Losing weight too fast?

TheNightWalker
TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi.
Today morning March 20 I checked my weight as I often do and it was 74.3kg and that is probably with very low water retention as my weight was 75.1kg EXACTLY 25 hours earlier. Anyways, I checked the graph at Withings.com and at February 20 (29 days ago) my weight was 79.3. That means I've lost 5kg in 4 weeks which is on average 1.25kg weight loss a week. I've read a lot about that you shouldn't be losing more than 1kg a week at the most. Is it really bad if I'm losing 0.25kg more than that? I reckon that people that are very overweight could end up with a lot of loose skin if they lose fat too fast, but I wasn't very overweight at all when I started dieting. Now my BMI is just above 23, it was just above 25 a few months ago.
I'm eating between 1300-1500 calories a day. I had the limit at 1500 calories, but I adjusted it to 1300 a couple of days ago since I'm pretty sure I never got it a 100% accurate because of all the extra ingredients that are in a lot of my meals (often oil, some extra vegetables, herbs and stuff like that).

Also thinking about getting a blood test next time I visit the doctor in case I'm not getting enough vitamins and minerals.

Replies

  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
    You haven't mentioned what your daily calories are set to but I see your profile says your a 19yo male so I am guessing you are eating a lot less than MFP recommends. Its not uncommon to lose a bit more to start with AKA water weight, and also not uncommon for some of that to come back when you stop eating at a deficit.

    Recommended weight loss is about 1% or your body weight per week. A set value of 1kg isnt appropriate for everyone, a 200kg person can afford to lose more than 1kg but a 60kg person not so much.

    Your age is a positive factor and the fact you werent very overweight to start with when it comes to loose skin. But I think you need to rethink how little your eating.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    I did mention my calories, 1300-1500. I usually eat a lot of vegetables for dinner so I manage without starving. I also don't eat breakfast before about 1 PM. I'm quite far away from 60kg, but I see what you mean. I have to say that I mostly feel fine and don't feel very tired at all even though I'm not eating too much.
    1% of my weight would be about 0.75kg a week which does sound fine, I'm thinking about increasing my daily calorie limit the closer I get to my goal weight which is 65kg. Maybe increase it with 100 calories every other week starting from next week (or this) because I haven't experimented with my actual TDEE at all. I just set my limit to 1500 calories 1 month ago, when I started to count calories.
    Would that be a good way to do it especially for future goals when I'm gonna maintain a weight around 65kg or even add some for bulking?
  • thunder1982
    thunder1982 Posts: 280 Member
    What you didnt mention was what MFP says you should be eating to achieve x weight loss. For me to lose 0.5kg per week MFP recommends 1370 cal per day. It wont actually let me set a goal of 1kg per week, it stops at the min 1200 for a woman which is equal to about 0.7kg per week. I am set as sedentary due to desk job but I find that I am actually lightly active with my step count (3 kids will do that to you) so I generally can eat another 200 or so cal.

    I personally like the idea of eating at maintenance for what my goal weight is as that's how much food I need to get used to eating and its not too extreme. Your TDEE @ goal is at least 2100 (BMR 1700 or so @ goal) so you can certainly eat more and lose weight but at a slower pace, esp since you refer to bulking so not looking to lose lean mass which is what you'd be doing at the moment.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    Ah, I tried to set my goal to lose 1kg a week, but it only allows me to lose 2.3 kg in 5 weeks.
    Here is the whole thing:
    WG5bOKd.png
    So I'm basically burning 257 calories on 5 workouts every week, but I don't trust that number since I'm mostly lifting weights. Anyways, the net calories consumed is confusing me and I'm not even sure how to explain it. What would my actual calorie intake be? 1637 calories? How does that add up to losing only 2.3kg in 5 weeks?
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    if you are male you shouldnt be eating anything less than 1500 calories per day.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    Forgot to mention that I'm eating a lots of protein at the moment and even though my weight has gone down very fast, my strength has increased. I'm not lifting for mass yet, only strength.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    edited March 2016
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    if you are male you shouldnt be eating anything less than 1500 calories per day.
    I'm probably eating just around 1500 because of all the extra ingredients that is in my meals. Although I'm thinking about bumping my goal to 1400 because a safety margin of 200 calories seems to much.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    1400 is too low. if you arent sure of what you are eating try a food scale. if you are losing too fast you are losing lean muscle mass even though it seems like your weight has increased it wont stay like that for long eating less than your body burns just by being alive. Im sure your BMR is more than 1400. 1500 is the minimum for a male, and at your age you could probably eat more calories and still lose weight.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    edited March 2016
    I'm using a food scale, but I'm probably always eating more than I believe because I don't take into account every single ingredient that is in my meals. But maybe you're right, I can probably eat a lot more than 1500 calories to lose weight. I'm going to bump my goal up a little by little just to see how much, but losing 1.0kg a week is acceptable or what?
    I don't understand why MFP gives me such a low calorie intake and still only allows me to lose 2.3kg in 5 weeks. That's way too low imo. I could be happy with 3kg in 5 weeks.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited March 2016
    I weigh everything 98% of the time. even packaged food can be way off. also make sure all entries in MFP are accurate,as some entries are way off or missing some info. you can also set your MFP goals to lose a half to 1 lb a week(0.22kg-0.45kg a week). it will give you more to eat and the weight loss should be slower which is always the best way to go.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    The thing is that there´s about 10 weeks to the summer and I'd like to hit my goal within those 10 weeks which means I need to lose almost 1kg each week for the next 10 weeks :tongue:
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    edited March 2016
    TheNightWalker wrote: »
    The thing is that there´s about 10 weeks to the summer and I'd like to hit my goal within those 10 weeks which means I need to lose almost 1kg each week for the next 10 weeks :tongue:

    I just noticed you said you arent overweight, so why are you trying to lose weight? why not try eating at maintenance and doing a body recomp? you shouldnt gain and you can change how your body looks.start a progressive lifting program and go from there. If you are at a normal rate and BMI ,thats what I would do. sounds like you are at a healthy weight.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,331 Member
    You are a 19 year old male, unless you are really short, you can probably eat 2000 calories a day and lose weight. 1500 is the minimum, that means it is as low as you should go.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    CharlieBeansmomTracey wrote: »
    TheNightWalker wrote: »
    The thing is that there´s about 10 weeks to the summer and I'd like to hit my goal within those 10 weeks which means I need to lose almost 1kg each week for the next 10 weeks :tongue:

    I just noticed you said you arent overweight, so why are you trying to lose weight? why not try eating at maintenance and doing a body recomp? you shouldnt gain and you can change how your body looks.start a progressive lifting program and go from there. If you are at a normal rate and BMI ,thats what I would do. sounds like you are at a healthy weight.

    Because I still have a lot of body fat. I'm not medically overweight anymore, but I was a few weeks ago so instantly starting to maintain weight isn't that practical. My goal is 65 kg and at that my BMI will be 20.52 which I think is just perfect. But I have no idea how I'm going to look at 65 kg so I might stop earlier if I'm getting to thin. After that I'm just going to maintain and maybe start bulking, but I'm not sure if I want to lift for mass yet. Currently only lifting for strength.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    rileysowner wrote: »
    You are a 19 year old male, unless you are really short, you can probably eat 2000 calories a day and lose weight. 1500 is the minimum, that means it is as low as you should go.

    Almost 180 cm so I'm just average. But yeah, should probably start eating more.
  • CharlieBeansmomTracey
    CharlieBeansmomTracey Posts: 7,682 Member
    TheNightWalker wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    You are a 19 year old male, unless you are really short, you can probably eat 2000 calories a day and lose weight. 1500 is the minimum, that means it is as low as you should go.

    Almost 180 cm so I'm just average. But yeah, should probably start eating more.

    yeah you definitely can eat more.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,331 Member
    TheNightWalker wrote: »
    rileysowner wrote: »
    You are a 19 year old male, unless you are really short, you can probably eat 2000 calories a day and lose weight. 1500 is the minimum, that means it is as low as you should go.

    Almost 180 cm so I'm just average. But yeah, should probably start eating more.

    I am 178 cm and almost 50 years old and I lose about 2 pounds a week at 2100 calories a day. You can and should eat a lot more. Eating this way has likely already eaten into your lean mass, and putting off eating an appropriate amount will just eat into more lean mass.
  • nutmegoreo
    nutmegoreo Posts: 15,532 Member
    I suggest increasing you cals and lose more slowly. Here's the thing. You are no longer overweight and your body can only burn so much from fat, the rest it will take from muscle. Getting stronger from lifting is not the same as building muscle. You are training your muscles to be more effective at lifting the weights which is why you can lift more. When you are not eating enough, your body will continue to burn the set amount of fat, and will take the rest from your muscle. Essentially, what is likely to happen by trying to lose too rapidly is that you will end up with a smaller version of your existing body. Slow the loss, keep lifting, and the ratio of fat loss to muscle loss with lead to a more favorable outcome. As a comparison, as a 5'2" woman in her 40s, I can lose nearly 2lb/week eating 1600 cals.
  • TheNightWalker
    TheNightWalker Posts: 59 Member
    When I think about it, my lean mass has been decreasing a little bit on my Withings scale even though I feel and look stronger, BUT I guess this is because I'm working on my upper body multiple times a week, but the rest of my body is suffering, especially my legs I reckon since I haven't had a leg day for two weeks.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,331 Member
    TheNightWalker wrote: »
    When I think about it, my lean mass has been decreasing a little bit on my Withings scale even though I feel and look stronger, BUT I guess this is because I'm working on my upper body multiple times a week, but the rest of my body is suffering, especially my legs I reckon since I haven't had a leg day for two weeks.

    Your Withing scale will not be an accurate measure of your body fat% or the lean mass related to that. There are just too many things to skew the results of those types of scales. I have one that measures body fat% as well, but as I researched it more and more I realize how useless that number was. Don't trust it. At the deficit you are at, one that is extreme based on your weight loss speed and how much you have to lose, you are losing lean mass, far more than you should be. The fact that you are not following a full body program and neglecting legs is yet another problem. For now it is a matter of at your height and age you should be eating far more and you are not doing yourself any favors not doing so. Since I don't feel like writing it again here is what I posted in another thread as to why losing weight too fast is bad.
    I have a bit more time so I am going to write a longer explanation of why a 2 pound per week goal is excessive, and sometimes even 1 pound per week will be as well.

    The reality is that a person's body can only burn a certain maximum amount of fat per day regardless of calorie deficit. The amount an individual can burn is directly related to how much fat they have on their body so he more fat you have, the higher the maximum amount of fat you can burn in a day is. Keep this in mind because it is important to understanding what happens based on your calorie deficit. The more fat you have the more you can burn in a day. The less you have, the less you can burn in a day.

    So what does that have to do with calorie deficits and weekly weight loss goals? A great deal if you think about it. If the maximum amount of fat you can burn off in a day is limited, then what happens when you deficit is larger than that amount of fat, or to put it differently, what happens if you weight loss goal per week is greater than the maximum amount of fat you can burn off in in week?

    Quite obviously the energy to keep your body functioning needs to come from somewhere. The problem is your body cannot get it all from fat. To make up the difference it goes elsewhere, that is, it starts to burn off lean mass. This would mainly be from muscle mass, but can also come from organ mass as well. Instead of losing two pounds a week of mainly fat, what you achieve by too big a calorie deficit or too aggressive a weekly weight loss goal is a loss of some fat up to the maximum your body can burn off along with a chunk of lean mass. The more fat you lose without reducing your deficit or weight loss goal, the more that ratio swings away from mainly fat toward mainly lean mass.

    The take home from this is that the less you have to lose, the lower your weight loss goal per week should be. Unless a person has 80 or more pounds to lose, 2 pounds per week is too aggressive which is why 1 pound per week is the recommended weight loss goal. For people who have under 20 pounds to lose, even 1 pound per week is too aggressive, so half a pound per week would be a much better choice.

    It is for this reason based on the information you gave that I suggested that 2 pounds per week is too much. Depending on your body composition you may even want to go to .75 or .5 pound per week which will give you more calories. Also realize when you go to a smaller deficit you need to make sure you food logging is spot on. There is little room for error at that point. A digital kitchen scale measuring in grams for solids including those that are grated and ground, and fluid measures for liquids that you don't have grams amounts for.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,331 Member
    TheNightWalker wrote: »
    Ah, I tried to set my goal to lose 1kg a week, but it only allows me to lose 2.3 kg in 5 weeks.
    Here is the whole thing:
    WG5bOKd.png
    So I'm basically burning 257 calories on 5 workouts every week, but I don't trust that number since I'm mostly lifting weights. Anyways, the net calories consumed is confusing me and I'm not even sure how to explain it. What would my actual calorie intake be? 1637 calories? How does that add up to losing only 2.3kg in 5 weeks?

    That intended exercise calories number is not factored into the goal MFP gives you. That is why when you log workouts your calories go up. Still, as stated, 1 kilo or 2 pounds a week is far too much for you to be losing at your current weight.
  • rileysowner
    rileysowner Posts: 8,331 Member
    Just to see what would be more realistic put your numbers into this http://scoobysworkshop.com/calorie-calculator/

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