Why do I lose weight so fast?
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one caveat about exercise calories--if you are using an activity monitor, some brands report the total calories you burned during exercise, whereas others report the calories above baseline that you burned with exercise. So, for example, I could do an 700 calorie hike on runkeeper (basal metabolism + exercise), whereas my polar might report it as 700 calories - 400 'negative adjustment' because 400 of those calories were burned just because I was alive and breathing for those 2 hours (or however long). The exercise bought me only 300 "extra" calories, not 700.
MFP has already included basal metabolic calories when determining daily targets. So if I'm going to eat back my exercise calories, I need to make sure I'm only eating back the portion that is *above* my basal needs.3 -
cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.2 -
cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.
Why? She says she is eating 1200 calories per day, which is the minimum recommended for women.0 -
TimothyFish wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.
Why? She says she is eating 1200 calories per day, which is the minimum recommended for women.
she said she "started eating about 1200 calories a day" - no indication if she is eating back workout calories; info on how she is determining etc (scoop vs weighing in g)1 -
TimothyFish wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.
Why? She says she is eating 1200 calories per day, which is the minimum recommended for women.
So she's good to go burn 500 calories on a run only eating 1200 calories? (I'm not saying this is a likely scenario, and in fact, OP didn't specify how much she was exercising or if she was eating any back, but if she has a history of losing that fast at her size, she is not netting enough calories.)3 -
I was always a "quick fix" "diet" kinda girl and now I just realize they were all fad diets and I just gained all the weight back just as quickly as I lost it - maybe water weight or maybe simply not sustainable. Now im trying to go the proper route on MFP. I think slow and steady is the way to go.0
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cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.
We have no idea if OP is logging accurately, either.0 -
cerise_noir wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.
We have no idea if OP is logging accurately, either.
No, we don't. I'm going by the fact she lost 20 lbs in a month on her last weight loss attempt, and seems to be approaching things in the same way.3 -
that's water weight. you can't lose fat in 1 day0
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that's water weight. you can't lose fat in 1 day
Actually OP didn't specify how long she has been trying to lose weight currently. If it's within the last week, much of it likely has been water weight. But she said she did the same thing a few months ago and lost 20 lbs in a month, so I am inclined to think she is crash dieting each time.1 -
cerise_noir wrote: »cerise_noir wrote: »zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
Before you take the advice to eat more; how long have you been doing this? If it is 2 weeks or under them leave your calories where they are. You're losing water weight, especially if you have reduced carbs and sodium as well as calories.
If it has been a month and you're still losing fast (and using food scale as well as logging accurately), increase your calories.
But if she's netting less than 1200 by not eating back any exercise calories, she needs to increase her calories anyway.
We have no idea if OP is logging accurately, either.
No, we don't. I'm going by the fact she lost 20 lbs in a month on her last weight loss attempt, and seems to be approaching things in the same way.
I lost 13lbs in 2 weeks (water weight). At the beginning of my weight loss journey, I lost around 20lbs due to water weight as well. I'm not sure I caught the time frame of the loss. If she was losing 20lbs of fat/muscle a month, her daily deficit would be around 2500... that's why I was wondering. Crash diet for a month, perhaps?1 -
1lb fast is water weight. 2lbs fast is water weight. 5 lbs fast is water weight.
10lbs? 20lbs? I don't think so. At some point there is more than water weight.
A huge deficit created by under-eating and over-exercising throwing you in a VLCD situation and significantly affecting your hormonal levels... much more likely.
"There was group × time interaction in serum concentrations of leptin, testosterone, T3 (p < 0.001), and estradiol (p < 0.01; Figures 3A–D). This was shown as decreases in these hormones due to the diet when compared to the control group. Leptin and estradiol (Figures 3A,C) increased back to baseline while T3 (Figures 3D, 4) and testosterone (Figure 3B) remained slightly, but significantly below the baseline even after the recovery period"
<my note: recovery period was 3-4 months with weight regain>
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2016.00689/full
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that's water weight. you can't lose fat in 1 day
Actually OP didn't specify how long she has been trying to lose weight currently. If it's within the last week, much of it likely has been water weight. But she said she did the same thing a few months ago and lost 20 lbs in a month, so I am inclined to think she is crash dieting each time.
she stated she was losing 1-2 pounds a day0 -
zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »Yes I'm trying to lose weight, the problem is I lose weight so fast. I am about 155 lbs at the moment, I'm trying to get to 130. Well I started eating about 1200 calories a day and exercising daily and now I'm losing about 1-2 lbs a day. I know that's not healthy and I don't want to lose it that fast. A couple months back I did the same thing, was at 155 lbs and lost 20 lbs in about a month. The reason why I don't want to lose weight fast is because I gain it back so fast and I don't want that to happen again. Why does that happen? What do I do?
And you've been doing this, how long exactly?
In my first 4 days, I lost 1 pound a day. Then I sat around the same weight for nearly 2 weeks.0 -
1lb fast is water weight. 2lbs fast is water weight. 5 lbs fast is water weight.
10lbs? 20lbs? I don't think so. At some point there is more than water weight.
A huge deficit created by under-eating and over-exercising throwing you in a VLCD situation and significantly affecting your hormonal levels... much more likely.
"There was group × time interaction in serum concentrations of leptin, testosterone, T3 (p < 0.001), and estradiol (p < 0.01; Figures 3A–D). This was shown as decreases in these hormones due to the diet when compared to the control group. Leptin and estradiol (Figures 3A,C) increased back to baseline while T3 (Figures 3D, 4) and testosterone (Figure 3B) remained slightly, but significantly below the baseline even after the recovery period"
<my note: recovery period was 3-4 months with weight regain>
http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphys.2016.00689/full
Thank you! I was starting to wonder if I was on the same thread as others.
Yes, OP, if you have started your diet in the last few days, most of what you're seeing on the scale is water loss, especially if you are restricting carbs as part of your efforts (and conversely, when you re-introduce carbs, you will see your weight spike). But if you are eating the same way you did to lose 20 lbs in a month, you are not eating enough. With only 25 lbs to lose, you should be pursuing no more that a 1 lb/week goal and eating back part of your exercise calories (assuming your logging is accurate).2 -
I’d second what others have said: Losing weight very fast for the first week or two is probably mainly a water weight adjustment, and not a big problem.
But if the loss rate stays very fast, I can think of at least 3 ways that could contribute to rapid regain:- Muscle loss: Under most conditions, a calorie deficit will result in loss of both stored fat and some lean body mass. Part of that lean body mass may be muscle.
Our bodies can only metabolize a certain amount of fat per day (per pound of fat on our body). If we lose at too rapid a rate, we run the risk of losing relatively more muscle along with the fat.
Each pound of muscle on our bodies requires slightly more calories to maintain it than does each pound of remaining fat. So, a 120-pound person with 20 pounds of fat will require a few more maintenance calories than a same-weight person with 30 pounds of fat.
Losing weight rapidly, regaining, and repeating that process will tend over time to result in a body with more fat and less muscle at any given weight, one that requires a lower maintenance calorie level that is harder to stick to, increasing chances that we’ll regain. - Learning habits: A gradual weight loss process allows us to experiment with calorie levels that are closer to the level we’ll need to eat when we reach goal and need to maintain our new weight. Ideally, we can use the weight loss phase to learn what combination of foods (and macronutrients) is most satiating for us, and what timing of our eating keeps us most satisfied.
If one loses slowly, tapers off the weight loss rate gradually as goal approaches, and uses that learning opportunity, transitioning to maintenance becomes a matter of adding an extra snack, or replacing some low-fat dairy food with full-fat, rather than eating a whole new way.
By toughing it out for a quick, very-low-calorie rapid weight loss, most people would have to use ways of eating that they aren’t willing to continue forever, thus give up that learning opportunity, and making the transition to successful weight maintenance more difficult. - Hormonal effects: PAV8888 went into more technical detail about this above. The basic idea is that rapid weight loss is more likely to disrupt our hunger/satiation/stress hormones, and make us more likely to over-eat when we return to a higher calorie level.
Slower than that is fine. Faster, in general, is going to be riskier
7 - Muscle loss: Under most conditions, a calorie deficit will result in loss of both stored fat and some lean body mass. Part of that lean body mass may be muscle.
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fitmom4lifemfp wrote: »
It's sort of silly to be debating info we don't have, especially since she doesn't seem as interested in it as we are. I was just going by what I read.1 -
I've been been on my diet currently for about a week and I'm already down to 148lbs (started off at 155) and no I don't eat back my exercise calories. I kind of get a little too excited when I see that I'm losing weight fast so I try not eating more than my 1200 calories. I know it's it's risky but I might just start eating back my excerise calorie like everyone say.0
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zaynesmommy2015 wrote: »I've been been on my diet currently for about a week and I'm already down to 148lbs (started off at 155) and no I don't eat back my exercise calories. I kind of get a little too excited when I see that I'm losing weight fast so I try not eating more than my 1200 calories. I know it's it's risky but I might just start eating back my excerise calorie like everyone say.
so actually you're happy to crash diet every time!?2
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