Cautionary tale - don't lose weight too fast!

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  • JewelsinBigD
    JewelsinBigD Posts: 661 Member
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    Why would you continue that for 6 months?

    ^^^ THIS ^^^ I have lost 66 pounds in a little over 95 days and did not have any of these symptoms but I ate clean and drank a lot of water.
    First you are a man, second - how much hair did you have 95 days ago? Checked the old "count" recently...?
  • angelamangus1
    angelamangus1 Posts: 164 Member
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    I think it is brave of you to admit that you went about weight loss the wrong way, by not paying attention to nutrition and running too large a deficit. Thank you for sharing, and I wish you luck in getting healthier.
    [/quote]

    This!

    Also, PLEASE get an appointment with your doctor. Let her or him know what is going on.
  • hazeljordan1974
    hazeljordan1974 Posts: 107 Member
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    I managed to lose a lot of weight by eating a significant amounts of rubbish (chocolate, sweets, diet fizzy drinks etc) and exercising excessively

    But you're blaming the _speed_ of the weight loss for the bad side effects, and not the fact that you ate a very low-fat, high-sugar, processed-food diet...

    I looked at a month's worth of your diary. A great many of the problems you're experiencing--bad hair, flaky skin, fatigue--are from the lack of dietary fat, and the generally poor quality of the fat you did eat, much of which came from junk food. Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble, so fat intake is necessary for you to absorb those vitamins from your diet. Fat and cholesterol are required for your body to make hormones, which might be related to your having to "be prepared" all the time. You're basically malnourished after six months of eating rubbish.

    Three pounds a week isn't necessarily excessive, but the nutrition has to be there.

    Please do get some medical advice.

    It was a mix of both - eating lots of highly processed stuff and low calories meant I didn't leave anything over for the good and nutritious stuff. For the last month I have been taking a lot of cod liver oil as I realised that part of the problem with my diet is that it has been too low fat.

    I can't do anything about what has gone before and others might not suffer as I did on a poor diet, but I did want to warn against what it can do to a person. I am slowly replacing my high sugar treats with healthier ones, I am not doing it all in one go because I know that I will fail - my aim now is to be between 20 and 25% "rubbish" and eventually eek it down to 15 - 20% in a few months time. I am struggling eating to my calories but will keep on adding slowly each week.
  • Amitysk
    Amitysk Posts: 705 Member
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    Thank you so much for sharing this OP. I hope you find your health recovering soon.
  • hazeljordan1974
    hazeljordan1974 Posts: 107 Member
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    Also, PLEASE get an appointment with your doctor. Let her or him know what is going on.

    I've already been - but I will go back again - I did tell her my theory about losing weight quickly, not sure she realised though.
  • firstsip
    firstsip Posts: 8,399 Member
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    Why would you continue that for 6 months?

    ^^^ THIS ^^^ I have lost 66 pounds in a little over 95 days and did not have any of these symptoms but I ate clean and drank a lot of water.

    When was this 95 days? Have you been maintaining on this site all along?

    Would love to see how your health is in a few years. The most dangerous element of losing weight very quickly is the loss of organ mass. Brain and heart tissue can be taken before reaching an underweight state from going too long. Gallbladder issues can occur. Etc. etc.

    And, of course, we have the naysayers of, "It's because of junk you ate." Actually, eating junk at healthy amounts of calories would result in more macronutrients, still. People don't lose their hair, without other existing health problems, from just not eating enough vegetables. It is very apparent that the low amount of food--period--OP was eating, plus the quick loss of weight, have resulted in such issues. People like to think they're "nourishing" their body with their 500 calories of straight up protein and vegetables... but that's where the "necessary" calorie content comes into play.

    OP had external issues: hair, nail, skin.

    Many have the internal ones they don't know about until they're in the hospital months, or years, after that "speedy" weight loss (if they've even maintained it--which 90% of people don't).
  • castlerobber
    castlerobber Posts: 528 Member
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    It was a mix of both - eating lots of highly processed stuff and low calories meant I didn't leave anything over for the good and nutritious stuff. For the last month I have been taking a lot of cod liver oil as I realised that part of the problem with my diet is that it has been too low fat.

    I can't do anything about what has gone before and others might not suffer as I did on a poor diet, but I did want to warn against what it can do to a person. I am slowly replacing my high sugar treats with healthier ones, I am not doing it all in one go because I know that I will fail - my aim now is to be between 20 and 25% "rubbish" and eventually eek it down to 15 - 20% in a few months time. I am struggling eating to my calories but will keep on adding slowly each week.

    Coconut oil is another good source of fat. There's an unrefined version that tastes strongly of coconut, if you like it, or a more-refined one that has almost no coconut taste.

    Good luck to you. Thank you for being willing to share your story.
  • dare2love81
    dare2love81 Posts: 928 Member
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    Why would you continue that for 6 months?

    ^^^ THIS ^^^ I have lost 66 pounds in a little over 95 days and did not have any of these symptoms but I ate clean and drank a lot of water.

    :noway:

    Losing an average of 5.5 pounds/week for 12 weeks is NOT healthy. That's a good way to develop an eating disorder, not to mention screw up your metabolism.
  • Iwishyouwell
    Iwishyouwell Posts: 1,888 Member
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    I have lost weight very slowly...

    I have lost weight very quickly...

    Never in my life have I encountered a problem with either.

    Then again I've also, when losing quickly, never "ate a significant amount of rubbish" either. The OP isn't dealing with issues of undernourishment, she's dealing with issues of MALnutrition. There is a difference.
  • traceyjj
    traceyjj Posts: 406 Member
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    Also, PLEASE get an appointment with your doctor. Let her or him know what is going on.

    I've already been - but I will go back again - I did tell her my theory about losing weight quickly, not sure she realised though.
    I dont think doctors always know about dieting. I went to see my doctor about losing weight. He started me on a 1250 cal diet, then when that wasnt working after a month, he added some alli diet pills and dropped me down another 50cals... a month later I hadnt lost enough, so another 100 cals came off my diet, then another month later yet another 100... all this time I was either walking more than 5 miles up and down hills each day, or going to the gym 5 days a week.
    He told me after my 3 months of alli, thats all I could have as I wasnt losing the weight quick enough, so I could opt to have surgery. As the doc had put me on 1000 cals, I assumed that it was the right amount for me at my activity level... after all they are the professionals. I thought my hairloss was something I had to put up with, and my ridges on my nails were to be considered as "war wounds", and then worse still, I stopped losing even the small amounts I had been losing.
    It wasnt until I started reading topics like this, that I realised I could be under-eating. After weeks of talking myself out of it, I upped my calories slowly to the level worked out by Heybales spreadsheet, and now I feel like a different person. My hair is once again staying on my head when I wash my hair... my nails feel smoother, I feel happier and more relaxed, and best yet, the scale is moving downwards again.

    Bravo to the OP for telling everyone their experience. If it werent for people like this, I wouldve been in a worse state healthwise than I was!
  • Iron_Feline
    Iron_Feline Posts: 10,750 Member
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    Why would you continue that for 6 months?

    ^^^ THIS ^^^ I have lost 66 pounds in a little over 95 days and did not have any of these symptoms but I ate clean and drank a lot of water.

    You started off at over 300lbs and net around 1200cals a day. I wonder how much fat compared to muscle you are losing. I wonder how few calories you'll be able to eat when you hit your goal weight as your body will have adapted to the VLCD. I wonder sadly how quickly you'll gain it back :noway:

    Op, thanks for sharing this story. Sadly people like the one I've quoted wont listen, but there will be lurkers who do :flowerforyou:
  • Brad805
    Brad805 Posts: 289 Member
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    I believe the crux of your tale is one needs to get informed about the reality of a VLCD before attempting such a plan. VLCD diets eliminate some key things from your diet and supplementing becomes very important for ones health. That said, it does sound like you went too far with things even for a VLCD.

    Good luck moving forward.
  • stackhead
    stackhead Posts: 121 Member
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    It was brave to post this and thank you for doing so. It came at a great time when I was just feeling sorry for myself that it wasn't happening faster!

    In: for when I need reminding that when it comes to the tortoise and the hare. I am the tortoise :)
  • fouroclock
    fouroclock Posts: 11 Member
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    Thank you OP for your honest, clear and helpful story. I have been there when I was younger and was lucky enough to get away with just hair loss and re-gaining of the pounds. When I get inpatient with my current speed of loss, reading stories like yours puts things in a much healthier perspective. I will stick with my 0.5 lb. a week loss and typical plateaus.
  • spellingmama
    spellingmama Posts: 17 Member
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    I realize this thread is dead but I am bumping to remind myself of the dangers of this! Thanks for being so brave to share. I needed to hear this so I can share the information with others. Hope it's going well, now.