Is it safe to lose 3 pounds in 6 days?

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Starting a week ago today, I cut out all junk and all saturated fats and I’m running a calorie deficit of 800 calories per day. As of yesterday I was down three pounds. I’m not complaining but I just want to make sure I’m actually losing fat and not just water. I do feel smaller if that makes sense and I seem to be urinating more often so maybe I’m just purging toxins? This is all new to me
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  • nicholeraemhall
    nicholeraemhall Posts: 6 Member
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    I also want to add, my macros and nutrients are good. I’m eating and not starving myself although I’m noticing I am losing my appetite often. I just want to move around and I’m not hungry. I didn’t realize cutting out all “bad” food could make such a difference
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,962 Member
    edited November 2023
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    A week is not long enough to see any kind of meaningful trend.

    Good job focusing on better nutrition. Hopefully you set it to, "Lose 1 pound per week?" That's a safe place to start while you learn the ropes. Keep logging food and see how you do for the next month to six weeks before making any big changes in your calorie goal. If you have a lot of weight to lose (like over 75 pounds) then you can set it to, "Lose 2 pounds per week," but regardless the weight loss is not usually going to be consistent week to week. Do the best you can with your logging and you'll have the best trending data on which to base your ongoing experiment.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    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.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,923 Member
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    Yeah, mostly water given the time line and you may think your cutting out all saturated fat but that would be impossible if your eating any type of fat at all, which is impossible. Anyway, fat loss will come if you continue to eat less, most don't.
  • lynn_glenmont
    lynn_glenmont Posts: 9,979 Member
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    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
    nicholeraemhall Posts: 6 Member
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    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.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
    edited November 2023
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    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
    nicholeraemhall Posts: 6 Member
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    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?
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    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. ;)
  • wm3796
    wm3796 Posts: 70 Member
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    Eat healthy fats not junk and you will still feel good.
  • neanderthin
    neanderthin Posts: 9,923 Member
    edited November 2023
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    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.
  • cmriverside
    cmriverside Posts: 33,962 Member
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    @AnnPT77 meant to say,
    Fat is not an essential nutrient.

    Fat is an essential nutrient.
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,526 Member
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    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

    9285851.png
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 32,170 Member
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    @AnnPT77 meant to say,
    Fat is not an essential nutrient.

    Fat is an essential nutrient.

    Correct. That IS what I meant to say.

    (Oh, good grief. Apologies. And thank you, @cmriverside!)
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    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.
  • Elphaba1313
    Elphaba1313 Posts: 191 Member
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    On this: But I don’t feel hungry and I feel good. Like really good.

    Yep, but it's been 6 days. You will feel really good until you don't. I'd get ahead of that if I were you. The negatives, when they hit, hit hard.
  • nicholeraemhall
    nicholeraemhall Posts: 6 Member
    edited November 2023
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    I’m not replacing fat with carbs as someone said
  • nicholeraemhall
    nicholeraemhall Posts: 6 Member
    edited November 2023
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    This morning I ate a breakfast burrito with lots of cheese, two eggs and some mandarin oranges. I’m not starving myself
  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,121 Member
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    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.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    This morning I ate a breakfast burrito with lots of cheese, two eggs and some mandarin oranges. I’m not starving myself

    If you're eating a breakfast burrito with lots of cheese and a couple of eggs, you aren't remotely eating zero saturated fat and 2 grams of dietary fat overall.