Fortunately for us, sub, we don't get to decide the rate at which we lose - that is up to our bodies. Your body knows what it can handle and what is too much. Listen to it and you'll come out ahead in the end

This is the answer to your question about why your loses are not as dramatic in the first week. Typically that first week is about letting go of a lot of water. When you restrict carbs you force your body to burn those it has stored for later use. Carbs attract water - you know that because when you eat too many of them you bloat up, right? - well when your body burns those stored carbs it releases the water that was stored with them. The more muscle / lean mass you have the more water you're going to lose, because this carb is stored in your muscles as glycogen. The heavier we are, the more lean mass we have - just because it takes more to carry around the extra fat.

If you had spent 6 weeks cutting out sugar (carbs) and processed foods (typically carbs and salt) and exercising you lost a lot of that stored carbs then. This is why you don't see the 'big numbers' now.

That initial loss, BTW, is atypical of subsequent weeks. From now on out you want to lose F.A.T. - and that doesn't come off at a rate of 5 lbs per week!

Cheers,
Nat