Starting to worry about strange weight loss

Hezio
Hezio Posts: 5
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello. Recently, about 2,1/2 weeks ago, I suddenly began to become really hungry, to the point where I had to eat around 1,000 calories over my calorie goal. I also started to eat healthier, much more nutritionally dense food, but also more junk food too. Yet despite this, I've been losing weight still, and I'm wondering if there might be something wrong. Shouldn't I be gaining weight if I'm eating many more calories? Especially when I'm also eating a lot of junk food? Just last week for example I had eaten a whole pizza, and a three entree plate from panda express, altogether about 4,000 calories or more, in a single day, to give an example, and I still lost a pound that week. I'm starting to worry something might be wrong.

Replies

  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    Junk food won't make you gain weight unless you are in a calorie surplus. Neither will a 4000 calorie day. If you are stil under your calories over time, you will lose.

    BUT, unexplained weight loss can be the first sign of disease. If you are overeating and losing weight, you should see a doctor.
  • Chrisparadise579
    Chrisparadise579 Posts: 411 Member
    Its kind of hard to say because I dont know your workout routine or your diet very well but this is very possible and very common, it happens over time and your lose more weight, since I started my weight loss I have added 1600 calories to my daily intake and still lose weight. There probably isnt anything to worry about especially since it was only 1lb loss BUT it doesnt hurt to see a doctor to make sure nothing is wrong.
  • Hezio
    Hezio Posts: 5
    Well that's the thing, I actually haven't had a chance to work out in the last month because of my new job.
  • afortunatedragon
    afortunatedragon Posts: 329 Member
    Well that's the thing, I actually haven't had a chance to work out in the last month because of my new job.

    Off to the doctor with you.
  • independant2406
    independant2406 Posts: 447 Member
    Well that's the thing, I actually haven't had a chance to work out in the last month because of my new job.

    Off to the doctor with you.

    Ditto this. ^^^
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,426 MFP Moderator
    What did the rest of the week look like? 4000 calories for 1 day is not an issue if you are consistently under throughout the rest of the week. Also, what is your height and weight?
  • Unknown
    Unknown
    This content has been removed.
  • ashgirl95
    ashgirl95 Posts: 48
    I agree with the others, you should go see the doctor. If this overeating has become a regular thing for you, and you're not doing any sort of exercise but still losing weight, something is wrong. This happened to my mother. She's naturally thin, eats all the time and doesn't work out, but all of a sudden for like two months she just kept dropping weight out of nowhere.

    It could be something as simple as a Vitamin D deficiency (which is what happened with my mother), or it could be something more serious. Go to a doctor.
  • FredDoyle
    FredDoyle Posts: 2,273 Member
    Tape worm?
    Doctor.
  • Kalikel
    Kalikel Posts: 9,603 Member
    It could be that the good work you put in is catching up with you.

    If you haven't had your weight loss journey supervised by a doctor (which everyone should!), now is the time to start, for sure.
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    I wonder if you've been dietting over-aggressively (high deficit), and your weight has been stalled for a while ? If so, your body may have ramped up its cortisol levels, explaining the hunger, and also leading to water retention masking any weight loss (ie you were losing weight even though you thought you were stalled, but the body hung onto additional water, thus no movement on the scale was seen). So when you began to eat decent levels of food again, or even higher levels of food as you mentioned, the body was able to relax again and let go of that water.

    This is only a possibility, and the reason I throw it out there is that in the last 5 days, I've lost 4lbs. During that time, all that's changed is I've upped my calories, so my suspicion is I had lost that weight before this period, yet any movement on the scale was hidden by excess water being retained. So when I upped my calories, whoosh, the body stops clinging on for dear life, and releases the water. I would just like to add I've not being doing anything crazy, just observing a 750 calorie daily deficit (2200 when my TDEE was 2950), but I have noticed the closer I get to my target weight, the more frequent and longer the plateaus where the scale doesn't move for anything up to 8/ 9 days, then moves each day for 2/ 3 days, before it stops moving again.

    Anyway, this is only one possibility, and may not be relevant to you at all, as I don't think the information you've given is enough to diagnose whats happening.

    Edited to add: aggressive dietting, or a prolonged diet, will generally cause your body to up its cortisol levels (the fight/ flight hormone). That elevated cortisol tends to make you feel very hungry, thus the reason dieters are often recommended to take a break from their diet every so often, so hormonal levels that have fluctuated by the diet, can return to normal, and your dieting efforts prove more productive once you return to your diet after your break. Another one of these hormones is leptin, for example.
  • uconnwinsnc1
    uconnwinsnc1 Posts: 902 Member
    4000 calories in one day is nothing for a 21 year old man. I suppose you could talk to a doctor but I don't see much to worry about.
  • Hezio
    Hezio Posts: 5
    Thanks for everyone's help and advice. It turns out I had a vitamin D deficiency and kidney failure. My kidneys are working at 25%.
  • icrushit
    icrushit Posts: 773 Member
    Sorry to hear, and great that you got it checked out! I would never have suspected from your initial post that this would have been the conclusion, but it sounds like you knew something was not quite right, and as many posters suggested, you can never be too cautious and it really does pay to err on the side of caution!

    Good luck with things from here, and as someone with a little minding on my own kidneys to do, I would say to keep an eye on your blood pressure, and also that your protein levels aren't excessive as they can put pressure on kidneys that have a little damage. Obviously that's for when you move into a maintenance phase where you are simply minding your kidneys, right now just look after yourself, and put yourself in the hands of the experts who can get you to that point! :)
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,207 Member
    Thanks for everyone's help and advice. It turns out I had a vitamin D deficiency and kidney failure. My kidneys are working at 25%.

    Holy cow, I'm so glad you went to the Doctor!! Hope now that you know what's wrong you can get it sorted and get back to full health!!

    We need to sticky this thread so when other people start a thread asking about a strange body reaction and they get told to go to the doctor and think people aren't being helpful, we can point them here!!
  • liakeane
    liakeane Posts: 10 Member
    Holy.
    My jaw just hit the floor at the outcome of your doctor's visit. So glad you decided to get checked out - yikes! Wishing you a speedy recovery and a return to good health!
  • Hezio
    Hezio Posts: 5
    Actually, that's exactly what the doctor said. Cutting down protein is harder than keeping a diet though, but I'm getting used to it. If I hadn't already been on a diet for awhile now, Doctor said I would have needed Dialysis in only a few more months. If I hadn't caught it now, he said I would have had about 4 months before I would have needed Dialysis. What I have is an autoimmune disease though, and was not caused by any diet changes. Anyone with kids here though, I recommend you have their organs checked around 12; if they had caught what I had then, I wouldn't have what I have now.

Categories