fat vs water weight?
Jonestiarra2013
Posts: 143 Member
Just curious as to how to tell the difference between losing fat and water weight...both make the numbers on the scale go down and both affect the way you fit in clothes
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Well, if you didn't eat 3,500 calories over your maintenance calories...it's not fat.0
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Well I've been losing about a pound a dayarditarose wrote: »Well, if you didn't eat 3,500 calories over your maintenance calories...it's not fat.
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Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »
Well I've been losing about a pound a dayarditarose wrote: »Well, if you didn't eat 3,500 calories over your maintenance calories...it's not fat.
So there's water weight coming off. You're not losing a pound of fat a day. I assume you just started with your weight loss?0 -
The simple way is to only weigh yourself once per week or once each 2 weeks. As long as you don't have a fluid retention issue and you're not dehydrating your body to see loses, this interval should work well to determine the difference.
1 liter of water weighs 2.2 lbs. It is unsafe to lose and gain more than 2 pounds of water per day regularly, it messes up the electrolytes in your blood stream; potassium, sodium etc. Focus on consuming the recommended water each day and on days that you weigh, make it the first thing in the morning at the same time, with the same cloths on or naked, after your morning bathroom visit. I'm a nurse and this is how we weigh people in the hosptial when we are monitoring their fluids.0 -
Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »
Well I've been losing about a pound a dayarditarose wrote: »Well, if you didn't eat 3,500 calories over your maintenance calories...it's not fat.
Even with a consistent calorie deficit, water weight comes and goes within a reasonable range. It might fluctuate up or down by as much as 5 or 6 pounds (in my experience), but it will present itself as noise in an overall trend of weight loss or gain.
If you're losing a pound a day, you're almost certainly pretty early on in your weight loss efforts? It is common to drop a bunch of water weight initially (especially if you are consciously low-carbing it or just reducing carb intake as a result of your calorie restriction). Don't get discouraged if the pace slows down; don't get discouraged when you add some water weight back after a sodium-rich or carb-rich day; and, looking way out, don't get discouraged when you reach a goal weight, up your calories a bit, and seem to add scale weight (i.e., water) out of proportion to your calorie intake.
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Leslierussell4134 wrote: »The simple way is to only weigh yourself once per week or once each 2 weeks. As long as you don't have a fluid retention issue and you're not dehydrating your body to see loses, this interval should work well to determine the difference.
1 liter of water weighs 2.2 lbs. It is unsafe to lose and gain more than 2 pounds of water per day regularly, it messes up the electrolytes in your blood stream; potassium, sodium etc. Focus on consuming the recommended water each day and on days that you weigh, make it the first thing in the morning at the same time, with the same cloths on or naked, after your morning bathroom visit. I'm a nurse and this is how we weigh people in the hosptial when we are monitoring their fluids.
Sorry but none of that has anything to do with distinguishing fat loss from water loss. Weighing once a week or every other week tells you nothing. Also, your patients aren't running on treadmills or lifts weights. Real life works different than an in hospital setting.
I won't argue because you won't understand it likely.
However, for this poster, if you consume enough water...continue to pee...and are not dehydrated...and continue to lose weight...you're either losing fat or muscle...there is nothing else it could be.
And the great thing is "healthy bodies" tend to work mostly the same. No one will ever be able to lose a pound a day consistently...that's water and you will die...period. You're probably letting go of some excess water, don't worry, it will level out. Again, if you have no medical problems and aren't doing any of the other things I mentioned.
Good luck!!!
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Leslierussell4134 wrote: »Leslierussell4134 wrote: »The simple way is to only weigh yourself once per week or once each 2 weeks. As long as you don't have a fluid retention issue and you're not dehydrating your body to see loses, this interval should work well to determine the difference.
1 liter of water weighs 2.2 lbs. It is unsafe to lose and gain more than 2 pounds of water per day regularly, it messes up the electrolytes in your blood stream; potassium, sodium etc. Focus on consuming the recommended water each day and on days that you weigh, make it the first thing in the morning at the same time, with the same cloths on or naked, after your morning bathroom visit. I'm a nurse and this is how we weigh people in the hosptial when we are monitoring their fluids.
Sorry but none of that has anything to do with distinguishing fat loss from water loss. Weighing once a week or every other week tells you nothing. Also, your patients aren't running on treadmills or lifts weights. Real life works different than an in hospital setting.
I won't argue because you won't understand it likely.
However, for this poster, if you consume enough water...continue to pee...and are not dehydrated...and continue to lose weight...you're either losing fat or muscle...there is nothing else it could be.
And the great thing is "healthy bodies" tend to work mostly the same. No one will ever be able to lose a pound a day consistently...that's water and you will die...period. You're probably letting go of some excess water, don't worry, it will level out. Again, if you have no medical problems and aren't doing any of the other things I mentioned.
Good luck!!!
OMG. "I won't argue because you won't understand it..."
Wow. Just wow. The only people who refuse to defend their position are people who can't because their facts are lacking.
Th only people who I've ever met who advertise themselves as nurses (publicly and to strangers) are CNAs or SNs. And you know what they say, students know nothing and nursing students know double nothing.0 -
Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »
Well I've been losing about a pound a dayarditarose wrote: »Well, if you didn't eat 3,500 calories over your maintenance calories...it's not fat.
A pound a day?!?!?
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Leslierussell4134 wrote: »Leslierussell4134 wrote: »The simple way is to only weigh yourself once per week or once each 2 weeks. As long as you don't have a fluid retention issue and you're not dehydrating your body to see loses, this interval should work well to determine the difference.
1 liter of water weighs 2.2 lbs. It is unsafe to lose and gain more than 2 pounds of water per day regularly, it messes up the electrolytes in your blood stream; potassium, sodium etc. Focus on consuming the recommended water each day and on days that you weigh, make it the first thing in the morning at the same time, with the same cloths on or naked, after your morning bathroom visit. I'm a nurse and this is how we weigh people in the hosptial when we are monitoring their fluids.
Sorry but none of that has anything to do with distinguishing fat loss from water loss. Weighing once a week or every other week tells you nothing. Also, your patients aren't running on treadmills or lifts weights. Real life works different than an in hospital setting.
I won't argue because you won't understand it likely.
However, for this poster, if you consume enough water...continue to pee...and are not dehydrated...and continue to lose weight...you're either losing fat or muscle...there is nothing else it could be.
And the great thing is "healthy bodies" tend to work mostly the same. No one will ever be able to lose a pound a day consistently...that's water and you will die...period. You're probably letting go of some excess water, don't worry, it will level out. Again, if you have no medical problems and aren't doing any of the other things I mentioned.
Good luck!!!
Go ahead and try to explain it to me I'm pretty sure I'm going to have no problems understanding whatever points you attempt to make. Try your best.
And as far just one of the last things you just said, "you're either losing fat or muscle...there is nothing else it could be", I understand you might be trying to over simplify the process for the OP but you shouldn't present inaccurate information like that. You should know that a person losing weight can lose fat, lbm, glycogen, water. We won't be retaining the same exact amount of glycogen day in and day out and it will vary based on activity, intake and how much muscle you actually have. Then you have undigested food and not to mention cortisol which will also affect water retention.
So like I said, feel free to explain what you think I won't understand, you might be surprised.
Critical thinking cannot be explained in a blog post. If you want to know what I meant you can ask your doctor. Last I checked we don't pee out glycogen...we pee out glucose...and not by itself...Ouch that would hurt right!! Pee and every thing that can come out with it comes out in the typical yellow stuff we see on the toilet...called urine. You are throwing our things you'd see in unhealthy people...my comment clearly said healthy. If you have issues or concerns and are not healthy please go see a doctor quickly. I'm just a nurse...what do I know.0 -
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Our bodies are 70% water...so by default you will lose mostly water weight.0
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Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »
Well I've been losing about a pound a dayarditarose wrote: »Well, if you didn't eat 3,500 calories over your maintenance calories...it's not fat.
That's a good indication of water. Simple maths.0 -
To lose a pound a day of fat you would have to create a deficit of 3500 calories.
Say your maintenance calories are 3000. That would mean not eating a thing and doing like an hour of exercise.
Unless you are doing something like that I would assume it's safe to call your loss water weight.
At the start people seem to either lose very little or a lot. Then it stabilises out.
Stop weighing your self every day if you can. Your weight goes up and down for several reasons so I don't see the point in most people weighing every day and freaking out because they gained a pound or two.
I weigh my self weekly and look at the trends for a few weeks or months to get a more accurate measure of my weightloss.0 -
Leslierussell4134 wrote: »Leslierussell4134 wrote: »Leslierussell4134 wrote: »The simple way is to only weigh yourself once per week or once each 2 weeks. As long as you don't have a fluid retention issue and you're not dehydrating your body to see loses, this interval should work well to determine the difference.
1 liter of water weighs 2.2 lbs. It is unsafe to lose and gain more than 2 pounds of water per day regularly, it messes up the electrolytes in your blood stream; potassium, sodium etc. Focus on consuming the recommended water each day and on days that you weigh, make it the first thing in the morning at the same time, with the same cloths on or naked, after your morning bathroom visit. I'm a nurse and this is how we weigh people in the hosptial when we are monitoring their fluids.
Sorry but none of that has anything to do with distinguishing fat loss from water loss. Weighing once a week or every other week tells you nothing. Also, your patients aren't running on treadmills or lifts weights. Real life works different than an in hospital setting.
I won't argue because you won't understand it likely.
However, for this poster, if you consume enough water...continue to pee...and are not dehydrated...and continue to lose weight...you're either losing fat or muscle...there is nothing else it could be.
And the great thing is "healthy bodies" tend to work mostly the same. No one will ever be able to lose a pound a day consistently...that's water and you will die...period. You're probably letting go of some excess water, don't worry, it will level out. Again, if you have no medical problems and aren't doing any of the other things I mentioned.
Good luck!!!
Go ahead and try to explain it to me I'm pretty sure I'm going to have no problems understanding whatever points you attempt to make. Try your best.
And as far just one of the last things you just said, "you're either losing fat or muscle...there is nothing else it could be", I understand you might be trying to over simplify the process for the OP but you shouldn't present inaccurate information like that. You should know that a person losing weight can lose fat, lbm, glycogen, water. We won't be retaining the same exact amount of glycogen day in and day out and it will vary based on activity, intake and how much muscle you actually have. Then you have undigested food and not to mention cortisol which will also affect water retention.
So like I said, feel free to explain what you think I won't understand, you might be surprised.
Critical thinking cannot be explained in a blog post. If you want to know what I meant you can ask your doctor. Last I checked we don't pee out glycogen...we pee out glucose...and not by itself...Ouch that would hurt right!! Pee and every thing that can come out with it comes out in the typical yellow stuff we see on the toilet...called urine. You are throwing our things you'd see in unhealthy people...my comment clearly said healthy. If you have issues or concerns and are not healthy please go see a doctor quickly. I'm just a nurse...what do I know.
Well you can take the approach that somehow I don't understand what you might try to explain and attempt to mask it with humor. The fact that you think I said anything about peeing out glycogen is a clear demonstration that you're not ready to get into a back and forth of how things work. At any point you're more than willing to attempt to demonstrate how dumb I am by explaining what it is I don't know. Feel free.
And just so you know, being a nurse validates your statements by no factor. Don't overstate how much you think you might know. You know and I know that we work with many nurses that are clueless when it comes to things like this.
I didn't get into nursing to argue back and forth, it doesn't work like that. I never said you were dumb, how could I? I don't even know you nor would I ever say such a thing even if I did.
The point is, part of the work nurses and doctors do is critical thinking, not taught in books, rather a compilation of knowledge and interpretation of information to a specific situation. Meaning it can't be discribed in a paragraph on a blog post.
If you're interested, maybe pursue the information yourself and go from there.
This conversation reminds me of what to focus on in my practice, thank you for that. I need to present the information to people and let them do with it what they wish and only hope it triggers a thirst for them to know more.
I don't know you, you don't know me but through sites like this we should encourage each other and offer helpful hints that one could learn from or disgaurd if they wish.
That's all I'd like to say to you.
To the OP, always seek the information yourself and do what works for you. Listen to what your body, often it tells you what's wrong or where to start when looking for a cause. No one person knows it all, but we have the ability to learn for a lifetime. Cheers!0 -
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Wow, what a rude passive-aggressive lady... First insinuates that other poster is dumb or uneducated, then implies that they're unable to use critical thinking skills... And overall only supplies one type of argument - from authority (that being herself) - hardly an indicator of advanced critical thinking skills at all.
It never ceases to amaze me how strangers on the internet think their claimed qualifications matter, and make them more than just another nick. Guess what, it's rational argumentation and demonstrably sound information that give you authority and make you more than just another anonymous username, not the title you claim you have.-1 -
This is a great post. A question I've thought but felt was too daft to ask. Glad you threw it out there.
And on a side note - some of these posts made me laugh. Especially 'do you know who I am?' And I won't try to explain as you won't get it. I'm gonna patronise my man with that line next time we argue. Hahaha
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wannabeskinnycat wrote: »This is a great post. A question I've thought but felt was too daft to ask. Glad you threw it out there.
And on a side note - some of these posts made me laugh. Especially 'do you know who I am?' And I won't try to explain as you won't get it. I'm gonna patronise my man with that line next time we argue. Hahaha
I had to laugh, thanks for that. Sometimes we all need to laugh a little more...so good for us!0 -
I didn't mean to cause an argument guys! This is a place where we should all come together without judgement but I appreciate everyone's input0
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Maybe someone should have spent less time developing critical thinking skills and a little more time working on interpersonal and social skills.
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This thread has run it's course imo0
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Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »I didn't mean to cause an argument guys! This is a place where we should all come together without judgement but I appreciate everyone's input
OP, you can learn a LOT in these forums, but know that this kind of stuff happens ALL the time. It has nothing to do with you
. As long as you don't let it bother you, there's a bunch of great information.
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Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »I didn't mean to cause an argument guys! This is a place where we should all come together without judgement but I appreciate everyone's input
OP, you can learn a LOT in these forums, but know that this kind of stuff happens ALL the time. It has nothing to do with you. As long as you don't let it bother you, there's a bunch of great information.
I've seen OP a lot in this community what does it stand for?
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Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »Jonestiarra2013 wrote: »I didn't mean to cause an argument guys! This is a place where we should all come together without judgement but I appreciate everyone's input
OP, you can learn a LOT in these forums, but know that this kind of stuff happens ALL the time. It has nothing to do with you. As long as you don't let it bother you, there's a bunch of great information.
I've seen OP a lot in this community what does it stand for?
Original Poster. In this case, that's you 0
This discussion has been closed.
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