Dangers of losing weight too quickly -- How fast is too fast?
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Ya my bad, I have lost a total of 70 so far, 57 of them I lost in 26 weeks averaging 2.2 lbs a week. My goal was 2 lbs a week.Thanks, all!
Evgenizyntx, I will start reading your links. This is tremendous.
Camo_xxx, it sounds like you actually lost 2.7 lbs/week on average. Fantastic. Can you break that down by month, perhaps, so I can get a sense of how your weight loss slowed over time?
Ya my bad, I have lost a total of 70 so far, 57 of them I lost in 26 weeks averaging 2.2 lbs a week. My goal was 2 lbs a week.
Not by month nor my whole journey but it give you an idea of the the ebs and flows that many experience . Notice the flat line of December, I was on vacation all month and eating at maintaince.
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Learning my lesson. Not eating enough to support my killer work-outs. After swimming 3 miles, a couple of times, I've had a sore throat and bad cold symptoms and it is keeping me from working out for a week or so a couple of times now. I'm increasing my calorie intake and taking it easy for now. I figure I need to eat more to fuel my immune system.0
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It's been a few more months, how are you doing?0
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I lost weight pretty quickly due to a medical condition. According to my doctors, you're pretty safe sustaining a loss of ~1% of your body weight per week. At more than 10lb/month, there's increased risk of gallstones and kidney stones. There's an increase in fracture risks.
Most of the bad things about rapid weight loss sneak up on you. My hair didn't start to fall out until about 6 months in, for example. [/quote]
Are you serious? Your hair can fall out?Watch out for your hair and nails, as your body may start dumping non-essentials if you're under nourished. Fatigue, worsening fitness performance, and of course, injury. For injury yeah you want to fuel your body properly, but you also want to pay attention to those instructing you on proper form, and use common sense. Injuries can be devastating especially when your fitness levels have to drop sharply in response.
If you do log most of your food most days though, I would simply say you're not eating enough for a 240 lb 6'2" man and should probably not rely on external, visual indicators that you're not eating enough. I'd say better safe than sorry - why not invest a couple more months in your health and do this right?
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I lost weight pretty quickly due to a medical condition. According to my doctors, you're pretty safe sustaining a loss of ~1% of your body weight per week. At more than 10lb/month, there's increased risk of gallstones and kidney stones. There's an increase in fracture risks.
Most of the bad things about rapid weight loss sneak up on you. My hair didn't start to fall out until about 6 months in, for example.
Are you serious? Your hair can fall out?Watch out for your hair and nails, as your body may start dumping non-essentials if you're under nourished. Fatigue, worsening fitness performance, and of course, injury. For injury yeah you want to fuel your body properly, but you also want to pay attention to those instructing you on proper form, and use common sense. Injuries can be devastating especially when your fitness levels have to drop sharply in response.
If you do log most of your food most days though, I would simply say you're not eating enough for a 240 lb 6'2" man and should probably not rely on external, visual indicators that you're not eating enough. I'd say better safe than sorry - why not invest a couple more months in your health and do this right?
Yes. Mine started at about 2 months after. Also your nails become brittle/break easier/stop growing/pickyourpoison.
My cousin-in-law had gastic bypass 2 years ago and just had her gallbladder removed because she kept getting gallstones.
It's not all rainbows and fairytales with quick weight loss, that's for sure.0 -
I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. I lost 60 lbs in three months, all the while increasing my fitness and strength. At that point, I was well within the ideal weight range for my age and height. I am continuing to lose at a slower pace, mainly for appearance's sake. More importantly than the weight loss, was improving my fitness, which I began prior to the 'dieting'. I went from barely being able to swim 3 laps to swimming 3 miles in less than 3 months. 3 miles swimming is the equivalent to a half-marathon running, which was my favorite distance before injuries and foot surgery put an end to my running. In less than a month more, I was able to swim 3 miles continuous (ie, without stopping). The key to this rapid increase in endurance was getting the proper rest after intense workouts. The first couple of times that I swam 3 miles, I would rest for a week to let my body rebuild. In less than 2 more months, I was able to swim 3 miles continuous 3 times per week. I did a modest amount of strength training to loose as little muscle as possible, and I was able to increase the weight I used in strength training.It's been a few more months, how are you doing?0 -
Congrats! I am inspired.0
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Not so much in addition to, but a problem with everything you described as "I know" is a substantial increase of risk of injury, poor recovery from exercise, flu/cold like symptoms, shutting down of "non-essential" functions like building strong bones, hair, etc....
Being healthy and fit doesn't mean just losing weight....healthy and fit people know how to fuel their bodies. Calories aren't the devil...a calorie is just a unit of energy...you need quite a bit of energy to do the things that need and should be done. One must balance those needs with weight control goals. You can properly feed your body and lose weight with more reasonable calorie deficiencies.0 -
We don't know how old you are. I am 58 years old and maintenance is 1385 cal. for BMR. If I add a few exercises then I add more to eat but I'm pretty sedentary due to medical conditions. Of course, I am shorter and weigh less but we all need to look at the whole picture without giving advice. I at least recommend a Dr.'s opinion and go from that.
Wishing you the best and doing great!0 -
Has anyone mentioned loose skin and/or decreased metabolism (from muscle loss)?0
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I was wondering about loose skin as wellSnuggleSmacks wrote: »Has anyone mentioned loose skin and/or decreased metabolism (from muscle loss)?
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I'm doing great. Thanks for asking. I lost 60 lbs in three months, all the while increasing my fitness and strength. At that point, I was well within the ideal weight range for my age and height. I am continuing to lose at a slower pace, mainly for appearance's sake. More importantly than the weight loss, was improving my fitness, which I began prior to the 'dieting'. I went from barely being able to swim 3 laps to swimming 3 miles in less than 3 months. 3 miles swimming is the equivalent to a half-marathon running, which was my favorite distance before injuries and foot surgery put an end to my running. In less than a month more, I was able to swim 3 miles continuous (ie, without stopping). The key to this rapid increase in endurance was getting the proper rest after intense workouts. The first couple of times that I swam 3 miles, I would rest for a week to let my body rebuild. In less than 2 more months, I was able to swim 3 miles continuous 3 times per week. I did a modest amount of strength training to loose as little muscle as possible, and I was able to increase the weight I used in strength training.It's been a few more months, how are you doing?
Glad to hear it - keep up the great work!
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I should correct my own misdiagnosis of not eating enough to support my immune system. I spoke with my doctor about this and he told me that what I was experiencing was simply vasormotor rhinitis, or more colloquially and specifically, 'exercise-induced rhinitis'. This makes sense because when I swam competitively in high school, I used to get exercise-induced asthma and I do have some allergies. My immune system was not underfueled but actually over-reacting to the physical stresses (and possibly allergens/irritants) of such strenuous work-outs. As the body adjusts over time to the physical demands of working out so intensely, this typically improves. And, it has. If I swim 3 miles two days in a row, I still get some of these symptoms on the second day, but I don't usually do that and I don't get these symptoms anymore after a more normal schedule of 3 miles 3x/week.Learning my lesson. Not eating enough to support my killer work-outs. After swimming 3 miles, a couple of times, I've had a sore throat and bad cold symptoms and it is keeping me from working out for a week or so a couple of times now. I'm increasing my calorie intake and taking it easy for now. I figure I need to eat more to fuel my immune system.
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I suppose this is directed at me. I am under a doctor's supervision, and in his opinion the flu/cold like symptoms was merely vasomotor rhinitis. I have never confused being healthy and fit with losing weight. For me, weight is entirely secondary and subservient to increasing fitness. Otherwise, I might try to exercise every day or not eat more after work-outs, especially protein, to fuel my body's rebuilding process. Nor have I ever said that 'calories are the devil'. Also don't neglect the calories stored in our body as fat and available to us when we are in ketosis. There is a limit to how quickly we can access those calories, but you can also train your body to make the transition to ketosis more easily. I learned this from English Channel swimmers.cwolfman13 wrote: »Not so much in addition to, but a problem with everything you described as "I know" is a substantial increase of risk of injury, poor recovery from exercise, flu/cold like symptoms, shutting down of "non-essential" functions like building strong bones, hair, etc....
Being healthy and fit doesn't mean just losing weight....healthy and fit people know how to fuel their bodies. Calories aren't the devil...a calorie is just a unit of energy...you need quite a bit of energy to do the things that need and should be done. One must balance those needs with weight control goals. You can properly feed your body and lose weight with more reasonable calorie deficiencies.0 -
Fatty Liver Disease
Just came across another health risk from losing weight too fast: fatty liver disease. I don't have this, but I thought some reading this thread might be interested.
Source: http://www.webmd.com/hepatitis/fatty-liver-disease0
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