Alicia asks:
Assuming a person is in ketosis, eating clean, exercising, sleeping enough, and otherwise taking good care of herself, is there a limit to how fast it's safe to lose fat?
I'm interested in a general answer, but it might help to know a little about me. I'm a 32-year-old female who is about 70 pounds overweight. I've noticed that when I eat very clean (all real food, less than 50g carbs a day, 90-95% on plan), the scale drops .5 or 1 pound a day. For me, this has amounted to about 4 pounds a week. (The scale always holds steady after a cheat meal.) I eat whenever I get hungry and am not doing IF at this point.
Granted, I've only been doing this a few weeks. But my weight loss appears to be speeding up as my habits get better. My sense from reading Good Calories, Bad Calories is that my body will self-regulate, using up fatty acids as freely as they're available. I just wonder if there's a point where I would want to purposely slow down my rate of fat loss for some reason.
Well, I'd first have to say that there's a lot of people who wish they had your "problem."
Actually, it's not a problem at all and is quite normal for someone in the first couple of weeks that's got 70 pounds to lose. Assuming your normal weight is 130, then 70 pounds is quite a huge percentage of your total (I'm just guessing, of course).
The other thing is that if you've only been at this a few weeks (8-12 pounds lost?) then probably only about a half of that is fat, if that. The rest is water, assuming you're eating plenty of protein so as to preserve lean mass. Once you reduce the carbs so that your body has to begin depleting stored glycogen, water comes along with it. Off the top of my head, for every gram of stored glycogen in your system 1.5 - 2 grams of water is required to keep it there. When you use it, the water comes off too, and this is why low-carb dieters always get an initial burst of loss.
And now you say that it may be accelerating. I'd bet that's just temporary and is probably a function of your changing appetite. As you lose weight, you require less energy and as you become a fat burner, you're more in tune with hunger, so are probably eating less energy without even realizing it. So, you'll end up with a push & pull, manifest in periods of slower loss and then faster loss as your body adjusts.
The bottom line is that as you come closer and closer to your goal, your fat loss will almost certainly slow. This will be an excellent time to incorporate intermittent fasting into your way of living. You'll hit plateaus that may take weeks to break through but with IF can get you through in a few days. On the other hand, you're young, so this may end up being quite quick and easy for you.
In the end, don't worry. Congratulate yourself on finally finding a sustainable life. And, enjoy the rapid fat loss for as long as you can. Finally, think of this: how rapidly to hibernating bears lose fat, and does anyone think that's a problem?
You might also like
Please spread the word
Thanks, Richard! You're spot on that my goal weight is around 130 and my weight loss has been 8 pounds or so. (The scale didn't drop at all during my first week. I wanted to transition slowly, so I just limited starches at first.)
You're probably also right about the water weight. I recall that the scale dropped really quickly right as I entered ketosis.
Back when I was a calorie-counter, I lived by the conventional wisdom that "the body can't metabolize more than 2 lbs of fat a week." Of course, since I've been learning about paleo living, a lot of CW has been turned on its head. So that's kinda where this question came from.
Cheers.
Alicia,
When I first started eating clean I was shocked at how fast I dropped the weight. In three weeks I dropped about 15 pounds. I seemed to maintain about a two to three pound loss per week after that. This lasted for about five months. It slowed down after that, about a one to two pound loss per week, which lasted for another month or two.
The last two months I maintained a stable weight, but was gaining muscle and dropping some inches. I've begun dropping pounds again, but I bet I'll never be at the rate I was when I first started. I'm thinking it will be about two to three pounds a month, not a week.
It's exciting. I do recommend a few things, and I think Richard does these too:
1. Weight: The scale is just one measure of our health. The number you see is just a number. I'll be happy to stay at 165 if my body composition continues to improve and my health stays high. A lower number doesn't mean anything.
2. Body Composition: Feel and look for muscles that will begin to show up on your body! That's exciting. It made me want to work out. Also look to see if your body looks different at a weight now then it did when you first gained that weight. I swear that my belly is much smaller at my new weight than it was when I was eating high-carb and was at the same weight. My clothing sizes don't seem to align to how they used to either.
3. Energy: Compare your energy levels prior to eating this way and to now. My low-grade depression is gone, my moods are stable, and I want to move my body. Working out won't be a chore. It took me about six weeks before I began to want to exercise, but now it's a regular part of my life.
4. Clothing Size: Try on outfits and see how they fit. If you have a smaller outfit that you've kept, try it on once in a while and see if you're getting close to be able to wear it. Now that's motivation, wearing smaller sizes. I'm thrilled that I no longer have to wear Plus sizes.
5. Medical Markers: Lipids, triglycerides, blood glucose, etc. These are other measurements that help keep you plugging away at eating clean.
Okay, that's a long post, but I was shocked at how fast I was losing. Weight loss wasn't even my goal — good health was. It will slow down, there will be plateaus, yet good things are happening even if weight isn't dropping.
Zero Carb is the way to go. Meat and eggs.
Excellent response Richard and Erin is absolutely right as well. After more than a year of this I have never felt better in my life and weight is only a crude marker. Cheating around the holidays did produce some gain, but lately I have been more strict because I am finding it easier and I feel so much better.
And cheating makes me feel crumby – not emotionally, but physically and with brain fog. The process is all about momentum – patience and consistency is rewarded, but don't beat yourself up over it – baby steps. Progress as measured by a scale may stall, but if you continue to apply the principals, you will be amazed how your body and mind rewards you.
And I have to say that I now concentrate more on the inches than the pounds. Lately I am pleased that my weight is only very slowly drifting down yet the inches are still declining – slowly – but they came on slowly.
@Erin: You're absolutely right about the multiple measures of progress. I've been following a couple of them (how my clothes fit and energy levels) and have noticed major improvements. Thanks for sharing your own experience. I love hearing those kind of details.
@Katelyn: Agreed.
@John: I agree completely about cheating. I've had a bit of sugar each of the last three days and have started feeling like crap in the morning. Blech!
Cheers, everybody.
Great advice. I also lost a lot of weight quickly at the start. Nothing to worry about just enjoy it.
I just started to go totally primal, no carbs besides fruits. It's only been like a week and I didn't weigh myself at the start but now I wish i did because clothes that were tight on me before are now much looser! After only one week!
You will likely find, Nina, that in time you'll think you've lost a bunch because of the clothes, but might not have. This lifestyle, especially if you do some brief, intense, playful workout (sprints are excellent) that it recomposes your body. I've been stuck at 183 – 186 now for quite a while, but in that time clothes have continued to get looser in important areas.