ok here's my problem..


On Nov 18th, I went to my weight specialist and weighed in at 237 while my home scale said 235.now 6 weeks later(Wednesday making exactly 6 weeks)..the home scale showed 218 point something(so since its a 2 pound different..ima say 220)..which is exactly 17lbs in 6 weeks. Some things have changed in my diet such as not eating as much due to lack of healthy food(im going shopping soon) most days of the week i have been eating between 900-1200 calories and maybe 1-2 days in that week, i'll eat 1500-1900.Granted Thanksgiving & Christmas i had about 2,000 cal those days.i have also upped my exercise routine to 6x a week 40 min a day..and incorporated some resistance training /light sculpting in my routine.i eat mainly veggies mixed with turkey/chicken,fruits & alot of water(about 3/4ths-1 gallon a day) I used to exercise about 4-5x a week for 20-30 min.i just want to make sure im not loosing this weight the wrong way.Is this possible to loose that much weight in this short amount of time without it being in an unhealthy way? it just seems like its coming off soo fast and im worried.

ETA:I've been watching what i eat and exercising since Sept 09.

Hi Brit

Doesn't sound unhealthy at all to me the weight always comes off fast at first. Once you get nearer to goal I think you'll find you'll lose a little less per week. Don't worry about it. You're doing great

I will say that although that doesnt sound like an unheard of amount of weight for the first 6 weeks since we usually see a big whoosh of weight loss at the beginning of our new eating plans, I am worried about the caloric intake that you explained. To my knowledge it is not normally recommended to ever go below a 1200 calorie diet. I would suggest going on a website such as live strong.com and seeing what your resting metabolic rate is and what caloric level they recommend you to consume. With the activity level you are at I am sure that you will be able to lose on more food, for example I eat around 1500 calories a day and am still losing around 1.5 a week. In the past I lost weight well on low calorie diets but I never stuck with them because I got burned out after a while. You seem to be on the right track though and congrats on the loss so far that is awesome!

No it's not too much but I think you are probably eating too few calories and that will hurt you in the long run. Figure out how to get a little higher calories (healthy calories)

ok thanks..im definitely going to try to get in more calories..does anyone know any high calories "healthy" foods? something with like 200-300 calories per serving? i sometimes eat 2 paces of wheat bread with 2 tablespoons of peanut butter(330 calories!) when im low on calories and the day is ending.the reason i dont get enough calories is because i dont wake up until late.. first meal isnt until 1-2PM sometimes 3 or 4. but that will change once school starts

also to be clear..this isnt my first 6 weeks..i've been "dieting" since September.

I love greek yogurt but any kind of yogurt would work.
Fruit, bananas are higher in calories with any nut butter ( i really like cashew)
hummus and a few veggies and pita chips
a bowl of veggie rice soup
grilled chicken and salad with a vinegrette
a bowl of higher fiber cereal and milk
Just a few ideas! Hope that helped

I don't think 17 pounds in 6 weeks is too much, but generally the weight loss slows down a little after the first few weeks. I agree that 900-1200 calories is too low. You are losing needed nutrients.

It definitely doesn't sound unhealthy to me. Everyone loses differently. I also tend to lost fast though I never go below 1200 calories. As others have said, try not to go too low for many reasons.
As for your other question, there are MANY great snacks around 200-300 calories, most of my meals are in that range.
I like:
awhole wheat wrap with hummas, turkey, and tomato
laughing cow cheese on reduced fat wheat thins
cereal with skim milk
whole wheat bread with I can't believe it's not butter and turkey
chobani greek yougurt

There are manyyy others, go to the grocery store and just compare the calories in different foods and you'll come up with plenty of ideas.

Good luck! You're doing great!!

Drinking four gallons of water a day is verging on dangerous; healthy kidneys can deal with about 1 litre an hour (you're drinking over 17 per day) but if they are being put under any extra stress, for instance if you are exercising to the point where you sweat or you get an upset tummy you are in danger of diluting the electrolytes in you body, this will mess with your brain function and could, in extremes, do you some serious damage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

+1 Over drinking water is much more dangerous than under drinking water. Drink to THIRST. Having a small amount of water if you are not sure if you are hungry or thirsty (some of us really do have messed up signals) is one thing. But if you drink a cup of water and 10 minutes later you are still hungry, then EAT. Using water to fill the stomach to avoid eating is dangerous.

If in addition to overdrinking water you are eating relatively "clean" you may induce too low of a level of sodium and potassium in your blood and give yourself a heartattack or brain edema. Really.

Risk of dehydration without underlying illness is low and the symptoms are generally mild, progress slowly and are easily reversed.

Risk of hyponatremia is fairly sudden onset of symptoms that if not resolved quickly lead to death.


As to the weight loss I would not be concerned with the speed of the weight loss, but yes, I think anytime you are going under 1200 you are probably undereating. At your weight I would say that even being at 1200 everyday is probably lower than you need to be for sustainable weight loss.

ooh not 3-4 gallons a day.. i meant it as 3/4ths to 1 gallon..ahh i have soo may typos.sorry for the confusion