a little bit confused about my 5 pound loss?

  • I'd like to believe that it's a wonderful thing that I lost 5/6 pounds since April 12th, the day I bought a scale. I weighed in at 172ish on the first day. After buying the scale I continued trying to eat well/eat very little every day, but would end up binging after school. It wasn't until one week after I bought the scale that I started eating really well/making sure I was feeling satisfied all the time. I didn't indulge or give in to anything because that simply doesn't work for me. I walked around a lot (since the 19th) and the pounds have just seem to come off... fast?
    I haven't been starving myself. Just tons and tons of veggies and some fruits. I eat whole wheat pasta, a little bit of rice, and had some pizza today. I definately am eating less calories than before. I'd say around 1400-1500? And I knOW that I'm not losing because of restricting carbs. I've also been drinking lots of wateR. I was never a pop addict or anything, so I know it's not because of that.

    Of course , the 165 pounds is what the scale reads when I wake up in the morning. But still, I'm not really understanding because I thought you are suppose to lose 2 pounds a week at the most? The loss is of course very motivating. It makes me want to keep doing what I do because it's working somehow.
    But can someone explain? 5 pounds in 10 days? And I didn't even start eating/exercising well till the past Thursday. (About 4 pounds came off in the last couple days)

    **I also find it weird because I've been trying to lose a couple pounds here and there ever since I was like 13 and I've never ever been successful.. not even with like 2 pounds. I gotta say that I wasn't overweight then though, and I was fairly active with sports at that age.**
  • When you start a diet, you generally will drop several pounds of excess water at the beginning. Some of your loss is fat, but some is water. The water loss will taper off, then you'll see just fat loss which will probably be 1 or 2 pounds per week. The initial loss is a great motivation booster, so please enjoy it and know that more is definitely to come, though maybe not as fast.

    Congratulations on such a great start to your diet!
  • When you first weighed in, was it the same time of morning? Same type of dress (without shoes, pajamas, whatever)? Same circumstances (like before eating/drinking anything)? Scale in the same location on the floor (uneven spots can cause fluctuations)? Was it your TOM (that can affect weight)? Had you had a lot of sodium laden foods the previous day? Having water retention?

    There are lots of things that can cause weight fluctuations of perhaps 5 pounds or less.

    But while losing 1 to 2 pounds a week is a safe way to go, many people lose more than that sometimes. When I was at my heaviest and began eating right, I could lose 5 pounds some weeks. Once I got closer to goal though, losing just 1 pound a week became increasingly difficult.