Eating right but losing more?

PresBC
PresBC Posts: 8 Member
edited November 23 in Health and Weight Loss
Recently just started trying to lose weight, and have run across a question (I hesitate to call it a problem). I know that the recommended max for weight lost per week is 2 lbs, however I am losing much more than that. Over the course of the last 3 weeks, I have shed just under 25 lbs. I am only eating to 1675 calories a day, and doing a T25 workout M-F. I just want to be sure I am losing it safely. Any thoughts or literature that you can point me to would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Replies

  • juggernaut1974
    juggernaut1974 Posts: 6,212 Member
    25 lbs in three weeks? What was your starting weight?

    I'd be inclined to chalk this up to a defective scale honestly. Unless you are morbidly obese (not a judgment), I would think it dang near impossible to drop that much weight - even water weight.

    Generally speaking, someone new to weight loss often sees large increases to start due to fluctuations in water weight and other things, but 25 lbs worth seems to be outside the realm of possibility.
  • PresBC
    PresBC Posts: 8 Member
    edited September 2015
    Started at 295, down to 271 (definitely morbidly obese, but trying to own it). Have tried two different scales to be sure, as I did not believe it myself at first. Was also apparent in my face and belt size in the first two weeks, which I also thought was odd. I have done this dance before (went from 295 to 212 about 2 years ago), and I remember the beginning being quick but not this quick.

    (suppose I should add that I cut down drastically on the diet sodas (one, maybe two a day) and beer (that was a tough one) and upped my water intake to 4 liters a day. Have had problems with a bad hip and trying to lose weight to alleviate that)
  • XavierNusum
    XavierNusum Posts: 720 Member
    That does seem like an excessive amount to lose in 3 short weeks. But looking at your stats it might be possible. (31yo male 295# start wt).

    Regardless of what the scale says you're doing everything right. I would like to see you eating about 2500 cals/day honestly for your size (I assumed avg height, more if taller). You burn a ton doing T25 and you could potentially be in a serious calorie deficit which is only going to be sustainable for a relatively short period before you burn out.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited September 2015
    I'd think at the very beginning it's okay to lose that quickly but I wouldn't keep it up for very long and here's why. When we lose weight it's a combination of fat, muscle and water. The faster you lose weight over a period of time the more of that weight is going to be from muscle. And if you're like most of us you'd rather keep your muscle and lose the fat. In fact, at 295 pounds, your body has built up a lot of extra muscle to move your weight around. If you can keep that muscle and lose mostly fat, think of how great you're going to look once you reach your goal! Unfortunately, as quickly as you're losing weight now you're not on track to keep much of it.

    Your body doesn't know you are losing weight on purpose and if it's getting many less calories than it needs it's going to think you are in a starvation situation. The body's reaction at that point is to try to conserve as much of its energy stores (fat) as possible because it doesn't know when the starvation situation is going to end. What it starts stealing from at that point is muscle, especially if you aren't using that muscle. As you lose weight, it takes less muscle to move you around so that now extra muscle is a good target for your body to burn for fuel. That will continue until you reach your goal weight and you'll have just the muscle you need to move your goal weight body around.

    My advice would be to slow the weight loss down by eating more. A progressive heavy lifting program will help you to maintain even more of the muscle you already have. You will lose pounds more slowly but what you are losing will be mostly fat and you'll still be shrinking because fat takes up much more space than muscle by weight.
  • PresBC
    PresBC Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks for the replies, everyone. I thought I was pushing it up a bit as my doctor told me 1500 a day, no more. Looking at a couple of calculators right now it seems I am eating a bit lower than I should. Is there a recommendation on where to go to get a good baseline on how much to eat per day? I'm not against 2500/day but I'd like to tailor something to my needs, if possible.
  • SueInAz
    SueInAz Posts: 6,592 Member
    edited September 2015
    burrell607 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies, everyone. I thought I was pushing it up a bit as my doctor told me 1500 a day, no more. Looking at a couple of calculators right now it seems I am eating a bit lower than I should. Is there a recommendation on where to go to get a good baseline on how much to eat per day? I'm not against 2500/day but I'd like to tailor something to my needs, if possible.

    MFP will figure that out for you. Just change your goal to 2 pounds per week and eat the calories MFP tells you to eat each day. You'll get more calories when you exercise. After a few weeks you will know if you're eating the right amount of calories by whether or not you've actually lost two pounds, on average, per week.
  • XavierNusum
    XavierNusum Posts: 720 Member

    SueInAz wrote: »
    burrell607 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies, everyone. I thought I was pushing it up a bit as my doctor told me 1500 a day, no more. Looking at a couple of calculators right now it seems I am eating a bit lower than I should. Is there a recommendation on where to go to get a good baseline on how much to eat per day? I'm not against 2500/day but I'd like to tailor something to my needs, if possible.

    MFP will figure that out for you. Just change your goal to 2 pounds per week and eat the calories MFP tells you to eat each day. You'll get more calories when you exercise. After a few weeks you will know if you're eating the right amount of calories by whether or not you've actually lost two pounds, on average, per week.

    ^^ This here. You could even use a lower amount like 1 or 1.5# and eat back about half of what MFP tells you for exercise calorie burn. If you choose to use an external device for calorie burn understand they are all off by some amount.

    Now if you want to really tailor it to you it takes much more work. It would require you to keep activity constant (normal daily and exercise) while increasing calories by 250/day each week until you stop losing. This takes time and dedication, but it can be done. It's actually what I did. I found my own TDEE by trial and error. I increaed until I gained. Then made all of my deficit calculations from those numbers. So far I've seen expected losses (based on intake and activity) 2 weeks in a row.
  • daniwilford
    daniwilford Posts: 1,030 Member
    You are burning at a maximum level for it to be mostly fat loss, I would agree with upping the calories. I would also recommend that you make sure to meet or exceed your protein goals. Safe weight loss is 1% of body weight per week conservatively, but those of us who started out obese can safely lose more rapidly at the very beginning. Don't worry about the last three weeks, just move forward in a slower more sustainable rate. Great job with adding fitness, to calorie deficit eating from the get go!
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    burrell607 wrote: »
    Thanks for the replies, everyone. I thought I was pushing it up a bit as my doctor told me 1500 a day, no more. Looking at a couple of calculators right now it seems I am eating a bit lower than I should. Is there a recommendation on where to go to get a good baseline on how much to eat per day? I'm not against 2500/day but I'd like to tailor something to my needs, if possible.

    The things you need to worry about right now:
    -Sticking with it
    -Tracking consistently
    -Not giving up
    -Believing in yourself
    -Energy levels
    -Crankiness

    I think you can still lose a solid 2 lbs per week if you up your intake to 2200-2500. Here's why I suggest it. Once you lose some of your weight, you'll stall a bit. At that point you might want to lower it more. If you're already at 1600-1700 as your intake, you don't have much room to cut. If you eat 2200-2500 or so now (and track it closely to make sure that's really what you're eating) you'll still have leeway to drop it further later.

    Do you eat additional calories on the days you work out?
  • Unknown
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  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    The heavier you are, the more you will lose initially.

    In my first four weeks (SW - 157lbs), I lost 10lbs - which is quite substantial. Most of that is water weight. I lost a steady 2lb per week until now - I've upped my calories and losing around 0.5 - 1lb per week.

    The first four weeks are always a bit "WOW!" hehe :)
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    I'm 31, 5'11" and was 220lb to start. Over the first 6 weeks I ate 1750 calories/day and lost 11.9lb (1.98lb/week). After being tired of that I've upped my calories and over the past 6 weeks I've eaten 2000 calories/day and lost 8.8lb, or 1.46lb/week, and that includes a whole week of no exercise (vacation).

    Basically, 1500 calories for a 31 year old male at 275lb is too little unless your doctor has a good reason for rushing the weight off. You should probably talk to him real quick and ask why he wanted you to lose weight so fast (did he assume you would be sedentary and you started T25?).

    At 300lb, you could lose 2.5-3lb/week for a while and that would be fine. The high weight loss at the beginning is probably because you are eating close to a 4lb/week deficit + water weight. I would set MFP to a 2lb/week goal and not worry about eating back all of your exercise calories (I'd still eat back some). If you lose in the 2-2.5lb range for a while you should be fine. As you drop closer to 200lb you should eat back more of your exercise calories to reduce the rate of loss. Lift heavy things and eat lots of protein (1.2-1.6g/kg, or 125-150 grams) to maintain muscle mass.
  • PresBC
    PresBC Posts: 8 Member
    Thanks again everyone. I reworked my MyFitnessPal goals and it came out to 1740, which didn't really fall in line with what I'm hearing here, so I'm a bit confused. So far I do not eat back all of my workout calories, mainly because I figured working out was meant to aid the process by burning additional calories. Started at 295, and trying to get to 175 (tall order I'm sure, but aim high). I will say that I have bouts of crankiness in the mid afternoons quite regularly, so it does sound like either I should up my intake or be more strategic with my portions and times.
  • nordlead2005
    nordlead2005 Posts: 1,303 Member
    edited September 2015
    I'm guessing your activity level is set to sedentary? If you select lightly active I would guess it would come out closer to 2000.

    Also, monitor your weight for a few weeks (I like 6 weeks). If you are losing faster than you plan, then eat back more exercise calories or increase the activity level (whichever is appropriate).
  • XavierNusum
    XavierNusum Posts: 720 Member
    nordlead2005 wrote: »
    I'm 31, 5'11" and was 220lb to start. Over the first 6 weeks I ate 1750 calories/day and lost 11.9lb (1.98lb/week). After being tired of that I've upped my calories and over the past 6 weeks I've eaten 2000 calories/day and lost 8.8lb, or 1.46lb/week, and that includes a whole week of no exercise (vacation).

    Basically, 1500 calories for a 31 year old male at 275lb is too little unless your doctor has a good reason for rushing the weight off. You should probably talk to him real quick and ask why he wanted you to lose weight so fast (did he assume you would be sedentary and you started T25?).

    At 300lb, you could lose 2.5-3lb/week for a while and that would be fine. The high weight loss at the beginning is probably because you are eating close to a 4lb/week deficit + water weight. I would set MFP to a 2lb/week goal and not worry about eating back all of your exercise calories (I'd still eat back some). If you lose in the 2-2.5lb range for a while you should be fine. As you drop closer to 200lb you should eat back more of your exercise calories to reduce the rate of loss. Lift heavy things and eat lots of protein (1.2-1.6g/kg, or 125-150 grams) to maintain muscle mass.

    +1000
  • PresBC
    PresBC Posts: 8 Member
    Much appreciated folks, going to use this info to hopefully get myself sorted out and on the right track. Thanks again to all of you for helping a newbie out!
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