i’m 6’2" and weighed 205 approximately 4 weeks ago. i’m down to 190 now. since i’m losing the weight, i might as well just go with it and drop another 10. not that i was overweight, but i’ve always tried to drop a few pounds but i was never able to do it. i guess i just needed a really bad breakup to squash all interest in eating, and basically everything else, for that matter.
my appetite isn’t what it used to be, but i’m still eating pretty regularly. i just don’t eat very much. should i be worried about any ill effects, or should i just go with the flow and consider it a rare favorable side effect to getting dumped?
IANADoctor, but apparently the healthiest weight loss (after the initial water weight loss period) is 1-2 lbs. per week. It looks like you’ve lost more than that, but at least some of it is water weight.
However, when your appetite comes back and you start eating normally again, the weight will come right back as well, unless you’re doing something else to keep it off, like working out.
Assuming this is just normal breakup blues and you’re not seriously depressed, I wouldn’t worry about it very much. I’d recommend starting some exercise though, as long as you’re eating enough to maintain your strenth. It’ll help keep off the weight you’ve lost, and will also possibly help you feel better emotionally. If nothing else, it might help you keep busy while you’re healing.
It won’t last. You’re where we’d expect for the first month - 10-12 pounds of water weight and 1-2 pounds a week after that. Bravo! Just make sure you’re eating healthy food, even if there’s not much of it, and keep drinking lots of water to remain hydrated and (I know this sounds counter-intuitive) to avoid retaining water.
But hey - if this loss of “interest in eating, and basically everything else, for that matter” lasts another two weeks, consider getting an evaluation for depression. You’ve been through a break-up, so the blues are normal and expected. But if it lasts too much longer and you’re not feeling better about it, time to get the ol’ noggin’ checked.
Losing 1-2 pounds a week is considered normal healthy weightloss. I don’t think it’s unusual for someone to lose 4 pounds a week when their eating habits change (like yours). Try to eat healthy foods and drink lots of water and it’s actually better to eat 6 times a day as opposed to 3. Healthy snacks between healthy meals will help speed up your metabolism and keep you energized throughout the day.
If you continue to lose more then a couple pounds a week I would go to the doctor and visit with them about it.
Yeah, you know, I always hear the “1-2 pounds a week” thing applied generically. But there should be some scale. down by law, at 205 lbs, losing 15 pounds in a month is a whole different thing from me, at 130-ish lbs, losing that much. Anyone (Ultrafilter, maybe) ever see anything that ties healthy weight loss to original body weight?
I agree w/ all the above… I personally lost almost 20 pounds in about a month… but… i went from unemployed seditary computer geek to walking 20 miles/night pushing a mop/dustmop/buffer and a mean backswing w/ a toilet brush.
Strangely, the weight melted off in about Month 4. Of course, that my be directly tied in w/ a sudden decrease in beer consumption (change of friends, if you MUST know )
I went from 5’10" 186+ pounds to hovering around 170.
Of course… that’s a far cry from when I graduated at 140 :eek:
I think it also depends on how much weight you have to lose. It doesn’t sound like you’re dangerously overweight; however, I’ve had several friends who have lost the amount of weight you have rather quickly simply because they had a lot of weight to lose, and as soon as they changed their eating habits, it dropped off really fast.
Still, if it doesn’t slow down or you don’t regain some interest in food, you might consider giving your doctor a call and asking him/her if he/she thinks it’s a problem.
By the way, I’m sorry to hear about your breakup. I hope you’re feeling better soon. I’d second badbadrubberpiggy’s advice and start getting a little exercise if you aren’t already. It’ll give you more energy, might normalize your appetite, keep off the weight you’ve lost, plus it’ll give you a self-esteem boost that will help you through the post-breakup blues.
If you’ve cut down on the amount you’re eating, your stomach and intestines are carrying less digesting food than previously. That will be part of your initial difference in weight. That will also be the weight that comes back immediately when you start to eat more. It’s not body weight, it’s weight you’re carrying.
If you’re not deliberately starving yourself, just disinterested in eating, I’d say go ahead. What’s the alternative? Force yourself to eat when you don’t feel like it? Be aware, though, that when your appitite comes back, you’ll pick up 5 to 10 pounds in onboard food weight really fast.
If you’re worried about ill effects, watch your nutrition. Take a vitamin. Take a walk. Plan something fun to do with buddies. Get a massage (hey, they feel good). The fast 15 is probably somewhere between 5 and 10 in body weight, which is within the healthy limit. A little more won’t hurt you.
Consolation on the getting dumped thing, by the way.
I’ve always heard that your weekly weight loss shouldn’t exceed 1% of your body weight. So depending on how heavy you are, that will determine what’s considered excessive.
I have experienced the same. I have lost 12 pounds in one month. I am a bit worried because I am a diabetic and just had a recent ankle sprain injury, so staying at home should have made me fatter not skinnier, since I have the same calorie intake and I haven’t gone anywhere for a whole month (just two trips a week to physical therapy). I will be visiting my doctor soon to see why the drastic weight loss. That is my recommendation.
It depends on what your initial fat mass is. Losing 15 pounds in a month is very unhealthy if you are a 105 pound woman. It is slow if anything if you are a 600 pound man, people that heavy have lost 50 pounds of fat in a month.
A pound of fat can supposedly burn about 30 calories a day. So find your total amount of bodyfat in pounds and multiply it by 30. That should be your max daily deficit.
If you are 6’2" and 190, you probably don’t have much fat mass left. probably 30 pounds or so, which means your daily deficit shouldn’t be higher than 900.
Depends on the cause of losing weight. When I changed my life circumstances and took control of my own eating, I lost 40 pounds in a year, and in seven years, never gained any of it back. I didn’t try to, and I wasn’t unhealthily overweight, it just happened because I was in a position to control my eating.
Most people eat as a social activity, and their eating habits are largely controlled by whom they eat with. Anybody who wants to lose weight can just refuse to eat what other people eat when they want to eat, and take control of it yourself. Determine a healthy diet for yourself, and just do it.
No they won’t. Healthy snacks btwn meals may keep you from overindulging during meals but they have little, if any, impact on your metabolism. The “six meals a day” strategy also has a negligible effect on metabolism. Your metabolism is something that is quite set in stone, unique to you. Anything short of extreme measures will only produce minimal effect on metabolism.
I think the health risks of rapid weight loss are over-stated. I worked on a project several years ago (meaning, I have cites but it might take me weeks to find them) that showed that formerly healthy adult victims of natural disasters/famines could rapidly lose up to 25% of their body weight and suffer from no ill effects after being rescued and fed. In addition, obese individuals who must undergo surgery are sometimes put on severe diets to force them to rapidly lose as much as weight as possible in order to increase the odds that they will survive the surgery.
However, most people who rapidly lose weight via dieting simply regain it after they end their diet. The slow and steady form of weight loss works better simply because it allows the person to develop new, long-lasting habits of food intake and exercise.
You may have a different definition of “minimal” than most people. Any major, sustained change in activity level, such as going from a desk job to an active job (or vice versa) will have a significant affect on metabolism. So will being outside for several hours in cold weather.
Also, at least for me, taking a B-100 vitamin every day significantly ramps up my metabolism.
The easiest way to change your basal metabolic rate is to either spend time in a cold environment (if you keep your house at 50 degrees your metabolic rate will skyrocket) or to visit the gym and put on a lot of muscle (muscle eats calories constantly just to maintain itself).
Eating habits only minimally affect the basal metabolic rate. Eating a low fat calorie restricted diet has been shown to reduce basal metabolic rate but high or moderate fat restricted calorie diets do not.
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