Feedback and guidance on rate of weight loss

dirtbound
dirtbound Posts: 5 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
So I’m looking for some feedback on my situation to make sure I’m not making foundational mistakes with my weight loss and eventual target of keeping fat off and improving my overall strength and tone.

I’ve been at my routine now for a month with detailed tracking of intake and calorie burn. My weight loss is occurring at a faster rate than I anticipated but I’m not sure if it’s ‘too fast’ in my case, so here’s the breakdown.

Over the past 30 days:
- Starting weight 233.03
- Average Daily Calories Consumed: 2,347
- Calorie goals of 40% Protein, 30% Fats, 30% Carbs (varying accuracy on a day to day basis, within 5% +/- in each macro)
- Average MFP Exercise Calories via Apple Watch: 899
- Daily 30 Min Treadmill interval runs
- Alternating days between HIIT, Targeted Calisthenics, and Core
- Daily intentional walks of 2-3 miles at lunch (3.5-4.0mph)
- Average weight loss of .5lbs per day (3.5lbs per week)
- Current weight 218.05

That last bit of information is my point of interest. I’m pushing myself pretty hard on the exercise (for me), and I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself (e.g. I feel hungry when it’s time to eat, but not starving).

My energy level feels great in the mornings when I hit the floor and the treadmill, no indications of unnecessary fatigue and I’m still motivated to be up at 5:00am (usually on 6 hours of sleep… I’m working on trying for 7).

Fundamental question… is 3.5lbs per week acceptable for someone in my situation and am I at risk of impacting muscle volume at this pace given my experiences to this point? I’m 43 years old BTW.

Thanks for any feedback.

Replies

  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 34,409 Member
    Someone will ask, it may as well be me...

    How tall are you? Are you working? What kind of activity is necessary in your work?
  • dirtbound
    dirtbound Posts: 5 Member
    6’2”
    Full-time desk job, minimal physical demands at the office.

    On a personal note I like to hike a lot, but that got thrown off the rails throughout most of 2020.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Yes, 3.5lb per week is too aggressive for someone your size. However, some of that might have been water weight. If you throw out your loss for the first week or two, what is your weekly rate of loss for the next few weeks?

    qeazlfy9vc2i.png
  • rheddmobile
    rheddmobile Posts: 6,840 Member
    The general rule is no more than 1% of body weight per week, so if you started at 350 lbs, you’re good, otherwise, might want to tap the brakes.

    However, weight loss during the first month may be misleading since you are losing water weight, stored glycogen in your muscles, and food and waste in your belly from not eating as much. 3.5 lbs may not represent your actual fat loss and you may see a rebound during which you don’t lose any weight as your body adjusts. If you feel comfortable I would suggest keeping an eye on things and maybe raising your calories by 250 a day for a couple of weeks.

    I started losing 3.5 lbs a week weight 272 initially, and I felt great - until six months later when all my hair started to fall out! If you shock your system your hair will go into energy conservation mode where it doesn’t replace itself, and you won’t notice until months later, the time it would normally fall out and be replaced by new hairs, when the new hairs fail to come in! So, be aware, you can be doing damage and not notice right away.
  • dirtbound
    dirtbound Posts: 5 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    Yes, 3.5lb per week is too aggressive for someone your size. However, some of that might have been water weight. If you throw out your loss for the first week or two, what is your weekly rate of loss for the next few weeks?

    qeazlfy9vc2i.png

    I saw some bigger drops early on, but the 3.5 rate has been consistent over the past three weeks. I’m pretty confident I saw my water weight reduction early on as I dropped waste size and belly bloat within the first week as I improved my nutrition and brought my water consumption up to speed.

    You’re all giving me the general numbers I’ve seen floating around out there and it’s good to hear from people who have done this themselves. I’ve already updated my plan and will be making the adjustments beginning tomorrow.

    I’m going to reduce/eliminate the treadmill on days that have higher burn sessions of HIIT and calisthenics, and increase calorie intake for the remaining difference in-line with my daily macro goals.

    I appreciate all your feedback.
  • dirtbound
    dirtbound Posts: 5 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    The general rule is no more than 1% of body weight per week, so if you started at 350 lbs, you’re good, otherwise, might want to tap the brakes.

    However, weight loss during the first month may be misleading since you are losing water weight, stored glycogen in your muscles, and food and waste in your belly from not eating as much. 3.5 lbs may not represent your actual fat loss and you may see a rebound during which you don’t lose any weight as your body adjusts. If you feel comfortable I would suggest keeping an eye on things and maybe raising your calories by 250 a day for a couple of weeks.

    I started losing 3.5 lbs a week weight 272 initially, and I felt great - until six months later when all my hair started to fall out! If you shock your system your hair will go into energy conservation mode where it doesn’t replace itself, and you won’t notice until months later, the time it would normally fall out and be replaced by new hairs, when the new hairs fail to come in! So, be aware, you can be doing damage and not notice right away.

    Eek… yeah, I’ll play it safe and slow it down. At least this first month has taken some of the pressure off of my new found running legs for the longer timeline ahead.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,163 Member
    rheddmobile wrote: »
    The general rule is no more than 1% of body weight per week, so if you started at 350 lbs, you’re good, otherwise, might want to tap the brakes.

    However, weight loss during the first month may be misleading since you are losing water weight, stored glycogen in your muscles, and food and waste in your belly from not eating as much. 3.5 lbs may not represent your actual fat loss and you may see a rebound during which you don’t lose any weight as your body adjusts. If you feel comfortable I would suggest keeping an eye on things and maybe raising your calories by 250 a day for a couple of weeks.

    I started losing 3.5 lbs a week weight 272 initially, and I felt great - until six months later when all my hair started to fall out! If you shock your system your hair will go into energy conservation mode where it doesn’t replace itself, and you won’t notice until months later, the time it would normally fall out and be replaced by new hairs, when the new hairs fail to come in! So, be aware, you can be doing damage and not notice right away.

    Endorsed.

    I felt great losing fast, not hungry . . . until suddenly I hit a wall, got weak and fatigued . . . corrected quickly, but it still took multiple weeks to be back at normal strength/energy. No one needs that! I was lucky nothing worse happened, because I know it can. Hair loss is only one possibility. There are potentials for gallbladder issues, at an extreme even heart problems. (Low odds, but . . . .)

    For example, at that extreme:

    https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10761904/under-1200-for-weight-loss/p1

    I agree with others that you may be OK playing on for a couple of weeks, see if you're still losing this fast, given the potential for early water weight drop . . . but, hey, MFP's estimates are close for most people, so maybe believe it, to start, especially since your data so far reinforces it?

    Best wishes!
  • richardgavel
    richardgavel Posts: 1,001 Member
    The first time I lost significant weight, I was 225 and lost 2.5 per week for about 3-4 months. Looking back, I regret that speed of weight loss, due to the amount of lean mass loss that resulted. And now I have to build it back up, which is a lot harder than losing it. If I were to do it over, I'd lose more slowly (and add resistance training and make sure I had more protein in my diet)
  • Fflpnari
    Fflpnari Posts: 975 Member
    For the first month I think its fine. if at the 2 month mark still losing 3.5 pounds a week start adding some calories back. When I was 230's and started I lost 20 pounds in the first 6 weeks and then it leveled off to about 2 pounds a week. I figured it was a lost of water weight

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