Losing Weight Faster When Bigger?
 

Why is it that really heavy people such as myself lose weight faster?

Because we have more to lose.

The rather well-known "healthy average" to lose each week is about 1% of our body weight.

Well... a person at 150 pounds who only needs to lose 10 pounds. Their 1% is about 1.5 pounds, where as someone like me at 300 pounds... my 1% is 3 pounds.

People who begin heavier (usually) have more fat on their body, as well. (Body fat percentage) I have three pounds of fat and water to lose each week. A person at 150... well they don't necessarily have that much to lose each week.

ETA: Also, just being heavier doesn't mean it's the same all the time for everyone. We all lose at our own different pace. Only matters that in the long run we keep it off. As the body gets smaller, we tend to lose slower. (A lot of people on the boards have mentioned the last 20 pounds-ish slowing down significantly from the first part of the weight loss.)

Mainly because it takes more calories to keep a larger person going and it takes more calories for a larger person to perform the same action (mostly because they have all that extra weight to lift). Type BMR into google- this is Basal Metabolic Rate, the number of calories a person burns just by living (if they didn't move all day). It goes down with weight.

AND . . . that darn BMR goes down with AGE. Darn it! Women need about 5 fewer calories a day every year. That doesn't sound like much, but it means that I, at 60, would need 150 calories fewer every day than someone my size who is 30. That amounts to over 15 pounds a year (in the strictest sense of 3500 calories being equal to a pound.) I know there is no perfect formula for losing a pound for every 3500 calories burned or not eaten, but that's the basic principle of eating less and moving more.

http://www.bmrcalculator.org/

I think I can post this link - it's to a very good BMR calculator. Just enter your information and it will show your BMR - what your body needs just to live (like you are in a coma.) Then it shows a little farther down the page what your actual caloric needs are based on your activity level.

A huge loss at the beginning of a "diet" is usually due to losing a lot of water, too. That slows down in a very short while. I lost at the rate of about 3 pounds a week for the first 10 weeks. I used an Excel spreadsheet to record my actual loss against a projected loss that would get me at my goal in a certain amount of time. I charted it at 30 pounds for the first 10 weeks, but then changed it to 1% per week after that. At my starting weight that schedule puts me at 150 pounds the week before Christmas. BUT . . . I'm about 8.5 pounds ahead of schedule, so that allows for a slow down when it comes - I'm just about 21 pounds from my 152 pound goal. That is 100 pounds in 11 months + 1 week. I think it's doable and that 1% per week is a great rate to lose. Of course, I'm overjoyed when I see more than 1%! You'll learn as you continue this journey that all this said, some weeks are magic and some seem cursed! Just stay on plan as best you can and you'll see results.

Lin