Please review my diet (lost too much too fast?!?)

cyprant
cyprant Posts: 14 Member
edited November 18 in Health and Weight Loss
Here's my story how I lost 35 lbs in 23 days eating 1800 calories a day. I know this is too much weight too fast, but why? I am eating enough calories arnt I? I started at 275 and within about 3 weeks I lost 35lbs. I'm a 6'1" male 31 years old.

My old eating habits included eating 2 meals a day. Once about 2pm and again at 8pm. These meals would include one of the following: a frozen pizza, burrito, 5 beef tacos, 3 burgers and fries, gyro plate with 2 pitas, box of Mac and cheese, etc.


My new diet:

Breakfast: 2/3 cup steel cut oats with cinnamon and stevia OR 4 eggs.

Snack: 2 pieces of fruit.

Lunch: 5 cups spring mix/spinach with 8 ounces grilled cicken seasoned with Mrs. Dash.

Snack: 18 almonds or protein bar.

Dinner: 8 ounces turkey meatballs (homemade) seasoned with Mrs. Dash. 20 spears asparagus. Salad with whatever veggies I want.

Snack: 3 cups skinny pop seasoned with mrs. Dash. Or sunshine frozen bar

I cut out all dairy, gluten, and really watched my sodium. Drank 120 ounces of water a day (or more) also the only type of salad dressing I was using was fresh salsa.

I did not do any extra exercising at all.

Is anything here unhealthy?

I felt great, had more energy than ever, felt happier and was sleeping better. I also didn't have any cravings for bread, sugar, or fatty foods like I used to...

Replies

  • Blitzia
    Blitzia Posts: 205 Member
    In general, yes, 35 pounds in 23 days is an unhealthy rate of loss, and at your height and weight, 1800 calories might be a little low if you exercise a lot and don't eat back those calories. There are a couple of caveats though:

    1. How positive are you that you were 275 when you started? Is it possible you might have been a little less?
    2. How consistent is your weight? Have you checked it over many days and consistently seen 240 lbs? Your weight can fluctuate by several pounds due to differences in retaining water, food passing through your system, etc.
    3. You should see if this trend continues before you panic. It's not unusual to drop a lot of weight at your first weighin just because of the change to your system. Your weight loss should level out to a consistent 1-2 pounds per week. This week, are you still losing a pound a day or is your weight starting to stabilize?
  • allyphoe
    allyphoe Posts: 618 Member
    You're fine. You lost a bunch of water weight initially. If your rate of loss doesn't slow down in the next couple of months, take another look. But large initial losses aren't unusual.
  • Sara2652
    Sara2652 Posts: 158 Member
    I would think thats low on the calorie intake however if you are feeling good and not feeling deprived I don't see why it would be a problem. I'd take it and just not feel too shocked if it slows down quite a bit in the future.
  • cyprant
    cyprant Posts: 14 Member
    edited May 2017
    Thanks for the reply Bilitza, To answer your questions.

    I am positive that I was 275lbs. (I weigh in every morning)

    My weight was steady climbing about 1 lbs every 3 weeks until I started my diet (my "normal" weight was about 265. I decided to change my life when I was seeing 275 on the scale)

    My weight loss did slow down at 240. But I don't know to what degree because I quit my healthy eating 1 year ago (stupid) because I went camping for 2 weeks and just fell off the wagon because of convenience. Grrr! I gained weight over the last 12 months back to 273 and I am back on this eating plan. And have now lost 12 lbs in 8 days now...

  • cyprant
    cyprant Posts: 14 Member
    What should by net calories be if 1800 is too low? I usually don't eat back my exercise calories, but I will starting today...
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    If it was the beginning of your weight loss effort and you went from the before food to the after food and cut sodium way down, the weight you lost so quickly would have been about half water, 40% fat, and 10% muscle.

    If you're not proud of losing muscle, do deliberately begin now to lift progressively heavy weights.
  • JeromeBarry1
    JeromeBarry1 Posts: 10,179 Member
    cyprant wrote: »
    What should by net calories be if 1800 is too low? I usually don't eat back my exercise calories, but I will starting today...

    In your opening post you indicated that you did no exercising. Now you say you do exercising. I'm confused. What sort of exercising are you doing? If you are lifting heavy 3x per week, you don't get to claim a lot of exercise calories as that isn't aerobic exercise. If you are lifting heavy 3x per week, you do need to eat 1 gram of protein for each lb of your body weight in order to give your muscles the building blocks they need to grow.
    If you are doing cardio, you burn a lot of calories and earn some extra bites of food, but that doesn't do squat for your need to lift heavy.

    I started losing weight at 272.4 in January of last year. I saw all the people advising heavy lifting. I did hours and hours of cardio every week instead. What do I have to show for it? Loose skin. Loose, ridiculous, drapery, skin.

  • cyprant
    cyprant Posts: 14 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    cyprant wrote: »
    What should by net calories be if 1800 is too low? I usually don't eat back my exercise calories, but I will starting today...

    In your opening post you indicated that you did no exercising. Now you say you do exercising. I'm confused. What sort of exercising are you doing? If you are lifting heavy 3x per week, you don't get to claim a lot of exercise calories as that isn't aerobic exercise. If you are lifting heavy 3x per week, you do need to eat 1 gram of protein for each lb of your body weight in order to give your muscles the building blocks they need to grow.
    If you are doing cardio, you burn a lot of calories and earn some extra bites of food, but that doesn't do squat for your need to lift heavy.

    I started losing weight at 272.4 in January of last year. I saw all the people advising heavy lifting. I did hours and hours of cardio every week instead. What do I have to show for it? Loose skin. Loose, ridiculous, drapery, skin.

    Sorry for the confusion. I count my steps, and apparently am walking off about 300 calories or so a day...
  • Blitzia
    Blitzia Posts: 205 Member
    cyprant wrote: »
    What should by net calories be if 1800 is too low? I usually don't eat back my exercise calories, but I will starting today...

    If you want a 2 lbs weight loss per week, you should eat 1000 calories below your TDEE (this number includes exercise.) I checked a TDEE calculator and your TDEE (not including exercise) is probably between 2500-2800, so 1800 actually seems good to lose 2 pounds a week. Again, if you exercise a lot you should eat back some of those calories, it just depends on how much you exercise. (If it's a 15 minute leisurely walk you probably don't need to eat them back, but if it's a bike ride or a jog, yes, you'll want to eat back more.)

    And if I understand correctly, 12 pounds for your first 8 days is probably reasonable - a lot of that is water weight and not actual fat. You only need to worry if that rate of loss continues.
  • cyprant
    cyprant Posts: 14 Member
    JeromeBarry1 wrote: »
    cyprant wrote: »
    What should by net calories be if 1800 is too low? I usually don't eat back my exercise calories, but I will starting today...

    In your opening post you indicated that you did no exercising. Now you say you do exercising. I'm confused. What sort of exercising are you doing? If you are lifting heavy 3x per week, you don't get to claim a lot of exercise calories as that isn't aerobic exercise. If you are lifting heavy 3x per week, you do need to eat 1 gram of protein for each lb of your body weight in order to give your muscles the building blocks they need to grow.
    If you are doing cardio, you burn a lot of calories and earn some extra bites of food, but that doesn't do squat for your need to lift heavy.

    I started losing weight at 272.4 in January of last year. I saw all the people advising heavy lifting. I did hours and hours of cardio every week instead. What do I have to show for it? Loose skin. Loose, ridiculous, drapery, skin.

    I have a bowflex coming this week. I will take your advice to heart! Thanks so much
  • cyprant
    cyprant Posts: 14 Member
    Any advice on getting 250grams of healthy protein in my diet as I begin lifting?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,607 Member
    If you continue losing at a high rate, gradually increase what you eat until your weight loss averages no more than about 1% of your body weight per week. This may be hard to evaluate within daily weight fluctuations, but a weight trending app (like Trendweight, Happy scale for iPhones, Libra for Android) may help.

    You might accomplish this by adding something nutritious and somewhat calorie-dense (like a tablespoon of peanut butter, half an ounce of nuts, a quarter of an avocado, etc.) to each day, then waiting a week or two to see the effect. If you start feeling fatigued or weak, add calories faster.
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