Whoosh? Losing a lot at once
merekins
Posts: 228 Member
What causes this? Have been staying around same calories but this week, have dropped a lot. Have been losing consistently since June and there are some weeks I’m barely losing a pound and then some where 5lbs come off like it’s nothing.
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Replies
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Water weight, for any number of reasons. I see most of my weight loss for the month all at once, usually. I'm at the .5 pounds per week stage, though, so my whooshes aren't so dramatic (and very much tied to my cycle). The post-holiday carbfest whoosh combined with my usual cyclic whoosh was fun to see
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cause our bodies do what they want.
lots of reasons as stated above, sometimes no reason in general.
happens to most of us though.6 -
It’s just so weird. Makes me realize how little I understand what weight loss really is. Are we basically just losing water as a result of fat cells shrinking?0
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A good reason why staying the course.. using logic instead of emotion is so important in a weight loss journey. The weight does come off how it wants in time. It does happen..and it doesn't happen on demand. congrats!4
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It’s just so weird. Makes me realize how little I understand what weight loss really is. Are we basically just losing water as a result of fat cells shrinking?
Maybe. https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/2 -
It’s just so weird. Makes me realize how little I understand what weight loss really is. Are we basically just losing water as a result of fat cells shrinking?
Two things I know of can hold a lot of water in your body.
First is salt.
Second is carbs. Your body uses carbs to store glycogen in your muscles and glycogen holds water. Glycogen stores are the reason marathon runners "carb load", by the way. They are trying to store the maximum glycogen to use on the race day.
This is why people who get on the Keto diet lose a ton of weight really quickly and people say it's just water. It is. Keto depletes your glycogen stores. That' why the dramatic water weight plunge.4 -
Sometimes I can tell when a whoosh is going to happen. My tummy (where most of my fat is just taking a long holiday) usually looks lumpy and weird. And then for that entire day, I pee like crazy without increasing any water consumption. Usually the next day my skin looks a bit tighter and I drop a lb.8
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It’s just so weird. Makes me realize how little I understand what weight loss really is. Are we basically just losing water as a result of fat cells shrinking?
Maybe. https://bodyrecomposition.com/fat-loss/of-whooshes-and-squishy-fat.html/
Interesting read! Thanks!!!0 -
Sometimes I can tell when a whoosh is going to happen. My tummy (where most of my fat is just taking a long holiday) usually looks lumpy and weird. And then for that entire day, I pee like crazy without increasing any water consumption. Usually the next day my skin looks a bit tighter and I drop a lb.
Same. This happened to me this week. My stomach just looks different (and less bloated/hard), and the amount I was peeing was making my insane. Then for the next 2 days, I lost like 5-6 lbs. My carbs were also a little lower (unintentionally), so all that water weight just dropped.
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I just googled this and a lot of resources say this isn’t a thing? Sounded good to me but looks like it’s still a controversial topic.
https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/whoosh-effect-weight-loss-meaning2 -
That really your body goes through natural plateaus trying to stop wait loss because your body doesn’t understand the excess weight is not needed. So a few days may go by with no weight loss. So when your body finally uses the fat, this is perhaps what seems like the woosh? Either way, glad weight loss is happening!7
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Stress, salt, water, medications, exercise intensity, bowl back up....the bowls can store several pounds.....whoosh sounds good.1
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In a nutshell the best way that I can describe it is our bodies hate us when we are in a deficit. This 'shock' and 'ahh' kinda thing going on with plateaus and whooshing.2
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I'm not really convinced about the whoosh theory. There were two papers published on the effect of salt on the body early on last year. They researchers found a few things, under controlled conditions (astronauts locked up): People who ate more salt were less thirsty, drank less but peed out the same amount of fluid. But they also found that there are regular cycles in glycogen or a similar sounding hormon levels that leads to different amounts of storing vs releasing fluids. These cycles were least pronounced in those eating the most salt.
It's possible that some people who tend to whoosh eat less salt, because it's supposed to be healthy and hence have these pronounced cycles of storing and losing water weight2 -
I'm not really convinced about the whoosh theory. There were two papers published on the effect of salt on the body early on last year. They researchers found a few things, under controlled conditions (astronauts locked up): People who ate more salt were less thirsty, drank less but peed out the same amount of fluid. But they also found that there are regular cycles in glycogen or a similar sounding hormon levels that leads to different amounts of storing vs releasing fluids. These cycles were least pronounced in those eating the most salt.
It's possible that some people who tend to whoosh eat less salt, because it's supposed to be healthy and hence have these pronounced cycles of storing and losing water weight
I don't think whooshes are a theory since they do happen. The mechanics behind them may not be fully understood yet but that is not as important. It is very common for me to hover around the same weight for 2 weeks and then hit a new low on the third.5 -
That really your body goes through natural plateaus trying to stop wait loss because your body doesn’t understand the excess weight is not needed. So a few days may go by with no weight loss. So when your body finally uses the fat, this is perhaps what seems like the woosh? Either way, glad weight loss is happening!
I believe the body functions like a very sophisticated machine. There’s no ‘confusion’ mechanism. It has processes that are constantly functioning.4 -
Below is the chemical reaction for how fat is converted. The whooshes occur when your body releases the water. As far as why it holds on to it and lets it go in spurts, that could be for several reasons. Hormones, increased/decreased carbs, increased/decreased salt, etc.
C55H104O6 (fat cell) + 78 O2 (oxygen) -> 55 CO2 (carbon dioxide) + 52 H2O (water)0 -
Cassandraw3 wrote: »Below is the chemical reaction for how fat is converted. The whooshes occur when your body releases the water. As far as why it holds on to it and lets it go in spurts, that could be for several reasons. Hormones, increased/decreased carbs, increased/decreased salt, etc.
C55H104O6 (fat cell) + 78 O2 (oxygen) -> 55 CO2 (carbon dioxide) + 52 H2O (water)
The formula doesn't take into account water consumed, which is far more than water lost from weight loss. So, if your holding on to water it can be far more than from the fat loss.
I wish I could find it again, but I do recall reading that fat cells cannot store water, so that isn't the process. But I do know that I've had whooshes before, so little to no loss for 2 weeks and 3-4 lbs gone the next. And lots of others here have stated the same thing.3 -
Tacklewasher wrote: »Cassandraw3 wrote: »Below is the chemical reaction for how fat is converted. The whooshes occur when your body releases the water. As far as why it holds on to it and lets it go in spurts, that could be for several reasons. Hormones, increased/decreased carbs, increased/decreased salt, etc.
C55H104O6 (fat cell) + 78 O2 (oxygen) -> 55 CO2 (carbon dioxide) + 52 H2O (water)
The formula doesn't take into account water consumed, which is far more than water lost from weight loss. So, if your holding on to water it can be far more than from the fat loss.
I wish I could find it again, but I do recall reading that fat cells cannot store water, so that isn't the process. But I do know that I've had whooshes before, so little to no loss for 2 weeks and 3-4 lbs gone the next. And lots of others here have stated the same thing.
Obviously water comes from more than just fat loss as our body does all of it's normal functioning processes. I was adding the fact that water is a byproduct of the chemical reaction that occurs when fat cells are burned.1 -
Sometimes I can tell when a whoosh is going to happen. My tummy (where most of my fat is just taking a long holiday) usually looks lumpy and weird. And then for that entire day, I pee like crazy without increasing any water consumption. Usually the next day my skin looks a bit tighter and I drop a lb.Stress, salt, water, medications, exercise intensity, bowl back up....the bowls can store several pounds.....whoosh sounds good.
Wow, that is some solid self-knowledge, self (body)-awareness right there! Cool. I, for one, never know what's going on, lol, I just trust the process and hope for the best.2 -
I'm not really convinced about the whoosh theory. There were two papers published on the effect of salt on the body early on last year. They researchers found a few things, under controlled conditions (astronauts locked up): People who ate more salt were less thirsty, drank less but peed out the same amount of fluid. But they also found that there are regular cycles in glycogen or a similar sounding hormon levels that leads to different amounts of storing vs releasing fluids. These cycles were least pronounced in those eating the most salt.
It's possible that some people who tend to whoosh eat less salt, because it's supposed to be healthy and hence have these pronounced cycles of storing and losing water weight
I don't think whooshes are a theory since they do happen. The mechanics behind them may not be fully understood yet but that is not as important. It is very common for me to hover around the same weight for 2 weeks and then hit a new low on the third.
Let me rephrase: that whooshes happen is clear. I'm a whoosher myself. The process that actually leads to whooshes though is unclear. That water is actually stored in cells and then released.. I don't know... there would need to be some kind of osmotic effect going on for water to enter the cell in the first place. Thus something would need to be present in the cell in a lower concentration than outside. Fat does not play a role in osmosis, and neither does space.1 -
I'm not really convinced about the whoosh theory. There were two papers published on the effect of salt on the body early on last year. They researchers found a few things, under controlled conditions (astronauts locked up): People who ate more salt were less thirsty, drank less but peed out the same amount of fluid. But they also found that there are regular cycles in glycogen or a similar sounding hormon levels that leads to different amounts of storing vs releasing fluids. These cycles were least pronounced in those eating the most salt.
It's possible that some people who tend to whoosh eat less salt, because it's supposed to be healthy and hence have these pronounced cycles of storing and losing water weight
I don't think whooshes are a theory since they do happen. The mechanics behind them may not be fully understood yet but that is not as important. It is very common for me to hover around the same weight for 2 weeks and then hit a new low on the third.
Let me rephrase: that whooshes happen is clear. I'm a whoosher myself. The process that actually leads to whooshes though is unclear. That water is actually stored in cells and then released.. I don't know... there would need to be some kind of osmotic effect going on for water to enter the cell in the first place. Thus something would need to be present in the cell in a lower concentration than outside. Fat does not play a role in osmosis, and neither does space.
I guess it would be interesting to know on some level but it appears to be a normal function. I think the important thing is that people understand when it is happening to them and they push through the mini-delays. Of course I say mini-delay but people just starting may feel like 2 weeks or more is a very long time.
Very rarely I will have a week like last week where my 7 day calorie deficit loss matches my scale loss fairly closely (.3lbs). The rest of the time I will either whoosh on week 2, more commonly on week 3, or if there are enough unusual factors it can take longer. I went from Oct. 24 to Dec 4 before getting a new low this last year. I trust my logging though and as long as I am in a deficit I know it will show up.0 -
I feel like people don't talk about water retention due to working out that much. I've lost weight without working out, while working out a little and while working out like a crazy. My weight loss was the most linear when I didn't work out. When I "restart" I always have to wait about 3 weeks (after an initial loss) before I start seeing consistent movement on the scale.
And it's not just during my initial workouts-- it continues after I've been consistent. If I quit working out for a week, I see a bigger loss on the scale. It can be a really big discourage when you don't realize what's going on. And at times it masks some problems I may need to adjust.0
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