Losing weight... TOO QUICKLY

princilam99
princilam99 Posts: 56 Member
edited September 30 in Health and Weight Loss
Ok so I have been doing this since late April and have lost about 30 lbs. I have my calorie intake set at 2 lbs per week. I exercise almost every day for about an hour. I have my lifestyle set as sedentary.. I'm a stay at home mom with a little one. So I'm usually on the move. But I don't think I would fit the "lightly active" category. Anyway, I've been drinking my water and eating almost all of my exercise calories back every day, leaving only a few here and there. This past weigh in, I lost 3.6 pounds in a week (and I had a BAD day with overeating in that week). Although I'd like to be thrilled, I'm a bit concerned. I don't want to lose weight too quickly!!! Seriously. I want to do this the right way, nice and slow and steady. I've been doing strength training and watching my protein... I don't want to lose a lot of muscle mass (I know losing muscle is inevitable... I just don't want to lose a large amount)

Any ideas, tips or advice?

Replies

  • RaeannePemberton
    RaeannePemberton Posts: 382 Member
    losing muscle is NOT inevitable. check out metaboliceffect.com as they have lots of great info on this topic. i have been following this eating style for a week now and i LOVE it.

    also, i agree, you should be concerned. i personally think you sound like you are active, and i think your exercise puts you at very active.... plus saying 2 lbs per week? what's your calorie goal?

    i am not an expert, but from the people that i coach to my own personal experience, i think you may be in that danger zone...
  • jeanie✰
    jeanie✰ Posts: 127
    Don't worry! The first bit usually comes off pretty quick for a lot of people. It will slow down A LOT the further in you get.
  • Kelly_Wilson1990
    Kelly_Wilson1990 Posts: 3,245 Member
    If it has only been once that is not a big deal and that is not that excessive. If you were losing 5 t0 10 pounds a week I would be concerned. One week I lost 6 pounds then went back to 1-2 pounds. I would not worry about that.
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
    i wouldnt worry, but you could always change your settings to lose 1lb per week, and then u can enjoy a few extra cals as well.
  • grouch201
    grouch201 Posts: 404 Member
    Every now and then the body will go into an awesome burn and you'll drop a large number one week. As long as these numbers aren't consistent, I don't think I'd worry too much about it. I know I had weeks where all of a sudden 3 or 4 pounds would just disappear..I kind of miss those days. If this is a consistent thing, I would certainly consider backing off the exercise and/or eating more.
  • lindsaylove07
    lindsaylove07 Posts: 444 Member
    This happened to me too ,I started losing weight and BAM it was off, 5-8 pounds a week for the first couple of weeks, now I'm lucky if I can get 2 pounds a week. Your body will get used to the weight loss and slow down a little bit
  • crazynay96
    crazynay96 Posts: 99
    exactly...

    your body is shocked... when you have a lot to loose you will typically loose the first half very quickly and you'll become frustrated that the second half will take double, or more the time. my goal is 72 lbs in 6 months and then 1 year for the last 60lbs. I'm under medical care (and I'm also a nurse) and have been told this is very safe and perfectly normal for someone who has to loose 100+ lbs.
  • princilam99
    princilam99 Posts: 56 Member
    losing muscle is NOT inevitable. check out metaboliceffect.com as they have lots of great info on this topic. i have been following this eating style for a week now and i LOVE it.

    also, i agree, you should be concerned. i personally think you sound like you are active, and i think your exercise puts you at very active.... plus saying 2 lbs per week? what's your calorie goal?

    i am not an expert, but from the people that i coach to my own personal experience, i think you may be in that danger zone...

    Thanks for the link. According to MFP my calorie (net) is 1310. I am curently 241 lbs. I am usually on the go during the day, maybe I will try lightly active lifestyle instead of sedentary. and see how that goes!
  • JCPruitt
    JCPruitt Posts: 53
    sounds to me like you are more active than you think. You are right to be concerned and want to lose weight in a healthy fashion. It may very well be a fluke, but then again, you may be getting too few calories for only 2 lbs/week. You need to make sure you do not throw your body into starvation mode. Unless you are sitting most of the day, you are not sedentary. I am willing to bet you move more into the active category since you are on the move constantly.
  • TS65
    TS65 Posts: 1,024 Member
    If you are working out for an hour a day, you are ACTIVE. Sedentary means you sit around ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.

    I wouldn't worry about it initially, but you've got plenty of weight to lose and it will take awhile. Adjust your settings, eat your calories (and your exercise calories) and make it easy on yourself.

    I didn't realize settings would make a HUGE difference. Eventually, they do.

    Then, I found this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    Here's a paraphrase:

    ...

    If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary.

    If you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active.

    If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active. (THIS IS YOU)

    If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball).

    When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

    ~ ~ ~

    Also...

    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit

    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)

    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)

    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week)

    and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).
  • princilam99
    princilam99 Posts: 56 Member
    If you are working out for an hour a day, you are ACTIVE. Sedentary means you sit around ALL DAY, EVERY DAY.

    I wouldn't worry about it initially, but you've got plenty of weight to lose and it will take awhile. Adjust your settings, eat your calories (and your exercise calories) and make it easy on yourself.

    I didn't realize settings would make a HUGE difference. Eventually, they do.

    Then, I found this post: http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/61706-guide-to-calorie-deficits

    Here's a paraphrase:

    ...

    If you have a desk job, and do very little walking throughout the day and don't really perform any sports or physical activities, then you are sedentary.

    If you do some walking every day (or at least 4 days a week) or other light activity for at least 30 minutes cumulative at least 4 times a week, you are lightly active.

    If you do 60 minutes of light activity 5 days a week or do some kind of sport that requires walking or light jogging (say swimming or mailman or warehouse employee) then you are active. (THIS IS YOU)

    If you do a physically demanding activity (one that makes you sweat) for 4 days a week or more and for more than 1 hour a day, you are very active (like a coach that runs drills or you play volleyball).

    When in doubt, go down 1 level, you'd rather burn more than you think than less.

    ~ ~ ~

    Also...

    Generally someone with a BMI over 32 can do a 1000 calorie a day (2 lbs a week) deficit

    With a BMI of 30 to 32 a deficit of 750 calories is generally correct (about 1.5 lbs a week)

    With a BMI of 28 to 30 a deficit of 500 calories is about right (about 1 lb a week)

    With a BMI of 26 to 28 a deficit of about 300 calories is perfect (about 1/2 lb a week) THIS IS YOU

    and below 26... well this is where we get fuzzy. See now you're no longer talking about being overweight, so while it's still ok to have a small deficit, you really should shift your focus more towards muscle building, and reducing fat. This means it is EXTRA important to eat your exercise calories as your body needs to KNOW it's ok to burn fat stores, and the only way it will know is if you keep giving it the calories it needs to not enter the famine response (starvation mode).

    Thank you so much for breaking this down for me!! Makes a lot of sense! : )
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    a mom is definitely NOT sedentary. Sedentary is someone who lays on the couch all day, pretty much only moving to go pee. As soon as you are making food for kids, cleaning up toys, doing dishes, doing laundry, etc, you are already lightly active. If you play a lot like roughhouse with them or carry them around, or go play outside and stuff, I'd say active.

    You are most likely undereating, and even though you are losing quickly, a lot of it may be muscle, AND it will slow down as your metabolism slows down to compensate. You don't want that. I would change it to active and 1 lb per week and just SEE what it gives you.
    Then you KNOW you can eat as much as that and still be on track,. If you aren't hungry enough to eat all of that every day, then leave some on the table, but better to aim for the higher goal and leave some behind occasionally than to have a lower goal and feel like you can't go over it, because those damn red numbers are discouraging.

    Remember, set to 2 lbs per week, you can go RED by about 1000 before you even reach your maintenance number. There is THAT much leeway there. So yes, eat more if you are concerned with losing too fast.
    And lift weights, heavy ones. That's the BEST way to preserve your muscle. And it helps raise your metabolism so you can eat more on a regular basis.
  • javablondie
    javablondie Posts: 411 Member
    But I don't think I would fit the "lightly active" category.

    Any ideas, tips or advice?

    I think you are in the lightly active category at least. Sedentary would be someone stuck commuting to work for 30 minutes both ways via car to a desk job where they sit for 8 plus hours. Throw in possibly that the company has a restaurant virtually on site like many high-rise office buildings in big cities.

    Lightly Active: Spend a good part of the day on your feet (e.g. nurse, salesman)

    I bet you are constantly walking and playing with the baby or doing errands, etc.
  • robin52077
    robin52077 Posts: 4,383 Member
    Yeah, what TS65 said. I was typing while that post was being posted. :)
  • 3ur3ka
    3ur3ka Posts: 230 Member
    I would change your goal to 1lb a week. If you still feel you're losing to quickly, change it to 1/2lb per week. I have mine set to 1lb per week and in my first few weeks I was dropping 2-4lbs a week. but I'm also insanely overweight.
  • Ali_TSO
    Ali_TSO Posts: 1,172 Member
    If it has only been once that is not a big deal and that is not that excessive. If you were losing 5 t0 10 pounds a week I would be concerned. One week I lost 6 pounds then went back to 1-2 pounds. I would not worry about that.

    agree!
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
    I had the same issue. I agree that if it only happened once it could be a number of factors. But if it continues, bump up your calorie goal a little bit manually. I lost much faster than I wanted to in the beginning, and increased my calorie goal. It slowed me down and I felt much better.

    If you're worried about losing muscle mass, make sure you're getting a lot of protein, and do some kind of strength training 3 times a week. You don't have to go to the gym and do weights, just do bodyweight exercises like pushups, crunches, planks, squats, etc. Or if you're doing something like Ripped in 30 that has strength training built in, keep doing that. Those things will help you retain your muscle and burn the fat.
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