Cara, 38, saying hi and RHR question

Congrats on 17 lbs. My RHR bumped about 7 bpm for the first month too, then settled once I ate more on lifting days.

That tracks with my own logs. Nothing normalized until a rest day got added between lifting days.

Fasting glucose 98–104 isn’t crazy after fat loss, but sleep at 6.5 hrs would wreck mine.

Same here. Anything under 7 hrs of sleep and the morning readings jump 6–8 points.

Are you eating enough protein? When I dropped too fast my HRV tanked and RHR rose.

This might be the classic early-adaptation thing. I’m 44, started at 232, lost 19 lbs in 10 weeks. My RHR went 55→63, then back to 57 by week 14. Nothing changed except I stopped chasing a daily deficit, started eating a real breakfast before lifting, and slept 7.5+ instead of 6.5. Fasting glucose went from low 100s to 94. I’m not saying that’s your fix, but the sleep and food-timing pieces were huge for me. Are you tracking HRV or just RHR? Also, how hard are your two lifting days?

Week 14 is encouraging. Did you keep losing during that RHR drop, or did weight stall?

The part people forget: the trend usually keeps going down, just slower — think more like 0.7 lbs/week instead of 1.4. Common surprise: labs can stay in a good range the whole time.

Could be dehydration too. I upped water during long walks and morning glucose dropped a few points.

Dehydration always gets me. My watch RHR is garbage if I drink caffeine late.

Welcome. Not a doctor, just my experience: tracking sleep, steps, and lifting load for two weeks gave me a clearer picture than daily weigh-ins. Your 2.5-inch waist drop is a strong signal. What’s your sleep goal?