Is losing 5 pounds a week bad for you??????

Ever since January I have been losing 5 pounds a week. I started out at 238  pounds and as of yesterday (2/7/09) I weigh 213. I have been losing 5 pounds a week. I have always heard that you don't want to lose more than 2 pounds a week. Is it ok to lose 5 # a week

My diet consists of a lot of veggies ( broccoli, butternut squash, spaghetti Squash and salads). I eat at least 2 fruits a day and I keep my calories at 1700 - 1800 a day. I eat weight watcher desserts which are usually at 90 calories. I do eat proteins (turkey sandwiches, egg whites, pork, chicken). I stay away from sodas and chips.  I am 35 years old and I am 5'10".

I work out 6 days  a week. Here is my typical workout week.

Mon - upper body (45 minutes) I lift to tone not gain so I do not lift too much weight

Tues- cardio - When I run I switch speeds every 2 minutes and there is a zero incline. I start at 3 then 5 then 7 then 9 then 4 then 6 then 8 then start all over again. I do this for 35 minutes

wed - lower (45 minutes) lift medium weights just to tone not gain

thurs - cardio again the same as Tuesday

Friday - same as Mon

Sat - Cardi same as tuesday

Sun - Off

I know I should be eating at least 1900 - 2000 calories a day, but I find it hard to eat that many calories a day when eating the right foods. Any advice would help me a lot.

After the first couple of weeks, your weight-loss should slow down to about 1% of your total body weight... So, in your case, 2.2lbs a week.

If you're male (?) 215lbs, 35, 5'10" and light to moderately active.... you need about 2800 - 3500 cals a day to maintain your weight.  So if you're on 1900 - 2000 and losing weight very rapidly you're either eating a lot less than you think or your intake is about 500-600 cals too low.  Aim for a calorie range of 2500-2700 from now on and keep your food log really accurately (weigh and measure, don't guess) to avoid the problems of crash-dieting.

To increase your calorie intake healthily you can go three routes

1. Increase the portion-sizes of everything you already eat e.g Three slices of toast at breakfast instead of  two, a 6oz piece of salmon instead of a 4oz piece etc.
2. Add some healthy high-cal snacks into your day e.g. 2oz almonds = 300 cals.  Or have a glass of fruit juice with each meal.
3. Increase your intake of healthy high-cal foods in general e.g. add extra olive oil to cooking, chop an avocado onto a salad or sprinkle some nuts and raisins on your morning breakfast cereal.

As your weight reduces you'll need fewer calories..... Redo the calculations from time to time as you go.

Best of luck

Jane said it all.

You may not feel hungry but please, try to put some more gas in that car (lol, cheesy metaphor).

If you feel dizzy drink some 100% fruit juice ASAP!

Original Post by tomgra:

I lift to tone not gain so I do not lift too much weight

 

 

Read this thread on toning - mostly just read the first response, from Melkor.

It depends on what you mean by "too much weight" but if you are either doing more than 8-12 reps per set OR when you reach your prescribed reps, you could do more, you aren't using enough weight to help maintain your muscles. If too much weight just means you can do more than one rep, then ignore me :)

You won't gain muscle because you are at a calorie deficit.

I know it wasn't your question (but Jane already answered that) but I thought you might want to know.

Oh, and if you are having trouble reaching your intake goal, start eating the whole egg, not just the egg white.

I'm with you on this...I've lost 24 lbs since christmas...an average of about 4 lbs per week more less.  However, I've slowed down the weight loss eating more, and working out more.  My weight loss has slowed to between 1 and 2 lbs a week in the last couple of weeks, but I feel like it's going to stay off longer this way too.  It's not so much a diet as a life change.  I worried when I was eating so much less that when I hit my goal, it would all come back because I would go back to my old habits. However, I can see myself eating a healthy amount and continueing to excercise as I am now for a long time into the future.  I will say it has felt great to lose the lbs that i've been trying to for years in a couple months, and actually see myself getting into the "healthy" range on most simple BMI charts in thenext couple of months.

It may just be that you're making a lot of diet and activity changes all at once which all result in a large weight loss.  When I started, I weighed 241lbs, and I lost 60lbs in 3 months.  It was fine.  I am fine.  My weight loss did slow down eventually though.

For the last 3 months I've really had to fine tune my calorie intake and workout to keep the weight coming off at a reasonable rate of 1 lb a week.  I think the other problem is that you run the risk of burn-out if you focus on weight loss too much and try to change too much all at once.  It's all about remembering that you're changing your lifestyle, not just losing weight.

I appreciate all of your input. I guess all I really need to up my calories so that I am around 2500. I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't ruining my health.

I guess uping my calories will not really be all that hard. I really do love peanut butter and at 190 per 2 TBSP it should not be that hard to add calories. I actually have to start adding some of the snacks I used to eat such as pretzles and 1 TBSP of Nutella. I will try changing my calories to see what happens this week. Once again thanks for all of your advice.

It's water weight.