Why am I losing weight so fast? I should be happy but I'm concerned

Hi all.

I'm a 26 year old male who is a bit concerned about the amount of weight I'm losing.

After several failed diets- GM, Cabbage soup and the like, I made it a firm resolution to lose weight this year. I am 5 ft 10.5 inches tall, and weighed 98.3 kg on the 1st of January.

For the first week, I did manage to go for a 45 minute walk/jog (around 15 minutes of jogging and 30 minutes of walking) every morning. However, since then, I haven't had the time to do it, been extremely busy which leaves me with very little time to get anything else done.

The main change therefore has been in my diet. Here is what a typical day looks like:

Breakfast: one boiled egg white, coffee without sugar and a slice of plain toast (white bread). There are some days when I have just coffee without sugar and either a banana or an orange

Mid-morning: Usually an orange

Lunch: Salad. I order from this app that tells you how many calories there are in each salad. I eat different salads every day, the calories range from 200-450.

Early evening: Coffee without sugar and an orange/banana/bowl of grapes

Dinner: Bread and some steamed/boiled veggies or chicken

I have completely cut out alcohol, aerated drinks, desserts and any fried food. I do have a cheat day every Saturday, though it's normally just unhealthy stuff that I eat on that day, eg. a steak or a burger. I don't eat desserts, or drink alcohol or aerated beverages on my cheat day either.

I weighed myself today and my weight is 90.4 kg which makes it a total weight loss of 8 kg over this month! A few of my shirts do fit me a bit better so I was expecting some weight loss, but was astounded at the 8kg weight loss! Is this normal?

My goal weight is 79kg which means I have about 11kg more to lose. Going by current standards, I should be that weight by the middle of March, or is this an unrealistic expectation? My schedule is expected to clear up next week too, so I can get back to the walking/jogging.

Any help and inputs would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Weight loss is mostly calories in vs out. You're eating how many calories now? It looks pretty low so lets guess 1500kcal for the sake of round numbers. Loosing 8kg in 4.2 weeks is around a 2000kcal deficit maday. Which is to say to maintain your weight at 98kg you were eating 3500kcal a day, doesn't seem too out there- if you think it is then just believe me that overweight people often think they eat much less than they do.

But weight loss is also water weight, which is typically more in the initial stages of a diet and seen more so when you significantly reduce your carb intake. Which means in reality, not all of the weight loss needs to be accounted for by calories.

Weight loss is mostly calories in vs out. You're eating how many calories now? It looks pretty low so lets guess 1500kcal for the sake of round numbers. Loosing 8kg in 4.2 weeks is around a 2000kcal deficit a day. Which is to say to maintain your weight at 98kg you were eating 3500kcal a day, doesn't seem too out there- if you think it is then just believe me that overweight people often think they eat much less than they do.

But weight loss is also water weight, which is typically more in the initial stages of a diet and seen more so when you significantly reduce your carb intake. Which means in reality, not all of the weight loss needs to be accounted for by calories.

No. This is not normal. From what you have described, you have a case of haltosis amorexias. I would advise you go and see your doctor urgently.

Oh and I'm probably eating around 1000 calories at the maximum for 6 days and maybe 2000 on a Saturday.

I understand that 3500 calorie deficit means 1 pound. I have lost roughly 18 pounds which means I have created a 63000 calorie deficit over 30 days! Roughly 2100 calorie deficit, is that even normal?

Thank you for your response!

So if I continue with the same diet, how many kg should I expect to lose by the end of February?

Piece of string question really. You'll have less water loss because your carbs will now be stable. Your maintenance calories will go down with you having less body to use them up. It's easier to estimate when folk are loosing weight slower but even on the same deficit you won't continue to loose weight quite as quick

Sorry if I'm being stupid, I've just had a few confidence issues with my weight and am so encouraged at the weight loss I've had this month, also very proud of my self-control.

What if I reduce my calorie intake even further to say 800 calories? That should help to maintain the rate of weight loss right, because then my body will have to re-adjust itself again

Doesn't that mean bad breath?

First of all, well done for cutting out junk and losing weight.

Your diet isn't going to kill you, but it will lower your body's performance.

I'd recommend having more substantial meals, made from scratch.

For instance, you could have this in a day:

Morning - Porridge with some fruit (blueberries, bananas or an orange) and coffee/tea.
Morning Snack - Fruit. Banana and a glass of hemp milk.
Lunch - Salad with a wholemeal carb source (wholemeal bread/rice/cous cous) and lean meat. Add avocado for added nutrients. Dessert - yoghurt?
Afternoon Snack - Fruit / Veggies
Dinner - Your choice, but try to make it from scratch in order to cut out excess salt, sugar and grease. Balance it so you have veggies (dark green veggies especially), wholemeal carbs and protein in the ratio of 2-1-1. Dessert.

If you're counting calories, then the above should be about 1500 calories. I don't count calories. Eat healthily, eat moderately, exercise.

The difference between the above meal plan and yours is that mine is full of nutrients and caters to your body's needs.

Also, sucks that you're too busy to exercise, but you should really exercise.

Thanks! Yes, I will get back to exercise in about 2 weeks hopefully, which is when I think i will have to start having more calories.

A cheat meal once a week is okay right? I don't go all out, but yeah, I've had stuff like KFC, pizza, chinese food on my cheat meal days

Whilst good on you for losing weight, even with water weight, you're losing weight seriously fast and it's not really sustainable long term. Continue on your diet if you're finding it ok. Add in a bit more food and you'll find it easier to maintain your diet and keep losing weight. Doesn't really matter what said food it, but some more food is needed

Thank you for your response.

As mentioned in my OP, I have tried out these crazy fad diets in the past which work temporarily. The diet I'm on at the moment is a lot more complete and regulated IMO but I am still seeing weight loss comparable to that of a fad diet, which is why I'm concerned that there could be other factors behind the weight loss, a mystery illness maybe? :P

"Calories in vs calories out" is 98% BS. It's a poor application of physics to biology. Whilst, strictly speaking, if you take in less energy than your metabolic base rate then you will technically lose weight. However, the body is very flipping efficient and you would have to restrict your diet to a stupid amount of calories to do that.

By the sounds of it, you may have genuinely come close to that! Nevertheless, you should be concerned about the nutrients you are taking in and perhaps focusing on making your diet long term. The last thing you want is to rebound because you can be sure you'll probably exceed your starting weight if that happened right now.

Give up arbitrary goals right now and focus on creating a healthy, enjoyable and sustainable diet for life. Why not move your goal weight back 6-8 months? It'll probably be good for your morale too as you will likely exceed this goal.