does anyone count losing water weight a success in losing weight?

trulyhealy
trulyhealy Posts: 240 Member
in Getting Started
just curious if y’all count losing water weight in the first week? for example i lost 4 pounds this week but most of this is water weight so i mean idk. what do y’all do?
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Replies

  • Fkika3131
    Fkika3131 Posts: 208 Member
    I did when I lost weight my 1st week of starting my weight loss.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
    Weight is only one metric. I also track measurements and body fat. All together these can be used to likely guess if weight lost is actual fat or only water, but yes, for me, all of it counts toward the overall picture of health.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    edited February 2019
    When I have to make weight for competition, yes.

    In your situation, I guess anything that keeps you on the right (and healthy) path is a positive.
  • tinkerbellang83
    tinkerbellang83 Posts: 9,130 Member
    Well if you've been in a deficit it's not all going to be water.

    Personally I don't really celebrate or mourn one result because I know how much weight can fluctuate from day-to-day so I tend to focus on my Non-Scale Victories and just be happy if my weight has a downward trend in the long term.

    I do set myself mini-goals with weight and plan to reward myself for each one I hit if I maintain the trendweight over a period of 10 days or more, usually every 10lbs or so.
  • oneillm45
    oneillm45 Posts: 44 Member
    I count it as in I log it, and take the lower number as my 'new' weight. But I also acknowledge to myself that it's a one-off 'big' loss because it's water weight and I don't expect a repeat the next week.
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/
  • Phirrgus
    Phirrgus Posts: 1,894 Member
    I log it and enjoy it. I do so with the realization that I'm only a meal and a bottle of water away from it going the other way though.

    When my average weekly/monthly weight begins to go down, and my clothes are a touch looser, that's what I'm really going for.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    I enter my weight into my trend app. If it sees a big drop (usually water weight) it usually ignores it.. and so do I.
  • trulyhealy
    trulyhealy Posts: 240 Member
    sardelsa wrote: »
    I enter my weight into my trend app. If it sees a big drop (usually water weight) it usually ignores it.. and so do I.

    what trend app do you use?
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
    trulyhealy wrote: »
    sardelsa wrote: »
    I enter my weight into my trend app. If it sees a big drop (usually water weight) it usually ignores it.. and so do I.

    what trend app do you use?

    Libra. It does take some time and more data for it to make best predictions so it won't happen right away
  • quiksylver296
    quiksylver296 Posts: 28,442 Member
    I have Happy Scale, but I've been entering my weight into MFP faithfully for the past month and I think I actually like MFP better. You get the updated chart immediately without having to click to it.
  • suziecue25
    suziecue25 Posts: 289 Member
    I lost 4lbs my first week and 1lb a week for the rest of the month - the 4lbs water weight has not come back yet :)
  • llewismcgill
    llewismcgill Posts: 2 Member
    edited February 2019
    I consider it a success. Because you are eating less and hopefully healthier, losing water weight is part of the process. Congratulations and good for you!
  • corrarjo
    corrarjo Posts: 1,157 Member
    trulyhealy wrote: »
    just curious if y’all count losing water weight in the first week? for example i lost 4 pounds this week but most of this is water weight so i mean idk. what do y’all do?

    When you or anyone starts a diet the first thing you may do is cut down your sugar consumption by restricting carbs, your main source of glucose. When your glucose stores are depleted the body turns to glycogen for energy, and this requires water to metabolize. Water weighs about 8.3 lbs per gallon. Each gram of glycogen is bound to three to four grams of water. So, if you use up your body's glycogen stores (as when dieting or with prolonged exercising), a lot of water is released over a short amount of time. It only takes a few days of dieting for glycogen to be expended, so the initial weight loss is dramatic. Loss of water can lead to loss of inches! However, as soon as you eat enough carbohydrates (sugars or starches), your body readily replaces its glycogen stores. This is one reason people often see an initial weight gain immediately after going off a diet, particularly if it was one that restricted carbohydrates. It's not the fat coming back, but you can expect all the water you lost the first couple of days of a diet to return.

    Disclaimer: Just my option.
  • witchaywoman81
    witchaywoman81 Posts: 280 Member
    Yes. I count any scale loss. And I don’t know if there’s a way to tell if you’ve lost fat or water. A downward trend is really all I look for.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    considering it generally almost all comes back as soon as you go back into maintenance - count it as a fact of dieting, not anything meaningful.

    Hence keeping a goal weight range, not number.
    And realizing individual daily changes aren't meaningful either.

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