How much of my weight loss was likely water weight?

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tabby_123
tabby_123 Posts: 80 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi everyone! I've lost quite a bit of weight (almost 12 lbs) in a month. Since I just started dieting in January, I know that some of this weight is likely water weight. Is there a way to tell approximately how much of the loss was water weight? I started at 185 and am now 173.2, 5'4''. Does anyone have an estimation? Thank you!

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  • AntonioP23
    AntonioP23 Posts: 80 Member
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    Hey,

    Did you cut out a lot of carbs? There is a lot of water stores with carbs and when you start a diet this is the reason for the initial rapid weight loss.

    I would guess you've lost 4-6 lbs of water and the rest fat (hopefully no muscle)

    Really good job :smile:

  • obscuremusicreference
    obscuremusicreference Posts: 1,320 Member
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    I don't know how to estimate that with any precision, but if you were awaiting your period on January 1st and are now over the last one, there's some water. If you ate a lot of high-sodium foods/consumed a lot of alcohol and now you've cut it down, there's more water weight. If you've been weighing/logging and sticking close to your deficit faithfully, you could have been losing 1.5+ pounds of fat each week.

    Congrats on your fantastic loss!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,704 Member
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    Rule of thumb I use with most clients for estimation is about 45% of total loss was probably water weight the first month.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
    IDEA Fitness member
    Kickboxing Certified Instructor
    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,150 Member
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    I think usually its 3-8 pounds, of course this is a generalization. WTG on the loss!
  • jameskipcarrington
    jameskipcarrington Posts: 6
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    Can anyone explain what water weight is? Where in the body is it before you start, why is it lost if you diet? My understanding before I came on this forum was that your body has upper and lower limits of hydration levels that fluctuate during the day but otherwise the body regulates it pretty well. It stores some water in fat but if you're losing fat, you're losing that water as well so it's not a false loss. Water is also what a lot of muscle is comprised of. So if you maintain lean body mass by exercising and eating right, this should be uneffected. So why do people talk about water weight and what studies is this based on?
  • AntonioP23
    AntonioP23 Posts: 80 Member
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    jameskipcarrington wrote: »
    Can anyone explain what water weight is? Where in the body is it before you start, why is it lost if you diet? My understanding before I came on this forum was that your body has upper and lower limits of hydration levels that fluctuate during the day but otherwise the body regulates it pretty well. It stores some water in fat but if you're losing fat, you're losing that water as well so it's not a false loss. Water is also what a lot of muscle is comprised of. So if you maintain lean body mass by exercising and eating right, this should be uneffected. So why do people talk about water weight and what studies is this based on?

    Google "Glycogen and water storage"

    In short There are water molecules attached to glycogen in our muscles

    When you burn the glycogen the water is lost

    Hence the big loss one water weight
  • jameskipcarrington
    jameskipcarrington Posts: 6
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    So what happens if you keep your glycogen levels drained? Rapid fat burn?
  • tabby_123
    tabby_123 Posts: 80 Member
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    Thank you everyone for your help! To answer everyone's questions, no, I have not cut out carbs (too much). The only thing I've eliminated from my diet is sugar that does not come from natural sources. I don't drink alcohol so I know the water weight likely did not come from that. Also, I had eaten pretty badly right up until my diet.

    Based on everyone's comments, I think it's safe to say around 5 lbs of my loss was water weight, leaving me with almost 7 lbs of fat loss this month. Thanks everyone! :)
  • AntonioP23
    AntonioP23 Posts: 80 Member
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    jameskipcarrington wrote: »
    So what happens if you keep your glycogen levels drained? Rapid fat burn?

    Ketosis

    Google Lyle McDonald he has a lot of work on lower carb diets

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