Is it water weight or fat?

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courtmper
courtmper Posts: 14 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I was wondering how long it's been taking people to notice weight loss without severe fluctuations. When was the point you knew you were losing fat versus just water weight?

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  • mathiseasy
    mathiseasy Posts: 165 Member
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    For me it was when the scale slowed down to what I had set my goal at, which is 1 pound a week. I had lost something like 6 or 8 pounds in the first week, and once that stopped and I would see a 1 pound loss per week (on average), I knew I was losing fat instead of water.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    it's been over 2 months and my fluctuations are still the only consistent thing. the only thing that makes me feel like i'm making progress is that my new heavy days are lower than my start point and my new lows are decreasing. but when i am frustrated i feel like i am gaining and losing the same 3-4 pounds again and again.
  • MynameisChester
    MynameisChester Posts: 107 Member
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    I took measurements of my waist, hips, chest, and extremities. I knew I was losing fat when I was losing inches off my waist.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    MynameisChester wrote: »
    I took measurements of my waist, hips, chest, and extremities. I knew I was losing fat when I was losing inches off my waist.

    i keep trying to avoid the tape measure, but i guess it's time to take the measurements. le sigh.
  • _Waffle_
    _Waffle_ Posts: 13,049 Member
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    courtmper wrote: »
    I was wondering how long it's been taking people to notice weight loss without severe fluctuations. When was the point you knew you were losing fat versus just water weight?

    Define "severe". 2 - 3 pounds? 10 pounds? 20 pounds?
  • MynameisChester
    MynameisChester Posts: 107 Member
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    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    MynameisChester wrote: »
    I took measurements of my waist, hips, chest, and extremities. I knew I was losing fat when I was losing inches off my waist.

    i keep trying to avoid the tape measure, but i guess it's time to take the measurements. le sigh.

    Just curious. If I may please ask, why avoid the tape measure? I hear it from others as well but never really knew why sone dont like using it.
  • mathiseasy
    mathiseasy Posts: 165 Member
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    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    MynameisChester wrote: »
    I took measurements of my waist, hips, chest, and extremities. I knew I was losing fat when I was losing inches off my waist.

    i keep trying to avoid the tape measure, but i guess it's time to take the measurements. le sigh.

    TBH the tape measure has been much nicer to me than the scale. When I go awhile with no loss, the tape measure makes me feel better!
  • KorvapuustiPossu
    KorvapuustiPossu Posts: 434 Member
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    If you are weighing and logging your food and your deficit matches your weight loss...you are losing fat. Normal fluctuations happen so you should look at the general trend of your weight...some people use apps like happy scale or similar for that. Only bigger drop I noticed (water weight) was about 2-3 lbs in the first week...after that it was more or less steady 1 lbs loss per week. It's been 130 days and I'm at about 20 lbs loss (I'm short and healthy BMI now)
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    it's the first number i'm afraid of, having not used it in such a long time.
  • MynameisChester
    MynameisChester Posts: 107 Member
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    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    it's the first number i'm afraid of, having not used it in such a long time.

    That's understandable. I think it's common when people confront their weight, measurements, or any other personal thing, the first couple of times can be incredibly challenging and overwhelming. The truth however is you can't change what you don't acknowledge. In this case it's confronting what your measurements are. For others all it takes is looking in the mirror and seeing how much they've let themselves go. What I suggest is try reframing it. Get excited about your weight loss journey. Get excited about taking that measurement and knowing full well that the measurement you see now will be inches and inches smaller in the next couple of months. You may be pleasantly surprised. Like what Mathiseasy said, the measurement may actually be much nicer to you.
  • ASKyle
    ASKyle Posts: 1,475 Member
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    Download an app like Happy Scale or Libra, weigh daily- It will track a trend line for you, and give you averages so you can make more sense of daily and TOM fluctuations.
  • jessiferrrb
    jessiferrrb Posts: 1,758 Member
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    MynameisChester wrote: »
    jessiferrrb wrote: »
    it's the first number i'm afraid of, having not used it in such a long time.

    That's understandable. I think it's common when people confront their weight, measurements, or any other personal thing, the first couple of times can be incredibly challenging and overwhelming. The truth however is you can't change what you don't acknowledge. In this case it's confronting what your measurements are. For others all it takes is looking in the mirror and seeing how much they've let themselves go. What I suggest is try reframing it. Get excited about your weight loss journey. Get excited about taking that measurement and knowing full well that the measurement you see now will be inches and inches smaller in the next couple of months. You may be pleasantly surprised. Like what Mathiseasy said, the measurement may actually be much nicer to you.

    ok, i'll give it a shot tomorrow am same time as the scale. but if the scale and the tape are mean to me i'm coming back here to cry about it. g5u2l00fvrbl.gif
  • emmycantbemeeko
    emmycantbemeeko Posts: 303 Member
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    I plug my daily weight in to trendweight and watch the line/trending average. It's higher than my lows but lower than my highs, and I can see if it's headed up or down over a few days or weeks and adjust my choices accordingly.

    Especially when you're past the first rush of water weight and as you approach your goal weight, your rate of fat loss is virtually always going to be smaller than the size of potential normal water and food retention fluctuations on any given day, so only a trending line can show you what's really going on clearly.

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