Water Weight?

T

Transient

New member
Hi everyone,

I'm 17 and overweight so recently I decided to start exercising. I started running for an hour everyday and watched my diet last june and lost about 10 pounds in 2 weeks. I hurt my knee falling down so I took a 6 month break and lost another 10 pounds after that. So I went down from 198 to 176 lbs. However, the fat around my body didn't seem to reduce much. There are some parts that have turned slightly squishy and only a bit of skin on my thighs seem loose but that's it.

I told my friend and he said that all that weight I've lost might just be water weight and not really fat. I was just wondering if this is true? Or is it that I can't notice the change because it is too gradual? I'm quite confused now and would appreciate it if anyone could give me some advice about it. Thanks :D
 
The fat might not have come from a place you expect it. We each lose fat in different ways based on our genetics. When we lose weight, it's more than just fat. It's also water and muscle.

So..yeah, some is water but I'm sure some is fat too. Just keep at it and you will see the differences.
 
Jericho said:
The fat might not have come from a place you expect it. We each lose fat in different ways based on our genetics. When we lose weight, it's more than just fat. It's also water and muscle.

So..yeah, some is water but I'm sure some is fat too. Just keep at it and you will see the differences.
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Hmm that makes sense thanks :) I was just worried that all that weight was from lost water since I did lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks which was pretty shocking to me.
 
Depending just how much you weigh and how harshly you cut your calories, then yeah, 10 pounds in two weeks can happen (happened to me).
 
10 lbs in two weeks is possible ... although not something you'll probably keep up. If you're being healthy, you should aim for a loss of about 1% of your overall bodyweight per week.

When you first start working out and eating less, you will lose water weight at first ... and that can result in "squishy fat". In fact Lyle McDonald has a great article on it here:



It's good reading and will explain a little bit about what your body might be doing.
 
Muscle weighs more than fat and being inactive like that is probably why you lost muscle (weight) and went all "squishy." Try doing some resistance/strength training workouts. You're weight will vary a few pounds throughout the day with water weight depending on how much water you drink and salt you eat, etc. I fluctuate 2-5 lbs. throughout the day depending on what I've been doing. Drink more water and cut back on sodium if you're concerned about it.
 
depending on your diet before and after you started losing weight, you could be getting rid of some retained water. a high carb diet can cause one to retain some extra water jus tlike eating a lot of salt can. Then if you go to a low salt, low carb/high protein diet, boom, you're peeing off pounds like a racehorse for a week or two. Go take a gallon jug, put it on the scale and pour 10lbs of water into it, its likely not near as much as you think.

Probably some fat too, but do you feel less bloated? That's the water weight. Now the real fun begins.
 
Muscle weighs more than fat
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A common dieting myth, but not really true. :) Muscle is DENSER than fat, so a pound of muscle will take up more room than a pound of fat. But that doesn't really have any bearing on "squishy" fat and what happens when you begin to diet and your fat cells give up their water content.

You're weight will vary a few pounds throughout the day with water weight depending on how much water you drink and salt you eat, etc. I fluctuate 2-5 lbs. throughout the day depending on what I've been doing. Drink more water and cut back on sodium if you're concerned about it.
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Quite true. Sodium can have a huge effect on retained water and additional water weight.
 
Thanks for all your replies, I understand more now :) I should watch my diet more carefully as I've been taking in quite a lot of carbs.
 
Actually, what your friend told you is somehow correct. Because as what I have know in my Biochemistry class, our body has fluid imbalances. Poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle can tip the scales toward water retention. However, there are ways to eliminate it.
 
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KaraCooks said:
Muscle is DENSER than fat, so a pound of muscle will take up more room than a pound of fat. But that doesn't really have any bearing on "squishy" fat and what happens when you begin to diet and your fat cells give up their water content.
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Not quite... Muscle is denser than fat, and so a pound of muscle will take up LESS space than a pound of fat.

I'm sure that's what you meant anyway!
 
Whoops. Yes. :) That's correct. A pound of muscle will take up less space than a pound of fat.

Fast fingers, not proofreading. Thanks!
 
:) :Angel_anim:
 
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