Water weight?

CapsLocker · August 2019

So for the past 2 weeks or so I've cut my calories a bit to 1700. I average about 10000 steps a day and do a bodyweight strength workout three times a week (been doing this for a bit longer now).
I've really dialed in my nutrition the last week and made sure to weight almost everything.

My weight however has suddenly dropped about 200 g daily for the past three days. This bothers me since I wanted to lose fat slowly so I retain muscle. Do you guys think this is likely water weight? Or should I change something?
Currently 57.9 kg (128 lbs) and 170 cm (5'7), 21 years old female. Again, not looking to lose a bunch, just lean out a bit more.

hixa30 · August 2019

It's likely to be a combination of scale error, water loss, and other unknown factors. If it's been 3 readings don't worry about losing muscle. Use a trend period of at least 10-15 days.

lgfrie · August 2019

200 g for three days - i.e. total of 1.2 pounds? That is well within the normal margin of error of most scales, and also no more than half of the normal daily water fluctuation while dieting. I can go up or down 3-4 pounds overnight or for days, just based on minor changes in sodium levels in my food; it means nothing. And even if it's true fat loss, 1.2 pounds is at the low end of a whoosh, which is what this sounds like - stable weight for a while, then a sudden drop over a few days.

You are too in the weeds with the numbers and analysis. Just eat however many cals MFP says to eat and enjoy your workouts and nutrition.

The most important point here is, you are not going to lose any muscle on a 1700 calorie diet. Unless you cut your calories to sub 1200 and do it for months, that is a complete non issue. That is just Internet lore. The human body was not designed to start consuming its own organs and muscle as soon as it goes on a mild diet, which is for most people what 1700 calories is. Fat exists for a reason and is very good at its job, giving the body energy. The body will only turn to non-fat sources of last-ditch energy storage if it is desperate. At 1700 cals, you are not even in the vicinity of a physiological response of that nature.

kimny72 · August 2019

Changes in your weight are just noise, you're looking for trends over weeks.

http://physiqonomics.com/the-weird-and-highly-annoying-world-of-scale-weight-and-fluctuations/

CapsLocker · August 2019

Thanks guys, good to hear.

PAV8888 · August 2019

Are you setup as active on mfp or eating back calories assigned from a connected tracker if not?*

10k more closely corresponds to active not sedentary

Also deficit should be zero or -250 for re-comp, not -500.

*If using Apple watch should connect via intermediary app as MFP ends up subtracting instead of adding exercise when connected directly (August 2019)

CapsLocker · August 2019

PAV8888 wrote: »

Are you setup as active on mfp or eating back calories assigned from a connected tracker if not?*

10k more closely corresponds to active not sedentary

Also deficit should be zero or -250 for re-comp, not -500.

*If using Apple watch should connect via intermediary app as MFP ends up subtracting instead of adding exercise when connected directly (August 2019)

I used a TDEE calculator, plugged in my stats and chose lightly active. This gave me about 1900 cals.

Water weight?

Replies

Categories