Water Weight vs Fat

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hawthornerose
hawthornerose Posts: 16
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello! I'm very much a newbie, having just started my diet four days ago. I started at 5'10", 181 lbs. 145-150 lbs is my end goal, but I'm taking it 10 lbs at a time. After four days I am now at 176.5 lbs. I know that this is all probably water weight and not actual weight loss. When do you think I'll start loosing actual fat? How much water weight does one usual shed at the start of a diet? Thanks a bunch for the help!

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  • csontos
    csontos Posts: 76 Member
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    I have the exact same question! I've "lost" over 6 pounds in 9 days, but I realize it's just water weight. I'm wondering when I can consider the weight that I'm losing to be fat as opposed to water.
  • geebusuk
    geebusuk Posts: 3,348 Member
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    Quite likely a bit of it is fat.
    Some maybe 'food weight' and so on too. Give it a couple of weeks or so to settle down and see where you're at.
  • SymphonynSonata
    SymphonynSonata Posts: 533 Member
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    In the past, on old accounts, I've always gotten shamed on here for my success stories because I tend to lose about 10 pounds of water in the first WEEK (I am a sponge)! So that seriously skews my time line and weight loss per week. I think 10 pounds is probably my average. When I start getting to the .5lb/1lb a week mark, I consider that to be actual fat loss rather than water. Depending on your own body and your goals you may use the 2lb a week mark, or whatever - just when it begins to slow.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    some of it is fat, and some is water. you can't really know exactly how much of either other than to take measurements and/or use calipers to monitor BF%. Generally speaking 2 Lbs of fat is equivalent to 1% of BF....so technically, if you have lost 5 Lbs and lost 1% BF then 2 of those 5 would be fat and the other 3 would be water. If you lost 5 Lbs and there was no change in BF% then you lost all water, etc.

    Really though I wouldn't obsess about that...it'll just drive you nuts because you're going to fluctuate with water and waste anyway...both up and down. Just monitor the trend over time and you'll be fine.
  • spara0038
    spara0038 Posts: 226 Member
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    I've been on a regular routine since 1/30/14. In the first week, I lost 7 lbs- similar to you. I did gain some back, although there were some family birthdays in the "gain back" period. It has taken about 4 weeks for my weight to settle, but now I'm losing about a steady 1 lb/week through watching my calories, fairly regular cardio, and some strength training.

    Consider that 1 lb of fat loss = 3500 calories, so if that was all fat, you would have had to have burned 21,000 calories in 4 days. It's really not easy (or fast), but stick with it!).

    Also, I just added a "before" and "after" comparison into my pictures. The two pictures were taken 23 days apart, but only reflect a few lbs difference on the scale. The number on the scales isn't everything :-)
  • katiefbe
    katiefbe Posts: 39 Member
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    Its something of an academic question if you are in this for the long haul. Even 20, 30, lbs in etc you'll still have days where you have dramatic shifts in your weight which could be attributed to water. I sometimes wonder which is partly why I weigh daily so I can see the fluctuations.

    Even if part of what you've lost is water, you'll also be losing fat alongside it. I really wouldn't worry about it. Look for the NSV like clothes fitting differently which will tell you for certain you are losing fat.
  • RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle
    RaspberryKeytoneBoondoggle Posts: 1,349 Member
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    It's only four days! I fluctuate by five or more pounds regularly. I dont think there is scientific formulae op. just keep going. That's what we all do who have done this:)

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