Losing too much weight?

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speshiok46
speshiok46 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone,

I've been on myfitnesspal for about a month now and have been making great progress, but I'm starting to wonder if the progress is too drastic. I've lost about 8 lbs thus far, 6 of which in the last two weeks, so basically 3 lbs a week lately. I've been using the recommended calorie intake to lose one pound a week with a slight deficit (700 calories or 0.2 pound per week). Also, I do P90X (upper body) every other day (no cardio at all), so I log it as strength training (0 calories burned). Based on my calculations, I should be losing around 1.5 - 1.6 lbs per week factoring in the calorie deficit that I log, and the potential lost from my exercise (P90X).

Some other things to consider:
- I've drastically changed my eating habits. I went from eating 1 to 2 meals per day to 5 to 6 per day.
- I am on a relatively high protein diet (45% carb, 30% protein, 25% fat), which is drastically different from my high fat diet before.
- I have a tendency to round up when measuring calories, but not by a lot (10% to 15%).
- I have not found that I feel significantly better/worse since I've begun to diet and exercise.
- My strength level has remain relatively static. Exercises that were difficult when I first started seem just as difficult. Also, my rep count has not improved (for max rep exercises like push-ups and pull-ups)

Should I be concerned that I'm losing too much weight too fast? Any thoughts on this would be really appreciated.

Replies

  • friend2cptsolo
    friend2cptsolo Posts: 29 Member
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    You will ABSOLUTELY burn calories will doing strength exercises. Come up with some sort of calorie add on for that like 30 mins of swimming will give you an extra 205 Cal, something like that, and then eat back those calories. See how the weight loss goes if you bump your intake 250- 400 calories a day. My guess is you will loss weight just slower.
    Also the more you weigh the quicker pounds will come off at first.
  • Joannie30
    Joannie30 Posts: 415 Member
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    You will ABSOLUTELY burn calories will doing strength exercises. Come up with some sort of calorie add on for that like 30 mins of swimming will give you an extra 205 Cal, something like that, and then eat back those calories. See how the weight loss goes if you bump your intake 250- 400 calories a day. My guess is you will loss weight just slower.
    Also the more you weigh the quicker pounds will come off at first.

    ^^THIS!!!!

    I started on MFP in Feb of this year and to begin with the weight just fell off me at a rate of knots!!!!!! I thought i would waste away!!! (well, not quite lol) but then it slowed as my body got used to the changes. 3lbs a week isn't drastically unhealthy, although they say you should aim for 2lbs per week. You're doing fine. x x x
  • rollhair
    rollhair Posts: 2
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    I'm sort of in the same boat. I'm 5 '11 and wanted to get under 170 lbs by the end of August. I started at about 183 two weeks ago. Well, I'm down to 169.5 today. I do the Power 90 workouts. Not P90X, but the one Tony Horton made before. It's glorified aerobics and strength training with body weight exercises and resistance bands. I really like it. Anyway, my calories we're really low (1200 per day) so I think I'm just going to add some more calories and protein and see if I can slow down the overall weight loss and maybe gain some more muscle mass. (Also I'm a man).
  • shelbyfrootcake
    shelbyfrootcake Posts: 965 Member
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    It's probably just because it's all so new for your body. It'll slow, then plateau, so enjoy this weight loss while it lasts!
  • Joannie30
    Joannie30 Posts: 415 Member
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    ...also, a point to remember is that some of that weight will most likely be water....
  • SuffolkSally
    SuffolkSally Posts: 964 Member
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    I'd make the most of it - I should think it's induced by the drastic changes!

    I lost 14lb in my first month, but it's been an erratic journey since then.

    Buy a heart rate monitor if you're concerned. At least log strength training (there's a category under cardio for it, which I don't suppose is all that accurate but it's better than not recoding at all).
  • Espressocycle
    Espressocycle Posts: 2,245 Member
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    Happens to everybody the first month or when they have been cheating for a while. Don't worry in another few months you will be back complaining that you are barely losing at all. :smile:
  • Jenlwb
    Jenlwb Posts: 682 Member
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    You will be burning loads of cals with that P90, under cardio you will find strength training listed. Log it, and eat it. If your strength is not increasing, it may be because your body needs more fuel. You can afford to eat a bit more if you are losing so fast.

    Well done though!
  • Koldnomore
    Koldnomore Posts: 1,613 Member
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    I've had the same experience - also being in my first couple of weeks. I have lost close to 10 pounds :) but I am going with the assumption that firstly I have so much to lose that its not going to be abnormal for me to drop a chunk when I have basically cut the amount of food that I was eating in HALF from before I started counting. Secondly that some of it is probably water retention too. I figure I'll even out a little bit when I get past the loss of the 'low hanging fruit' weight.

    I am eating most of my calories and I don't exercise much (yet) since my body can't quite handle it with all the extra weight I have. I am having some issues eating ALL my calories back from what little I am doing but I just put some butter on my bread and have an ice cream cone from time to time and it seems to even up.
  • samanthaski
    samanthaski Posts: 6
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    If you have more weight to lose then doing p90 and eating proper its normal to lose more initially..your doing wonderful..keep it up.
  • xxcandywrathxx
    xxcandywrathxx Posts: 200 Member
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    3 lbs is only 1.5kg...its fine to be losing that much. :)
    When you start losing 6+ kg a week is when you should be worried!
  • this1bigdog
    this1bigdog Posts: 350 Member
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    a few things:
    I am in the same boat with you...I eat about 900-1800 caloires a day (never more than I am hungry for)..but I work out a lot some times up too 2000 calories a day (using a HRM)..but as long as you aren't hungry then keep doing what you are doing...your calorie intake will catch up to what you actually eating...as you lose weight your body needs less calories to maintain (hence why the last lbs always take the longest to lose)

    alot of the intial weight is just excess water weight so it could just be coming off. When I started I lost close to 10 lbs the 1st week and a 1/2 but I have maintain 4 lbs a week so far...if you just make healthy choices it becomes easier..

    and you can eat more healthy stuff then bad stuff..so I can eat a huge plate of egg whites with tons of veggies cooked into it for the same caloires of a single poptart. so it's possible to fill up on smaller amounts of food ..

    o yeah ..water is a good subititude for food also!

    good luck and safe healthy journey
  • tryinghard71
    tryinghard71 Posts: 593
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    I also do P90X. Every work out is set up to burn 400-600 calories or more. Go to http://p90xcalories.com/ and there is a calorie burn calculator for calories burned for their workouts. I used this before I got my HRM. It's pretty close to what my HRM gives me if I am honest about how hard I was working out. It will ask you which P90X workout you are doing, the intensity of your work out, how long you worked out and your current weight. Hope that helps!
  • MikeInAZ
    MikeInAZ Posts: 483 Member
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    If you want to know how many calories you burn while working out, get a Heart Rate Monitor. I suggest the Polar FT4. You will be surprised how many calories you burn.

    But your weight loss is all relative to how much you weigh. If you're 300lbs and you lose 8 in a month, well that's actually quite low. I would expect 20-30 loss in your first month.

    But if you're 210 and lose 8 in a month, that's about right.

    Are you taking supplements (vitamins and omega 3s)? Do you eat a lot of protein after your workout to help rebuild and build your muscles? This will actually have you gain some weight.

    Good luck,

    Mike
  • gogophers
    gogophers Posts: 190 Member
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    I don't know about P90X, but if you want to increase your strength (if your goal is solely to lose weight, you can probably ignore this), you should do higher weight exercises with lower reps. No set with more than 8 reps. If you do 3 sets of something you should be able to do the first set, then do the second set and maybe fail on the last rep, and you should fail on the third set. If you aren't failing on the third set, you're doing too little weight.

    For pushups and pullups, I recommend changing things around a little bit. Maybe use a wider grip/hand placement or narrow your grip. Or for pushups, do only one hand, or do explosions. There are many different variations of these. You're body is very good at becoming efficient at doing a specific workout so it will use as little of its muscles as possible. You want to "keep it guessing" to get the most out of your workouts.

    For other lifts like curls, you can do things like changing from barbell to hammer. Bench- use a bar instead of dumbbells or visa-versa.
  • speshiok46
    speshiok46 Posts: 3
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    Thanks everyone for the feedback so far. I actually do track my exercise calorie lost, just not on MFP. I keep track of everything on a separate spreadsheet. I don't want to get in the habit of eating more just because I'm exercising more. I've had that issue in the past, especially with weight training. I would eat more while working out, but when I stopped working out, I'd continue to eat as if I still were. When calculating the calories burned by exercise, I used the estimated calories burned provided by P90X and halved it. I figured I'm not nearly working as hard as they are on screen.

    Although I was a little concerned with the overall health implications of losing too much weight, I was more worried that I was losing too much lean body mass (most importantly muscle). I have a 9 month plan with three phases: weight loss, improve overall fitness, and increase muscle mass. Ideally, I would like to maintain as much muscle mass now in the weight loss phase. I figured losing 3 pounds a week would be too drastic and would result in higher proportions of muscle loss.

    Also, a tidbit I forgot to mention earlier, I drink about 16 to 20 cups of water a day. That's something I've always done even before the diet and exercise.
  • DanRyan44
    DanRyan44 Posts: 6 Member
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    3lbs per week is GREAT!
    Pick a calorie amount and eat everybit of it. I started out at 276 pounds and I ate 1650 calories a day [about 200 less than MFP recommended]. The only exercise I got was an evening walk with my fat old arthritic dog. The weight fell off me. I am talking about up to 10 lb per week. I have been on for 4 months, I am at 218 and excercise 3 times a week. My body has slowed down and I am losing an average of 1.5-2lbs per week. I personally DO NOT eat my exercise calories. I view it like a bank account, if you burn more than you eat... YOU WILL LOSE WEIGHT. What is you BMI?
    Good Luck with P90X.. my .02... I don't like those extreme programs. Who lives like that forever? Live in moderation.
  • speshiok46
    speshiok46 Posts: 3
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    Currently I do take supplements, one multivitamin and a Omega-3 (fish oil) capsule. I've been taking these for quite a while before the dieting and exercise. As far as workout eating, on days that I exercise, I will: eat additional slow-burning carbs about two hours before, a fast-burning carb i.e. sugar right before (some sort of fruit juice, usually orange), around two cups of Gatorade during for more sugar and sodium, followed by a protein shake (~26g of protein) immediately after the workout. This is followed by my regular dinner.

    My BMI is currently 26.8, so I still have 15 lbs to go just to get to the maximum "normal" BMI. I chose this weight as it also aligned with when I was the most fit (175 at age 18). I completely agree with not eating calories from exercise. I think of it as just extra money in the bank that can pleasantly surprise you later on. Also, I have no accurate way of tracking calories lost during exercise especially with a HRM. I have a resting heart rate of 90, which I've had all my life. My doctor said this is fine, as it remains constant, and I have no signs of the typical diseases associated with with a higher heartbeat (hypertension, high cholesterol, heart disease, etc). This also partially explains my weight patterns and metabolism. Before I started this diet/exercise routine a month ago, I maintained my weight of 195 lbs, with an average of 2500-3000 calories a day with zero exercise and a sedentary desk job.

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