To think a person losing a stone in a week is impossible

[User566112]

I’ve just read that a friend has apparently lost that surely it’s impossible. She’s overweight by about five stone I would say.

I know a weight loss boot camp where larger campers can and do lose that in a week - a very carefully calibrated diet ( meals and 2 snacks though so not faddy) and a LOT of exercise..... Don't forget that larger people burn more calories when they exercise due to what they are lugging around.

I’m overweight and lost a stone in the first week of my diet.
You don’t sound like a very nice friend.

Can someone explain the ‘losing water’ weight loss? Apologies is I sound thick. Most of the rapid diet loss plans involve shakes and / or drinking plenty of water so how is it that water weight is lost?

You’d need a 7000 calorie deficit a day to lose 1 stone of fat in a week. I think you’d have to be hugely overweight or hugely athletic to be burning more than 7000 calories a day.
So - it may be possible but it won’t all be fat loss.

@StartingGrid

I did nearly that (9lb in a week), thanks to a bad bout of food poisoning once!

Wow, that's impressive! I had campylobacter once and was barely out of the bathroom for 5 days, but I still only lost 5lbs.

I'd rather be fat than go through that again though.

@Motheroftwofeline

Can someone explain the ‘losing water’ weight loss? Apologies is I sound thick. Most of the rapid diet loss plans involve shakes and / or drinking plenty of water so how is it that water weight is lost?

If I remember well with my very limited knowledge, carbs make your body store water, so if you go low carb / keto, your body loses water as it uses its glucose stores. It has nothing to do with your water intake.

Of course, it means that you put on several lbs of water weight as soon as you go back to eating carbs.

I lost 12 lbs in a week before just doing slimfast so definitely possible

@Motheroftwofeline, fluffy is correct. The more excess carbs you eat, the more water stored. If you go back to moderate carbs, you don't store excess water again. We store water in our muscles, skin (which is why obese people have lovely plump skin) and between our organs, in our tissues. It should go to our kidneys but is stopped because of excess carbs/salt. Losing water still makes us look smaller.

But yes, I'm in the Exante FB groups and people drop 10-14 lbs in a week. I'm post menopausal and lost about 7lbs in my first week. Then averaged a stone a month. It's great if you need quick results to stick to it and not everyone puts on what they've lost. I'm still in the groups for maintenance, so are many others.

Human body can hold, iirc, anything between 1-7 lbs of shite

So if she’s very overweight, a bit backed up, spent the week eating veggies and fibre filled foods the combo of mashoosive poop, water weight lost and a couple of pounds of fat loss oh and dependant where she is in her monthly cycle she would easily hit a stone.

Fwiw I’ve dropped 5lbs overnight and gained the same overnight. Weight fluctuates like crazy.

Chances are she could put on a few lbs next week and feel deflated.

I personally weigh daily and fitbit app does the averages over the week so the averages are my ‘weight’ not what’s on the scale on a Sunday night. If I relied on just my Sunday weigh ins I’d be convinced more than one occasion it d gained that week.

I weighed 14st 10.8lb 2 weeks ago.

This morning was 14st 0.8 lb

First week I lost 9lb and this week I lost 1

Thanks for explanation of water weight - that makes sense. I'm trying to drop 1-3lb a week through calorie controlled diet but not cutting out any treats as I know it's better to set a eating habit for life rather than diet.

My aim is for 30th April to weigh 13st 7lb.
Then down to 13st by May.

I did lose 8lb in 48 hours once when I had a severely heavy period.

I lost 11 lbs once in a week and was 4 stone overweight at the time... so although unusual it is possible... and then of course it slowed down to 2-3lbs a week

And yes of course it isn't fat it is weight... so much of it water, which will have been increased if she was eating particularly unhealthily

That was lies gallstones!

Going back a few years, a lady at my Slimming World group would regularly gain or lose a stone in a week.
It seemed a very unhealthy way of doing things!

It's possible but not a very healthy or sustainable way of losing weight.

I got food poisoning and dropped a stone on a week 🤷‍♀️

It’s a pointless brag as much of that will be water and unfortunately, muscle mass. It will certainly not be 14lbs of fat that has disappeared in 7 days. Slow and steady with a modest calorie deficit is the way to go to.

I've managed it the week I gave birth to my twins... has someone made that joke yet? Someone must have made that joke.

Watching "My 600lb life" one of the participants lost about 114lb (8st) in 2 months, of course he had a lot of weight to lose this means the people have very high maintenance calories of around 4000+ per day and their diet is just 1200 cal/day giving him a calorie deficit of about 3000 per day. So it's unusual but in the case of extremely obese people possible to lose weight very fast.

I can categorically confirm that it is possible to lose big. I have lost 3.8 stone since 22 Feb 2021 (as confirmed by hospital- with both start and finish weights being recorded by qualified medical staff)

I would not recommend how I did this and I won't share how as it would be very outing. All I will say is that it did not include any form of weight loss surgery etc. I would also add that while I needed to lose weight, none of my clothes fit any more so I will need a SERIOUS shopping session

Viral meningitis will do that for you. 9st12lb to 7st4lbs in five days when I was 15.

I can't recommend it as a weight loss strategy.

Did she cut her foot off?

Depends on your starting weight I think. I'm not horribly overweight, maybe a stone, but I've easily dropped 5-6lb in the first week of a diet. (When I was younger, doesn't happen so easily now).

Definitely possible, I lost 13lbs in a week doing the fast800. I had about 4st to loose.

Norovirus shifted a stone off me no problem