Losing Weight Too Fast?!?

overweightmike

I started to try to lose fat about 10 days ago. I am not following any diet pills, Atkins, weight watchers, or any of those things. I am just kind of doing my own thing.

I am exercising ~6 times per week - 5x/week I do weight training, 5x/week I do cardio (treadmill running for anywhere between 1.25-3.0 miles).

I am eating very healthy foods, roughly 1400 calories per day and it has kept me full - for breakfast I have 1/2 cup yogurt and 1 cup of skim milk with 1 scoop isolate whey protein. For lunch I have either a can of tuna with mustard or 6oz greek yogurt along with a fruit and sometimes a 1oz bag of peanuts. For dinner I have been having chicken breast, cottage cheese, salad, applesauce, 95/5 ground beef tacos (with multigrain cakes instead of wraps), veggies, etc.

After workout/before bed, I have been having 1 cup of milk with 1 scoop isolate whey protein again.

The whey I think has really helped me stay full (I am new to using whey) but this plan has kept me around 1400-1600 calories per day minus whatever I burn running for my net calorie intake.

So far, after 9 days, I have lost 8 pounds. This seems kind of impossible to me. So I am wondering, am I just losing a lot of fluid weight? I have heard that happens with some very-low-carb diets but I am not doing that. Sure I am probably not getting as much carbs as I used to and I am getting a LOT of protein, but I am wondering if I am really burning fat or not.

I did have to use a hole in my belt that I haven't used in a while so I believe my waist is shrinking but can I really be losing weight this fast with a combination of eating healthy, weight training, and cardio?

Or am I destined to hit a wall soon? Am I missing something? I am not starving myself but I am losing weight at a very fast pace and, while I am excited at that, I am also nervous that I am just losing fluid/water weight? So I guess my question is: is it possible that I have actually been losing real fat weight this quickly? Or is it some combination with water weight loss too?

erickirb

As a guy your net calories should not go below 1500. So if you burn 400 cals during a workout the lowest you should eat is 1900 (1500+400). the 1200 min on MFP is the min intended for women. having too large of a deficit will cause you body to burn lean muscle, not just the fat you are looking at losing.

a lot of the initial loss will be water weight as it should take 3500 cal deficit to lose 1 lbs.

Here is a guide for setting appropriate weekly weight loss goals:
If you have 75+ lbs to lose 2 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 40-75 lbs to lose 1.5 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 25-40 lbs to lose 1 lbs/week is ideal,
If you have 15 -25 lbs to lose 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/week is ideal, and
If you have less than 15 lbs to lose 0.5 lbs/week is ideal.

rainbowbow

I lost about 6-7 pounds in my first week of changing my eating habits. I think it was probably water weight. After the first 2 weeks or so it slowed down to a steady 1.5-2 pounds per week.

Espressocycle

Everybody loses a big pile of weight in the first week. It's all water, and it's the same weight you will put back on overnight when you go over maintenance or eat a lot of salty foods.