Huge early losses...

[FatsiaJaponicaInTheGarden]

What is going on with people with huge early loses. I have just seen somewhere of someone who list a stone in 2 weeks.

How? Like even not eating at all you wouldn't lose weight that quickly would you. Do they look a stone thinner?

I may also be slightly jealous but really, I'm just curious as to how it's working.

No idea, just trust the tech

I lost 11lbs my first week on the Dukan diet a decade or so ago. Never had a big first week loss again on any other diet, even when at a higher start weight.

Water is fascinating because it makes a massive difference in the scales.

Too much sugar and you retain water
Too much salt and you retain water
Sore muscles or illness and you retain water

Your body uses it to filter toxins, to heal muscle tears, to create an antibody response, to break down fat cell (lipolysis).

In week 1 of any diet plan most of us are on our very very best behaviour. We cut down sugar, carbs, salt, fat, we increase activity and probably most importantly we drink more water.

As a result we are able to drop the retained water and it shows on the scales. The trick is to moderate it all but to keep up on drinking the 2 lts (ish) of water a day.

I'm about 5 months into my weight loss and every plateau/stall I've had can be tracked back to eating more salt or doing more exercise and not drinking enough water.

The losing a lot of weight quickly in the beginning is almost certainly water weight. They don’t lose a stone of fat.
Yes, it is possible, and yes people do lose that, what happens later is the weight loss “slows down” to more normal temps.
Either way, you don’t want a crazy rapid weight loss - it is a shock to the system, and a certain way to get hair loss and some loose skin as a result. You’re also setting yourself up for disappointment if you start thinking this is the “normal” rate for losing, because it is not.
What you want is moderate but steady / consistent losses. Up to a stone a month is reasonable, even that is QUICK! I’d say anything between 1 and 2 lbs per week is the optimal amount.

Yes, they are inaccurate. They can measure a limited amount of resistance and hence fat/muscle/water % through the legs but the rest is done by algorithms. They won't be accurate at all if you are particularly muscly, or not at all muscly for example (although most have an athlete setting to compensate)...!

However the value is in using them over a period of time as they can very accurately track changes and therefore are very useful.

I have a set of Withings smart scales which I purchased because I was irritated that the Renpho smart ones would not weigh in stones and I sent the Renphos back after a week.

Interestingly those Renpho scales originally showed me as having a too high level of visceral fat whereas the Withings right from the start had me in the 'normal' range, despite my starting BMI of 35. I was in a local NHS health study just before I started MJ and had a proper Dexa scan as part of them collecting data, so I know that my visceral fat was in fact in the normal range (I am one of those people who stores fat on their hips, bum & thighs rather than internally!!).

Since a simple smart scale cannot actually accurately measure visceral fat as the current cannot get that high in the body, it does seem that algorithms vary from brand to brand and may be more or less accurate for some parameters.

I agree @3wDavid .

Also, rate of weight loss will also vary on certain things that are not in our control. Things like - age, thyroid issues, chronic health issues, natural activity levels as well as exercise levels - all these will influence weight loss rates. And many of these are outside our control. So comparing person A with person B isn’t always useful or helpful.

A steady, low weight loss of fat is the most healthy for many reasons, including nutrition and energy levels and muscle retention, (which is why it’s repeated but often ignored) and the excited congratulations on massive weight losses in short periods of time eclipse this truth. People losing weight at a rate of 1 to 2 lbs a week can end up feeling like they’re doing something wrong, when actually they’re doing everything right..

Totally agree with @3wDavid and @Polypoj .
I have been made up with my big weight losses in beginning but realistically that means we are losing muscle which we don’t want to do. Studies show that up to 50% of weight loss on the scales can be muscle loss which slows our metabolism and makes us weaker.
Thought this was a good visual re 10lb weight loss in a week.

Thankyou all for sharing experiences or explaining this to me. I hadn't realised it was common on other diets (hasn't been for me but I haven't done drastic diets I guess) and still not quite sure about the water weight or whether it was "extra" water or of it comes back next time you drink!!

I'm honestly not this stupid irl just obviously don't know much about the mechanics of it all. That fjnsl picture is really interesting. I have 10 stone to lose and not much muscle so I see now why they say it's important to do exercise too.

Re slower weights and skin. I am losing slower but I think I will still have skin due tk huge amount losing (hopefully losing!)

Thankyou

@NotOlive I've lost 10lbs in 15 weeks! On 10mg now and still not experiencing anything like what other people describe! You're definitely not alone!

I suspect that the huge weight losses are very obese people who have a load of glycogen stored in their swollen livers. Every gram of glycogen is bound to 3-4 g of water, so it is easy for the morbidly obese to shed huge amounts of weight in the first month or two.

My BMI was 59.5 and I lost 10.5 kg the first month and 9.1 kg the second month without weight loss injections, while still eating more than 3000 calories/day. I just changed what I ate in an attempt to reduce chronic inflammation by improving my gut microbiome, the weight loss was a completely unexpected side effect of eating kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha and kefir every day (as well as healthy fats and as many different plants as possible). Not denying myself anything, but adding a load of different things that I wouldn't normally eat.

I only have 13 kg left to hit a BMI of 24.9 which is just inside the normal range, and I'm not in a big rush to get there. Having lost 80kg so far there's a lot of mental adjustments to be done.

I'm still in the upper range of overweight BMI but sometimes it feels as if there is nothing left of me. Exactly half of me has vanished since the end of February 2022 when I weighed 160kg.

It's weird having a skeleton again. Who knew that the xiphoid process at the end of the sternum turns to bone as you get older? Freaked me out the first time I felt a knobbly boney thing where no knobbly boney thing had been the last time I was able to palpate it.

It's a bit like watching the lawn gradually reappear after a long snowy winter in Uppsala. All the crap you didn't know was hiding under the snow is revealed, old tennis balls, forgotten toys, an astounding collection of thawing dog turds etc. I haven't been normal weight since my early 30s - I'm 67 now, and the bits being revealed don't look the way I remember them. My mind is in no great rush to see that shrivelled brown grass.

I lost half a stone in my first week, but I only had two and a half stone to lose. I felt absolutely horrendous though, and weight loss slowed loads after that.

1 stone in weightloss is 49000 calories! So it has to be something else - because how many of us are eating that much for there to be a 49000 calorie deficit in 2 or 3 weeks.

I have BMI 47, so I was expecting the much talked about drastic weightloss in the first month due to how heavy I am - but alas that didn't happen despite being on my best behaviour. I lost 6lb W1, 2lb W2 and then maintained for 3 weeks.

My theory is (and some posters eluded to this above, the salt/water/inflammation all play a big role, rather than fat loss. I actually eat very healthy home cooked foods, I just eat large quantities, so I don't think my body had a drastic cut of salt/inflammation like other people see.

Now I have figured out the numbers and come to an understanding that everyone's weightloss journey is different, I don't feel as disheartened when I don't see a loss. Feeling positive though and part of the slow-losers club!

Love your post! Really made me laugh. I do hope you haven't found any old tennis balls in your new skin. I'm in my 60s too, and definitely looking a bit scrawny in the face as I lose the flab , but hey ho, it's all about health for me.

I lost 9lbs in my first week was so shocked my coat is loose on me now by abot 2 inch

I lost 12lbs in the first 2 weeks. First week was 10lbs, but I was also in bed the whole week with covid and barely ate a thing!