Is the Whoosh effect a thing?

This happens to me a fair amount. I just lost a little over two pounds yesterday with a "whoosh".

It is woo. *laughs and walks away*

I don't understand what the actual claim of the "Whoosh Effect" is. I think it is a false rumor. It would seem that the claim is that fat simply disappears from the cell, like a reservoir or a balloon draining, which is not how fat cell metabolism works. Fat cells are made up of fatty acid molecules - if even a few these molecules left the cells from every fat cell during sleep without undergoing lipolysis, an incredibly gruesome death would follow, no matter where they went, be it into the bloodstream or into the body cavity. Likewise, if death were somehow miraculously averted, the water that replaced these fatty acid molecules would have to come from somewhere, and the resulting death from immediate dehydration would be pretty undesirable. I guess if you were brought back from the chemical and dehydration deaths you would die from "whoosh" not having enough fat cells anymore. Finally, fat cells never disappear, which is the most suspicious part of this. Sounds gimmicky but again I don't understand what is being claimed.

OK, if it is not a function of calories in (massive feast) or calories out (massive burn), it is aquired water that was camouflaging a previous loss

divyatew wrote: »

@BWBTrish I've been sticking to 1400 for 5 weeks straight without any difference in the scale, however I do not use a food scale. I use measuring cups and spoons. I've also been a vegetarian all my life and have eaten high-carb the entire time. I've lost 15 pounds twice before (only to fall victim to the Freshman and Sophomore 15) and am trying to lose it for the last time! The 1400 is net, I average anywhere from 1600-2000 a week but burn off 400-500 in the gym!

If you dont weigh your food on a food scale then you have no idea how much you really are eating.

Look at this short eye opening video which shows you the difference between weighing and measuring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVjWPclrWVY

Also a lot of times the calorie intake is under estimated and the calorie burn of exercise over estimated....than think of the fact that you dont have a huge deficit and you eat at maintenance level instead of losing weight you just maintaining weight.

It all doesnt matter if you eat high carb low carb, vegetarian, clean or processed food...its all about having a deficit. which you apperantly have not.

Start weighing your food, create a deficit and you will lose weight

good luck, you can do this.

wickmclean wrote: »

I don't understand what the actual claim of the "Whoosh Effect" is. I think it is a false rumor. It would seem that the claim is that fat simply disappears from the cell, like a reservoir or a balloon draining, which is not how fat cell metabolism works. Fat cells are made up of fatty acid molecules - if even a few these molecules left the cells from every fat cell during sleep without undergoing lipolysis, an incredibly gruesome death would follow, no matter where they went, be it into the bloodstream or into the body cavity. Likewise, if death were somehow miraculously averted, the water that replaced these fatty acid molecules would have to come from somewhere, and the resulting death from immediate dehydration would be pretty undesirable. I guess if you were brought back from the chemical and dehydration deaths you would die from "whoosh" not having enough fat cells anymore. Finally, fat cells never disappear, which is the most suspicious part of this. Sounds gimmicky but again I don't understand what is being claimed.

The claim is that water retention masks the fact that weight loss has occurred.

The whoosh is the loss of water, not fat. The fat has already been lost. Water is acting as a place holder for a while. As you said, fat cells don't disappear but they do flatten out when they aren't holding anything.

Some people are more prone to water retention than others and those are the people more prone to whooshes.

Man, I haven't had a whoosh yet. I hope it happens soon!

DeguelloTex wrote: »

I didn't eliminate carbs and my weight loss in the last couple of months of losing went very stairstep. Nothing, nothing, nothing, four pounds gone. Rinse and repeat.

"Stairstep" is a good way to describe it.

I don't know how it works, but I've lost over 100 lbs and only in the very beginning (first few months) was my weight loss somewhat linear. After that, it has gone down in a very stairstep fashion of plateaus of 1-3 weeks and then big drops (not typically overnight, but dropping a lot of weight over the course of several days is typical).

Water retention masking weight loss is part of it because soon before the drop my body feels and looks similar to risen dough, and then I have to pee a lot.
It seems different to me than water retention around my TOM, intense exercise, or from excess sodium intake. The level of water retention seems more severe, ime.

I wouldn't count on a whoosh if you're experiencing a stall unless you know your tracking of intake and exercise calories are on point.
If you're relying on volume measurements (cups, spoons) and generic imprecise database entries, and also inputting huge numbers for your exercise calories, and then are not losing, you might be waiting a long long time for a whoosh that may never come or if it does eventually come it'll be a disappointing drop that is not what you would expect from your cico data and your goals.

If you get your tracking as precise as you reasonably can (weight measurements for intake and using correct entries in the database, and inputting conservative/realistic estimates for your exercise burns) then trusting the process and waiting out the stalls will be so much easier to deal with, you won't worry that you're wasting your time by waiting it out because you can trust that what should happen will happen.