Back to the gym with some concerns

[Kalden1701]

Good afternoon all,

Long story short, I've finally had enough with being a Fatty McFatson. I recently took a long, hard look at my dietary habits - what I was eating and portion control were huge problems. I hardly drank any water, mostly sodas (a lot of soda), and would normally eat take-out at least one or twice a day with terrible portions. For example, I work at a bank and, until recently, it was not uncommon for me to grab breakfast from the McDonald's across the street and intake at least 800 calories before 8am. For lunch, I might again use a drive-through and intake anywhere between 900-1000 calories. My daily calorie intake was probably 2700-3200 calories. I was also pretty sedentary - no workouts, sit at a desk, and then sit at home reading. A rather unhealthy lifestyle.

Since last week, I've greatly increased my daily water intake, I usually eat a cup of yogurt and fruit for breakfast, lean protein with fruits and veggies for lunch, a midday snack of a protein drink (whey protein) and some fruits, and a light dinner. Make no mistake, I am not starving myself but I've tried to restrict processed foods and foods with high sugar content from my diet. I'd guess my daily calorie intake is about 1400-1800 calories. Since last week, I've also been going to the gym regularly mixing in lifting and cardio training. I'm also not constantly measuring my waist or using the scale.

However, I do have some concerns. Day 0, 10 days ago, I weighed 204lbs and today I weighed in at 193.5lbs. At first, I thought my scale at home was off but the 193.5 was confirmed using a scale at the gym. I'm 5' 8" and 31 years old. I know that it is not necessarily abnormal to experience substantial change when first starting a new program, but I'm not sure how "healthy" this is. Should I be concerned or back-off from anything that I am doing? I'd like to reach 160lbs by Fall or Summer.

Thanks.

[17mahmoods]

Losing weight too fast is rather bad for you. So aim to lose 1-2 lb per week.

The first week shouldn't be an issue as it's usually glycogen and water loss, worry more about the weeks following and adjust calories accordingly.

It will also be helpful to monitor weight daily, take readings first thing in the morning after you visit the washroom, your weight will fluctuate which is normal so use apps that take a rolling average such as libra for android and Happy Scale fro IOS to monitor weakly weight changes.

[TheGymJim]

Losing weight too fast is rather bad for you. So aim to lose 1-2 lb per week.

The first week shouldn't be an issue as it's usually glycogen and water loss, worry more about the weeks following and adjust calories accordingly.

It will also be helpful to monitor weight daily, take readings first thing in the morning after you visit the washroom, your weight will fluctuate which is normal so use apps that take a rolling average such as libra for android and Happy Scale fro IOS to monitor weakly weight changes.

This. I just started a cut and I'm down about 6lbs after a little under two weeks. It's hard to gauge where you should be and adjust cals until about a month in, when your rate of weight loss stabilises somewhat.