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 was unable to eat for 21 days. (I was in a hospital. Before anyone jumps on me. They did insert a feeding tube). I lost 8kgs in that time.

I dropped that in a week with Gastroenteritis. Then again in a week , the year after, with my worst ever bout of depression. All I could face was half a slice of toast each day.

Yes. Can happen. I lost 13llbs in my first week of a meal replacement diet

Mine was campylobacter food poisoning. Extremely painful way to lose it

I did it with food poisoning. I was only in my teens at the time and I felt so dreadful I was wishing for a quick death. I wouldn't recommend it.

I once lost 7lbs/half a stone in a week (12st-ish at that time) but about half of it was just fluid loss.

To properly lose a stone of weight (not just fluid) in a week, you'd need to create a deficit in your calorie intake (through restriction and exercise) of 49,000 calories. It's 3500 calorie-deficit per pound per week (that's why a 500 calorie deficit each day results in a 1lb loss over a week).

I think it's possible if someone weighs, say, 20 stone . Not if you are only 10 stone trying to get down to 9 though

I reckon its possible on the basis that I once lost 10lbs in a week when I was inadvertently poisoned once. (I think rat poison or similar in speed.) I weighed 7 stone after that! - No, I never touched speed again after that.

I had my wisdom teeth out, that worked for me
Salmonella also did it, not at the same time thank goodness

@ThePricklySheep

If you work out the calories burnt, so about 2,000. Say 2,500 to be generous. Then say she ate 0. That’s a deficit of 17,500. Each deficit of 3,500 is a pound lost. So I get 5lbs in a week if she ate nothing at all.

It doesn't quite work like that @ThePricklySheep
If someone is very over weight they would need to eat a lot more
Calories to maintain that weight so much easier to get a deficit.

Clearly, looking at a lot of these answers! I have been surprised.

I guess I wasn’t counting 5 stone as making that much difference.

When I weighed 11st I could go up and down 7lb in a week without even trying.
So I can definitely believe this.

@shinynewapple21 it's true that the more you weigh to begin with, the more calories you burn per day and hence the greater deficit you can create.

But it's not such a huge increase that it would mean you could lose anywhere near a stone of fat in a week.

As an example, if you're very overweight and current sitting at 15st and 5'4", your basal metabolic rate is still only ~2,500 calories per day. So even eating absolutely nothing all week you're only going to have 17,500 cal deficit which is 5lbs of body fat.

If we go really extreme and say you're 20st to start with and quite active, you might have a BMR of 21,000 cals per week. That's only 6lb (and again eating absolutely nothing.)

(BMR calculator here: www.verywellfit.com/how-many-calories-do-i-burn-every-day-3495464 )

I get what you are saying @SofiaMichelle
Most people on this thread are aware of someone (mostly very overweight) who has lost a stone in a week, but mostly this is water loss rather than fat . Makes sense .

It's the same as when you crash diet for a week before a holiday, you put it back on as soon as you start eating normally again as it's not actually a fat loss .