Is this..normal?

[Perriwen]

Hello,

I'm 5'4 and started last week at about 280 pounds. For the first week I barely lost at all...but now since about monday, I've gone from 279 to 275.6 without really changing much except eating more soup and energy bars but with roughly the same amount of calories (and I haven't worked out that much either.) Is this something I should have expected, really bizarre, or are my scales just on the fritz? I'm a bit concerned since I hear typical weight loss is 1-2 pounds a week...and my scale is telling me 5 pounds in about three days and two pounds over night.

 

[FleurDeLis1]

It really depends on calories in vs. calories out. Either you lost a lot of water weight or you were in a huge calorie deficit. If your'e female you shouldn't eat less than 1200 calories and if you're male no less than 1800 calories.

 

[San2]

Fleur de Lis,
your numbers are dangerously incorrect. 1200 is too low in nearly all cases. Usually it is more around 1800 for females, and 2200 for males, and even that is only a very, very rough guideline.

Perriwen,
I lost 30 lbs in my first month of losing weight.

It's mostly water weight, so it's perfectly normal to lose large amounts first. It won't stay like that, and will rather quickly even out at a lower rate.

I'd suggest checking out your BMR to see where you stand. There's one here, along with a few other tools Fitness Tests - Fitness.com.

But no, I wouldn't worry. It seems pretty normal to me.

 

[cindero]

Plus, half a pound per week is a statistical average, if you are very overweight more is realistic. A better guideline would be, the maximum you could do with a strict diet and working out every day would be around 1% of your bodyweight in fat. On an good diet and average exercise scheme, I guess that would be around 0.5% per week.

 

[fortyfour]

Hi perri, did you say you are only eating soup and energy bars? This is not a very good way to go about losing weight. However, if you mean you are eating these in addition to other food that's not so terrible except i have a low opinion of energy bars. Tehre's not much difference between them and any sugar biscuit and some are even coated in chocolate.

So i'd chuck them out. I mean energy bars are basically oats without or without nuts and seeds, honey (which is sugar) and oil (which is fat). Oats are good and low calorie whilest nuts and seeds are nutritious but high calorie because they have a high fat content. Energy bars are good for very active people who haven't got time to prepare food and can't buy a decent meal. They are junk food pure and simple.

Soup is often good. If its homemade its probalby really good.

the best thing you can do is try to establish a meal plan for yourself using nutritious foods. Me and amy are generally pretty diligent about reporting our food. I give recipes and amy gives links to recipes. Read other people's food blogs and start your own in the weight loss diary section. Logging your food religiously is a surefire way to get to your goal.

 

[FleurDeLis1]

Fleur de Lis,
your numbers are dangerously incorrect. 1200 is too low in nearly all cases. Usually it is more around 1800 for females, and 2200 for males, and even that is only a very, very rough guideline.

1200 is meant to be the lowest one should go calorie wise to lose weight for a women. Ideally you should calculate your calorie maintenance and then subtract 500 from that and that is what your should be comsuming every day. However, you should not do so if it's lower than 1200 calories per day.IF you're a woman.

I've heard these base calorie numbers thrown around this board many times. The lowest amount of calories you should ever eat as a woman is 1200 and as a man 1800.

However it seems after doing some research that my 1800 cal limit for men was off a bit. The lowest amount of calories a male should consume is 1500.



These numbers are for weight loss, not maintaining a certain weight.

 

[Frosteh]

For the first week I barely lost at all...but now since about monday, I've gone from 279 to 275.6 without really changing much except eating more soup and energy bars but with roughly the same amount of calories

First of all it's possible the scales are not that accurate, it's worth getting a decent set of digital scales which can weigh in something like 0.25 or 0.1 pound increments.


However having said that, weight loss measured on a weekly basis can be extremely misleading, the problem is that your body can naturally swing at least 3-4lbs of weight within one day. So even an accurate measurement is essentially up to 3-4lbs wrong, try to look at your weight as 275.6lbs ± 2lbs (this means plus or minus 2lbs)


This fluctuation can make it look like you've lost nothing or even gained weight when in actual fact your real body weight may be lower, for example if you weigh yourself and come out 275lbs, and you drop 2lb that week, you'd expect to see 273lbs on the next weigh, but if your first measurement was on a low point and your 2nd measurement is on a high point it could be a good 4lbs higher which would put you in at 277lbs on the scales.


The opposite is also true, if you weigh 275 at a high point and lose 2lbs and then measure at a low point it can make you look as if you've lost 5-6lbs in a week.


It's disheartening to see but you must make sure that logic is in control and not emotion, it's perfectly normal and everyone gets this to some degree, I've had weeks where I've stuck to my diet really well and exercised a lot and come out 1-2lb heavier, and I've had weeks where I cheat and don't exercise and I've lost 5lbs.

Fleur de Lis,

your numbers are dangerously incorrect. 1200 is too low in nearly all cases. Usually it is more around 1800 for females, and 2200 for males, and even that is only a very, very rough guideline.

1200 is an often cited minimum for women and 1800 for men during weight loss. 1800/2200 is the appox maintenance calories for men/women unless you're heavily overweight this daily amount wont help you lose weight. Obviously it differs for each person, mostly based on height, height decides your natural weight and weight naturally effects the energy you need per day, heavier people need more energy to move about.


I'm a large guy, 6'1" and started at 250lbs and I started on a target of 3lbs a week weightloss which put me at about 1300 per day, as I lost weight this value dropped closer to about 1100 which was getting too low I feel, so I set my new loss at 2lbs per week which gave me 500 calories more to play with (1600 daily), I'm still at that now although realistically I eat a bit less than that if I'm not hungry during the day, I'd say that my average is still probably closer to the initial 1300 per day.


I wouldn't advise people go below the recommended limits but I will say that for me it's been no problem at 1100-1300 per day so the hysteria some people make about going below these limits is a little misplaced.