Losing too fast?

I've been counting calories since January 5, and as of today I'm down 21.5 lbs (yay, go me!). I have about 13-15 lbs to go to hit my goal weight of 145-147 (I'm a 5'8" woman, 47 years old). I lost a lot in January, tapered off (and even gained some back) in February, but still had a net loss of around 6 lbs for the month, got the flu in mid to late February, lost a lot in a week but gained most of it back, but once I started feeling better it started coming off again. I'm aiming for my BMR (1450 cals)--sometimes I go about 100-200 cals over, sometimes I'm under by 100-200 (that's pretty uncommon--the main reason I use my BMR as a target is that the 1200 recommended by this site often just isn't enough food for me--I was getting discouraged about going over so often, so I just reset my goal </p>).

This past week, I've really buckled down and been good with counting my calories and sticking to it (with the exception of dinner on Saturday, but even then I didn't go hog-wild). What with work travel, vacations, illness, and social events, I realized that this past week was probably the first time since sometime in January that I've made it all the way through the week without getting seriously off track. In addition to staying within my calories, I've been good (for me) about my exercise--about an hour 3-4 times a week of cardio and a little bit of weight training--and religious about my water intake.

Anyway. My official weigh-in day is today, and I am down 4.5 lbs since last week. While it *was* gratifying to see that kind of movement on the scale, I'm concerned that I'm sabatoging my overall goal (to be healthy, fit, and down 35-40 lbs) by losing more than the recommended 2 lbs per week. At this point in the game, I was expecting to have to deal with plateauing, not over-aggressive weight loss! Do you think this was just some sort of anomaly? Is it too soon to know? Should I tweak my caloric intake? Your thoughts would be most welcome!

Anyone? I want to do this right.

Bumping...

I think you are doing great.  If you are eating at or near your BMR, then I wouldn't worry about it.  While I don't believe that the BMR is any kind of magical number that you absolutely have to eat every day, it is a good starting point.

When you first start losing weight, a lot of people see a lot of weight gain pretty rapidly.  It usually tapers off to a more reasonable rate of loss over time, so I would not worry.  If you are really concerned, then you might ask your doctor what he thinks.

And congrats on the weight lost so far.

I think you need to look at a couple of different factors. First how are you feeling? During the day are you dragging, tired, irritable, grouchy? Then you're not eating enough or the right kind of foods and need to adjust. But if you feel good then I would be to concerned. For some people, its just a matter of a few adjustments that puts them on a road to good health. (I don't happen to be one of those people) Count your self lucky and keep up the good work. Congrats on the loss.

i think you are doing great!  congrats!!!  :D  and stick with it!!!  i lost 22 pounds my 1st month, but now i'm lucky if i lose 5.  of course, i was alot bigger then, too  LOL

i'm 5'8" and 152 now.  i was 218 on 9/4!

You know what, it sounds like you have things in order and you're doing great.  The only reason why I would think you're losing at a fast rate is that you're 47 and maybe the extra weight is new?  Did you live a long time at you're goal weight?  It's possible that your body is most comfortable at your goal weight and is helping you along.  I think some of it has to do with genetics and how you treated your body in life.

A big kudos to you for losing the weight, I bet you feel awesome! :)

Thanks for the replies, everyone! I really feel like I'm accomplishing something here!

r6riderchick, to answer your question--I've always been 10-20 lbs overweight. After I had my 2nd child 7 years ago, the baby weight still wasn't coming off at 6 months postpartum, so I joined Weight Watchers (they have modifications to their program to accommodate nursing moms--so awesome!) and then the weight came off pretty easily. Six months later and I was down to about 15 lbs below pre-pregnancy weight and feeling great--but then I got really sedentary (took up knitting as a hobby--which I still love, but it's not great for exercise, you know??), started getting into some bad eating habits (really just exacerbating the bad habits I already had), and over the course of 6 years I packed on 40 lbs. I started feeling really poorly--lots of chronic aches and pains in my back and legs, not being able to run around with my kids, no energy--I finally said enough is enough and started my weight loss program in January. I'm more than halfway to my goal, and I already feel so much better! The aches are fewer, less intense and not so chronic, I have more energy, and hey, I'm looking better, too. I figured I needed to do it before the menopause sets in and totally screws up my metabolism!

sophcesca,

Well it sounds to me like you figured out the diet thing and lucky for you your body is responding.  Now don't get discuoraged if it slows down some when you get closer to your goal.  I have not experienced a plateau, HOWEVER I have experienced the really quick loss and then the 1-2lbs per week which sounds great but isn't great when you're used to losing 4lbs!  Only advice is when you get closer to your goal don't get on the scale as much (otherwise it will look like it's not moving and can be a total drag).

Anyways other then that, you just inspired me to kick it up a bit and get rid of the rest of the extra weight.

It sounds like you're doing everything you should be! Since you said you really buckled down and were careful this week, it might just be your body catching up. Really, 1-2 lbs/week is the healthy AVERAGE--you shouldn't worry if you have some weeks over that! So feel free to be excited, and congrats!

Original Post by sophcesca:

I've been counting calories since January 5, and as of today I'm down 21.5 lbs (yay, go me!). I have about 13-15 lbs to go to hit my goal weight of 145-147 (I'm a 5'8" woman, 47 years old). I lost a lot in January, tapered off (and even gained some back) in February, but still had a net loss of around 6 lbs for the month, got the flu in mid to late February, lost a lot in a week but gained most of it back, but once I started feeling better it started coming off again. I'm aiming for my BMR (1450 cals)--sometimes I go about 100-200 cals over, sometimes I'm under by 100-200 (that's pretty uncommon--the main reason I use my BMR as a target is that the 1200 recommended by this site often just isn't enough food for me--I was getting discouraged about going over so often, so I just reset my goal

).

This past week, I've really buckled down and been good with counting my calories and sticking to it (with the exception of dinner on Saturday, but even then I didn't go hog-wild). What with work travel, vacations, illness, and social events, I realized that this past week was probably the first time since sometime in January that I've made it all the way through the week without getting seriously off track. In addition to staying within my calories, I've been good (for me) about my exercise--about an hour 3-4 times a week of cardio and a little bit of weight training--and religious about my water intake.

Anyway. My official weigh-in day is today, and I am down 4.5 lbs since last week. While it *was* gratifying to see that kind of movement on the scale, I'm concerned that I'm sabatoging my overall goal (to be healthy, fit, and down 35-40 lbs) by losing more than the recommended 2 lbs per week. At this point in the game, I was expecting to have to deal with plateauing, not over-aggressive weight loss! Do you think this was just some sort of anomaly? Is it too soon to know? Should I tweak my caloric intake? Your thoughts would be most welcome!

 

 <3 congrats! it sound like you're fueling your body and exercising, and being very health concious! im having frustration figuring out some variation in healthy meals, and my problem is if its too stressful i'll just skip meals. do you mind sharing some of your daily menu?

<3congrats again!

~~chels

My typical day looks like this:

Breakfast: 1/2 cup rolled oats, cooked with water, splash of 1% milk, a drizzle  of sugar-free maple syrup and a handful of blueberries (~200 cals) or whole wheat english muffin with 1 tbsp peanut or almond butter (230 cals)

Snack: handful of almonds (100 cals)

Lunch: Big sald full of spring greens, baby spinach, cucumbers, red bell peppers, beets, garbanzo beans, grated carrot, and about 3-4 oz grilled chicken breast. Dressing is plain balsamic vinegar (350-450 cals)

Snack: Fage 0% yogurt with frozen berries (100 cals)

Dinner: 3-4 oz lean meat (chicken breast mostly, salmon, ground turkey) with 1/2 cup brown rice or small baked regular or sweet potato (or half of a big one), a cup of steamed veggies and a salad (spring greens, tomato, cucumber, carrots) with 1 tbsp reduced calorie dressing or a splash of balsamic vinegar (~550 cals)

I try not to "waste" any calories on beverages. I do have a 12 oz cup of black coffee in the mornings, but the calories in that are negligible. The rest of the day it's water, water, water.

I'm a big fan of Cooking Light recipes, which you can find at myrecipes.com, and Weight Watchers has some good recipes, too--I made their chicken Marsala last weekend for some company, and they loved it--you really couldn't tell it was a reduced-calorie meal. The recipes from both of these sources have the added advantage of being relatively simple and straightforward, not to mention quick. I would say that my cooking skills leave a bit to be desired, but I have great success with these recipes (and other people think they taste good, too!). Myrecipes.com is really a great site--you can browse/look up recipes, and then generate a shopping list from the ingredient list--really takes a lot of the work out of meal planning.

I try to stay away from processed foods--I do have them sometimes, when I'm in a time crunch or am feeling lazy (or am having a craving)--but I try to keep it to a minimum--I feel really satisfied eating more natural, whole foods--they taste better and make me feel like I actually ate something. That being said, I am a big fan of Boca Burger flamed-broiled "burgers" and Trader Joe's makes a yummy chicken chili-lime burger--I always like to have a package or two of those in the freezer.

I use mostly olive oil in my cooking, but try to keep the amounts to a minimum--I find that if something seems like it's going to scorch without more oil, adding in some chicken broth (for appropriate dishes, mind you!) or water to the pan allows for complete sauteeing.

I try to shop keeping in mind the dinners for the week--I stock up on fresh veggies, fruits, whole wheat bread, and lean meats--there's always some way to throw them together to make a tasty meal.  Can't wait until it's warm enough to start growing some herbs and veggies (I'm in New England, and the growing season doesn't really start until May!).

Anyway, hope some of this helps.