I would call the community position on Lipid changes during rapid weight likely rather than established, and I would be comfortable defending that hedge.
0 likes 18mo
Clinical · Bloodwork · continued
[2026 update] Lipid changes during rapid weight loss: the expected trajectory posts 31–57
This is a continuation of a long topic, addressed by post number rather than by page. Start at post 1.
m.malinowski, post #31: I would call the community position on Lipid changes during rapid weight likely rather than established, and I would be comfortable defending that hedge. Go to post
Confirming post #31 from a second method, which matters more than confirming it from a second person.
The failure mode on Lipid changes during rapid weight is boring rather than dramatic. It is almost always the step everyone assumes was done correctly because it is too simple to get wrong.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
Repeat before acting is standard practice for an isolated abnormal result on most analytes, and it is standard for a reason.
Glycaemic markers integrate over different periods. A point glucose and a longer-term marker disagreeing is not a contradiction; it is two different questions.
Reading it again, the caveat matters more than the finding.
2 likes 18mo
Post #36 is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit.
Summarising the Lipid changes during rapid weight thread so far, since it is long and the answer is buried: the first reply has the method, the fourth has the correction to it, and the rest is people agreeing at length.
20 likes 18mo
h.brandt, post #3: Repeat before acting is standard practice for an isolated abnormal result on most analytes, and it is standard for a reason. Go to post
Coming back to post #35, because the follow-up matters more than the original answer.
Time of day: some biomarkers vary across the day. Cortisol in the morning differs from cortisol in the evening. Comparing results from different times of day is comparing things that are not the same.
Collapsed as off-topic by two members at trust level 3 or above
This follows post #36 rather than contradicting it.
Reporting rather than recommending, on Lipid changes during rapid weight. What happened is above. Whether it should have is a different question and not one I am qualified to answer.
Checked the Lipid changes during rapid weight claim against the primary source this morning. It survives, with a narrower scope than the version quoted here. Posting the narrower scope.
13 likes 18mo
ppm_error, post #13: This follows post #10 rather than contradicting it. Small correction to my own earlier position on Lipid changes during rapid weight. I had the units the wrong way round, which changes the conclusion by an order of magnitude and therefore changes it entirely. Go to post
Renal function markers: eGFR is estimated, not measured. It depends on creatinine, age, and weight. A small change in creatinine might not mean a real change in kidney function.
r.venkatesan, post #4: The opening post is right about the mechanism and I think understates the practical bit. Adding a small correction to the Lipid changes during rapid weight summary above rather than a disagreement with it. The substance holds; one of the figures is out by a factor that matters. Go to post
On Lipid changes during rapid weight, the part that usually goes wrong is that the question is asked as though it has one answer. It has a range, and the width of the range is the interesting bit.
If you can post the two or three numbers you are working from, several people here will check the arithmetic rather than argue about the conclusion.
Where I part company with post #40, and it is a narrow parting.
I would rather this thread reach "we do not know" about Lipid changes during rapid weight than reach a confident answer that nobody can support when asked.
7 likes 18mo
d.eriksen, post #18: On post #16 — agreed on the reasoning, with one qualification. The confident answers on Lipid changes during rapid weight and the well-sourced answers are not the same answers, which is the most useful thing I have learned reading this category. Go to post
A trend needs at least three points to be a trend. Two points are a line and a line through noise is still a line.
Lipid changes during substantial weight loss are expected and their trajectory is not always monotonic. A single mid-course panel can be misleading.
Not disagreeing with anyone above, just adding the bit I keep having to look up.
32 likes 18mo
Post #43 put the caveat in the right place and I want to underline it.
Speaking only to Lipid changes during rapid weight as I have actually seen it, rather than as it is usually described: the effect is real, it is smaller than the thread suggests, and the variance between people is larger than the effect.
11 likes 18mo
ms_holloway, post #25: The useful distinction on Lipid changes during rapid weight is between what was measured and what was inferred from it. Both end up in the same sentence and only one of them has error bars. Go to post
Time of day: some biomarkers vary across the day. Cortisol in the morning differs from cortisol in the evening. Comparing results from different times of day is comparing things that are not the same.
Scoping that to what I have actually seen rather than what I have read.
Picking up post #47: that is the part I would want checked first.
Glycaemic markers integrate over different periods. A point glucose and a longer-term marker disagreeing is not a contradiction; it is two different questions.
Happy to expand any of that if it is the useful part.
0 likes 18mo
Post #50 answers the question as asked. The question underneath it is different.
Lipid panel interpretation: total, LDL, HDL, triglycerides all on one panel. Reading them together is more informative than reading one value in isolation. An elevated triglyceride with low HDL is different from triglyceride elevation alone.
That matches what I was told, which is not the same as knowing it.
0 likes 18mo
batchlog, post #6: Glycaemic markers integrate over different periods. A point glucose and a longer-term marker disagreeing is not a contradiction; it is two different questions. Go to post
The thing about Lipid changes during rapid weight that took me longest to accept is that a plausible mechanism is not evidence of an effect. It is a reason to look, not a result.
a.reyes, post #29: Where I have landed on Lipid changes during rapid weight, having got it wrong once in public: the direction is clear, the magnitude is not, and anyone quoting a precise magnitude has borrowed it from somewhere that did not measure it. Go to post
Narrowing post #54, because the general version has more than one answer.
A trend needs at least three points to be a trend. Two points are a line and a line through noise is still a line.
Lipid changes during rapid weight: I have looked for the primary source twice and failed twice. Either it does not exist or it is somewhere I do not know to look, and I would like to know which.
12 likes 17mo
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