When I put my mind to it I loose a pond every 1 or 2 days? Why is this classed as unhealthy

[Sophie1029734]

Hi everyone, I'm currently 1 year 2 weeks postpartum and still breastfeeding. I added a tone of weight the year before I got pregnant and during pregnancy.
I've always found it easy to loose a pond every day, maybe two. But reading up this its apparently unhealthy, why?
For example yesterday I ate between 1.2k - 1.3k calories, healthy foods. I went for a 1 hour walk, ecersised in the morning. The next day I loose a pond. I'm not starving myself. Sometimes I get in to a bad rut of eating bad and not moving but when I pit my mind to it it shreds like nothing. Am I esting too little?

Sorry for the spelling mistakes, baby climbing on me

I like my pond and would be upset if it disappeared overnight

I get it I've done a lot of spelling mistakes

I think it depends on whether your rapid weight loss is likely to stay off, or whether losing weight so quickly triggers you to binge and yo yo. Or whether it triggers unhealthy ongoing behaviours. In my case losing baby weight that way triggered latent anorexia.

As a one off, if it worked and stayed off, I doubt you would suffer any ill effects.

It depends how big you are really. If you've got a lot of weight to lose, losing 7lbs in a big isn't totally ridiculous. How long are the lbs coming off for? Is it just for a week or so until you give up or is it something some term? It's no uncommon for the body to get a bit of a shock the first week of a diet and have a big whoosh of weight loss. I lost 7lbs my first week of Slimming World back in the day and wasn't particularly heavy

Do you think it would affect my milk supply?

A lot of depends how overweight you are. A group of my friends are trying to lose weight together. Those of us obese are losing it much quicker. In part because of water retention. This only happened for the first few weeks then levelled off. I know that looking at studies they showing quite clearly that to maintain weight loss losing it slowly and steadily is usually more effective. I guess this is because you change your lifestyle to a more sustainable one and don't go back to bad habits.

When I go on a diet, the first few pounds come off very easily. I think this is often not 'real' weight loss (it's maybe more about retained water or something like that) so it soon settles down into a pattern of slower weight loss (say 1-2lb per week). I think you'd find the same. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the regime you describe in your post, but I don't think you'd find it led to 1-2lb per day weight loss after the first couple of days.

I thought the best way was to weigh once a week? That 1lb off the next day is surely just normal body fluctuation?

If you maintained the calorie intake and exercise you did that day, for a full 7 days in a row, you would lose 7lb. Theres always going to be a swing up or down day to day

In total I've lost 2st 3lb. At first I was loosing a pound every day for a 1 week then it slowed to about 2-3 pound a week. Then I got myself in a rut for a while and I'm not proud but im back trying. I'm currently 12st 9, my goal is 9st 7lb. I'm 21 and becoming chunky has made me feel down.

I was worried I was doing things unhealthy but maybe it is because I'm chunkier or that it's not real weight. For my own sake I will try weigh myself once a week so I dont over analyse and obsess.

Hi, just be careful when breastfeeding. I lost baby weight very quickly while breastfeeding because my daughter was feeding around the clock. Walking is great, carry on, but don’t restrict your diet massively or yes it will affect the milk you offer. You might not even notice (milk looks like milk, right?), but obviously you want to offer your baby the best. I’m sure baby does get what they need, but just saying. No need for a massive loss quickly?

I see you are 21 - in my experience, the younger you are, the more quickly you can lose weight, so that may have something to do with it. The most important thing is to make sure you are eating a healthy, balanced diet - getting plenty of fresh fruit, fibre, protein and veg and a retaining a moderate intake of 'energy' foods (fats, sugars), especially as you are breastfeeding. If you are worried your weight is dropping too quickly, seek medical advice.

It is easier to lose weight quickly the heavier you are, and so your current weight is relevant in answering. Someone obese can lose weight at that kind of rate without it being a massive problem but if you are closer to a healthy weight then it could be.

Losing weight does put stress on your metabolism. Your body is brilliantly adapted to survive in all kinds of circumstances as our species evolved on a planet that had lots of challenges to survival. You can certainly lose weight very rapidly if there's a big enough deficit between the calories you eat and the calories you use, but when this difference is very sharp, your body may adapt to "famine" conditions which could include loss of muscle and bone mass, loss of cognitive acuity, and your metabolism adapting to squeeze every last calorie out of what you do eat, meaning that you are more likely to regain weight very quickly when the time comes that you are focusing on things other than weight loss. If you need to lose at least a third of your current weight before you are in the "healthy" (bmi 20-25) zone (ie you are more than 150% of your ideal weight) then 3lb a week isn't too bad. If you are between 120% and 150% of your ideal weight at the moment then 2lb a week would be a more sensible target. If you are less than 120% of your ideal weight then 1lb or 1.5lb a week is sensible.

The female body is especially well adapted to survive famine conditions, which means the metabolism will prioritise various methods for reducing energy usage, and maximising fat storage, rather than squandering the precious energy reserves it has built up.

This is what I ate yesterday, does it sound like I'm getting enough and could I need more?
7am Porridge with oat milk. linseeds chiaseeds and sesame seeds mixed in
Grapes
10.40am 1 sandwich with quorn ham
3pm bag of spinach with olive oil and lots of lemon juice, plant based steak, 2 corn on the cobs, carrot and swede mash
4pm some slices of cheese
5.30pm apple, grapes

Am I eating enough? That day was a little healthier than I'd go for just because we need a shop

1200-1300 calories is very low, that’s without taking into account breastfeeding. How tall are you? I would use one of the calculators online to make sure you are getting enough.

All these comments are really helpful, I don't know much about the body and weight loss to be honest

I'm 5ft 6

Sorry that neal wasnt as healthy as I'd go for, spelling mistake

That food seems good but yes, those cals are very low to be sustainable for someone who is bf, walking plus exercising in another way too.

What ammount would you recomend I eat?

If you were super morbidly obese, loosing a pond daily would not be a problem. Sometimes they have those programmes on TV where people who weigh vast amounts (500lb plus)are instructed to loose more than 50 ponds in a month. As pp said a lot of this is water retention.

However as a bf-ing mother, you don't want to loose too many ponds.

I found bf-ing made the lbs drop off.

You can't really lose a pound of fat in a day. You need a deficit of 3500 calories to lost a pound so it's not possible. You can lose a lot of water when you eat little but it does come back.
It's better to lose slower and more sustainably.

2 - 3 lbs a week is good going OP - don't starve yourself or it just piles back on!

Op put your stats into the tdee calculator, it will give you good guidance. Depending on your child's feeing, you can surely add a few hundred cals on to that, or just have them for the days you're hungrier. It will tell you intake without moving and with various levels of exercise. Best of luck.