Can I really lose too fast?

I’m told I should lose 1-2 pounds per week … I have 120 pounds to lose so a year or more.

With Huel I’m not hungry and I find I can do 1100 calories a day and lose half a pound or more. In three weeks I have lost 20 pounds but that includes the initial “quick loss” of starting a diet.

People keep bring up the 1-2 pound “rule” but is this legit and I need to slow the loss down???

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They say 1-2 is healthy and sustainable but it may be a bit generalized. Listen to your body is the key.

This is only my opinion

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First of all, HELLA CONGRATS on the 20 pound loss! Here’s to another set of 20! And another! And another!

I’m gonna assume by your name that you’re male, and men by default (grumble) lose weight faster than women (jealous). You can maybe lose weight too fast but that doesn’t really have any bearing except for loose skin.

Losing at a steady rate (I’d say even 3-4 pounds a week), and drinking a lot of milk helps the skin tighten up as it starts having less fat to cover. But men can definitely drop weight a lot faster than that and the biggest thing you may notice is loose skin. Around the arms, thighs and especially the midsection.

This can be mitigated somewhat but people who have a lot of weight to lose (I have 210 pounds myself), pretty much end up with flaps of loose skin regardless. In some cases of things like the skin causing or being prone to sores and burns, insurance may pay for the surgery to remove the skin as it’s causing a health hazard at that point. But for the most part, skin removal is considered cosmetic and no insurance will touch that.

I don’t believe losing too much weight too fast for a health reason exists. People tend to say the 1-2 rule because a lot of folk turn to really bad crash diets to get pounds off too quickly. This type of unhealthy weight loss CAN lead to sleep and heart and systemic issues, of course.

But it sounds like you’re using Huel as a cornerstone and not going overboard with starving yourself or taking unhealthy supplements that can damage your body. In this instance, I’d say, keep doing what you’re doing, lose at whatever rate you feel comfortable with and you should definitely be fine.

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I lost 90 pounds years ago. It went in spurts and plateaus. It was not a consistent x pounds per week loss. Weight loss isn’t like that. It’s usually fast at first and then tapers to a slow crawl as you get closer to an ideal weight.

You’re not hungry probably because your body is now freely releasing fat from adipose tissue. Huel is low GI food and your insulin levels are probably lower than they were before Huel.

A hibernating animal doesn’t eat at all, but isn’t starving. It’s body fat is supplying all of the energy needs while the animal is in this dormant state. I know you’re not a bear, but I’m illustrating a condition where body fat can be the only source of energy. So it’s plausible that you only eating 1100 calories a day can still go about your day since some of your energy is likely coming from the fat stores being used for energy. Your body may need like 2000 calories, but only 1100 of that needs to come from food. Hence the weight loss.

So long as you are not impaired in your daily activity, you’re probably doing just fine.

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You don’t have to rush this, in fact it is likely for you to rebound if you rush through the process. I wouldn’t do more than 1500 cal a day if you are a male or more than 1200 if you are a female.

Keep in mind your organs will go through a lot, it’s all good as you are losing weight and detoxing but that will put them to work hard. So take precautions instead of focusing on how many pounds a week, at first you will probably lose way more than 2 pounds per week but as you get leaner you will struggle to lose the last few pounds. for instance. I lost 50 pounds in 5 months and the first 20 happened fast, now that I am 180 trying to get to 175 is a real struggle, my body is lighter and I am fitter so my metabolism works for less nowadays.

In short, eat clean, drink plenty of water, count your calories and get your blood flowing by hitting the gym/cardio machine and you will do great.

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Thanks for insight … I was thinking too much of a good thing can be a problem too!

Follow thought … I have used the Atkins diet in the past and the very low carb approach is supposed to trigger Ketosis. I read the Huel info on making a low-carb version as well.

Doesn’t regular vanilla Huel have too many carbs to get me in to Ketosis? 1000 calories a day is 76 net carbs and Atkins is 20 … way less.

Well first, let’s define the terms. Ketosis is the normal process your body undertakes when it has a net loss of carbohydrates to burn for energy and turns to burning fat stores. Ideally, this is what you’re looking for when you’re looking to lose weight.

A carbohydrate is a sugar, starch or fiber found in food (fruits, veggies, grain, milk products). The body’s main source of energy.

A calorie is a unit of heat equal to the amount of heat needed to raise the temperature of 1,000 grams of water by one degree Celsius. This unit is used as a measure of the energy released by food as it is digested by the human body.

Okay, so biology quickstart over. We’re gonna get into a LOT of theory here so strap in and I’m not a nutritionist so don’t take anything I say for… anything but Googling and already acquired knowledge.

Carbs are broken down into simple and complex - in a nutshell, one is designed to be broken down a lot slower to give your body more longer lasting energy and one is there to get through energy faster typically because the structure of the simple sugars, starches and fibers in them aren’t as nutritionally sound - or, complex, hence the name.

Complex carbs - also called slow-burning carbs - are higher in nutrients and tend to release energy a lot slower. As you consume them, they don’t tend to cause blood sugar spikes (a reason ketosis can get to be a bad thing and lead to ketoACIDosis - a potentially fatal condition where your body produces too many ketones and not enough insulin to neutralize them).

Huel utilizes almost completely slow burning carbs. What does that mean for normal ketosis? As the body is breaking down the slow burning carbs slowly, it needs to get its energy for that metabolic process itself somewhere. That’s where it goes to your fat stores. As you’re consuming the healthier, full of fiber and protein Huel, your body is fueling itself using the ketosis process.

Huel may have 76 net carbs in 1000 calories of servings, but the carbs are slow burning and complex, meaning good for you. They also trigger ketosis naturally by the simple process of consumption, and as such, achieving fat-burning weight loss using Huel should be done if you’re eating proper calories for your body - there’s a mess of calculators on the web for Huel and otherwise to determine what your potentially ideal caloric intake should be. Anytime there is a loss of what you consume against what you burn, whether from exercise, or just the act of living, there will be a loss of fat stores which leads to loss of fat - which leads to stores being reduced and fat weight being lost.

Again, none of this is gospel, get your information from many sources. Cross reference and see what holds up and makes the most sense to you. Education is the best weight loss tool that exists.

(As a side note, Atkins was touted as a ‘low carb, high protein, high fat’ diet for the ketosis rule. The biggest issue was that not only did people see that as a carte blanche to eat all the bacon and cheese and burgers they wanted, it usually never outwardly promoted ‘good’ proteins or carbs to use. Here’s a link that nicely sums up what I think about Atkins and low carb fad diets in general: https://www.rd.com/health/diet-weight-loss/why-low-carb-diets-arent-the-answer/)

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Correct. Although the oats in Huel have a lower glycemic index than wheat flour, rice flour, or tapioca flour (and will trigger a lower insulin response than those), the Huel itself is not low carbohydrate. Even one dose of Huel per day will prevent Ketosis.

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I would debate that the human body’s main source of energy should be fat, not carbohydrates.

  1. The body’s capacity to store carbs is very limited. The body’s capacity to store fat is extensive, even in people who are not overweight.

  2. Fat produces almost twice the amount of energy per gram as carbohydrates do.

  3. The blood stream can only carry a very limited supply of glucose.

  4. The body readily converts glucose into fat, not the other way.

Although glucose is necessary for neurons, other cells can use fat or glucose to make ATP. After a meal with carbs, the pancreas releases insulin. Part of the job of insulin is to temporarily convert our muscle and other cells from fat burning to carb burning. The body recruits the other cells to temporarily burn carbs to help keep blood sugar from rising too much, which can be toxic. However, the body is much better equipped to use fat as a primary source of energy for most of the day.

Anatomically, we are designed to use fat as the main source of making ATP. When we eat, our adipose tissue fills with fat. And once our limited glycogen supply is maxed out in the liver, the liver converts excess glucose into fat, shipping it to the adipose for storage. The adipose therefore acts as a temporary energy buffer. We get slightly fatter in the few hours after a meal and then we are supposed to have that fat come back out during periods between meals. The problem is if we have too much insulin or too much insulin resistance, the fat won’t come out of the fat cells soon enough and thus we have to eat sooner than we would otherwise.

We do not get fat because we eat too much. We eat too much because we are fattening and our insulin levels are too high, not allowing fat to come out and be used for making ATP. We force our body to be carb burners far too long than intended.

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Yes this is possible.