water/fat loss

MoveitlikeManda

this may be a silly question but Iv read so many posts about water weight etc I just was wondering how do you know when your weight loss is fat and not just water?

from weigh in on Tuesday morning and again this morning the scales say Iv lost 6.6lbs.
now Im fully awear thats not fat loss and also came on on Thursday night so guessing Tuesday I was holding alot of extra water too BUT how do you know when the loss on the scales is fat loss and not just water loss

LivingtheLeanDream

As each week passes the overall trend should be seeing the scales move down. In the beginning water weight happens but so does fat loss.

As we progress in our weight loss we begin to understand when and why water weight happens and it can mask fat loss - TOM, high sodium/high carb days, a new workout etc. We learn what is just noise and what is real loss. That's why on weeks when the scale stalls it's good to have other ways of measuring progress, measurements or how your clothes are fitting.

It sounds like you are just starting out so most of your loss this week will be water weight, which is perfectly normal. You'll notice loss will slow down to something like 1-2lbs a week depending on how much you need to lose, but this is also normal and healthy.

Keep up the great work.

MoveitlikeManda

I actually started in august 2014, lost just under 25lbs (but got pregnant in feb 2015 and gained a load back )
baby is now 7months old and after a few none motivated attemps at getting back in to it this week I finally did it and have stuck with it (she says whilst eating lime cheese cake...blaming TOM lol)

I am actually down around 43lbs from my highest weight in 2011 (had 3 babies since then too) so am still happy with where Im at on the prgress front.

I guess after the massive loss since Tuesday I felt like "well its all bloody water" so was just wondering.
i did say it was a silly question, even more so from someone who is not actually a newbie lol

thank you for your reply x

ponycyndi

The only way to know for sure is to measure body fat %. Some scales can't give you an estimate, but they can be inaccurate.