Water Weight, how to weight accurately?

PinkamenaD8

I noticed that I've been retaining water because sometimes I didn't lose weight according to my cal deficit.

I drink too much water, like 3 litters daily and 500 ml of milk, often 300-400 ml orange fruit. I do more than 1hr (more than 2 if you count walking) of cardio, so hydratation is important, but my weight vary a lot during the day. I tend to weight myself in the mornings and still it hasn't been at all constant.

I did an experiment, fasted 15 hours and excercised with my normal routine while taking a litter of water and I lost 2 kg, (4 pounds), without counting the litter I drank.

So my questions are, should I count the weight with depleted water as my current weight? Should I subtract the litter I drank during excercise? There are other ways to weight more accurately, like measuring the bf %? And is true that water weight doesn't count towards bmi?

JaydedMiss

.....dont bother. Life happens, your body does its thing. Your putting WAY to much unnecessary thought into this.

Blitzia

It may sound trite, but weight is just a number. If your water weight stays roughly the same over time, it doesn't matter whether you count it or discount it as long as you're consistent. You're just looking for the number on the scale to go down over time, which it will if your water weight doesn't drastically fluctuate.

If you're concerned about fluctuations in water weight, your sodium intake can be one of the most important factors. High sodium can make you (temporarily) retain water, so if it bothers you, you can try ro lower your sodium intake. Other than that, I wouldn't generally worry about water weight. No matter how much you try to control your water weight, your weight is always going to fluctuate day to day. There are simply too many factors that affect weight to be able to have perfect consistency.

tlanger251

If you're concerned about losing weight, lay off the milk and orange juice. Drinking orange juice is like mainlining sugar...

JaydedMiss

tlanger251 wrote: »

If you're concerned about losing weight, lay off the milk and orange juice. Drinking orange juice is like mainlining sugar...

no.

crackpotbaby

Stand on the scales.
Look at the number.
That's what you weigh (even if some of that is extra water retained in cells).

For consistency it's best to weigh at the same time - ideally first thing in the morning - wearing the same thing (nude is best), after a wee, or the same (calibrated) scales.

You will still see day to day fluctuations.

ChristopherLimoges

Don't bother. Get a gallon, weight it on a scale, drink it, weigh yourself when you're done.

Hoshiko

Well, firstly I don't think 3 liters of water is too much given how much you're working out.

If you start playing games to try to measure how much water you're retaining at any given time then you'll start to drive yourself crazy. Really, the only reason to weigh yourself at all is to see how much fat you've lost over time. It's just one method of measurement, and should be compared under similar circumstances to minimize things like food weight, clothes, etc.

There are two (well, three) schools of thought about this. You can either weigh yourself every day and track your gradual, overall change, or you can weigh yourself after a certain amount of time (weekly, monthly, etc.) at the same time of day wearing the same clothes. Or, you could not weigh at all and track your progress through things like inches.

I weigh myself every day and track using an app like Libra so that I can see those water fluctuations and changes, but I don't let it impact my decisions unless I see a trend over time. My friend weighs herself weekly at the same time because otherwise she gets really upset if she sees a temporary higher number.

Whatever you do, be consistent. Water weight will always eventually leave. It's fat loss over time you're after.

seska422

PinkamenaD8 wrote: »

So my questions are, should I count the weight with depleted water as my current weight? Should I subtract the litter I drank during excercise? There are other ways to weight more accurately, like measuring the bf %? And is true that water weight doesn't count towards bmi?

Your current weight is what you see on the scale with no additions or subtractions.

BF% is basically a guess so it's not more accurate.

Body water weight swings around all the time but is generally about 55-60% of total body weight so it definitely counts toward your BMI. BMI is calculated using your current weight and height.

PinkamenaD8

JaydedMiss wrote: »

Your putting WAY to much unnecessary thought into this.

It's important if you're not losing weight or you're trying to measure muscle gain and you've to do it in a short period of time. When someone works out on a very restricted cal deficit retains more water, when they think they aren't losing weight they'll be dissapointed and maybe work harder/reduce more his intake trying to lose asap.

seska422 wrote: »

BF% is basically a guess so it's not more accurate.

I meant meassuring it with callipers, why you say it's a guess? Also DEXA, hydrostatic methods seem to be accurate.

seska422 wrote: »

Body water weight swings around all the time but is generally about 55-60% of total body weight so it definitely counts toward your BMI. BMI is calculated using your current weight and height.

I'm asking about the amount you're using and gaining during normal daily activity, the variable water weight. Even dehydrated you can't deplete all the fluids in your body. It'd be a guess to meassure it though.

tlanger251 wrote: »

If you're concerned about losing weight, lay off the milk and orange juice. Drinking orange juice is like mainlining sugar...

I'm in a not small cal deficit. I eat lots of sweet fruits and milk daily and I'm losing like 2 pounds weekly. Yeah juices won't fill you as much as fruit but the kind of diet doesn't matter if it's nutritious and you follow the rule of cico.

PinkamenaD8

Thanks everyone for your answers.

So measuring it overtime can give you more accuracy. I just wanted to know if you could measure weight in short periods not counting water weight.

Tracking inches was a good suggestion.

JaydedMiss

PinkamenaD8 wrote: »

Thanks everyone for your answers.

So measuring it overtime can give you more accuracy. I just wanted to know if you could measure weight in short periods not counting water weight.

Tracking inches was a good suggestion.

your made mostly of water if you measured without it youd be dead. Relax and enjoy the fluctuations as they go into lower ranges

cwolfman13

You're seriously overcomplicating things...nobody weighs exactly XXX Lbs...body weight isn't static...you will always have fluctuations in water...your body is made up of anywhere between 50-65% water...trying to manage that for the scale is a waste of time. You're also going to have variable levels of waste in your system...hormonal changes, etc...

Body weight and weight management is about overall trends over time, not exact numbers.

__TMac__

Consistency is key. And weight loss isn't linear.