How does losing more than two pounds per week affect your health?

Hair loss, low energy, nutritional deficiencies, headaches, dizziness, weakness, hormone imbalances, and weakened bones are some of the others.

Very large people can probably safely lose more than two pounds a week at the beginning of their weight loss without facing these risks. For others, it can be risky.

Depends on how much weight one has to lose - if over 100 pounds, more than 2#/wk wouldn't be an issue, depending on how much more than 100 and how much more than 2.

But if one has much less weight to lose then it could indeed be a problem. And because of the hair growth cycle, side effects like hair loss won't show up until months after the time of undereating.

What Are the Risks of Rapid Weight Loss?

Rapid weight loss creates physical demands on the body. Possible serious risks include:

• Gallstones, which occur in 12% to 25% of people losing large amounts of weight over several months
• Dehydration, which can be avoided by drinking plenty of fluids
• Malnutrition, usually from not eating enough protein for weeks at a time
• Electrolyte imbalances, which rarely can be life threatening

Other side effects of rapid weight loss include:

• Headaches
• Irritability
• Fatigue
• Dizziness
• Constipation
• Menstrual irregularities
• Hair loss
• Muscle loss

2 Lbs per week is a 1,000 calorie per day deficit, which is pretty huge...a larger deficit is going to make it much more difficult to meet nutrient requirements. Also, it doesn't result in muscle loss in some...the steeper the deficit, the more muscle loss you're going to experience as their is a limit as to how much fat you can oxidize for fuel in a period of time.

Also, you can look around here and see the multiple threads with people losing their hair, loss of menstrual cycles, etc. When your body is substantially energy (calorie) deprived, it starts shutting down "non-essential" functions to become more efficient to compensate for the huge energy deficit.

Your starting point also matters...someone with a ton of weight to lose will be able to lose faster for awhile without much issue...someone leaner is going to have an onslaught of issues much sooner.

VLCDs should be done only under the supervision of medical professionals.

LAT1963 wrote: »

1% of body weight or 2 lbs a week, whichever is greater, is okay.

Think you said that wrong. Whichever is LESS. I'm 245ish, so 1% would be 2.5 lbs and more than the suggested 2 lbs.