that I can make a few adjustments, not force myself to do anything I don't like, and the weight is coming off "on its own." If this required willpower, I would be so out of here !

Anyway, good luck to you and congratulation on your progress !

SueInAz

Watch and see if your rate of loss slows down. If not, I might suggest that you intake more calories to force it to. The reason I caution for this is that very rapid weight loss will more than likely lead to an excess of skin when you lose a lot of weight. Losing slowly, and exercising while you do, will help to keep your skin toned and tighter.

jenny95662

when you go from such a drastic change you always lose a lot at first. It will end up evening out later. When i first started to diet back when i was 21 i lost 10 pounds the first week and then 8 the next then after that i started losing a lot less and it ended up averaging 1 to 2 pounds a week, As long as you feel ok you are fine, just dont start off strong and burn out. GREAT loss by the way!!

phlumpet

This is more a comment about diet vs. the rapid initial weight loss and net calorie goal, which other posters have made great comments on. I am a vegan, and I get plenty of protein with various sources, I can go into more detail if you like. I just saw a book the other day by ironman triathlete Brendan Brazier called Thrive - he is a vegan athlete and has written in detail about the vegan diet and its benefits for athletes. Also, I recently was inspired by this post: http://www.mikemahler.com/articles/macdanzig.html by MMA fighter Mac Danzig, also a vegan, regarding his diet for training purposes. I'm not a pro athlete, but I still found his diet strategies helpful in being a healthier vegan! Congrats on your new lifestyle, by the way.

phlumpet

Also, if you need any yummy vegan recipes, check out my favorite blog: www.theppk.com

RangerSteve

250+ pound guy eating 1600 calories a day? Yeah, good luck with that.

megz4987

Seems to me you're eating too little. For now, I'm sure most of the weight is water weight, as many people have already said.
But I think you should be eating waaay more, like 2,500/day or more depending how active you are. Good luck!

A good way to gauge is this, and I got this from a book written by doctors so i must have some truth to it:
determine your activity level-
20-very active male
15-moderately active male or very active woman
13-inactive male, moderately active women, and people over 55
10-inactive women, repeat dieters, and seriously overweight people

multiply your target weight by whichever Activity factor you are and that will be your calories needed each day.

mamax5

Listen to the people here....now I want to warn you, my brother went on a vegan diet and he got pretty sick....he looked horrible and felt horrible. Make sure you get enough protein! I cannot stress it enough!! He started eating meat again and started feeling better. I don't know if it was the actual meat or protein that helped him, but don't let it make you sick! If extra veggie protein doesn't help then try red meat....just keep it in mind!!! Vegan isn't for everyone. Congrats on the weightloss, men loose faster than women!