I think I'm losing to much weight to quickly.

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10kaday
10kaday Posts: 177
in Health and Weight Loss
I think I'm losing to much weight to quickly. I started with fitness in mid september after stopping in january. I was at my highest weight ever. I have been very religious with fitness but only lost 5 pounds up until last week before I joined this site. After I joined this site I started to really watch what I eat and in the process of doing this I've lost another 5 lbs in one weeks time. I was expecting to only lose 1 lb per week. I guess.... my calorie guideline must be incorrect. What should I do?

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  • PBJunky
    PBJunky Posts: 737 Member
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    Increase calories slightly, but only do so if you lost 5lbs consistently over the past 3 weeks.
  • PepeGreggerton
    PepeGreggerton Posts: 986 Member
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    It's not uncommon to lose a lot of weight at first when restricting calories. The higher your BMI the more you can expect to lose initially. I lost 10lbs my first week and it slowed down after that. Mostly likely it's water retention and inflammation. I'd give it another week or two.
  • stephabef
    stephabef Posts: 936 Member
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    It makes sense that you would have a big drop the first week. I don't think you should be expecting that every week, and I doubt you have anything to worry about.
  • ajbeans
    ajbeans Posts: 2,857 Member
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    As the others said, it's common to lose quickly in the first couple of weeks of restricting calories. If it hasn't slowed after 3 weeks, increase your calories.
  • Fatbuster205
    Fatbuster205 Posts: 333 Member
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    It is quite normal to have a dramatic loss like that in the first week! Great for motivating but little of it will be fat as you lose water first. Continue doing what you are doing, drink plenty of water and only adjust calories down if you continue to lose weight like that. You will in all likelihood find that it will settle to 1lb a week. :smile:
  • Hungry_Tuna
    Hungry_Tuna Posts: 361 Member
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    It's not uncommon to lose a lot of weight at first when restricting calories. The higher your BMI the more you can expect to lose initially. I lost 10lbs my first week and it slowed down after that. Mostly likely it's water retention and inflammation. I'd give it another week or two.

    What he said. I dropped very quickly at first as well, and now that I've only got 20 pounds to reach my goal, I seem to be stuck. LOL
  • mlemonroe2
    mlemonroe2 Posts: 603
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    It's not uncommon to lose a lot of weight at first when restricting calories. The higher your BMI the more you can expect to lose initially. I lost 10lbs my first week and it slowed down after that. Mostly likely it's water retention and inflammation. I'd give it another week or two.

    This!
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
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    Also.... I've only got 5 more pounds to go and I'll be at my goal! So, I think I'll increase my calorie intake by about 200 or so and see what happens. Maybe instead of eating one cookie during the holidays, I'll eat two! :D Still better than what I used to do... NOT COUNTING and probably eating four or five cookies!
  • gregpack
    gregpack Posts: 426 Member
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    Yep, I agree. Don't be overly concerned just yet. If after the second week your weight loss is still too fast you can adjust calorie intake.

    Having said that- your login name is 10KA Day. Is that indicative of running, or was that how many calories you're eating? :) It takes a buttload of calories to move a large male 10K-maybe 1000. I weigh 225 and burn around 13 calories/minute while on a 6mph jog.

    Here's a a cut n paste:

    "Glycogen requires water to be stored. In the initial stages of diet/caloric restriction and exercise, your body depletes these glycogen stores, reducing your bodyweight from the elimination of both the weight of the stored glycogen and the weight of the water. Note that nowhere in this process is the much-desired loss of fat!

    Thus, even as it will feel good to shed 5 – 10 lbs. simply from a few days of exercise mixed with a caloric-restricted diet, the weight loss will be primarily from a reduction in glycogen stores and water. In other words, what you’ll have lost in the beginning is really little more than water weight."
  • mwright24skinny
    mwright24skinny Posts: 122 Member
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    I would love to be posting your topic right now!!!
  • janeinspain
    janeinspain Posts: 173 Member
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    If you are eating all your calories (including the exercise ones), you really shouldn't worry about losing that much. It is probably just water-weight and will not continue long. Enjoy the number dropping on the scale, it will slow down!
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
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    I guess I freaked out a little bit. I've been watching the scale since mid september and it has mostly stayed the same. Sometimes it fluctuated up, and then back down again the same weight it likes to stick to. But now that I'm watching what I eat, it starts to go down by allot more than what I expected. Thanks for the support everyone, this site is amazing!
  • krist3ng
    krist3ng Posts: 259 Member
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    Yeah, not exactly a 'problem' :P. You probably jump started your metabolism or something. I find that my first week of calorie tracking, I too lose quite a bit. I think our bodies react strongly to big changes.
    And yes, it'll slow down. TT_TT
  • spazicoco
    spazicoco Posts: 6 Member
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    I wouldn't be too concerned about a 5 pound weight loss in a week, especially for the first week. If you weren't eating "healthy" prior to starting this again, your body would definitely react to the change. I bet next week will show a different weight loss. If you continue to lose that much for the next couple of weeks, perhaps the calories are too restricted but I'd wait and see how next week goes. Congrats on the weight loss though :)
  • Elen_Sia
    Elen_Sia Posts: 638 Member
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    Sir, it sounds like you have a healthy 'problem'. lol.
  • chrisdaddino
    chrisdaddino Posts: 15
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    how many calories are you taking in a day, and what are you doing for exercise?
  • 10kaday
    10kaday Posts: 177
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    I run a half hour every day, and after that I try to make sure I reach ten thousands steps by the end of the day. I lift dumbells sometimes, but I haven't started a regular strength training program yet. Calorie intake -- I'm following what this site recommends. Although this morning I upped it by 200 calories as I don't want to lose any more weight so quickly.

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