Losing Weight Too Fast?

JennyBB125 · January 2012

Hi everyone, I joined my fitness pal mainly to go back to my weight in high school and to increase muscle and tone my body. I do about an hour on the elliptical every day as well as strength training. My main focus is my abdominals because my arms and legs have always been slender. I weighed in this morning because I'm keeping a close eye on my weight and I was shocked to see I lost more than a half pound in one day. Im debating whether I should increase my calorie intake or not because I'm not looking to lose 50 lbs just a couple more and tone my body. If I lose another half a pound I will be considered "underweight" according to BMI, although I dont think I look underweight. I have meat on my thighs, butt and abdomen but I've always been tall and thin.

I do 65 minutes on the elliptical mostly everyday burning about 500 calories
I eat <1350 calories a day
I weigh 125.8 lbs and I'm 5''7 1/2
So I've lost about 4 pounds in 15 days

Am I losing too much too fast? Should I increase my calories or decrease my exercise?

What can I do to kind of stay where I am but increase muscle. I do legs, butt, abs and arms strength training at the gym a few times a week and I eat a high protein meal 30 minutes after. I'm scared to increase my weights more because I dont want my body to be bulky or too muscular... Any ideas?

UponThisRock · January 2012

The risk with losing too fast is muscle loss. Generally speaking, the fatter you are, the quicker you can lose without risking muscle loss. You're at the point where you should be losing very slowly if you want to keep your muscle mass.

If you want to increase muscle mass, you're going to need to eat more and lift heavy. You're going to need to gain weight if you want to gain muscle, there's no way around that.

Aviendha_RJ · January 2012

Your weight fluctuates about 1-3lbs almost daily according to water/food intake.

Don't stress, it'll come back tomorrow.

If you put on some muscle, it'll re-appear.

season1980 · January 2012

Please please please banish the idea that if you "lift heavy" you will "look bulky" it will just not happen, esp at the calories you eat! Even eating at a surplus and lifting heay you are not going to increase the size much....not unless you plan to use steroids. This is a huge myth that women need to get away from! Lift and lift heavy you will lovvvvveeee what it will do for your body.

season1980 · January 2012

Sorry want to add.

Eat at maintence lift heavy and you will increase your muscle tone and maintain wt without gaining muscle mass, you will just build dense strong muscles. There is a link that I will try to find that will offer great info!

UponThisRock · January 2012

Please please please banish the idea that if you "lift heavy" you will "look bulky" it will just not happen, esp at the calories you eat! Even eating at a surplus and lifting heay you are not going to increase the size much....not unless you plan to use steroids. This is a huge myth that women need to get away from! Lift and lift heavy you will lovvvvveeee what it will do for your body.

^^^that too

AmeChops · January 2012

You'll find that if you've just started a new routine/eating plan that you'll probably have some initial fast loss...it generally slows down once you're a few weeks in. 4lbs in 15 days is 2lbs per week...that's not unreasonable I don't think :-))

season1980 · January 2012

Here is the link......all the info you could ever want is buried in here! It is a treasure trove of knowledge!!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/113609-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?error_user_id=11693567&error_username=season1980

itsuki · January 2012

If you're eating <1350 a day and burning 500, that means you're netting <850 per day. If your goal is to lose 7-10 pounds or so (I checked your profile), you should be netting a lot more than this - 1400-1600 or so, perhaps even more. Try eating back your exercise calories! Or just getting your net up a bit. Make sure you've got lots of lean protein in there and you should be fine.

JennyBB125 · January 2012

Thanks for the advice everyone. I'll increase my calories a little so I can gain some muscle and also increase weights. The thing with the weight coming back is I know my body pretty well and I have a fast metabolism which is probably why I'm losing so fast and I've seen myself down two pounds and up 3 in a matter of a day. I weigh myself at the same time every morning before I eat and this is a true weight loss and it most likely won't just go back up. If it was going to come back it would have by now, I've been on a steady loss for two weeks.

My plan is to increase my calories and my weights! Im not going to be afraid of muscle. The calories I add I'm going to add in protein

3dogsrunning · January 2012

Please please please banish the idea that if you "lift heavy" you will "look bulky" it will just not happen, esp at the calories you eat! Even eating at a surplus and lifting heay you are not going to increase the size much....not unless you plan to use steroids. This is a huge myth that women need to get away from! Lift and lift heavy you will lovvvvveeee what it will do for your body.

Amen.

From someone who is lifting heavy regularly, eating the proper nutrition, but at a deficit - I have done nothing but lean out. I am getting anything but bulky. The changes I have seen in the past few months are amazing. I am planning on doing before/after but i still have a few weeks left before I am ready to do that. I can't stress enough how hard it is for women to put on muscle. Check out the Eating over 2000 calories (or something like that) group. There are more than a few ladies in there who are really trying to put on muscle and they are anything but bulky.

jjteddy1982 · January 2012

in my personal opinion and based in the info you posted, I think you are hitting the cardio too hard, if what you are looking for its awesome ABS, cut the cardio to half (30 min) and do a nice session of abs/core workout everyother day, many people have the worng idea that doing tons of cardion will get a wash board abs but let's dont forget that abs is a mucle that you have to work to make it noticeable... thats my personal point of view and good luck in your journey

erickirb · January 2012

Don't net below 1200. Your current net is only 850, which is not enough fuel to live on, this will take its toll over time resulting in the loss of lean muscle. If you burn 500 cals you should not eat less than 1700, and since you don't have a lot to lose you should probably eat even more between 1700 and 2000 on days you burn 500.

AnarchoGen · January 2012

Here is the link......all the info you could ever want is buried in here! It is a treasure trove of knowledge!!

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/113609-relatively-light-people-trying-to-get-leaner?error_user_id=11693567&error_username=season1980

THANK YOU!! I've been looking for something like this - bookmarked it for future reference - THANKS AGAIN!!!

JennyBB125 · January 2012

Thanks guys! Going to increase calories and lower my cardio. I did pilates and abs, legs/butt and arms today and increased my weights. I understand what you are saying one more question though. If I want to burn the fat on my sides do i do that through cardio mostly or will it come off strength training? Im not sure the best exercise for this. Ive been doing backwards sit ups, side crunches and the machine that twists.... I dont seem to be making any progress yet...

3dogsrunning · January 2012

Thanks guys! Going to increase calories and lower my cardio. I did pilates and abs, legs/butt and arms today and increased my weights. I understand what you are saying one more question though. If I want to burn the fat on my sides do i do that through cardio mostly or will it come off strength training? Im not sure the best exercise for this. Ive been doing backwards sit ups, side crunches and the machine that twists.... I dont seem to be making any progress yet...

You can't target one area. Your body decides where the fat comes of first. Typically the first place it goes on is the last place it comes off. More cardio isn't going to target it and doing core/ab exercises isn't going to either. Continue to eat in a calorie deficit and you will eventually see results.

Losing Weight Too Fast?

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