Losing TOO fast?

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  • Dara80
    Dara80 Posts: 19 Member
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    There are a few things to consider in your case. For starters, you just had a little one. When I had my oldest son I walked out of the hospital weighing 260 pounds. 3 months later I weighed 180 and that was with no dieting or exercising whatsoever. Just breastfeeding and being me. I did the same thing with my other two children although I went down to my prepregnancy weight both times. 180 for my daughter and 230 with my youngest son who is 14 months old now. I'm not an expert at this but it seems like giving birth changes our chemistry for a while and could be the reason you're dropping the weight rapidly. Another thing to consider is you are over 300 pounds. Once again, not an expert on this but I've noticed that bigger people tend to lose the weight faster. On The Biggest Loser, the folks that are bigger tend to pull the larger numbers. As they get smaller, so does their weight loss. This season, that guy Mike is dropping child sized weight each week. Whereas Sam had large numbers until he got near his goal weight and then slowed down to a crawl. Once you get down a bit, you might find that your losses will slow down a little too. One of the gals on my What to Expect board has lost 40 pounds in 6 weeks whereas the rest of us are plugging away at 10 pounds lost. Of course, she's been really working hard at it too so I have no doubt that is where at least 80% of her success lies.
  • twilight1542
    twilight1542 Posts: 403
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    First of all, welcome to MFP and congratulations on making the decision to do something good for yourself. I am proof that absolutely anyone can lose weight if they are just willing to make the commitment to eating healthy and being active. I started here at 235 lbs. After 1 month lost 15lbs. After 1.5 months 26lbs. After the first 3 months I leveled out to an average of 2lbs per week. It is normal because a lot of water weight and your body simply reacting to a big change in diet and exercise. So don't stress too much about that because it will even out over time.

    As for your calories per day, I have had the best success staying as close to MFP's recommendations as possible. I do know of people who lost eating slightly less and I also know people who found that they lost most consistently by actually eating more than MFP recommends (e.g. doing 1500 base calories instead of 1200). Everyone's different so you just have to find what works the best for you. But I do have one suggestion diet wise. There are plenty of ways to bulk up on calories without having to eat a lot of food. Instead of having a veggie only salad add in grilled chicken or beans (kidney and garbanzo are awesome)--that will easily add a couple hundred calories. For a snack, have a handful of unsalted almonds--that's almost 200 calories and is full of healthy fat and protein. You could also eat a protein bar instead of a piece of fruit. You just have to get creative and find foods that are appealing to you that are highly caloric. If you're going for low-fat everything, try getting the full fat version. Most of all, listen to your body. Don't eat just for the sake of eating, but don't deprive yourself simply because you feel like that's the only way to lose weight. The goal here is not to "diet" but to change your "lifestyle". You can definitely do this. There are also lots of "sticky threads"--threads that always appear at the top of certain forums--that contain fantastic information on everything from exercise suggestions, to nutrition, to how to beat the dreaded plateau, to "starvation mode". When you have some time, take a peek at them because they've been incredibly helpful to me in this journey : ) Most of all, GOOD LUCK!
  • kwardklinck
    kwardklinck Posts: 1,601
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    It's normal to lose a lot the first week. If you continue losing a pound a day, you might need to add back in a few calories per day. I find it easier to maintain my weight loss if I don't lose more than 2 pounds a week.

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