How do I know if I'm losing water or fat weight?

Allthingsglitter

I'm 5'2 previously at 110 pounds, now at 107.5 and I just want to lose 5 pounds to get to 105 and lose a little of my belly fat.

So I have been on a 1,2000 calorie diet for 15 days now. My progress says that I lost about 3 pound during the 2 weeks.

How do I know if what I lost was just water weight or actual fat loss?

BusyRaeNOTBusty

You really don't.

But weight changes much quicker, so if you gain and then lose 3 pounds in a matter or 3 days (what I've done recently) that's most likely water weight.

cathipa

The only way to know would be comparing DEXA or BodPod results and it's just not worth the cost to find out.

Gallowmere1984

In the short term, there's no way to tell. Hell, even if you had DEXA scans a week apart, other variables can throw it off in either direction.

perkymommy

Ashleyjt_ wrote: »

I'm 5'2 previously at 110 pounds, now at 107.5 and I just want to lose 5 pounds to get to 105 and lose a little of my belly fat.

So I have been on a 1,2000 calorie diet for 15 days now. My progress says that I lost about 3 pound during the 2 weeks.

How do I know if what I lost was just water weight or actual fat loss?

a 5 lb loss would be 102.5

SideSteel

You don't, however it also doesn't matter in the vast majority of circumstances.

Losing water weight is part of the process of weight loss and so if you continue to see the scale come down, it's incredibly likely that you are losing a combination of fat mass and fat free mass.

KelBgess

Unless you're holding onto a lot of water, which I can't imagine you are at 107 lbs, I thought water weight is lost through sweat after activity and then gained back when you hydrate. If that's the case, permanent weight loss is either muscle or fat, no? I would also think that unless you're tracking your percent of body fat from one weight goal to the next, there's really no way to know.

BusyRaeNOTBusty

KelBgess wrote: »

Unless you're holding onto a lot of water, which I can't imagine you are at 107 lbs, I thought water weight is lost through sweat after activity and then gained back when you hydrate. If that's the case, permanent weight loss is either muscle or fat, no? I would also think that unless you're tracking your percent of body fat from one weight goal to the next, there's really no way to know.

Lots of things can cause gain or loss of water weight, hormones, stress, lack of sleep, swelling, sore muscles, glycogen depletion, eating too much salt, or bloaty foods, etc.

wanger21

I agree with cathipa above. The amount of water your body is holding fluctuates based on how much water you've been drinking, the temperature and humidity of your environment, how much salt/carbs/alcohol you've consumed in the past few days, and more than you can control down to the level where you're able to tell water from other weight within a 4-5 pound range. Your weight can fluctuate 5% in a single day due to water - fat loss takes a significantly much longer time and just requires a lot of patience and consistency.

However if you're a person that's really driven by numbers, the DEXA scan is the way to go - but there's still a margin for error. I would say if you're starting a diet plan and have at least 2 months to go on it, it's worthwhile to get a scan before and after so you have some meaningful numbers to see as a reward for sticking to it.

cwolfman13

KelBgess wrote: »

Unless you're holding onto a lot of water, which I can't imagine you are at 107 lbs, I thought water weight is lost through sweat after activity and then gained back when you hydrate. If that's the case, permanent weight loss is either muscle or fat, no? I would also think that unless you're tracking your percent of body fat from one weight goal to the next, there's really no way to know.

The human body is anywhere from 50%-65% water...the average female is 55% and the average male is made up of 65% water...there will always be natural fluctuations in water. When you lose weight, it will always be a combination of water loss, changes in inherent waste in the system, fat loss, and muscle loss.

There are about a gazillion things that impact fluid fluctuations.

TimothyFish

As the others have said, you can't when dealing with such low amounts of weight. Technically, you could measure the air you breathe in and that you breathe out. If you breathe out more than you breathe in then you are losing fat.

lorrpb

It could be water, fat, and muscle. Set mfp to lose 0.5 lb per week since you need to lose only 5 lb. At the rate you're going you'll likely like mostly muscle.

richardgavel

Watch the trend over the course of a month, assuming you weigh every day. You should be able to eyeball the trend line from that.