Is it safe to lose 5 lbs in 4 days?

Question

After going through depression, I managed to gain 40 lbs in one year!!! I decided that being close to 200 lbs was not healthy! So, I started eating right and exercising. The thing is, I would get soo high from exercising that I didn't want to stop and I ended up losing over half my daily calorie intake with exercising. By doing this, I managed to lose over a pound a day. I was told this was not healthy...but I feel great. I need some input on this...and I want facts to back this up.

Answer 1

How can it be unhealthy if you feel great? Listen to your body, trust your body instead of other people who are not in your body, so what could they know?
Exercising at a high level (80%) is great to make you feel good and avoid depression…better than antidepressant. Exercise burns cortisol (the stress hormone), and thereby makes us healthier and happier. Exercise also stimulates the brain’s pituitary gland to release endorphins (endogenous morphine), in the bloodstream (once you get the 80% of your capacity).

If you’re very big, losing 5lbs in 4 days is common because you mainly lose water at the beginning of a diet and exercise program.
By eating healthier, you end up eating less salt and drinking more water so the weight due to water retention goes away pretty fast.
5lbs in 4 days does not mean 10lbs in 8 days…Those first 5lbs are in fact pretty easy to lose if you put your mind to it. Even the first 10lbs are easy to lose (in a month or so), then from there, it gets harder because at that point, you have to lose fat and not just water, which means you have to exercise for 3,500 calories for each pounds of fat you need to lose.

My advice is to keep doing whatever you’re doing. Each pound you lose will take you more time than the previous one but do not despair. Even if at one point you do not seem to lose any weight, it might just be because you’re gaining muscle which is a good thing to get a high metabolism.

Then if you’re doing it right, you will lose about 2lbs a week, then 1lbs a week until you get to where you feel okay with your body. At that point, you can start eating more (so you don’t lose more weight) and keep exercising and feeling good about yourself because you’ll be active, you’ll be able to eat what you want and you’ll look great.

Answer 2

Possible? Yes. Healthy? No.

Doctors would say that the healthiest way to lose weight would be to lose 2lbs a week. Rapid weight loss may feel good at first but you can also put that weight back on rather quickly, too.

Whoever said that your pound-a-day weight loss wasn't healthy is right. You need to slow down the weight loss process. You didn't gain it all overnight and you can't lose it all overnight.

Get with your doctor and ask him/her to refer you to a nutritionist.

Answer 3

its totally healthy as long as you maintain your calorie, fluid and vitamin intake. if youre losing cuz youre not eating then itll lead to some serious health issues in the long run. but if you really are just an excercise fiend who is eating properly then yea 1lb a day sounds about right cuz thats what im losing on my current diet. good luck!

Answer 4

I'd say thats fine :) But if you still have doubts consult your doctor.

Answer 5

keep doing what ur doing :D