Too Much Too Fast??

Just something that was brought up to me and I wanted to see what everyone else here has to say.

My doctor suggested that I lose weight to take stress off a torn ligament in my ankle.  I started dieting Dec 1, started doing lane swimming on Jan 4, and went back to work after medical leave Dec 13.

In the 8 weeks since I started, I've lost 26 pounds....over three a week on average.  My mom, with her dieticians certification and journeyman's cooks papers, says that it's too much too fast (she runs the kitchen at a senior's home).

What is everyone else's take?

Oh, and the stats are 29yo male, 6'5, start weight 378, current weight 352.

I think its normal to lose weight pretty fast espically when you have a bit of weight to lose. Sometimes alot of it is water. I think that as long as your nutrition is good, youre getting enough calories (do you feel excessively hungry), exercising sensibily and feel well then you should be ok.

How many calories are you consuming every day and how many are you burning. Maybe you arent getting enough calories.

According to the site calculators, my daily burn (on days where I'm not in the pool) is 3640, and add another 700-1000 on Sundays and Mondays.  I don't feel hungry at the end of the day....if I do, I make sure to have a snack before bed.

The site says that to reach my short term goal from the doctor (340 by June 1) I should be eating somewhere around 3150, but my NY resolution is to see the skinny side of 300 by the end of the year.  Since I started December 1, my average has been 1927 calories.

Slow and steady wins the race. It is normal for very large weight losers to lose rapidly at first but a great deal of it is fluid loss. However, your defecit is WAY too large. You're at risk of starvation mode.

Eat the 3150. If you need food advice I can give you some but you CANNOT keep on eating so little. It's dangerous and ultimately counterproductive.

So I'm seeing two schools of thought here....

1) As long as you are eating decent, you aren't hungry, and you feel good, there is no problem.

and

2) You are losing too fast, it's not healthy, you need to force yourself to increase your calorie intake whether you are hungry or not.

I agree with lala.

It does happen to come off quite rapidly when you are on the higher end of the spectrum so I dont think it is exactly dangerous for you to lose what you are currently (which would be different if you were starting at, say, 200) but I also think you should be eating more.

I dont doubt that you feel fine and are not hungry but your body really does need those extra calories to keep your organs just plain functioning normally on a day to day basis.
Sometimes when you are not eating enough you dont feel hungry because you lose your ability to recognize (or produce) hunger signals. In the long run not only does it harm your body but it can easily cause you to end up burning less calories (body breaking down not only fat but muscle decreasing your BMR) daily and cause your weight loss to slow/stall and you wont have the advantage of being able to eat more while losing the same amount on eating little.

If you find it hard to get in that many calories eat high calorie, low dense foods such as peanut butter, dried fruit, avocado, nuts, full fat milk, yogurts and cheeses, granolas, and beans.
If you drink protein shakes or eat oatmeal you can easily add in an extra 500 with nuts/nut butters and dried fruit.

You're a big guy and it sounds like you're doing just fine. Just make sure you don't cut your calories too far because it'll backfire on you every time.

I had heard that you weren't supposed to lose, or aim to lose, more than 1% of your body weight per week...so I guess if you're over 300lbs then a weight loss of about 3lbs per week isn't too drastic. But I may be wrong. Just make sure you don't cut your calories drastically tho. Always make sure you're eating enough :)

I fully realize the dangers of cutting back too far.

Yesterday I fought to get to the 3000 calories that CC said I should be eating....and I feel horrible today....my stomach has been turning ever since I went to bed last night.

I"m going to try to increase to 2500 and see how that works....with the changes I've made in my diet, I don't think I could make it to 3000 on a regular basis.  It's little things that are making the big difference...snacking on fruits and veggies rather than junk food, lower calorie options of the same food, stff like that.  I'm not eating less....just eating better.