i started trying to diet 20 days ago and so far i have lost 8 pounds. i expected to only lose 4 pounds and im surprised i lost any weight at all because im as sedentary as a person could be. is it normal for a sedentary person to lose that much in what i consider a short time with no effort other than eating 1670 calories a day?

anyone have a guess how much i would lose a month if i also exercised? like just walking for 45mins a day at a decent pace?

apparently im going to lose 10 pounds a month sitting around all the time.. could i lose 20 a month by adding walking etc?

im 217lbs 5'6

Most people lose weight through diet alone... exercise is for muscle toning and good health.

I've heard of people losing the weight first and then start an exercise program afterwards.

Just do what works for you.

Much of this first month will be water weight.
EDIT: SOME of this first month will be water weight. Not much or most, hehe. Don't want to scare you.

Exercise is always a good idea, but really when you first start it's all about calories in and calories out. Your body also won't always be losing consistently, some weeks you might lose nothing and the next you lose 3lbs all at once.

Losing 20 lbs the first month sounds about right. You often see a fast lost the first few weeks and then it stabilizes. I usually lose 10 lbs in the first week of dieting! But I also more weight to lose, and much of it is water weight. (Probably from eating less sodium, but I'm not a doctor.)

Walking has many benefits, even if you start out at 30 minutes 3 times a week. But you likely won't see a 20 lb loss.

But keep doing what you're doing, it's working. Eventually you'll have to adjust as you lose weight to keep from plateauing.

Thanks for the replies =]

i thought at first that there was no way i could eat less food because i love eating ;x so i just wanted to try dieting and see if i could even lose enough weight for it to be worth it for me to eat way less. I figured without exercising i would lose half a pound or a pound a week because every weight loss calculator i tried said i wouldnt lose weight on 1670 cals being sedentary or it would take months to lose a few pounds and years to be 30pounds less than now.

knowing that its mostly done with diet and that exercise can be extra to start with and also that the weight loss will slow down and i will have to then exercise is very helpful of course.

i plan on adding exercise when i lose a little more

Congratulations! But do prepare for your rate of loss to slow down. The first couple of weeks of dieting usually yield the most dramatic losses, because when you first lower your caloric intake you lose a lot of excess water. Expect to slow down to about a pound per week, which is still great. If you incorporate regular exercise without eating more you may be able to shed an extra half-pound per week or so.

F.

I'm glad to hear you've had such a positive start! It's a really good motivator, eh?? I am just at the beginning stages myself. I've successfully lost weight once before but I am currently back at it! I'd like to add in that hydration was key. When I first began adding in 2-3 litres a day, I was astounded how much extra bloat I lost. I also found adding in moderate flax seed really helped. Did anyone else notice flax seed helping you meet your goals?

Congratulations, again!

I think one of the things about exercising that helps lose weight is that it's a keystone habit. By that I mean if you get in the habit of working out, other habits start to change, too- like you start feeling like eating healthier and sticking with your diet plan. Also, one of my goals is to exercise enough that I can get the strength and endurance to be able to exercise off a reasonable amount of calories in a reasonable amount of time at some point. For example, right now if I were to run for an hour, I wouldn't be able to actually run the whole time, I'd have to walk a good part of it, and I wouldn't be able to go very far because I'm out of shape, so I wouldn't burn a whole lotta calories (I mean, some is better than none, for sure, but it wouldn't be that much in comparison to what I eat). BUT, if I were a runner and were stronger and had more endurance, I might be able to run a few miles in an hour, and that would probably burn some real calories.

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