How much water weight can an obese person have?
JonMacFit
Posts: 41 Member
Hi All,
I have recently decided to do something serious about my weight after getting to my heaviest ever at 322lbs on my 6ft 1" body.
After only 2 weeks of reducing carbs, fat, calories and increasing protein, I have lost 27lbs.
I know I cannot be losing fat that quickly so have put it down to water weight to begin with. The question is, how much more water weight could I expect to lose before I start seeing how much fat I am losing on a weekly basis and truly how effective my diet is being.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,
Jon
I have recently decided to do something serious about my weight after getting to my heaviest ever at 322lbs on my 6ft 1" body.
After only 2 weeks of reducing carbs, fat, calories and increasing protein, I have lost 27lbs.
I know I cannot be losing fat that quickly so have put it down to water weight to begin with. The question is, how much more water weight could I expect to lose before I start seeing how much fat I am losing on a weekly basis and truly how effective my diet is being.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,
Jon
3
Replies
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jonmacdermid5398 wrote: »Hi All,
I have recently decided to do something serious about my weight after getting to my heaviest ever at 322lbs on my 6ft 1" body.
After only 2 weeks of reducing carbs, fat, calories and increasing protein, I have lost 27lbs.
I know I cannot be losing fat that quickly so have put it down to water weight to begin with. The question is, how much more water weight could I expect to lose before I start seeing how much fat I am losing on a weekly basis and truly how effective my diet is being.
Any thoughts are appreciated.
Thanks,
Jon
1. What other lifestyle/diet changes have you made
2. What is your daily calorie goal/weight loss goal per week/target weight.
3. Wow, that's one heck of a woosh.
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Not many lifestyle changes as I have 2 young children so always being kept active unless at work where I sit on my *kitten* most of the day.
My target weight is 210 and MFP says I should be doing around 2000 calories per day to lose 2 lbs per week. However I have been consuming around 1500 recently as my new diet has left me feeling satisfied at this point and not by trying to go this low.2 -
So it's likely that 20lbs of your weight lost so far as you're only two weeks in is water weight so your losses will level out now. 2lbs loss per week is a good average to aim for.
If MFP tells you to eat 2000, then eat 2000, as when you get nearer to goal weight you will THEN have to reduce your calories anyway.
You might feel satisfied now but it'll be ahead of time when eating consistently lower calories will take its toll.
All the best.12 -
Thanks for the advice. Any advice on things I can have to increase the calories without too much additional fat/carbs?1
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jonmacdermid5398 wrote: »Thanks for the advice. Any advice on things I can have to increase the calories without too much additional fat/carbs?
There's nothing wrong with fat or carbs.8 -
jonmacdermid5398 wrote: »Thanks for the advice. Any advice on things I can have to increase the calories without too much additional fat/carbs?
protein? (but as stanmann said, nothing wrong with fat or carbs)0 -
Nothing wrong with fat or carbs and for a 2000 calorie diet you can't really be both low carb and low fat, as we don't need THAT much protein. (I generally like the .8 g/lb of goal weight as a good starting recommendation, though.)
There are more and less nutrient dense sources of fat and carbs, though. For increasing fat I'd think about things like nuts, seeds, net butter, fatty fish, avocado, olives, maybe olive oil (in moderation -- cooking with it, making dressing with it), as well as having some fat in dairy or with meat. For carbs (beyond the obvious vegetables, which are low cal), there's fruit, tubers (sweet potatoes and potatoes), legumes, whole grains (including oats), quinoa, etc. Some of the fat sources I listed have a decent amount of carbs too. Root veg and winter squash have slightly more calories than most vegetables.
Carbs can also be a great base for a super healthy meal: rice with a stir fry with lots of vegetables and some lean meat, cooked with a bit of oil or add some nuts. Pasta with a sauce made from lots of vegetables cooked in olive oil and some lean meat, add some olives and feta cheese. Stuff like that.
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Thanks folks. Been missing carbs so nice to know it's okay to add a little more
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Whenever I start a diet, the first week I can around 8 pounds. But I do think your smaller intake of food you are losing fat, especially your 2nd week. You are doing great. For me, I can't eat a lot of carbs (pasta, bread, rice, junk food, cereal etc.) when I am trying to lose. If I watch my carbs, maybe 1 or the most 2 a day, everything else, all the other food groups, just fall into place.0
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To be clear, the reason you don't want to go to 1500 is you can only lose so much fat per week and if you go beyond that you will be losing more muscle than if you stick to 2 lbs and 200 cals.
If you cut carbs, then you reduced your glycogen stores and would have lost a lot of water. If you add carbs back in, you will probably gain weight from replenishing the water. For every gram of glycogen you need ~ 3 grams of water, so don't be surprised if your weight goes up when you add carbs. This is okay though as you will still be losing the fat you want to lose. In your case, you can lose fat and see the scale go up. I'm just saying be prepared for this.
Find the foods that work for you within the 2000 cal limit and see what happens over 4-6 weeks. Have a beer if you can't hit the 2000 goal. Think of 3000 like the Price is Right, come as close as you can without going over 10 -
Your body is about 50% water, so if you weigh 200lb, 100lb of that is water. That can fluctuate massively depending on circumstances, so it's not really the case that you're carrying a certain amount of 'extra' water that you will get rid of first before you can start losing fat. Water is one of the main things your body is made of and the amount of it will vary all the time for all sorts of reasons. And fat loss begins as soon as you get into a deficit, whether you see it on the scale or not.
Water weight is worth being aware of, but if you focus on it too much, it can quickly become a red herring. Concentrate on creating a moderate deficit and being consistent over time and the fat will come off, even if it can be hard to see it sometimes because of water weight fluctuations. Don't worry about the water itself. It's out of your control.6 -
stanmann571 wrote: »jonmacdermid5398 wrote: »Thanks for the advice. Any advice on things I can have to increase the calories without too much additional fat/carbs?
There's nothing wrong with fat or carbs.
While this statement is true, some people are more carb tolerant than others. If I eat more than 100 grams a day, I don't lose weight. Some people can eat 350 a day and lose. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people.
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everything on here is so smart and stuff I wish I had known the last billion times I was dieting lol. That said, take your weight, divide it by 2, and that's the amount of water you should ideally have in a day (according to a personal trainer I saw a few times)0
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KirbySmith46 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »jonmacdermid5398 wrote: »Thanks for the advice. Any advice on things I can have to increase the calories without too much additional fat/carbs?
There's nothing wrong with fat or carbs.
While this statement is true, some people are more carb tolerant than others. If I eat more than 100 grams a day, I don't lose weight. Some people can eat 350 a day and lose. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people.
A special snowflake maybe?5 -
KirbySmith46 wrote: »stanmann571 wrote: »jonmacdermid5398 wrote: »Thanks for the advice. Any advice on things I can have to increase the calories without too much additional fat/carbs?
There's nothing wrong with fat or carbs.
While this statement is true, some people are more carb tolerant than others. If I eat more than 100 grams a day, I don't lose weight. Some people can eat 350 a day and lose. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people.
weight loss comes from overall calorie deficit...so you are saying if you ate 101 carbs in a day and nothing else (for argument sake) you wouldn't lose weight???1 -
I find fat really filling, while carbs make me feel hungry quicker. There is a whole category of food (nuts and seeds) that are high fat and high in minerals like magnesium and calcium.2
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MJ2victory wrote: »everything on here is so smart and stuff I wish I had known the last billion times I was dieting lol. That said, take your weight, divide it by 2, and that's the amount of water you should ideally have in a day (according to a personal trainer I saw a few times)
I hope I've misunderstood you... I'm currently 74kgs, are you telling me I should be drinking 37 kilos (so 37 litres!) of water a DAY?! Haha, I'd never leave the bathroom...!1 -
MJ2victory wrote: »everything on here is so smart and stuff I wish I had known the last billion times I was dieting lol. That said, take your weight, divide it by 2, and that's the amount of water you should ideally have in a day (according to a personal trainer I saw a few times)
I hope I've misunderstood you... I'm currently 74kgs, are you telling me I should be drinking 37 kilos (so 37 litres!) of water a DAY?! Haha, I'd never leave the bathroom...!
It's half your body weight (pounds) in ounces that is being thrown around these days. So for a 74kg person, it'd be about 81.5 oz of water. If you buy into it.0 -
MJ2victory wrote: »everything on here is so smart and stuff I wish I had known the last billion times I was dieting lol. That said, take your weight, divide it by 2, and that's the amount of water you should ideally have in a day (according to a personal trainer I saw a few times)
I hope I've misunderstood you... I'm currently 74kgs, are you telling me I should be drinking 37 kilos (so 37 litres!) of water a DAY?! Haha, I'd never leave the bathroom...!
Haha that would be bad. I think she's referring to pounds to ounces. So for you it would be like 2.4 liters would give you the same calculation.0 -
MJ2victory wrote: »everything on here is so smart and stuff I wish I had known the last billion times I was dieting lol. That said, take your weight, divide it by 2, and that's the amount of water you should ideally have in a day (according to a personal trainer I saw a few times)
I hope I've misunderstood you... I'm currently 74kgs, are you telling me I should be drinking 37 kilos (so 37 litres!) of water a DAY?! Haha, I'd never leave the bathroom...!
LOL... Yeah, the caveat is the weight has to be in pounds... and the water in oz... meaning you should be getting around 70 oz, or 3.3 liters of water a day.0 -
There's not much reliable science behind any recommendation of how much water to drink. One ought to stay properly hydrated. The source of the water consumed (e.g. a glass of water or a cucumber) makes no difference to hydration. For more info: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/healthy-drinks/3
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Phew, thanks to those that clarified that then! I get at least 2 litres of straight plain water and then a couple of coffees, herbal teas etc. Think I'll be just fine...!
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You know how Americans are, we assume everyone's in America. Sorry for that. pounds to ounces so if you weight 200 lbs you should drink 100 oz a day. according to this one woman.0
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Hey everyone, This was the first post I ever created in MFP and the response and discussion is awesome. With helpful people like all of you around, I should have no problem making the right informed decisions about my diet.
Thank you all8 -
Meh on the whole water thing.
Drink adequately to remain hydrated. Remember that beverages other than water count as water because, well, they're mostly water. Don't be one of those people that carries around a big bottle with you all day long as if you're somehow going to get morphed to the Sahara, or gets one of those bottles that beeps at you if you don't drink every five seconds.
No need to be that person. 0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »Meh on the whole water thing.
Drink adequately to remain hydrated. Remember that beverages other than water count as water because, well, they're mostly water. Don't be one of those people that carries around a big bottle with you all day long as if you're somehow going to get morphed to the Sahara, or gets one of those bottles that beeps at you if you don't drink every five seconds.
No need to be that person.
^^This. Drink if your thirsty. Drink if you know you are going to be active or out in the sun. Don't drink based on some set of "rules" or some gadget.0 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »Meh on the whole water thing.
Drink adequately to remain hydrated. Remember that beverages other than water count as water because, well, they're mostly water. Don't be one of those people that carries around a big bottle with you all day long as if you're somehow going to get morphed to the Sahara, or gets one of those bottles that beeps at you if you don't drink every five seconds.
No need to be that person.
^^This. Drink if your thirsty. Drink if you know you are going to be active or out in the sun. Don't drink based on some set of "rules" or some gadget.
Family neurosurgeon told me to listen to my body and drink when I'm thirsty, and to forget about that "you must drink xxx amount of water" each day. Drinking too much is harmful, too.
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Tacklewasher wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »Meh on the whole water thing.
Drink adequately to remain hydrated. Remember that beverages other than water count as water because, well, they're mostly water. Don't be one of those people that carries around a big bottle with you all day long as if you're somehow going to get morphed to the Sahara, or gets one of those bottles that beeps at you if you don't drink every five seconds.
No need to be that person.
^^This. Drink if your thirsty. Drink if you know you are going to be active or out in the sun. Don't drink based on some set of "rules" or some gadget.
Family neurosurgeon told me to listen to my body and drink when I'm thirsty, and to forget about that "you must drink xxx amount of water" each day. Drinking too much is harmful, too.
This doesn't work for me personally. Not to be the negative nelly. I personally don't feel thirsty until I'm dehydrated to a point that it severely negatively impacts my day. To each his or her own but drinking around 80-100 ounces a day has me feeling my best.1 -
MJ2victory wrote: »Tacklewasher wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »Meh on the whole water thing.
Drink adequately to remain hydrated. Remember that beverages other than water count as water because, well, they're mostly water. Don't be one of those people that carries around a big bottle with you all day long as if you're somehow going to get morphed to the Sahara, or gets one of those bottles that beeps at you if you don't drink every five seconds.
No need to be that person.
^^This. Drink if your thirsty. Drink if you know you are going to be active or out in the sun. Don't drink based on some set of "rules" or some gadget.
Family neurosurgeon told me to listen to my body and drink when I'm thirsty, and to forget about that "you must drink xxx amount of water" each day. Drinking too much is harmful, too.
This doesn't work for me personally. Not to be the negative nelly. I personally don't feel thirsty until I'm dehydrated to a point that it severely negatively impacts my day. To each his or her own but drinking around 80-100 ounces a day has me feeling my best.
I agree 100% this past two weeks Ive just been drinking to thirst and ive been dehydrated, i gave it two weeks to see if I could handle just listening to my body, its not working, I started back up today drinking the right amount of water and feel so much better!0 -
MJ2victory wrote: »This doesn't work for me personally. Not to be the negative nelly. I personally don't feel thirsty until I'm dehydrated to a point that it severely negatively impacts my day. To each his or her own but drinking around 80-100 ounces a day has me feeling my best.
I third this. While I also don't agree on drinking half your weight, I do fin if I actively maintain 80-100 oz a day works wonders for me too. Not only for hydration and feeling better (that seems to kick in around 60 oz), but it also goes a long way in helping me control cravings.
As to the "Too much water is unhealthy"... the unhealthy mark for water consumption is around 7 GALLONS a day. 100 oz (even 200 oz) is far from that level. Though there is risk of water toxicity if you drink more then a liter per hour, so just don't chug.
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