Hi Allie
I have read and reread your post above before responding to allow me time to digest (no pun intended).
Your figures are, in fact, better than mine – my BMI atm is only 19.1 and I would prefer it to be more or less where yours is – approx. 21 (mid range). If you deduct 10lbs for your skin however, your BMI is about the same as mine is right now so, yes, we are in a very similar place. But I am not convinced that BMI is the best measure. Obviously I weigh less than you, but I am 3″ shorter. I wear UK8, the equivalent of US4 (just looked that up on a conversion website and it shocked me – a 4 sounds soooo much smaller than an 8!)
I DO think that, at our age, this may be too low / small but, like you, I feel great and I do love being slender (hesitate to say thin, because I don’t think I am), and I too have a slender body frame. However, I really wouldn’t want to lose any more (but do feel I could easily do so) and am trying to stabilise my weight, relatively successfully at the moment – it is fluctuating by +/- a couple of pounds every few days, but not dropping any lower overall). I think your husband is right to be concerned if you are still consistently losing as much as 2lbs a month, particularly as many on 800 aren’t losing that amount regularly.
Do you know your body fat / water percentages? Have you had a body scan? A few months ago I had a bodytrax scan and, I was encouraged to note that the readings were very similar to those of my home scales – i.e Bodytrax Fat 22.3%, home scales fat 22.1%; Bodytrax Water 56.6%, home scales 56.9%. So I now rely purely on my home scales, and they still read more or less the same (+/- small weekly variations) and that puts mv fat %age below average (which is apparently 25 – 31) and into the “fit” level (21 – 24).
Have you worked out your TDEE? And are you eating up to it? What is your carb content? Whilst actively trying to lose, I attempted to keep my carbs down to about 20 – 25g a day, and continued with this once I reached maintenance. However because, like you, I continued to lose but really felt no desire to eat any more, I increased my carb allowance to between 50 – 60g (often works out more, if I’m drinking wine) and this seems to have stabilised me – more or less anyway. As mentioned before, the 4 days when I am not drinking, are the days when my weight drops, but I do drink 3 days a week and then I gain the couple of pounds back. I know we shouldn’t be advocating using alcohol in this way, but I am not addicted to it and, whilst I gave it up completely whilst doing 800, it was never on the cards for me not to reintroduce it, so dropping a couple of pounds when not drinking, and regaining it on the 3 days per week that I am seems to be working for me atm. Without it, I suspect that I would also still be losing. Also, I think that a glass or two of wine increases the appetite a bit so on those days I am more inclined to eat over, or at the very least, up to my TDEE which I struggle to do when not drinking – like you, I really rarely feel hungry, but am generally happy to have an extra handful of nuts etc with a glass of red (or white for that matter!).
Other than the above, and giving you the benefit of my experience, I don’t know what to suggest. As long as you stop losing, you are probably fine, but if you do continue to drop a couple of pounds a month, I suggest you have a medical check, just to rule out anything else that may be going on – though I suspect nothing is and, like mine, it’s just your metabolism gone into overdrive, so don’t fret – that alone can make you lose weight!
My advice – let o/h open that special bottle of wine this weekend, and drink it mindfully and enjoy it. At the very least, it should make him feel better. Hugs xx
