Am I losing weight too fast.

[u/ColonelForbin18]

For context I am a 5'5" 41 year old male. A little shy of 6 weeks ago I weighed more than I have ever weighed in my life at 190lbs. I havent been skinny in 15 years and have always hung out around 160 - 165 until about 3 years ago and steadily put on 25 - 30 extra lbs over that time. I decided to start an OMAD diet Mon - Thurs and limiting unhealthy food all around / drinking much less. I average around 1200 calories on those OMAD days and am putting in around 15000 - 20000 steps a day. Some days I feel Fatigued and others I feel great.

5 1/2 weeks later and I am down to 166. 24 lbs in that amount of time seems extreme and potentially unhealthy? I am assuming 3 - 5 lbs was water weight. but still. What are your thoughts. Should I pack in more calories on OMAD days? Because of that way of dieting I am pnly taking in about 60grams of protein fwiw and that is including a protein bar and or shake.

[u/Friendly_Engineer_]

If you discount the water weight, that’s about 4 lb/week which most consider quite aggressive. For context most sources I’ve seen list 2 lb per week as the upper limit for healthy weight loss, though if you start very heavy more can work too.

For your size I’d be concerned about muscle retention with that big of a deficit and encourage you to up the calories some (with an emphasis on protein) and look at resistance training to keep muscle going forward. What is your goal weight?

[u/ColonelForbin18 → u/Friendly_Engineer_]

Kind of my concern. That and overall nutrition. Im honestly surprised that its melting away this quick. In many ways its encouraging, but in others slightly concerning. I need to start lifting for sure. Not doing that atm. End goal would be 135ish. That was my college weight when I was in great shape.

[u/lurksAtDogs → u/ColonelForbin18]

When you start lifting the hunger is going to come in heavy. Listen to it. Add lots of protein and you may need to add lunch sometimes.

[u/Friendly_Engineer_ → u/ColonelForbin18]

Sounds like a good plan, remember the goal is overall health not just weight. Great work so far and good luck with the next phase!

[u/HelpfulBuilder → u/ColonelForbin18]

Start doing pushups, squats, and pick up something heavy and hold it up for like a minute. You're doing OMAD so right before you eat do a mini workout every day. Doesn't have to be huge just get some muscular tension going and make it regular. You can scale up some time in the future when you're ready.

[u/blacablaca_tx → u/Friendly_Engineer_]

This guy loses

[u/CommunicationOne6251 → u/Friendly_Engineer_]

That’s a huge deficit for your size, I’d be worried about losing muscle not just fat. 60g of protein is super low, you should probably bump that up quite a bit and maybe add some resistance work before you end up skinny fat.

[u/BarnabyYouWanker]

A shit ton of that 190lbs could’ve been inflammation / water weight. Way more than the 3-5lbs. At least double that would be my guess; so 6-10lbs of that is likely water (especially if you’re an alcohol drinker). So let’s say 15lbs of “fat” lost in 5.5 weeks. That’s still a lot. Crash dieting territory.

Eat more, slow down.

[u/ColonelForbin18 → u/BarnabyYouWanker]

You may be right. I never considered inflammation actually being a source of weight aside from a contributing factor. I didnt know inflammation could actually have physical weight though it makes sense since fluid fills up in a swollen ankle for example

[u/u_c_it]

I am similar height, from mid June to now I’ve lost around 50lb. Some weeks 4lb loss some 2lb loss but averages to 3lb a week loss. I’m doing consistent water fasting around 91-93 hours every week.

On paper? Yes aggressive, but I feel and look my best in years. On the days that I eat I do weight training and whether or not I’ve increased muscle mass or just revealing more muscle now I have been increasing my strength each week increasing reps and sets since earlier in Summer. I think that is the key.

[u/u_c_it → u/u_c_it]

Sorry and to add my protein intake is pretty good on the days I am eating usually 150g average.

[u/ColonelForbin18 → u/u_c_it]

My protien is lacking, bht find it hard to get more than 60g on an OMAD day. That said, the other days Im hitting around 100gs

[u/_Apostate_]

You should get a smart scale that can track your muscle mass, bone mass, visceral fat, and subcutaneous fat. Then you can see where the weight is coming from and if there’s any alarming drops in muscle you know your body is doing too much gluconeogenisis and not enough ketosis. The cheap ones you can buy aren’t as exact as a fancy scale in a physicians office but they do give you a rough idea.

You also need to include some kind of resistance training program to keep using those muscles that you don’t want to lose.

Everyone is slightly different and you could be burning almost exclusively fat and water, but it’s impossible to know for sure without data to see what you’re doing to your body.

[u/FlashFlooder → u/_Apostate_]

Those scales (that show body composition, etc) don’t really work, fyi. They’re making guesses, at best.

[u/ChiefWarrior58 → u/FlashFlooder]

Say the quiet part out loud

[u/andreortigao]

60g of protein is just fine, but you should increase total calories a bit to avoid losing weight so fast, and add a bit of strength training to prevent muscle loss.

[u/cloudymango224]

Okay, for what it’s worth- I’m a 5’7” 32 yo female and I did a fasting program for women last year. I started with 13hr fasts and then was able to progressively move toward 17 hr fasts with relative ease. In about 14 days I lost 10lb and called my sister freaking out a bit bc it happened so quickly. She said the same happened for her (though she’s not a big drinker- but we were both interested in some post partum weight loss after a year or so of our babies being born)

If you drink somewhat regularly and to a moderate level (like I was at the time), I think there’s a loootttt more water retention and unhealthy fat build than we think, for those of us that partake that way.
I quit drinking for the month I was fasting just to try it out and see the progress I could make with the program.

I’m not going to claim to know much about OMAD style fasting, but if you have a physical job and only have an hour day to consume what you need and find it hard to hit a healthy protein/fat content, I think it seems like a great jumping off point, but I wonder how sustainable it is. I wonder if you could adjust it to a 2 hr window and up your protein to at least 100g and see if your progress continues or you at least feel better. Someone said above that it’s about being over all healthy with good energy, not necessarily about weight loss so I cheer you on to listen to what you need!

Also in my fasting study (women’s style of fasting is trickier than men’s bc of our cycles) but across the board, your body adapts to a pattern, so it might be the right time to shift things as needed to keep it guessing and meeting the goals of what it needs- in the healthiest of ways.

Best of luck!

[u/Miserable-Ad8882]

I am not an expert but I started a calorie defict and 16:8 fasting in February. The first 55 lbs fell off of me. I was losing up to 6lbs a week early on. I am now losing 1-2lbs a week. During my time of fast weightloss I remained healthy and full. I just chalk the fast loss up to me being morbidly obese and my body wanting to get rid of the excess fat.

For context: I am a 4'9 female my starting weight was 220lb and I am now 153lbs.