Rapid Weight Loss and Cold All the Time?

frodolives19
frodolives19 Posts: 96
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello all. I am a 20 year old girl who has been working her butt off to lose weight! Well the thing is, I hit a very long and frustrating weight loss plateau, and so I lowered my calories quite a bit. I normally eat about 700 calories per day now, and I do not go hungry.

Well anyway, in the past two weeks, I have lost 13 lbs. While I am very happy that the weight is finally coming off after so long a time, I have recently noticed that since it started to happen, I have begun to feel very cold all the time. This is not normal for me, as I am usually the person who opens the windows and begs to have the air conditioning turned on. As I type this I am freezing...my nose is cold, as are my feet and hands....no matter what I do.

Has anyone else experienced this associated with weight loss? Or do you think that perhaps this is something I should have a doctor look into? Thanks!

Replies

  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    You may need more iron in your diet. Are you anemic? At 700 calories a day, you may not be eating enough, regardless if you're not going hungry. Fat is an insulator, so it's natural to be a bit more sensitive to cold when you lose weight.
  • tuulikki30
    tuulikki30 Posts: 99 Member
    Unless you are morbidly obese, which it appears you are not, the amount of weight you lost in the last 2 weeks is excessive. Go to your doctor and get advice. We the people of the boards can not give you advice about this. Yes, there may be someone here who has experienced the same thing you are experiencing now, but really why would you listen to some strangers online. Go see your doctor. And good luck to you...
  • SLLRunner
    SLLRunner Posts: 12,942 Member
    700 calorie is dangerously low, and it seems to me you are heading into eating disorder territory if you are not already there. A 13 pound loss in two weeks is too much. You need to start eating much more and talk to your doctor for a referral to help you deal with a possible eating disorder.
  • bunkahes
    bunkahes Posts: 216 Member
    Being cold is from either too little calories or you lost too many lbs at once. 700 calories is too little. That 1 cup of hamburger helper with a slice bread. Girl you need to plug your self into some advice from a doctor.you may want to get a counselor and discuss the issues you are having, and there might be support groups in your local area.
  • alexandriax03
    alexandriax03 Posts: 289 Member
    Um… eating 700 calories a day is EXTREMELY unhealthy. You are basically starving yourself. You've probably already put your body into starvation mode. You're cold all the time because you aren't getting the essential vitamins and nutrients your body needs daily. You should be eating AT LEAST 1200 calories daily. But since you've been eating so little, I would suggest eating 1500-1600 and you need to take a multivitamin that has iron daily.
  • Siansonea
    Siansonea Posts: 917 Member
    Are you trolling us? Eat a proper calorie limit. And don't act like you didn't know that 700 calories is an unhealthy calorie limit. :grumble:

    Also, it's coming up on winter time. So, it's colder in general. Could be a factor. :huh:
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    Did your profile just say that you've lost 36 lbs in 3 months? You do need to see a doctor and tell her what you've been doing, yes :(

    Surely you know how bad 700 calories a day is? If you didn't, the cold is just a mild part of it. You need a check-up, soon. Take care and get well.
  • frodolives19
    frodolives19 Posts: 96
    To the user who suggested I might be "trolling," the answer is no I am not. My story, is that I used to be a thin, lean ballet dancer. I severely inured my back when I was 16 and had to quit dancing (which was the love of my life). When I became inactive, I gained a lot of weight and have been depressed with myself ever since. I am just trying desperately to lose weight to look the way I did before. I am aware that 700 calories is low, but I didn't think it was super dangerous. I am just frustrated and I will admit, I am afraid of food and the fact that it might make me gain it all back again. :/
  • 4Pookiecat
    4Pookiecat Posts: 20 Member
    Losing weight makes me cold as well. On a side note, I am not going to tell you 700 calories is too little - everyone else has already done that. You are losing weight very quickly and what I will tell you is usually when that happens, it is much more difficult to keep it off and it often leads to health problems. I know you want to have your dancer body back but take time to do it the right way.
  • CassieReannan
    CassieReannan Posts: 1,479 Member
    All I read was I ate 700 calories (and never go hungry? yeah right!)... Eat more girl! Rapidly losing weight is not the answer.
  • cafeaulait7
    cafeaulait7 Posts: 2,459 Member
    To the user who suggested I might be "trolling," the answer is no I am not. My story, is that I used to be a thin, lean ballet dancer. I severely inured my back when I was 16 and had to quit dancing (which was the love of my life). When I became inactive, I gained a lot of weight and have been depressed with myself ever since. I am just trying desperately to lose weight to look the way I did before. I am aware that 700 calories is low, but I didn't think it was super dangerous. I am just frustrated and I will admit, I am afraid of food and the fact that it might make me gain it all back again. :/

    That's where it gets scary, though :( Please see a doctor who can get you to a nutritionist or ED counselor so that you can catch yourself in time. You won't put it all back on by eating more. That's thinking that is getting disordered. You really risk falling down the rabbit hole, and you so don't want to go there.

    You won't have to be big! You can still lose weight, even. But you do need to start being more healthy or you risk a disorder that could kill you. Don't go there, please. The psychological and physical hold anorexia gets on people is intense.

    You aren't hungry because of some of those physical effects. I had that from a (purely physical) disease where I lost a ton of weight, and it can get hard to eat, even without wanting to be thin or having a desire to be on any diet. My muscle wasted away, my hair fell out, and my skin looked so old. It was awful, and that was without the psych components! Anorexia must be absolute torture :(
  • 2spamagnet
    2spamagnet Posts: 60 Member
    I am just frustrated and I will admit, I am afraid of food and the fact that it might make me gain it all back again. :/

    The food is not what will make you gain any lost weight back. You can eat any food you want and lose weight. It's eating too much of it that will tell your body to store it as fat.

    Don't be afraid. Don't live in fear. You understand the basics - eat less calories than you burn off by living and exercising, and your body will convert stored fat into energy it needs to function. Be patient, and lose the weight slower. It's better for your body, and for your long term weight goals. Doing huge deficits (aka crash diets) are not very successful because after people come off the diet, they don't know how to eat at maintenance (or even what their maintenance goal is), so they go back to eating like they used to before the diet, which is the cause of why they had put on weight to begin with.

    Lose weight at 2 lbs per week or less, and remember that once you reach your goal, you need to figure out what your maintenance needs are, and stay near them for the rest of your life. No need to be afraid of that. Hopefully this will simplify things:

    3,500 calories = 1 lb of fat. So, think of it this way. When you are reaching your goal, if you are losing 1 lb/week, you are basically at a deficit of 500 cal/day (500 cal/day x 7 days = 3,500 cal/week) under what your body burns. Let's say for simplicity that you are eating 1000/day at that time. To maintain, you get to go back up to 1500 cal/day. So, for the rest of your life, you know how to watch your weight (because you are tracking it), and how to adjust as needed (up or down - calories in/calories out). Looking at your weekly calorie intake and dividing by 7 will give you a better average than trying to track every darn day like an accountant.

    Creeping up in weight again? Then you are eating over maintenance. If you track how fast you are gaining weight, you can estimate how many extra calories you have been getting on average, and you can use that to adjust your eating habits. Cut back by that much to maintain where you are. And if you want to lose those extra pounds you gained, you can cut a little more calories out until you reach the weight you want, or you can do some extra cardio and NOT eat back those calories. Either way will work. Just burn a little more than you consume, and your body will convert fat to energy.

    Being cold - back to your original question. Not a doctor here, but I do notice that most people I know with extra weight are typically "hotter" than lean people. And I have heard that obese folks (not sure how "obese" they are referring to...) have higher metabolisms than lean folks. So, as you lose weight and reach your goals, you will probably notice that you are affected by the cold more than when you were heavier. I don't think it will change as rapidly as what you describe, so I think it is a byproduct of eating too little.
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    Your cold because your not eating enough!


    700 calories is way too little,

    Your reducing them so much to lose weight quicker, but normally this causes binges as deep down you will be hungry, You should NOT go below 1200 calories a day. Your body will get weak, headaches, lack of iron, vitamins, minerals etc.

    Your body needs calories, Calories are fuel for energy - Eat up girl!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! : )

    The same as a car needs petrol or diesel to move
  • Breezy97685
    Breezy97685 Posts: 3
    You should really up your calories eating as little as that is not healthy in the long run and can cause you more trouble than its worth. The weight is more likely to stay off if you lose it gradually as well!

    A tip - Make sure you drink plenty of water it aids in the weight loss process! You should also consider if your really hungry before eating. Food wise you should eat lean meats and fish such as chicken, tuna and salmon. You should also eat lots of veggies especially leafy greens! You should also eat things like beans, brown rice and potatoes.

    KEEP YOUR CARB AMOUNTS LOW! it really helps

    If your looking to lose weight then you should also follow a program! this really helped me. I looked at this site before buying any programs in weight loss - www.thebestweightlossprogramreviews.blogspot.co.uk

    My favourite program is the fat loss factor, this is because it teaches you about and how to do your nutrition accurately. The workout regime is also very effective and doesn't take a very long time to do which is good if you haven't got a lot of time to workout like me!

    Remember that change doesn't happen over night. you WILL see results in time if you are committed and follow a decent program!

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