Unexpected quick weight loss

lanniemcvern

I've been using MFP for 2-3 months and have had great success averaging a 1 lb/week loss. I'm really happy with that. Two weeks ago I did not do well logging my food or exercising, and as a result gained a pound. Now here's the wierd part. To try to reach my Thanksgiving goal I decresed my calories to 1200, something I have done before, and in the past 6 days I have lost 4 pounds. My excercise and my eating habits have not changed significantly. I feel like I should be thrilled! But it is not normal for me to be losing this quickly and I'm not really understanding this loss. Yesterday I changed my settings back to losing 1 lb. per week, but i still woke up .5 lbs less this morning. What do you think is going on?

healthyliving_girl

could be hormones, water retention, salt intake? For weeks, I averaged the same weight up and down a little....and then this morning, it appears I lost over 3 lbs in a day. Um...ok. 0_o

I can't really count on the scale, I don't think. HAHA.

april_beth

hey, if youre being strict with your eating and drinking water like youre supposed to then maybe youre flushing your system out and i say stand strong with your regimine and log that loss!!

OregonCountryGirl

Maybe it is water weight??? I find that when this happens to me I have decreased the amount of salt intake and most of the weight was retained water!! Great Job !

MB_Positif

I don't see it as a big deal, I had almost a 4 pound loss over the past week and a half, so just log it and move on. Should you continue losing at a high rate, then recalculate your goals and/or talk to your doctor about potential medical conditions that can cause you to lose weight like that.

unmitigatedbadassery

I think your body is used to a certain amount of calories and dropping them drastically is going to cause rapid loss. If you have a lot to lose it's not going to be a big deal but if you are getting close to a healthy weight/working out hard it will eventually cause a problem in the form of a lack of fuel.

As for why you still lost .5lb even though you changed your goal: your body doesn't know what you set your goals at. It doesn't care. All it knows is what you teach it. You will probably see a leveling of the loss after a week or so at the original calorie goals.

There may be other things at play here but that's what I'm guessing.

KCharron20

Is it possible that you got some extra rest? I have found that if I do I tend to have a drop.

lanniemcvern

Wow! Such quick responses everone! Thank you very much. I really do appreciate the input.

KCharrono20--I have had about 8 hours of sleep every day this week. That is highly unusual for me. Maybe that's it! I'd better keep up these good sleep habits. My body seems to like it.

kmbrooks15

Mine goes in cycles. I'll lose nothing for 10 days to 2 weeks, then suddenly I'm dropping .4 pounds every day for a few days. I wouldn't be alarmed unless it continues to be that rapid. I think when we talk about losing a pound a week, I think that's more of an AVERAGE. You'll hit plateaus where you lose nothing, then you change something up to kick your body into gear, and you lose a good bit. It seems to be cyclical (for me anyway).

I'd just keep at it, but don't go too low with your calories or you might stall your weight loss. Maybe stay at your 1200 for a few days, then up it again. Keep your body guessing all the time!

servilia

Weight loss is not linear - I can be the same for a week and then lose 2 lbs in one day. Look up fat woosh.
Also since you more recently cut your intake again, some of that loss would be loss of water weight since you presumably cut carbs down (in proportion to cal cut down) so you've been depleting glycogen. Each gram of stored glycogen requires 3-4 grams of water to be stored with it, so when you let go of these stores, you let go of the extra water too.