Rapid weight loss

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vapourized
vapourized Posts: 3
in Fitness and Exercise
Hi everyone,

I am new here :laugh:

About a month ago I started using MFP, I am 6ft 5, and I was 300lbs! Ive lost about 23 pounds since then, round about 5-6 pounds a week.

I have looked all over the internet but I cant seem to find a straight answer, I am worried my weight loss is too rapid, I have loads of motivation and I'm definitely going in the right direction, but it seems to be dropping off me. MFP only recommends 2 pounds a week, but with the food I am eating, combined with running (I run about 2.5 miles every other night), I'm rapidly losing weight.

I am about 277lbs now, I am aiming to get to about 190lbs. I am getting faster and faster with the runs (I can do the 2.5 miles in about 25 minutes now), but I am worried I am doing some kind of damage without realizing it which will catch up with me down the line.


Any advice anyone?


Thanks! Phil

Replies

  • Ta11asan
    Ta11asan Posts: 26 Member
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    Hi phil,

    I assume you just started your weight loss and if so my guess is youre shedding alot of water with your diet change. Its normal to lose quickly when you first start but it will slow down as you go.

    I would still look at your diet though and make sure youre eating enough calories so you lose in a healthy way.

    Tim
  • glocke12
    glocke12 Posts: 21
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    Not related to your topic, but you might want to think about being careful with running and being heavy...That is alot of stress to be putting your joints through IMO. I weigh 250 lbs, and have no plans on getting back into running until I drop to about 200 lbs...
  • msafunk
    msafunk Posts: 163 Member
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    First off, congratulations on your weight loss!

    I hope this comes off as sounding clinical, and not offensive...
    A lot of people who are morbidly overweight tend to lose a huge amount right off the bat because of shedding water weight, and having a huge excess of fat to pull from. Also, the larger the body, the greater the calorie burn will be to get it to move.

    As your weight comes down, you'll burn fewer calories during a workout, and you'll have less water weight to shed, so the pounds will start to slow down. Don't get discouraged! Keep going, and continue to push yourself further and harder.
  • claudetteolivier
    claudetteolivier Posts: 1
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    Initially , if staying on course with exercise and diet you will loose more than you initially thought. You will find this will slow down eventually, continue to stick with the diet and exercise and you will reach your goal. Don't get discouraged if you don't loose some weight some weeks. Just continue it will come off.
  • ril0riley
    ril0riley Posts: 54 Member
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    Hey, 6'4'' guy here, currently in the 220s, started at 325. There's a couple of things I want to mention to you:

    -- A lot of people lose their first "few" pounds very rapidly. For a guy my size, that meant that the first 30 pounds came off almost instantly. The next 70, though, have come off very slowly over the course of about two years. I've been very happy with this rate.

    -- I wouldn't be surprised if you're on the cusp of a plateau, of which there are thousands of topics you might rely on for support. We've pretty much all been there. Don't let it discourage you

    -- If you find that you DO keep up this rate off weight loss over the next several weeks, you might consider re-evaluating your calorie goals upward a little bit. Not just because of the studies showing that rapid weight loss is tied to rapid re-gain, but because it will give your skin a LOT of extra time to deal with your changing body shape. A lot of people experience problems with loose skin, which I've been lucky enough to avoid despite losing about 100 so far. I attribute that mainly to having lost at a rate of about 1.5 lbs per week.

    -- Everyone is different, but I would look like a stick figure if I dropped to 190-- and I'm an inch shorter than you! I'm borderline slim as it is at 225, and working on adding muscle right now more than losing fat. You would have to lose a lot of lean mass to get down to 190 at 6'5''.

    Anyway, congrats on your job so far, and KEEP AT IT! I absolutely believe you can do it
  • AJ_G
    AJ_G Posts: 4,158 Member
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    Many people say that you shouldn't lose more than 2 lbs per week or you will lose too much muscle. This doesn't take into account a person's size. A better guideline is that it is best not to lose more than 1% of your body weight a week. As mentioned, you just started losing weight, so a good amount of that is water weight, but your weight loss will steady, so just shoot for 1% body weight lost per week. Good luck
  • SarahIluvatariel
    SarahIluvatariel Posts: 96 Member
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    I'm not at all qualified to answer your question. But...

    ...from personal experience, when I first started losing, I was losing about 3.5 lb / week. At the very beginning, I was eating a couple hundred under what MFP recommended for a 2 lbs/week loss. A I was going to the gym a lot. I noticed that by the end of every day, I was kind of emotional and very exhausted! I would go to bed really early, because I was just too tired to do anything else. After a couple weeks, I upped my calories a little bit (closer to the 2lbs/week goal), and felt much better. Maybe it was because of the increased calories or maybe it was because I was finally getting adjusted to going to the gym. I'm not sure. But I learned that getting enough calories is pretty important for me!

    So, for myself, as long as I pay attention to how I FEEL and try to make sure I eat enough calories to ensure that I feel WELL, then I seem to be ok, even if I lose a surprising amount of weight that week.

    As for whether there are negative consequences to losing more than 2lbs/week... I don't know. The only negatives I can think of are if I don't eat enough (emotional/tired/etc). [I'm not sure, but] I don't think the weight loss speed is, in and of itself, a good or bad thing. I think it's more a question of making sure your body has the nutrition it needs.

    (I've heard the rumor that fast weight loss leads to loose/excess skin, but I'm not sure that's really true. I think the skin question has more to do with genetics and how overweight you were (i.e. how stretched your skin was and how many stretch marks). But I'm unsure about this, too.)

    If you're eating enough calories but you're still concerned, try watching your macro nutrients to get them in line with what MFP suggests. That'll help you know you're getting the proper KINDS of nutrients. And then don't worry about the speed of loss - just enjoy it!
  • SarahIluvatariel
    SarahIluvatariel Posts: 96 Member
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    Many people say that you shouldn't lose more than 2 lbs per week or you will lose too much muscle. This doesn't take into account a person's size. A better guideline is that it is best not to lose more than 1% of your body weight a week. As mentioned, you just started losing weight, so a good amount of that is water weight, but your weight loss will steady, so just shoot for 1% body weight lost per week. Good luck

    Ah, yes! I was forgetting about the concern of muscle loss. Good point. And interesting thought about the no-more-than-1%... I'll have to think on that.
  • vapourized
    vapourized Posts: 3
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    Thanks everyone for your messages! Not been able to check this post for a while been really busy with work.

    A few responses to individual comments;

    - In terms of the joint pain, I am not experiencing any whatsoever. I am a very tall guy and I am used to a certain amount of joint pain anyway, even when I was in my teens I have had very bad knees, but the exercise seems to be actually helping that in a strange way. I have a really good pair of running shoes and I try not to push myself to be honest, I would say I am running at about 70% speed all the time. I would rather not overdo it, and go again a few days later than be injured, so I would say I am quite sensible in that respect.

    - The emotional / perseverance aspect I have never really struggled with. Me and a friend are both doing this, and it has become quite competitive. Not only that but I am actually enjoying eating healthily, I enjoy cooking so its a refreshing thing to do to try and make filling meals with less calories. If anything, I am struggling to eat upto my target.

    - The rapid weight loss / muscle angle, I am very careful with the amount of protein etc I intake in a day, I don't just look at calories I try to keep it as balanced as possible. I have quite a big frame anyway, I am by no means petite. The 190lbs thing was based on the BMI scale, I think its slap bang in the middle of "healthy".

    Definitely taking all the comments on board, already been thinking of investing in a bike- that should ease the muscle loss, and in terms of the "rapid weight loss" it has slowed down now to around half a pound a day on average that I lose, which is considerably less than I was losing initially. I can see it starting to flatten out, so I am less worried.

    Overall, in terms of motivation and morale, I am really enjoying losing the weight, a lot more than I ever thought possible to be honest. I'm starting to run faster for longer, and I am eating super healthily. It feels more like my lifestyle now rather than "Just a diet". If I go back to my old ways remains to be seen, I know for a fact I haven't put on weight for a very long time so I must have hit "terminal velocity" so to speak haha.

    I am really enjoying the running too. I have a friend who is a triathlete / iron man, and he is sending me training plans etc, I am looking at entering some kind of running competition next year maybe to keep me focused, until I start getting injured I really don't want to stop the running, like I said earlier in the post, I can't think of any pain or adverse effects after I have been running, initially it was being very out of breath, but now I can comfortably do 2 miles and debate doing it again.


    Thanks guys!
  • vapourized
    vapourized Posts: 3
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    And, the 190lbs thing I dont know where I have got that from to be honest, my target is actually 210lbs, which is the top end of "healthy" in BMI terms!

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