Day 50 of the journey - Question about calories in/out

My experience and what I've frequently read from others: it's very easy to feel great on a huge deficit right up until the point that you don't. My too-large deficit resulted in decreased ability to push myself during exercise, distracting cravings, insomnia, and mood swings. Fortunately I realized what was happening pretty quickly and was able to make adjustments before I experienced more serious consequences like hair loss, gall bladder issues, or excessive muscle loss (I am sure, however, I lost more muscle than I needed to).

I would now say, why push it? I wouldn't consider your plan to be sustainable at all. At best, you'll lose more muscle than you need to and you'll wind up not feeling great. At worst, you might have more serious consequences that make it difficult to continue your weight loss. You're losing at the rate of a pound every other day. You're "tracking your macros," but what's the point if you're not giving your body enough energy to function well over time?

janejellyroll wrote: »

My experience and what I've frequently read from others: it's very easy to feel great on a huge deficit right up until the point that you don't. My too-large deficit resulted in decreased ability to push myself during exercise, distracting cravings, insomnia, and mood swings. Fortunately I realized what was happening pretty quickly and was able to make adjustments before I experienced more serious consequences like hair loss, gall bladder issues, or excessive muscle loss (I am sure, however, I lost more muscle than I needed to).

I would now say, why push it? I wouldn't consider your plan to be sustainable at all. At best, you'll lose more muscle than you need to and you'll wind up not feeling great. At worst, you might have more serious consequences that make it difficult to continue your weight loss. You're losing at the rate of a pound every other day. You're "tracking your macros," but what's the point if you're not giving your body enough energy to function well over time?

This.

I didn't start out with as much to lose as you have (I was just into class 1 obese, BMI 30.4, and lost down to about BMI 19.5). You seem to have started at BMI 42.1, though since you're male it would be statistically reasonable to expect a desirable BMI for a woman (i.e. me) to be lower than a desirable BMI for you.

I lost too fast for a while, and felt great and not hungry . . . until suddenly I didn't, as Jane says. I got weak and fatigued, and even though I corrected quickly, it took multiple weeks to recover. Some months later, my hair thinned at a higher than usual rate (this is often a delayed effect). I was lucky that nothing worse happened (heart problems are a possibility, as reported by this young woman: https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1. I know you're not eating 1200, but 1500 for a typical man is quite analogous to 1200 for a woman.)

Am I saying this kind of thing will happen to you? No, not necessarily. But you're increasing your risks.

Anecdotally (i.e., based on people's stories here) an initial fast loss can result in a more exaggerated snap-back in hunger/appetite hormones long term, making it harder to sustain weight loss, or maintain a healthy goal weight. That's a consideration, too.

"Reducing your metabolism" isn't really a thing, or at least the definition isn't fuzzy. You'll burn fewer calories via BMR (basal metabolic rate) as you get lighter, since it takes less energy to move a smaller body through the world. But you may move through the world more, because it'll feel easier and be more doable, so who knows how things will net out. There is such a thing as adaptive thermogenesis (loosely, training your body to accept fewer calories, so that it starts to down-regulate some less survival-essential processes (does that sound like a good idea, BTW? ). There's debate about it, but that may be reversible, long term. But it can potentially slow loss below what you'd expect, in the shorter to medium term. If subtle fatigue becomes part of the picture, reduced daily life activity is also a possibility, and that can become habitual. So, it's a crapshoot. To use the old line: "Do you feel lucky?"

I'm also aware that at your current size, you may be in a position where your doctor would say it's a higher risk to stay at a high weight than it is to diet aggressively, for a while. I don't know. (Hint: Ask your doctor.)

Based only on my personal experience, I'd suggest you start gradually increasing your intake, up to more like the 2 pound a week loss rate, soon.

If you haven't, yet, may I suggest that you might want to check out a group here, where are there as some folks with cases more similar to yours, including some who are well along the route to goal weight?

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/group/133315-larger-losers

It's for people with 75 or more pounds to lose. The members may have better perspectives on what risks you're taking, at your current calorie level and size, and what the range of consequences (good or bad) might be.

Best wishes!

.... it is EXTREMELY annoying that I cannot post pictures here...





I have no idea if these links are gonna work

But this was me the first time I lost my weight going from 300lbs to 135lbs.

I powered through it as fast as I could and felt fine until eventually I didnt..

If you can see them... you can see how tired I am... how sick I was looking..

I crashed and burned at the end..