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

trulyhealy
trulyhealy Posts: 242 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: 28,439 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: 9,129 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: 28,439 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: 242 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: 28,439 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.
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  • 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.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    What often happens is, a person loses several pounds of water weight the first week or two. Then, the next couple of weeks, the scale may not move much. If you are in a deficit, you will be losing fat, but it is being masked on the scale because of the initial water weight drop. You will only be able to calculate an accurate weekly weight loss after about 4-6 weeks of data.
  • lildickybarrett
    lildickybarrett Posts: 20 Member
    If you look at legit studies most often the weight that comes off is always a combination and not just pure water weight, if the weight lost is driving you further towards your goal, hell yes count it! :)
  • ericadcruz32
    ericadcruz32 Posts: 48 Member
    Yes, I logged mine and I just got started like 3 weeks ago. I've been on a downward trend ever since. You will always have a starting weight and an ending weight. The journey to get to the end will likely be full of fluctuations so log them all. I think you can just log your weight once a week and be fine. You might see the number change quite a bit (both up and down) before you get to your weigh-in day.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    What I really care about, during weight loss, is fat loss. I know that water and digestive contents can mask that in the days to a week or so time horizon, so as long as my eating is on track, I don't worry about the short run. Over weeks to months, what I expect to see happen (based on calorie intake/output estimates) generally does happen, and that's what I care about.

    What no one should want to do is to start trying to micro-manage water retention or variation in digestive contents as a "weight loss strategy". Water weight fluctuations and disgestive contents variations are signs of a healthy body in action. Attempts to micro-manage water retention and digestive contents to keep the scale down? That's a sign of unhealthy thinking about body weight.

    Drink the right amount of water, eat a sensible amount of food, and keep an eye on the long-term weight trend.
  • Razzle4012
    Razzle4012 Posts: 7 Member
    How do you know it’s water weight you’re losing though?
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    edited February 2019
    Razzle4012 wrote: »
    How do you know it’s water weight you’re losing though?

    Fat is lost due to a consistent deficit over time- you don't gain or lose a significant amount of it in a few days time. Water weight can spike & drop over a matter of hours, often to the tune of 5 lbs or more.
  • heybales
    heybales Posts: 18,842 Member
    Razzle4012 wrote: »
    How do you know it’s water weight you’re losing though?

    Fat is not fast lost or gained.

    So if it's fast changes - it's water weight.

    Sadly water weight can also creep on slowly - like stress induced cortisol effect water retained - upwards of 20 lbs possible there slowly - that could mask fat loss on the scale for many many weeks.
    Usually stressing someone out more causing the issue more.

    Water weight can also drop off slowly - like after eating a high sodium meal.

    In either case - measurements usually tell the real story of what's going on - because those also don't change fast.
  • Panini911
    Panini911 Posts: 2,325 Member
    how on earth would I know what part is water and what part is fat and what part is whatever else?

    I also never count the first time I see a lower number as "hitting that number" I wait until a trend at the number and lower. like I won't say I hit 123 until I log 3-4 days below that.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,225 Member
    Razzle4012 wrote: »
    How do you know it’s water weight you’re losing though?

    You track intake carefully for a while, so that you know what calorie intake you need to lose fat at a sensibly moderate rate; and you track weight carefully for a while, so that you understand what makes your very own personal body fluctuate in water weight and/or digestive system contents.

    After a while, by doing those things, you recognize water weight, and trust that if your calories meant you'd lose fat (and your daily life activity/exercise didn't change significantly), you're actually losing fat, whether the water weight fluctuations let you see that fat loss or not.

    Patience and persistence, mostly.
  • WilmaValley
    WilmaValley Posts: 1,092 Member
    Nope

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