Losing Weight too Fast - Will it come back?

First off, let me clairify that I don't believe I'm undereating at all. I eat less a day meal wise, but I sort of go all out at breakfast (~700kcal give or take I can't measure it) then eat a normal/decent sized dinner of maybe ~400kcal or more. If my meals are lighter during the day or I get hungry I grab a protein bar as a snack from my room or go get something really light in the cafeteria/cafe ect.

I also have a ton of cookies, hershey kisses, and marshmallows my roommate's grandma mailed me that I probably eat some of every few days. I typically don't eat any desserts at all, but if they have something that looks yummy I might during dinner.

If you haven't guessed it already I live on campus in dorms presently. Around 45 days ago I weighed in at a high of 195... now in the mornings as of the past few days I'm weighing in at a low of 170 and after breakfast 175.

If anything I think I'm underestimating the number of calories I eat, since I never take into account the evoo on the omlets/eggs I get or the butter in foods/ect.

My only real guess is that I went from an incredibly sedentiary lifestyle with daily walks to a lightly active lifestyle with no walks. Going back to school has sort of made me move a lot more, which I like.

I eat breakfast pretty early - around 7:30 most mornings, but its usually full of protein since I always get eggs, even now I still feel the heavy, sometimes slightly too full, lump in my stomache.

Could it just be my more active lifestyle and sudden change in activities/etc, or should I try eating more or something? I'm not going to lie, I'm enjoying how much better I look, but I want it to STAY that way.

edit: yes I realize the numbers of guessed calories I listed only add up to 1100kcal, but I snack enough between dinner and breakfast as needed. some breakfasts are more around 1000kcal maybe more

700 to 1000  calories for breakfast is off the charts high - especially for a woman. Bodybuilders on steroids MIGHT get close to 700 for breakfast. Your body can't process all those calories at once - it stores/uses what it can such as helping muscles recover (protein) refill glycogen stores(carbs) and help with hormone production (unprocessed fats). Anything beyond these needs gets stored as fat.

It's been my experience that the quicker you lose weight the more likely you'll gain it back. Poeple who lose weight quickly haven't changed bad habits for good. They use up all their willpower for that big weight lose then rebound by overeating.

it's like swimming across a pool - a person who can't swim will hold their breath under water and most likely reach the end but their ability to continue for another lap is unlikely. A person who can swim properly will be able to swim for laps because they're able to breath and they're not using up all their lung capacity (willpower). Hope that makes sense.

It's about changing routines which will allow you to change poor eating habits and get more exercise. Going to school has FORCED a change in your routine which is good but what happens when school is out? Will you put all that weight back on because you might go back to your out-of-school routine?

Yeah, I know my breakfast is big.. but its the only meal of the day where I actually feel like eating.. that or I eat a smaller breakfast and pretty much force myself to eat food the rest of the day =/

Other than that I pretty much graze throughout the day.

As for the change in my routine, a lot of it has to do with me not living with my parents. On my own I make a lot of healthier, active choices. My problem with weight pretty much goes away on its own when I'm choosing what type of food is available for me to eat and so forth. With my parents there is very little variety and a lot of it is frozen food, fast food, or pizza. Back in high school I was loosing weight too, just being unemployed and out of school for a while is sort of like asking to get a bit heavy.

At home I had the time to exercise an hour a day, even if it was walking the dog, but that was literally all I did. Here I don't dedicate time to exercise, but I'm walking all over the place and up and down stairs.. so my guess is that it evens out.

As for part of my breakfast being stored as fat.. I don't really mind that since throughout the rest of the day that fat will get used back up.

I guess my concern is that I'm losing a bit more than 2lbs a week. Can my body naturally be ok with losing that much? Just the numbers don't really seem to add up. Honestly it defies my understanding how I could be losing so much.

Well, it definitely sounds like you're eating more than enough calories, and I'm sure the changes in your lifestyle do have an impact.

I don't think it's about how fast you lose weight, but more about the diet you're following (not as in diet plan, but..how you eat on a daily basis) And what you're doing to maintain it.

If the changes you make are reasonable, things you can easily maintain and you're consistent, you should do fine.

It's the people who drastically cut calories or eliminate whole food groups or exercise like fiends only to find that..oops..not so realistic in the long run, who end up gaining it all back in my admittedly not very humble opinion.

Just aim for healthy. Watch the fat, sugar, sodium and do your best to go for a balanced diet. Go for sweets and french fries etc in moderation, and you might just be okay.

Alright, that makes me feel a bit better. What I'm doing right now is easy, and honestly I could eat like this forever and probably not think twice.

I guess I just worry, maybe if I am a little low some days I make up for it on other days? During these 45 or so days I've had parties, a few days of eating a ton (following a night of drinking a ton) and I guess I just find it pretty alarming that I can still lose even though I do those sort of things on occasion.

Food group wise I think I'm doing ok I have a really balanced breakfast, which is my main meal every morning, but that also means a lot of egg so I've sort of been worried about cholesterol.

French fries have been my achilles heel at dinner though. I eat them a lot.. mostly because everything else is pretty unappatizing. I love potatoes too.. I have some form of them at every meal. I think for the most part though I'm balancing everything out.

So then its ok that I'm losing, on average, more than 2lbs a week? Because so far, rounding up, it says I've lost 20lbs.. which is pretty much a lb every 2-3 days...  most of which has happened since I got here, so its actually even more.

Could my metabolism just be really high? I know in a physiology/anatomy class I took about 4 years back everybody did a bmr test thingy for it and mine was 1950, but I was doing a lot of swimming back then.

Maybe some of it is water? I try and drink a lot (12 cups or so of water/day) but I get dehydrated pretty easily.. but when I try to drink more the scale just goes down more o_0

Well, you're not starving yourself, so that's good, and while it's *usually* not the norm to drop 2 pounds a week without even trying to, it could be all those changes in your life lately.

Realizing you're in school, I know it's harder to cook for yourself if you're in a dorm, but you could say, keep sweet potatoes around and microwave them as a healthy snack or alternative to those fried things.

If you keep losing weight, and feel like you shouldn't be, you could always consult your doctor, of course. Generally speaking, someone your age doesn't need to be overly concerned with cholesterol.

Doesn't mean go hog wild and eat lard on your toast or anything though = )

Alcohol can cause dehydration as you know, and it's also loaded with sugar, so that's something to keep in check, as well.

All in all, I think you're fine.

But vinny186, doesn't the overall intake count, not when you consume them? I've heard that point being stressed over and over on this site especially when people talk about late night eating. I don't think her breakfast is going to cause her to store fat.

Original Post by mars_0112:

But vinny186, doesn't the overall intake count, not when you consume them? I've heard that point being stressed over and over on this site especially when people talk about late night eating. I don't think her breakfast is going to cause her to store fat.

 Absolutely! there is all this nonsense about oh, skip a meal, go into starvation mode, or eat late at night, store it as fat. Metabolism simply does NOT work this way. You'd have to severely over-restrict calories for days if not weeks to make any kind of real metabolic adjustment.

It is calories in/calories out..regardless how many times a day, or when you eat.

I think she's just more active now that she's in school, and she's also young. Could be losing 'baby fat'. She may also be overestimating how many calories she's eating..something just as easy to do as underestimating them.

Something she could do is maybe wear a pedometer to see just how much she's moving in a typical day for better estimates on her output.

Personally, I usually weigh 110-115, but due to some life stuff, went up to 130, an all time high for me. So, I started counting and keeping track, and lost 10, just working on the final 5-10.

I eat whenever I feel hungry, but always aim for that target of about 1200. Some days, I end up eating less because I'm just not that hungry, and see no point eating when I don't feel hungry.

Anyway, my BMR is low since I'm only so heavy/active, and my maintenance is also going to be low.

This site says I should eat 1900 calories..yeah, right! I'd gain probably 5 pounds a week on that, so for me anyway..definitely overestimated my daily needs.

True, this can vary person to person depending on activity level, goals, etc but..in general, someone my size really isn't going to lose weight eating so many calories.

But anyway, calories in/calories out, doesn't matter even a tiny bit when you eat them.

I'll be straight with you, I didn't read your post, or the posts after it...

I'm just responding to the subject question... and the answer is YEP.

It's gonna come back, and it might bring friends.

You've been warned.

I think you're going to eventually stretch out your stomach and the "full feeling" is going to be harder to achieve but you seem to be losing weight despite the more typical methods of consistent eating and physical exertion.

If you're eating 700 to 1000 cal. for breakfast and not eating again until dinner and losing weight - then clearly it works for you. And as long as you're not physically exerting yourself with intense exercise your eating routine will should be fine, I missed to part about your dinner

There is a lot to be said for the thermogenic effect of food - frequent meals gives a metabolic boost. However, with a good BMR, you can get away with eating less frequently but it's still not the healthiest way to eat, A pattern of overeating followed by long periods of not eating can also throw off hormone function - insulin spiking and dropping.

I think the big breakfast is fine and you can quit worrying about it as long as it is working for you. You are still losing in a healthy range, about 2 lbs a week, and you may soon see that slow down since you will be getting more used to all the activity and your body won't have to work quite so hard to do the normal stuff you now have going on. If you find the loss stalls, then you might think about the small meals but honestly, don't mess with success.

At some point, you might need to cut out the sweets, etc., and start to be more vigilant about counting the cals you aren't currently counting. As you lose, you will need fewer cals to maintain your smaller body, so your overall burn goes down.

Best of luck, and enjoy that big breakfast! There is absolutely no reason not to!

Original Post by samismilexx:

I'll be straight with you, I didn't read your post, or the posts after it...

I'm just responding to the subject question... and the answer is YEP.

It's gonna come back, and it might bring friends.

You've been warned.

 Nothing like making statements without reading first. = )

@mkuls - Before I went to school I was counting pretty carefully through CC and was losing, but not nearly as much as I am right now, I guess from being on here it sort of sent up a red flag, and thanks for the encouragement. I tried counting them here but decided to just wing it like I did last time at school and if the scale doesn't go up I'd be good. What happened was not what I expected needless to say.

I think the main reason I ended up just eating the huge breakfast is because when I was eating a ton of smaller meals throughout the day at home I was always stressed about how much I should eat, or what, even though I was eating balanced carbs/protein/fats before I started keeping track of them. That and the smaller meal plans here are a lot cheaper.. and I like to try to get my moneys worth.. I learned that from the last time I ate on campus and ended the semester with over 400$ in unspent food money =/

Thank you all very much for the opinions and helpful feedback!  :D

I heard somewhere that the "healthiest" eating style is one that puts breakfast as the biggest meal of the day... lunch smaller and dinner the smallest.  I guess it's because you wake up having "fasted" for eight hours and you need to kick your blood sugar back up.  I'm sure that your more active lifestyle is helping the weight loss.  I know when I lived on campus I lost almost 20 pounds my first year just from all the walking around on campus and working two jobs and not to mention the weight of my backpack I was carrying around.  I wouldn't worry.  I'm sure you will be fine.  Enjoy campus life!  It's a blast!

Original Post by raychelc:

Original Post by samismilexx:

I'll be straight with you, I didn't read your post, or the posts after it...

I'm just responding to the subject question... and the answer is YEP.

It's gonna come back, and it might bring friends.

You've been warned.

 Nothing like making statements without reading first. = )

 

 That's me. ^_^ I'm awesome like that.

I think you're totally fine.

I did the same thing but in reverse (don't eat much all day, splurge on a huge dinner) and it worked fine. So far I haven't gained it back.

Just make sure you don't start over-eating at OTHER meals due to your stomach being stretched out from the one BIG meal.