Hey everyone - I know I'm not a featherweight (yet!!) but this felt like a question solvable by the featherweights of 3FC.
I first weighed in about 2.5-3 weeks ago at 176. I've been monitoring my food a lot more closely, eating around 1,300 calories a day and just started cardio last week at 3x per week. I've splurged a couple weekend nights for drinks, but have been on plan otherwise. This morning I weighed in at 170, and while I'm thrilled with the number on the scale, I'm terrified that it's not fat loss somehow and I'll wake up tomorrow and be back up in the mid-170s.
Is it possible that I'm just losing quickly since it's the beginning and it'll level out as time goes on? Or is it likely water-weight? I guess I'll have a better idea in the coming days depending on whether or not the scale goes up.
I'm not a featherweight, but I was 170 for the last 7 years (until recently) and I just thought I'd give you my opinion
The first month I'd make changes or start a new diet I would lose the fastest (up to 20 lbs in one month) and I did not gain that back.
Also to lose at a safe rate is usually 1-3 lbs a week, so it sounds like you are losing 3 lbs a week, which I think is very safe especially for working out and eating healthy. *Congrats, by the way*
Wow, 20 lbs a month! That is my fantasy, especially that you didn't gain it back. Thanks for your encouragement I'm afraid to be excited because it could come back so easily, but hearing that you've seen the same thing happen puts me at ease. Just gotta keep at it and keep working to lose!
I lost much more quickly in the first few weeks too. I think that it's partially water weight and partially the fact that your body is used to taking in a lot more, so the weight drops off quickly when your calories are initially restricted. As long as you have energy and feel good, I wouldn't worry. Congrats on the 6 lb loss!
Not a featherweight either, but in the beginning it does seem to come off faster. It seems to me the bigger you are the faster it comes off at the start. I haven't lost much poundage but the inches are obvious just in a month. I wouldn't worry and congrats to you!
This morning I weighed in at 170, and while I'm thrilled with the number on the scale, I'm terrified that it's not fat loss somehow and I'll wake up tomorrow and be back up in the mid-170s.
Some of it is almost certainly water weight and also less food weight sitting in your gut, but not all of it. Why be terrified, though? If you eat something salty one day and find yourself 3 or 4 or 5 pounds heavier the next day, just chill, drink water, and in a day or a few your water weight should be gone. Losing weight is a long, uppy-downy (scalewise and moodwise ) process, and I think that the sooner one recognizes this, the less likely one will be to quit in a huff if the scale takes a sudden climb (which it will sometimes!). Congrats & good luck with your continued progress!
Thanks everyone for the responses and encouragement It definitely feels good to be over the 5 lb hump.
sumire - that's a good point about the weight and mood fluctuations. I've never owned a scale until a few weeks ago, and we never had one growing up at home, so I think I'm a bit mesmerized by being able to so closely track my weight. I think I'm most afraid of losing confidence if I see a gain, but I'll just have to start recognizing the different factors (salt, TOM, water, etc) and not get too caught up in a higher number.
Part of the reason for the initial losses to be faster is that depending on your starting point, you will burn more calories doing an exercise at a heavier weight than you will the closer you get to your goal weight. Your BMR and RMR at, say, 5'7" and 170 lbs. are higher than they are at the same height and 130 lbs. Hence, doing 60 minutes of cardio at the higher weight will burn X calories but at the lower weight the same activity will only burn X/3 calories or so. A pound is 3500 calories of stored energy, so if you're at a higher BMR and higher exercise burn, you'll blast through that 3500 very quickly, which is awesome! The closer you get to goal, though, it'll start to slow down, which is super frustrating.
Losing too quickly in the beginning?
) process, and I think that the sooner one recognizes this, the less likely one will be to quit in a huff if the scale takes a sudden climb (which it will sometimes!). 
