Losing weight too fast?

[Locut0s]

First a little background. I've been overweight most of my adult life. I'm 27 and at the peak of my weight I weighed 260 lbs. I'm just over 6'1". I also have a life long history of depression and anxiety. This often causes me to become obsesive / OCD about things and I loose sight of what I'm doing. Several years ago I started loosing weight and didn't stop, because of my emotional issues. I ended up around 135lbs before stopping that. My parents and doctors were very worried about me. However since then I've put all that weight back on and more. So it's high time I started to lose weight again. Only this time I won't go that far. I started about a week and a half ago. That's when I toped out at 260 and decided I had to loose it. So I've gone on a diet and exercise regime. Similar to last time but I won't take it as far. Every day I do a brisk walk on the treadmill for 1/2 Hour at 2 miles per hour at a 10% incline. The treadmill has my heart rate at around 125-130 topping out at about 138 or so. I come of the machine drenched in sweat so I know I'm getting a good workout out of it. Currently I'm also only easting about 1 and 1/2 meals a day. A Solid sinner and some light fruit snacks or something for lunch. Right now I weigh about 245 or so. My target weight is around 175-180. Once I reach that point I'll have to work out a better balance. I also plan on putting on some muscle at that point.

So is this too excessive or about right so long as I don't loose too much?

 

[redgtxdi]

Stuff........

#1.) 80% diet and 20% exercise is the key.

#2.) That said...small, evenly spaced meals is truly best. If not, 3 squares and a brunch and linner snack are good too...(but again, it's just another name for 5 meals)

#3.) Most people know this because it's pounded into them daily on TV, radio, etc. but I'll repeat........EAT GOOD FOODS!! You know what they are. They aren't fat-free chocolate chip cookies. They're oatmeal, egg whites/subs, lean meats, veggies (not tomato sauce on a pizza), fruits (not fruit juices). If you want comfy foods, eat baked chips, crackers, etc.

#4.) Try to keep an "idea" of where your calories are at. (For God's sake, don't split hairs) Most folks would do well to target 1500 calories on a diet. Try not to get below 1000 calories,(slowing your metabolism) or above 2000 calories (slowing weight loss) and along w/ your walking and good foods, you'd be a special case if you didn't lose weight nicely.

#5.) Drink your water, but don't get crazy with it. I'm done w/ people preaching endless liters of water per day. Get a 32oz water bottle and work at getting thru it twice per day. If not, try to get close.

Thing is......in 2010 99% of us know all of the above, but it's soooooo much easier said than done. So like my 80%/20% rule above I'll give you another one.

It's 20% knowing and 80% DOING!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

 

[Locut0s]

Stuff........

#1.) 80% diet and 20% exercise is the key.

#2.) That said...small, evenly spaced meals is truly best. If not, 3 squares and a brunch and linner snack are good too...(but again, it's just another name for 5 meals)

#3.) Most people know this because it's pounded into them daily on TV, radio, etc. but I'll repeat........EAT GOOD FOODS!! You know what they are. They aren't fat-free chocolate chip cookies. They're oatmeal, egg whites/subs, lean meats, veggies (not tomato sauce on a pizza), fruits (not fruit juices). If you want comfy foods, eat baked chips, crackers, etc.

#4.) Try to keep an "idea" of where your calories are at. (For God's sake, don't split hairs) Most folks would do well to target 1500 calories on a diet. Try not to get below 1000 calories,(slowing your metabolism) or above 2000 calories (slowing weight loss) and along w/ your walking and good foods, you'd be a special case if you didn't lose weight nicely.

#5.) Drink your water, but don't get crazy with it. I'm done w/ people preaching endless liters of water per day. Get a 32oz water bottle and work at getting thru it twice per day. If not, try to get close.

Thing is......in 2010 99% of us know all of the above, but it's soooooo much easier said than done. So like my 80%/20% rule above I'll give you another one.

It's 20% knowing and 80% DOING!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

My diet at home isn't that bad. The trouble I've had over the past 5 or 6 years has been about 2 things. 1 portion size, I would easily eat 4 large meals a day. 2 eating out, as a family we eat out a lot and for a long time I never watched what I ate out at all, if it had cheese, meat, and fat I'd eat it and a lot of it. Home cook meals have always been relatively OK though. Both my parents are vegetarian so I don't eat that much meat on average except when we go out. My mother is Chinese so we eat a lot of stirrys with rice or noodles.

I went through a period, a couple of years, where I REALLY didn't give a shit what I ate and would eat McDonalds, Pizza, hotdogs whatever shit I liked and however much I wanted. During this period I had my cholesterol checked and it was scary high!!

As I said right now I'm just easting about 1 good meal a day (dinner) and for lunch I'm having some fruit or a small sandwich.

 

[Locut0s]

Stuff........

#1.) 80% diet and 20% exercise is the key.

#2.) That said...small, evenly spaced meals is truly best. If not, 3 squares and a brunch and linner snack are good too...(but again, it's just another name for 5 meals)

#3.) Most people know this because it's pounded into them daily on TV, radio, etc. but I'll repeat........EAT GOOD FOODS!! You know what they are. They aren't fat-free chocolate chip cookies. They're oatmeal, egg whites/subs, lean meats, veggies (not tomato sauce on a pizza), fruits (not fruit juices). If you want comfy foods, eat baked chips, crackers, etc.

#4.) Try to keep an "idea" of where your calories are at. (For God's sake, don't split hairs) Most folks would do well to target 1500 calories on a diet. Try not to get below 1000 calories,(slowing your metabolism) or above 2000 calories (slowing weight loss) and along w/ your walking and good foods, you'd be a special case if you didn't lose weight nicely.

#5.) Drink your water, but don't get crazy with it. I'm done w/ people preaching endless liters of water per day. Get a 32oz water bottle and work at getting thru it twice per day. If not, try to get close.

Thing is......in 2010 99% of us know all of the above, but it's soooooo much easier said than done. So like my 80%/20% rule above I'll give you another one.

It's 20% knowing and 80% DOING!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

Once of the issues I have as I said in the OP is control. I'm something of an all or nothing guy. So it's often eat all the fattening food you can imagine and do nothing, or if I get into loosing weight then eat almost nothing and exercise daily.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Read the fat loss sticky then come back and ask questions you may have.

 

[brikis98]

Please take some time and read through the fat loss sticky. If you eat too little (1 meal per day??), you are setting yourself up for all sorts of problems: you'll put your body into starvation mode, your metabolism will plummet (making future weight loss and maintenance efforts harder), you'll lose tons of muscle mass along with the fat, and you'll have more issues with hunger and energy levels.

Moreover, even if you manage to get down to a proper bodyweight, this kind of extreme diet has a huge, critical flaw: you aren't establishing proper, maintainable eating habits, so as soon as you're off this diet, you are likely to regain all the weight (again). The key to losing weight and keeping it off is establishing an eating pattern that you can easily adhere to for the rest of your life. It's actually not that hard using the approach discussed in the fat loss sticky and it is a much healthier and more effective way to go about it.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Stuff........

#1.) 80% diet and 20% exercise is the key.

#2.) That said...small, evenly spaced meals is truly best. If not, 3 squares and a brunch and linner snack are good too...(but again, it's just another name for 5 meals)

#3.) Most people know this because it's pounded into them daily on TV, radio, etc. but I'll repeat........EAT GOOD FOODS!! You know what they are. They aren't fat-free chocolate chip cookies. They're oatmeal, egg whites/subs, lean meats, veggies (not tomato sauce on a pizza), fruits (not fruit juices). If you want comfy foods, eat baked chips, crackers, etc.

#4.) Try to keep an "idea" of where your calories are at. (For God's sake, don't split hairs) Most folks would do well to target 1500 calories on a diet. Try not to get below 1000 calories,(slowing your metabolism) or above 2000 calories (slowing weight loss) and along w/ your walking and good foods, you'd be a special case if you didn't lose weight nicely.

#5.) Drink your water, but don't get crazy with it. I'm done w/ people preaching endless liters of water per day. Get a 32oz water bottle and work at getting thru it twice per day. If not, try to get close.

Thing is......in 2010 99% of us know all of the above, but it's soooooo much easier said than done. So like my 80%/20% rule above I'll give you another one.

It's 20% knowing and 80% DOING!!!!!!!! :thumbsup:

1) Technically, losing weight is 100% diet. Exercise is important in weight maintenance though.

2) Frequent meals aren't necessary, but a good idea for some people.

3) Surprisingly, in this day and age, people actually don't know what good food is. People think a granola bar with 15g of sugar is healthy. Read the fat loss sticky for a list of good foods.

4) This is wrong on so many levels. You can't suggest a caloric expenditure without knowing age, gender, and weight. The OP is at least 245 pounds. He needs to take in over 2200 calories, if male and between 20-30 years old to sustain a reasonable caloric deficit. Dropping to 1000 calories would completely destroy his body and he would lose a ton of muscle. Staying below 2000 calories would even be inadvisable.

5) Again, this is wrong too. The "drink 8 cups of water a day" philosophy has no physiological basis. Depending on activity level, sweat rate, temperature, etc, the body can lose as little as a pint of water a day. It can also lose up to five gallons of water a day. This is highly variable. To account for thirst: if you get thirsty, drink until you're no longer thirsty. Then drink 8-12oz more. You will be hydrated at that point.

 

[Kipper]

Are you on psych meds or anything that might affect appetite? A fair amount of psychoactive medications can increase appetite, in which case you might find some consumption control strategies helpful in addition to what you find in the fat loss sticky.

 

[spamsk8r]

Definitely don't cut calories below 2000 at the very minimum. I'm 5'10", 215#, 20% body fat, and I'm losing weight fairly quickly on a 2500 calorie/day diet of meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, seeds, and a small amount of grains. I would imagine that someone who is 245 could stand to eat at least that much and still expect good weight loss.

 

[Locut0s]

I fully intend to get onto a sane and maintainable diet once I've gotten down to my goal weight. I agree though that this may not be the best method, however I am seeing results.

 

[SociallyChallenged]

I fully intend to get onto a sane and maintainable diet once I've gotten down to my goal weight. I agree though that this may not be the best method, however I am seeing results.

Just because you're seeing results doesn't mean you're doing it the best way. You are likely losing a substantial amount of muscle mass, which means you aren't really decreasing your body fat percentage. Losing weight, for most, means losing fat - not muscle. Seriously though. We have a lot of experience here. If you don't want to be the skinny fat guy, you should try what we're saying. We're not trying to slow you down or do you harm. We're trying to get you that body you've always wanted. However, you need to be patient in order to do that.

 

[Locut0s]

Just because you're seeing results doesn't mean you're doing it the best way. You are likely losing a substantial amount of muscle mass, which means you aren't really decreasing your body fat percentage. Losing weight, for most, means losing fat - not muscle. Seriously though. We have a lot of experience here. If you don't want to be the skinny fat guy, you should try what we're saying. We're not trying to slow you down or do you harm. We're trying to get you that body you've always wanted. However, you need to be patient in order to do that.

Thanks for all the advise from you and the others. Yeah I know you guys are trying to help. :awe: 1/2 of it is my own mental issue and OCD that I have to get over. At any rate even if I do loose a fair amount of muscle tissue it's not going to be all muscle. Trust me I don't have 80-90 pounds of muscle! Also I plan on putting on more weight once I get down to 170 or so (muscle weight).

 

[SociallyChallenged]

Thanks for all the advise from you and the others. Yeah I know you guys are trying to help. :awe: 1/2 of it is my own mental issue and OCD that I have to get over. At any rate even if I do loose a fair amount of muscle tissue it's not going to be all muscle. Trust me I don't have 80-90 pounds of muscle! Also I plan on putting on more weight once I get down to 170 or so (muscle weight).

Even if you're 260 pounds, you are only ~30% body fat. The other 70% is lean body mass, composed of muscle, bones, viscera, water, etc. You should be willing to keep all of your lean body mass because if you do, you'll be losing only fat and will look much better and be healthier much sooner. The problem with bulking after cutting is that you can avoid that step altogether. If you cut only fat, you'll have a much greater muscle mass when you finish your cutting phase and maybe won't have to bulk. The directions of the fat loss sticky kill two birds with one stone: they allow you to lose fat and to maintain muscle (meaning you won't have to go through the gaining phase).