Is losing 10 lbs in a week healthy?

Question

I'm 13, I currently weigh 138 lbs, and I'm 5'3. A week ago I weighed 149. I don't know why I can keep drasitcally losing and gaining weight. I've been eating an energy bar and a glass of skim milk for breakfast, drinking a gallon of water, and jogging for 30 minutes every day. Usually I don't eat anything else, or I'll have something small and healthy like a piece of grilled chicken. I weigh myself first thing each morning, and when I do what I've been doing it keeps going down. But then if I go a day where I eat normal meals, I start gaining instead of losing. When I lose a lot I still feel perfectly healthy, have lots of energy, and I feel a ton better than I do when I eat normally. Is that bad?

Another thing, although I'm 13, my body has developed extremely fast for my age. I'm more "developed" than most of my 16 year old friends. I'm not a skinny toothpick that's straight up and down.. I actually have some curves.

I thought that having an eating disorder meant refusing to eat food, or not eating when you're hungry? I eat when I'm hungry. It's just that I don't get hungry as much anymore. Tonight for dinner I was really hungry so I had a salad.

And once again, I can gain weight JUST as fast as I can lose it. I go a day of eating hardly anything, and lose a couple pounds. I go a day of eating a lot, and gain a couple pounds.

Answer 1

At 5”3’, you should weight between 107lbs (if you’re thin) and 135lbs (if you’re not thin, but still healthy)
Above 141lbs, you are overweight and it is an unhealthy weight because you may devolop health problems (diabetes…) because of your weight.
So if you are 138lbs, you are really borderline between being healthy (but not thin) and overweight; especially since you drastically lose and gain weight.

You could gain 2 pounds overnight just because you had salty popcorns at the movie theater and get water retention from the salt. You could gain 2 pounds because you just ate too much at a party. You could gain 2 pounds because you did not evacuate enough yesterday. You could gain 2 pounds because you’re just having your periods…

You should not worry about those weight fluctuations.
Even fat loss should not worry you.
The only thing you should worry about is gaining muscle mass.
In the long run, the muscle mass will devour the fat reserve.

So you have to exercise a lot, doing cardios and stretching and strength training with weight and get sore for at least two months as you build muscle mass.

If you just eat less in order to lose weight, then your body will just adapt and your BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate) will just decrease accordingly.

You BMR is very important.
If you’re currently 138lbs, then your BMR is about 1,250 calories a day.
DO NOT EAT LESS THAN YOUR BMR.
If you eat less than your BMR, your body will just adapt and you will even need less calories to survive…bummer, so when you eat normal, you will just get fat. Between getting hungry and getting fat…what would you choose?

BMR: women: lbs x 0.453 = kilograms x 7.18 + 795
(BMR: men: lbs x 0.453 = kilograms x 10.2 + 879)

Answer 2

no its not healthy to lose that much weight that fast if you asked a doctor a safe amount of weight to lose a week is just a few pounds, but I do know how you feel I was in a similar situation a few years ago I was losing about any where from 1/2 pound to 1 1/2 pounds a day. you should eat more but still eat healthy or as you said you will gain a ton of weight back. You gain the weight back because you eat so little and even though you feel healthy your body thinks it's starving so when it does get something in it like when you eat normally for a day your system is not working like it should so you gain a lot of weight back. however if you do start eating more which you should, eat healthy things like a salad with maybe some chicken on it or something, if you eat a lot of just anything you will gain back weight uncontrollably, if you eat more but healthy your weight loss will slow down. Remember no matter how you FEEL your body is starving and that is not good.

I hope this helped you, good luck.

Answer 3

If you lose 10lbs a week, you're probably losing muscle as well. You need to stop the jogging if you don't want to lose anymore weight. You need to be careful of your diet, because there are two possibilites:
1) You have developed an eating disorder.
2) You are blessed with a mesomorphic body. A mesomorph gains and loses weight easily. Most athletes are natural mesomorph, they can eat a lot and gain more muscle than fat.

Answer 4

Hi, you answered my question on how to lose weight. Losing 10 pounds in 1 week is not healthy since your body needs to adjust slowly to changes. You lose muscle instead of fat, and sometimes it's only water weight.
I don't know why you're not hungry, but I would be starving if I were you! I'm not sure if eating that little is right, but look at other answers for that. Sorry, I'm not an expert on it.

Answer 5

You weight is yo-yo'ing because you aren't getting enough calories to support your body. You need to figure out your RMR (resting metabolic rate) based on your lean body mass that will tell you how many calories you body needs to maintain your muscles, brain, and organs, but not feed your fat. Never eat fewer calories in a day than your RMR or you are hurting your body.

Once you know your RMR you need add enough calories to support your normal activity level plus your exercise habits.

If you have trouble finding out how to figure this stuff out email me, you can do that thru my profile. I'm working on an excel spreadsheet that will do all the calculation for you.

Right now your brain thinks you are starving and it's fighting to keep your fat stores to support your primary body functions, and it's getting the nutrients you are denying it from you bones and muscles.

You need to correct this before you can safely and effectively lose the weight for good.

Answer 6

Well i have lost about 7 in a week, but i was not doing it healthily. I have had to make lifestlye changes to maintain my weight... i no longer eat red meat, or pork. I take vitamins to supplement the iron i am no longer recieving... i also drink about 18 oz of Green Tea each day!!! it is a must... you must let yourself slurge every now and then... remember everything in moderation. I am 5'1 so i understand where you are coming from!

Answer 7

Well, people usually lose a good amount of (water) weight in the first week. This sounds definitely normal, especially since you're eating well.

Well good for you! Developing fast isn't so abnormal, either. Enjoy yourself and don't worry too much! =)

Answer 8

sounds like you have a good plan.
you might wanna check out your bmi
(type in "bmi calculator" in google)
remember to keep excercising and drinking lots of water and take a multivitamin everyday cause you're not getting that many vitamins and minerals out of what you are eating daily.
other than that good luck with your weight loss!
ps you could also try juice or water fasting

good luck!

xoxo
laura

Answer 9

you are hurting yourself. loosing 10lbs in a week is dangerous. even if you think you feel fine your body is being robbed of nutrients which is very dangerous. you should aim to loose 1-2lbs a week and you need to do it with a balanced diet. you need dairy, vegetables, fruits, grains and more protein. it sounds like you have an eating disorder.

Answer 10

eat when you're hungry. stop when you're full. do more weight training (you DON'T NEED TO LOSE WEIGHT, but muscle is always good to have).

you're only 13. you're fine, don't worry so much.