Losing Weight too Quickly?
srecupid
Posts: 660 Member
OK I used loseit for two weeks before switching to MFP for the last 3. I'm a 5'10 male and started at 255. When I started using mfp i clocked in at 246 on october 5th. The 12th I was 243.4 On the 19th I was 240.4 and Today I was 235 exactly. All of these are on mondays first thing in the morning. My settings are 1.5lbs per week and sedentary. But, I do do have a part time job 25-26 hours a week were maybe 1/3 the time I'm pushing shopping carts at the local grocery store. On my days off I try to get my 10k steps in by walking around the neighborhood. Also I try to stop short of the 1800 calories I'm allotted in case I accidentally went over in my log somewhere else. Finally I've cut back on sodium as much as possible. I heard I'm only supposed to aim for 2lbs per week max and when I doubled it last week I got kinda worried. Should I be worried?
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Sometimes people lose more weight at first, so it may not be anything that should worry you. If it continues, I'd change things up to slow it down.
Given that your BMI is in the obese range, presuming you aren't far more muscular than average, you could also aim for about a 1% loss per week, which would be a little more than two pounds. 3.7 pounds per week isn't really sustainable.0 -
Nope, it's normal to drop weight quicker at first when you have more to lose.0
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and you may be blessed with a quick metabolism! Hey, go with it!0
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I had that issue for the first three months of my weight loss. i was losing faster than I expected. I was eating for a 1.5 lb loss and losing 2 or 3 lbs. It eventually slowed, and I added back a few calories.
I wouldn't worry about staying under 1800 kcal. I would try to usually meet that goal. It sounds like you could add a few calories if you wanted.0 -
Use 1% as your cap. For you, that is slightly over 2lb/week, and you are closer to 3.6lb/week. As others stated, it is common to lose more off the start, also it isn't uncommon to have weight fluctuations (I lost 3lb 2 weeks ago, and 1lb this week and I'm aiming for 1.5lb/week). So give it time as no real harm has come at this point. Just use this information for future adjustments. Keep accurate records so you can look back over 4, 6, or 8-week periods so you can adjust what you are doing.
Odds are though, that you aren't sedentary and it sounds like you aren't eating back exercise calories (10k steps by walking around the neighborhood). I work a desk job and log/eat all of my exercise and I'm lightly active and I rarely hit 10k steps unless I play Ultimate or go for a walk/run. I'm right on the money for actual weight loss vs projected weight loss, but I also try to adjust when I'm not getting the expected results.
If you continue to lose too fast, then increase your activity level to lightly active in MFP to get a new calculation. Also try logging exercise activities and eating back more of those calories.0 -
and you may be blessed with a quick metabolism! Hey, go with it!
Would be nice to believe but, more likely not taking exercise into the equation and sometimes overestimating meals rather than risk underestimating is leading to faster than expected results. I also did order a pound of green tea and have been drinking alot but, I doubt that does much. I may need to adjust for 1lb a week and eat as close to the limit as i can without going over and see what happens. I have a week off in a few weeks maybe I'll see what happens when I eat as closely as possible to mfp says and actually be sedentary.0 -
That's the kind of response that tends to make me think "this guy is going to succeed."and you may be blessed with a quick metabolism! Hey, go with it!
Would be nice to believe but, more likely not taking exercise into the equation and sometimes overestimating meals rather than risk underestimating is leading to faster than expected results. I also did order a pound of green tea and have been drinking alot but, I doubt that does much. I may need to adjust for 1lb a week and eat as close to the limit as i can without going over and see what happens. I have a week off in a few weeks maybe I'll see what happens when I eat as closely as possible to mfp says and actually be sedentary.0 -
DeguelloTex wrote: »
That's the kind of response that tends to make me think "this guy is going to succeed."and you may be blessed with a quick metabolism! Hey, go with it!
Would be nice to believe but, more likely not taking exercise into the equation and sometimes overestimating meals rather than risk underestimating is leading to faster than expected results. I also did order a pound of green tea and have been drinking alot but, I doubt that does much. I may need to adjust for 1lb a week and eat as close to the limit as i can without going over and see what happens. I have a week off in a few weeks maybe I'll see what happens when I eat as closely as possible to mfp says and actually be sedentary.
Yeah I've tried this before and it failed. I'm getting sick of it. But, thankfully MFP and stuff like these forums and the loseit reddit exist now. So much easier to stay motivated when there are other people doing the same thing0 -
The only thing somewhat 'worrisome' I see in your opening post, is that you are intentionally stopping short of your calorie goal.
I understand incorporating a little 'wiggle room' for logging errors, but at your size, age and activity level, 1800 calories is a pretty aggressive calorie goal to begin with. You could probably bump that up by 300-500 calories per day and still lose at a relatively steady rate.
Based on what you've said, if I were in your shoes, I'd probably start by at least hitting the 1800 calories per day - even if you have a few minor errors, you're not likely to stop losing. And after a few weeks, if you're still losing 'too quickly' - maybe adjust your goal up a couple hundred calories per day.0 -
OK I won't stop at 1600 just for margin of error. I'll have some extra almonds or something if I'm short and see what happens0
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I was 'supposed' to lose around 8 lbs per month (When I was on Weight Watchers..). In my first month, I lost around 13 lbs. It's just that first initial whoosh which is totally, totally normal (and quite nice to see
) Don't worry! 0 -
OK I won't stop at 1600 just for margin of error. I'll have some extra almonds or something if I'm short and see what happens
Honestly, I interpreted stopping short of 1800 as being closer to 1750 and just not eating the last few calories. If you are consistently shorting yourself 200 calories for errors, then yeah, that will contribute to extra weight loss (0.4lb/week).
Just as a reference (and again I'll use myself). If I eat 1800 + exercise calories I lose 1.5lb/week and I'm 5'11" and weigh 184lb. And I have a desk job and often log any walking (outside) that I can as exercise just so I can eat more. You are shorter, but bigger than me and sound more active outside of exercise. If I were to estimate, I would say you should be eating ~2000 calories + exercise calories to lose ~2lb/week. This mostly agrees with your current weight loss (an extra 1.6lb/week means you can eat ~800 calories more than you currently are, or 2400-2600 calories/day to lose 2lb/week).0 -
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Wow that seems super doable. Yeah I've been stopping short by at least 100 and I probably overestimate some stuff by a decent margin because, i couldn't find exact thing in the database and take a close proximity and add 25% to be safe. Here is my 7 day averages on fitbit and I don't eat back any exercise calories or link it to MFP because I wanted to error on the side of caution.nordlead2005 wrote: »OK I won't stop at 1600 just for margin of error. I'll have some extra almonds or something if I'm short and see what happens
Honestly, I interpreted stopping short of 1800 as being closer to 1750 and just not eating the last few calories. If you are consistently shorting yourself 200 calories for errors, then yeah, that will contribute to extra weight loss (0.4lb/week).
Just as a reference (and again I'll use myself). If I eat 1800 + exercise calories I lose 1.5lb/week and I'm 5'11" and weigh 184lb. And I have a desk job and often log any walking (outside) that I can as exercise just so I can eat more. You are shorter, but bigger than me and sound more active outside of exercise. If I were to estimate, I would say you should be eating ~2000 calories + exercise calories to lose ~2lb/week. This mostly agrees with your current weight loss (an extra 1.6lb/week means you can eat ~800 calories more than you currently are, or 2400-2600 calories/day to lose 2lb/week).
and this is my MFP charts so maybe I'm not eating 200 less each day but, definitely less than the 1860 they suggest 
Should I maybe link to my fitbit but, only eat back half?
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Well I went and set my activity level to lighly active and it gave me 2100 calories. But according to even the BMR calculator on this site that is below my BMR which is kinda scary to me. I still don't plan to eat back exercise calories because the measurements are too inprecise. I just don't want to get unhealthy in the quest to get healthy. I got my 10k steps in today already and I get 10k pretty much every day I work without anything extra. So I hope this works out better. Though it would be nice to lose 5lbs a week forever. By the way is it possible to set your calorie budget manually in the app or do you have to use the one provided?0
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I think you've gotten some great advice here from everyone.
I'd just add: you're doing awesome! Seems like you are very committed to doing it right, asking for help/support, and making changes to daily habits. Good luck, follow their advice & keep it up!!0 -
By the way is it possible to set your calorie budget manually in the app or do you have to use the one provided?
Yes, you can manually adjust goals.
Go under the menu for Goals, then Nutrition Goals, and you'll see Calories & Macro adjustments. You manually enter your cal target here, but it will reset/change your other goals.
I change my target goals as I'm losing or gaining weight and adjust accordingly.
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Thank you for that. I see that I can also set daily goals so for days when I plan on sitting on my butt all day I can manually adjust it down to sedentary level. Definitely going to give it a run I just bought the premium version I feel like I have even more motivation to keep going now.0
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There is nothing wrong with eating below BMR. If you are lightly active and have a 2lb/week goal you will probably eat below BMR if you don't exercise that day (following the MFP method).
Also, I wouldn't over complicate it. If you are normally lightly active, then don't bother to adjust down days to "sedentary". It'll hopefully even out in the long run with days where you were more active but didn't "exercise". I only set individual days if I'm transitioning between weight loss goals in the middle of my week (typically between weight loss and maintenance).
Again, try what you suggest, just compare the results vs the plan and adjust accordingly.0 -
Make sure you have negative calorie adjustments enabled so on inactive days you dont over eat, other then that there is no reason to worry about anything you got going on. Your numbers look great to me.0
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jeepinshawn wrote: »Make sure you have negative calorie adjustments enabled so on inactive days you dont over eat, other then that there is no reason to worry about anything you got going on. Your numbers look great to me.
Do you mean exercise calories? Because I turned that off. So the only 2 parts of the equation is Budget-Food Eaten. I'm trying to count exercise as bonus and eating a little more if necessary.0 -
jeepinshawn wrote: »Make sure you have negative calorie adjustments enabled so on inactive days you dont over eat, other then that there is no reason to worry about anything you got going on. Your numbers look great to me.
Do you mean exercise calories? Because I turned that off. So the only 2 parts of the equation is Budget-Food Eaten. I'm trying to count exercise as bonus and eating a little more if necessary.
Negative calorie adjustments are the opposite of exercise calories. If you have an activity tracker connected to your account, negative adjustments remove calories from your daily allotment if you move LESS than your activity level calls for (example: I tell MFP I am active, but I spend the day on the couch watching TV and only meet the activity requirement for sedentary. As a result, MFP subtracts the extra calories from my day so I don't overeat on days when I move less).0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »jeepinshawn wrote: »Make sure you have negative calorie adjustments enabled so on inactive days you dont over eat, other then that there is no reason to worry about anything you got going on. Your numbers look great to me.
Do you mean exercise calories? Because I turned that off. So the only 2 parts of the equation is Budget-Food Eaten. I'm trying to count exercise as bonus and eating a little more if necessary.
Negative calorie adjustments are the opposite of exercise calories. If you have an activity tracker connected to your account, negative adjustments remove calories from your daily allotment if you move LESS than your activity level calls for (example: I tell MFP I am active, but I spend the day on the couch watching TV and only meet the activity requirement for sedentary. As a result, MFP subtracts the extra calories from my day so I don't overeat on days when I move less).
Wow this app is so complex0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »jeepinshawn wrote: »Make sure you have negative calorie adjustments enabled so on inactive days you dont over eat, other then that there is no reason to worry about anything you got going on. Your numbers look great to me.
Do you mean exercise calories? Because I turned that off. So the only 2 parts of the equation is Budget-Food Eaten. I'm trying to count exercise as bonus and eating a little more if necessary.
Negative calorie adjustments are the opposite of exercise calories. If you have an activity tracker connected to your account, negative adjustments remove calories from your daily allotment if you move LESS than your activity level calls for (example: I tell MFP I am active, but I spend the day on the couch watching TV and only meet the activity requirement for sedentary. As a result, MFP subtracts the extra calories from my day so I don't overeat on days when I move less).
Wow this app is so complex
I felt that way at first too! It's totally okay to focus on it in small parts in the beginning. Many of us started just by paying attention to our calories in and getting to know that part of the program. I began with tracking calories and then moved on to tracking activity when I felt ready. You don't have to master everything right away -- just figuring out how to log calorie intake accurately is a huge step.0 -
BTW where is that setting can't find it anywhere? And how does it work on days when I work until close but sit on my *kitten* playing video games until my shot starts like today?0
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BTW where is that setting can't find it anywhere? And how does it work on days when I work until close but sit on my *kitten* playing video games until my shot starts like today?
Are you on the website? It's under Account Settings/Diary Settings. It only works if you have an activity tracker synced to your account. If you are inactive for the first part of the day, it will subtract calories and then "give them back" when you begin moving more. If you know that you will be moving more (like a day when you work later), you can simply go ahead and eat them anyway (since you know you'll be getting them back later).
Example: I usually wake up at 6 AM, but the other day I slept until 9 AM. I had moved a lot less than usual, so when I woke up, MFP had already subtracted about 80 calories from my daily allowance. But I got up, walked the dogs, and began the rest of my normal activities. Within an hour or so, I was right back where I would usually be on an "average day."0 -
So, you aren't eating all of your calories and you are worried about losing too fast? Why don't you try eating all of your calories?0
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Im guessing your progress will slow, mine did. I honestly dropped 20lbs in my first two weeks of counting calories. I had a lot to lose though and it definitely slowed down. Go ahead and eat your calories, just make sure you're being accurate. Measure foods and double check entries for accuracy. Then you wont be going over
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janejellyroll wrote: »BTW where is that setting can't find it anywhere? And how does it work on days when I work until close but sit on my *kitten* playing video games until my shot starts like today?
Are you on the website? It's under Account Settings/Diary Settings. It only works if you have an activity tracker synced to your account. If you are inactive for the first part of the day, it will subtract calories and then "give them back" when you begin moving more. If you know that you will be moving more (like a day when you work later), you can simply go ahead and eat them anyway (since you know you'll be getting them back later).
Example: I usually wake up at 6 AM, but the other day I slept until 9 AM. I had moved a lot less than usual, so when I woke up, MFP had already subtracted about 80 calories from my daily allowance. But I got up, walked the dogs, and began the rest of my normal activities. Within an hour or so, I was right back where I would usually be on an "average day."
Thanks don't know why there are settings on the website and not on the app. Anyway I think this fitbit thing is kinda garbage now anyway. Keeps refusing to sync even after restarts etc. Maybe Ill pair it to my other phone to see if it's any better.0 -
janejellyroll wrote: »BTW where is that setting can't find it anywhere? And how does it work on days when I work until close but sit on my *kitten* playing video games until my shot starts like today?
Are you on the website? It's under Account Settings/Diary Settings. It only works if you have an activity tracker synced to your account. If you are inactive for the first part of the day, it will subtract calories and then "give them back" when you begin moving more. If you know that you will be moving more (like a day when you work later), you can simply go ahead and eat them anyway (since you know you'll be getting them back later).
Example: I usually wake up at 6 AM, but the other day I slept until 9 AM. I had moved a lot less than usual, so when I woke up, MFP had already subtracted about 80 calories from my daily allowance. But I got up, walked the dogs, and began the rest of my normal activities. Within an hour or so, I was right back where I would usually be on an "average day."
Thanks don't know why there are settings on the website and not on the app. Anyway I think this fitbit thing is kinda garbage now anyway. Keeps refusing to sync even after restarts etc. Maybe Ill pair it to my other phone to see if it's any better.
It may be on the app, I just use the website for stuff like this more. I'm honestly not sure.0
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