One week in lost 3 pounds already

Dewymorning

I set up all my goals for losing 1/2 a pound a week, so I am actually surprised I have lost so much in the first week.

Is it normal to lose more the first week?

Or is this a sign I need to up my calorie allowance a little bit.

I am currently on 1600 calories a day, but usually come in just under it on days I don't go to the gym, and a bit lower on days I do go to the gym.

The only times before in my life I have lost so much weight in one week, they have been abnormal circumstances, I have been sick, travelling overseas or just fell in love. And I always just put the weight straight back on. That better not happen this time.

I am 24 years old and I have been stuggling with my weight for the last five years, but the number on the scale just kept creeping up, and I never really knew what I was doing wrong. I would exercise, but that only ever seemed to stop me putting on more weight.

I don't believe in crash dieting and things, and I have always assumed my diet was pretty healthy, so I never quite understood what was wrong. I assumed it was my snacking, and I think it partly was, so I would try to put strict rules on myself to not eat anything like that, and it never worked.

But since using this calorie counter this last week I have learnt SO much! And sen so many ways I was doing things wrong.

Quick example, after work one day I decided I was too tired to cook and I would buy a pre-made meal. I checked my calorie counter to get an idea how many calories I should be looking at. Got to the store, looked at a meal I often buy to discover it had over 1000 calories in it, which was much more than the calories I had left for the day.
So instead of buying that meal I kept looking around, found one that used about 3/4 of my left over calories, went home heated that, cooked a whole lot of veges, had a small amount of yoghurt, and I was still under my calorie intake for the day.

I don't even feel like I am on a diet or anything, I am just making more informed choices about my food.

And also, this gives me huge motivation to exercise more regularly, because then I am allowed to eat more.

I guess that is the other thing I love, I can 'reward' myself for exercise, and yet know I am not eating more calories than I burnt off during the exercise.

Anyway, overall I am so happy with this, it is the most positive goal reinforcing tool I have found for my weight lose so far.
There are no restrictions, just more awareness.