Is it safe to lose 3 pounds in 6 days?

It's probably partly fat, partly water. It's not unusual to drop some water weight at the start of eating differently.

It's all estimates until you have at least 4-6 weeks of personal experience data, but if you have an actual 800 calorie daily deficit, and that's not too-fast loss for your current size, we'd expect you to lose up to 1.6 pounds a week (on average over many weeks). Most of that would be fat loss. Looking at it as a daily average (not realistic, just statistics), that'd be up to 0.2286 pounds daily, or 3.7 ounces daily.

Fat loss is gradual, even when we're consistent. Normal water retention fluctuations are several pounds daily, and part of how a healthy body stays healthy. In addition, we'll have varying amounts of food residue in our digestive tract on its way to becoming waste. All of that show up on the scale, and the fat loss plays peek-a-boo with the larger/quicker shifts in water and food/waste.

If you haven't seen it, this thread would be a good read, especially the article linked in the first post:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10683010/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-fluctuations/p1

Hang in there, you're doing fine.

Generally any time you're losing weight, you're losing a combination of fat, protein, and carbs -- except on an extended keto plan, after the initial expenditure of stored carbs, you're not replenishing them at each meal.

If you're using up stored carbs, which even on a non-keto plan tends to be more pronounced at the beginning, you get rid of the water your body needs to store the carbs.

You can lose water other ways, due to various hormonal responses and a reduction in the need for tissue repair, etc.

I'd say take a deep breath, be patient, and assume that if you're losing weight while reducing your calories, at least some of it is fat.

nicholeraemhall wrote: »

I’m eating zero saturated fat and maybe 2 grams of fat per day. I used to eat fast food, and all the food my kids at. I started at 146 and my goal weight is 125. My BMI says I’m not overweight but I want to feel less weighted down and more energetic to keep up with my five kids.

I log ky food before I eat it and half the time only eat half because I lose my appetite or get full quickly so I’m closer to 1000 calories per day. My macros are a little unbalanced but I’m working on that. I’ve had too much protein and too much fiber and not enough fat. But I don’t feel hungry and I feel good. Like really good.

Two grams of fat is . . . not enough. Waaaay not enough.

Fat is not evil. Fat is not an essential nutrient. We have to eat some for best health. A reasonable rule of thumb is to get 0.3-0.45 grams per pound of bodyweight (maybe goal bodyweight if currently very overweight). Women are probably better off in the 0.35-0.45 grams per pound range.

You need fat intake for hormone balance, for digestive throughput, for absorbing fat-soluble vitamins (A, E, D, K), for maintaining healthy cell walls in your body, and more. If you eat way too little fat, you can get dry skin or rashes, ose hair, weaken your immune system, and experience vitamin deficiencies in the long run.

Eat more fat.

nicholeraemhall wrote: »

Well that sucks because I feel good where I’m at. But I know I’m under what the app has suggested. So can I sneak in a half a candy bar lol?

1000 calories is really low. While I hope you're getting the protein, fat and veggies/fruits you need, on average most days, it's fine to eat a candy bar.

No need to "sneak". It's just food, not sin.

nicholeraemhall wrote: »

I’m eating zero saturated fat and maybe 2 grams of fat per day. I used to eat fast food, and all the food my kids at. I started at 146 and my goal weight is 125. My BMI says I’m not overweight but I want to feel less weighted down and more energetic to keep up with my five kids.

I log ky food before I eat it and half the time only eat half because I lose my appetite or get full quickly so I’m closer to 1000 calories per day. My macros are a little unbalanced but I’m working on that. I’ve had too much protein and too much fiber and not enough fat. But I don’t feel hungry and I feel good. Like really good.

Sounds grounds for Newton's Third Law. "For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction." Dietary fats including saturated fat do all kinds of crazy things in the body that is unexpected, not very well known and contrary to popular dogma are quite necessary for health, unlike the carbs that your probably eating to replace all of that fat, which the body has exactly 0 need or any requirement for dietary carbohydrates. Hopefully somewhere down the road your body let's you know it needs fat, hopefully. One of the first signs is menstrual cycle disruption, hair starts falling out and dry skin problems.

Mostly water. Because you'd have to have been in 10,500 in those 6 days to lose 3lbs of fat. With only an 800 calorie deficit, that's 4800 calories in 6 days.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 35+ years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

nicholeraemhall wrote: »

I’m eating zero saturated fat and maybe 2 grams of fat per day. I used to eat fast food, and all the food my kids at. I started at 146 and my goal weight is 125. My BMI says I’m not overweight but I want to feel less weighted down and more energetic to keep up with my five kids.

I log ky food before I eat it and half the time only eat half because I lose my appetite or get full quickly so I’m closer to 1000 calories per day. My macros are a little unbalanced but I’m working on that. I’ve had too much protein and too much fiber and not enough fat. But I don’t feel hungry and I feel good. Like really good.

2 grams of fat is and extremely, unhealthy low amount of dietary fat which is an essential nutrient for all kinds of body functions. 1000 calories per day is also super low. Dietary fat doesn't make you fat and is essential to our health. Given the time frame, most of your weight loss is water and waste.

I don't consider cheese and eggs unhealthy foods. But I don't see how they fit into a diet with no saturated fats.
And eating avocados while still only eating 2 grams of fat per day also seems very unlikely.

Ok, I think you've now experienced that funny things can happen when losing weight. Here are some tips to make sure you have the best experience and don't come back saying more weird things are happening (but please do ask questions! We're here to help!)

* no, it's not physically possible to lose 3lbs of fat in 6 days. It's also not physically possible to gain a similar amount of fat in 6 days. Everything big and fast is always water weight fluctuation, or the amount of poop in your intestines. Always
* Use correct database entries. Is the breakfast burrito from a supermarket? Check the nutritional info and compare to what you log. If different use a different entry. Or create your own. From a restaurant? Use the website of that restaurant to compare nutritional info. Self-made? Log all the ingredients and make sure the nutritional info is correct. The USDA database might be good, but just checking on wikipedia under nutrition might be a good start.
* Once you've logged an ingredient it will always appear at the top of your search. Thus this becomes easier.
* Use a food scale. There's no way you (or anyone else) can just guess the weight of something. Also, sizes or cups are not precise. What the heck is a medium egg? The definition is different in every country, and the database is worldwide.
* Again, rapid weight changes are not changes in body fat but in factors that have nothing to do with it. Don't panic.
* wait at least one full menstrual cycle or 4-6 weeks to figure out that what you do works. Weightloss is not fast, and the factors not related to fat loss can mask it while you might still be losing
* don't eat too little. eat at least as much as MFP gives you. You don't want to punish yourself but build healthy habits.