I should only lose 10 pounds- will it all be water weight?

MaiaRainbow
MaiaRainbow Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
A few weeks ago, I noticed I had begun to gain a little weight, about ten pounds, for the first time in a couple years. I was up to 125 pounds, and I am 5'3 1/2 inches tall. So I realize that's a perfectly healthy weight, but it was getting difficult to zip my clothes. I am a very small-framed person (my wrist is under 6 inches around) so I really am healthy at 115 too, and that's where I wanted to be in order to keep my same clothes. Plus, I knew all that weight gain had come from an unhealthy place-- eating pizza several times a week, lots of ice cream and sugar, lots of pasta, etc-- my husband and I were going through a stressful time in school and we were both indulging a lot and not exercising.

So, I started working out a bit and cut out most carbs (I still ate some fruit and dairy, but no grains, no extra sugar, etc) for three or four weeks, and voila! Today I weight 115 pounds.

Here's my problem: My diet plan was to lose 1/2 pound a week, and I obviously lost much more than that, even though I followed my plan closely (not over-restricting or anything). And so I went online and read about how the first ten pounds is always water weight, glycogen stores, and what not, and the pounds you lose AFTER that are fat. Well what does that mean for me? I only needed to lose ten pounds in the first place. Does that mean that in order to actually lose the extra fat I've put on, I need to keep going, keep trying to lose more weight? Because the thing is, I don't WANT to go under 115 pounds, (I've been there before-- full disclosure-- I suffered from an eating disorder a few years ago, and I don't want to ever let myself be too thin again). So if the first ten pounds is always water weight, that means I haven't even lost any real fat yet, but I can't afford to lose any pounds past that. Is there a chance that less of my weight loss was water weight since I was so small to begin with? Will eating more carbs again (healthy ones, whole grains) really put all that weight back on? I was so relieved to have met my goal and to start eating normally again, since the longer I stay in diet-mode, the more it feels like I could slip into a pattern that leads to an ED relapse). So I'm feeling confused and a little discouraged.

Replies

  • a_stronger_me13
    a_stronger_me13 Posts: 812 Member
    That 10lbs of water weight stat is going to vary for body size. That may be the "average" adult, but since you are small framed, shorter and weigh less, I doubt that you lost more than a few lbs in water weight. If you are eating fairly balanced macros, I don't think you will see much water retention from eating carbs. A good place to start would be 30% protein, 30% fat and 40% carbs.

    However, you still did lose 5+lbs relatively quickly. If you don't mind me asking, what are your calories and workouts like?

    When it comes down to clothes fitting just a little tighter and what not, you might be better off using resistance training with a very small deficit and doing more of a recomposition as opposed to just trying to shed weight. It will be better for fat loss and muscle retention than just a calorie deficit or a cardio focused program.
  • Barbellarella_
    Barbellarella_ Posts: 454 Member
    DO your clothes fit the same as they did when you were 115 pounds last time? If so, I wouldn't lose sleep over it.
  • KimWW
    KimWW Posts: 301 Member
    How certain are you that the 10 pounds was not water in the first place? The whole "water weight" thing is because people, especially those who are obese, retain water. That accounts for roughly 10 pounds on the people who are carrying a lot more extra weight than you are. Probably much less on you.

    Whether you were gaining "fat" or "water" what you wanted was for it to be gone. It is gone. Be happy. You did it! If you reached a healthy goal weight, don't keep going because of water/fat. What you lost was what you wanted to lose.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    It probably wasn't all water weight, but it's likely that part of it was. Since you are small you likely didn't have 10 lbs of water to lose. Cutting carbs usually results in a loss of 2-3 lbs of water for me (I weigh 125). But if you're happy with your weight and with the way you look what difference does it make how much was fat and how much was water?
  • Michifan
    Michifan Posts: 95 Member
    Your body is a complex machine / computer. It has a baseline and it takes 3 months for that baseline to start engaging and even longer for that new baseline to become relatively consistent.

    If you can lose the 10 pounds - lose it. But keep focused for a full season on holding that weight or even going a few pounds lower so you don't get anxious if you go up down 2 pounds (which is normal).

    While you are dieting - pay close attention to what you are eating and how it makes you feel. You will learn which foods create satiety and balance and which are just yummy calories for your brain but not your body. Knowing this information can help you maintain a healthy weight because your body will send signals to your brain that it is satisfied and the non-efficient calories will become a will-power issue, not a inefficient way to feed a body that needs fuel.

    As far disordered eating, the best prevention is knowledge; knowing that you are feeding your body and feeling good. Weighing less because you are eating healthy is different than punishing your body.
  • MaiaRainbow
    MaiaRainbow Posts: 3
    Wow, you guys answer fast! This is my first time on here, and I didn't expect support so quickly, that's great.

    Shutupandlift- my workouts are not much, mostly I have just been making sure to walk somewhere, to campus or downtown of something each day, for about 40 minutes, not speed-walking or anything, and then I have a little mini-stair stepper at home that I walked on for about 15 or 20 minutes at night. And then cutting about 250 calories a day (after allowing myself enough calories to make up for the exercise).

    My clothes do seem to fit better for now, I'm just worried that could be because of the water loss too. I'm just worried that when I go back to eating carbs tomorrow, all the weight will just pop back on, if it wasn't "real" weight loss. But a lot of you are saying it probably couldn't have been all water weight, so that makes me feel a bit better.
  • ILiftHeavyAcrylics
    ILiftHeavyAcrylics Posts: 27,732 Member
    Wow, you guys answer fast! This is my first time on here, and I didn't expect support so quickly, that's great.

    Shutupandlift- my workouts are not much, mostly I have just been making sure to walk somewhere, to campus or downtown of something each day, for about 40 minutes, not speed-walking or anything, and then I have a little mini-stair stepper at home that I walked on for about 15 or 20 minutes at night. And then cutting about 250 calories a day (after allowing myself enough calories to make up for the exercise).

    My clothes do seem to fit better for now, I'm just worried that could be because of the water loss too. I'm just worried that when I go back to eating carbs tomorrow, all the weight will just pop back on, if it wasn't "real" weight loss. But a lot of you are saying it probably couldn't have been all water weight, so that makes me feel a bit better.

    Try increasing your carbs gradually. That way you might not see a sudden jump. But do prepare for the scale to go up a little.
  • RabbitLost
    RabbitLost Posts: 333 Member
    You did get some really good responses and really quick. And your attitude is great. I would stick with what you are doing and consider the macro advice of 30P/30F/40C, especially if you can focus on whole grain and higher fiber content. As long as your clothes feel good and you are eating close to your targets, I think you got this.
  • littlehungarian
    littlehungarian Posts: 2 Member
    Maia--I'm the same height at you, and weighing in at around 118. In high school I hung around 125, and it was from a carb-heavy diet (I was vegetarian, and my last year of school was really stressful). I was definitely emotionally eating as I was also struggling with recovering from an ED. Although I'm only a few pounds lighter now, I swing between 112 and 118, sometimes due to water weight and how healthily I eat.

    I would really recommend reincorporating healthy carbs back into your diet--maybe low-carb dieting is something that just doesn't work for me, but from what I've heard about diets that function this way, it seems like it's easy to relapse and put the weight back on. Although it's a struggle, I focus on avoiding processed carbs like sugar and white flour. You know, the stuff we hate to give up, haha.

    From my own experience, losing weight as fast as you have is most likely water weight--but that's okay! And it's okay if you regain some of your weight back as well. I've heard from so many people that losing fat is a much healthier focus than simply losing weight, and have since started trying out workouts from sites like blogilates.com. I like that the website has cardio videos but also things like stretching, pilates, and yoga, as well as workout calendars set up for you to follow.

    Although the weight loss is much slower, you'll most likely fit into your old clothes sooner (if you start building muscle), as muscle mass takes up much less space compared to fat. That said, even though I'm three pounds heavier than where I'm most comfortable (at 115), I feel and look leaner than when I was 112lbs and dehydrated. Hope this helps a bit!
  • MaiaRainbow
    MaiaRainbow Posts: 3
    Thank you everyone for the fast and helpful responses! I guess the takeaway for me is: be proud of what I did lose, since not ALL of it is water weight; and don't hop right back to pizza or ice cream or anything, and I should be fine. I'll start eating normally again (healthily but not restricting), introduce more good carbs slowly, and keep exercising. Maybe I'll gain back a pound or two, but that's ok . =)

    Thanks everyone! (and I still welcome more responses if anyone has more thoughts, I'll check in again over the next few days)

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