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Water weight versus Real weight
22 Jan 2014, 05:51
I hear this a lot on the forum when people talk about their weight loss trends

What's the diff and why is water weight easier to lose or so it implies.

How do people know if their weight is water or real. The scales cant tell

Can you tell by feeling your tummy?

Is this related to bowel movements?

Is it affected by "time of the month"? Particularly for women though may equally apply to men.

Is this related to what you consumed or drank in last week?

Does exercise affect one or the other more?

Should you not worry about water weight and worry about real weight?

Can you dismiss all sudden fluctuations in weight as water weight.

And what leads to water weight and what leads to real weight

And is losing real weight done in a different way to water weight

so many questions... :curse:
This: http://theswole.com/concept/water-scale ... ctuations/

Anytime you see a sudden big jump or loss, presumably at least part is water weight because it would be hard/impossible to build the necessary calorie excess/deficit in such a short time.

I suspect there are others ways people might have a feeling about it: bloating caused by certain foods, sore muscles, etc.

I don't think you can really tell, though.
I tend to weigh myself the morning after a fast as I know I will have lost water weight, gut contents weight and will be de-hydrated. A totally artificial situation, but its consistent. The same criteria will apply every time I weigh on a post fast morning.
I know I will put on 2lb by the middle of the day with numerous drinks, I also know that if I have a pile of wheat based food I will be lucky not to have put on 6lb by the evening. But the trendline of my waterless weight is stable, and fingers crossed will start to go down again now I have got rid of the festive foods.
yes, sudden increases/decreases that cannot be accounted for by your calorie intake is one solid clue.

Last night I had some very salty soup (it was delicious!) and this morning I weight a bit more than I expected to weigh - that is most likely water weight.

if you have a body fat percentage scale, and your weight goes up but your body fat % goes down, that's likely water weight as well.
I think we all fluctuate permanently and this is quite natural, this is not to say that steps should not be taken to mitigate increases. If asked for my weight, almost never happens, I usually give a figure which is imprecise, i.e. never my early morning vanity weight but a more realistic figure of my lowest weight plus about three pounds and I always say I am somewhere between those figures. As long as I am approximately where I want to be then I am happy.

Ballerina x :heart:
Everytime I visit the specialist they ask what I think my weight is, I always reply with 2lb on top of my morning weight, plus the clothes I am wearing. I am rarely more than 2lb out.
This is from Volek & Phinney (p241) - it goes some way to explaining the vagaries of the scales (apologies if you've seen this before but I think it bears repeating):

"We humans are about 2/3 water. Each of us contains about 40 liters (or quarts) of the stuff, and each liter weighs a bit over 2 pounds. Our bodies effectively regulate fluid balance by adjusting urine output and sense of thirst, but this is done within a 2-liter range. Within this range, your body doesn't really care if it is up to a liter above or below its ideal fluid level.

" What this means is that we all live inside a 4-pound-wide grey zone, so that from day to day we fluctuate up or down (i.e. plus or minus) 2 pounds. This happens more or less at random, so with any one weight reading you don't know where your body is within that fluid range. Your weight can be the same for 3 days in a row, and the next morning you wake up and the scale says you've 'gained' 3 pounds for no apparent reason. For people who weigh themselves frequently, this can be maddening."
(FatDog's emphasis)

And just looking at my calorie / carb intake it's pretty darned clear that my weight jumps up considerably (a pound or more) if my carbs are high - and I've certainly not eaten 3500 calories - and likewise drops back off a couple of days later (as long as I'm not on an extended carbfest!).
My new scales measure my water content and they say 49% water, with body fat 27.4% and my weight is now 57.8k.....I am wondering if that shows I am hydrated or holding water? My water percentage is that of a much younger person, according to the booklet, so although pleased about that I am not sure quite what it really implies. My husband's percentage shows that he is below what he should be! He's not a happy bunny! The scales show he's still holding too much fat! Poor thing.
Auriga wrote: My new scales measure my water content and they say 49% water, with body fat 27.4% and my weight is now 57.8k.....I am wondering if that shows I am hydrated or holding water? My water percentage is that of a much younger person, according to the booklet, so although pleased about that I am not sure quite what it really implies. My husband's percentage shows that he is below what he should be! He's not a happy bunny! The scales show he's still holding too much fat! Poor thing.


@Aurigai never knew there are scales that measure water content. Dumb question but how do they do it?
I have a set that measures water percentage, bone density, fat percentage and something else (that will come to me when I look at the gadget again. They work it out on electrical resistance. they send an electrical impulse through your body from one side to the other, so from your foot, up the leg and down the other. or to a hand held gadget. Mine can work out whether my upper body is fattier than my lower body.

My fat percentage was an eye opener, because the scales wouldn't weigh me at first, I thought they were broken. It seems though that they can't get the electrical impulse through too much fat, so anything over 50% fat and it didn't work. Me, over 50% fat? I was horrified. I'm still in the 40's but it is going down.
Julieathome wrote: I have a set that measures water percentage, bone density, fat percentage and something else (that will come to me when I look at the gadget again. They work it out on electrical resistance. they send an electrical impulse through your body from one side to the other, so from your foot, up the leg and down the other. or to a hand held gadget. Mine can work out whether my upper body is fattier than my lower body.

My fat percentage was an eye opener, because the scales wouldn't weigh me at first, I thought they were broken. It seems though that they can't get the electrical impulse through too much fat, so anything over 50% fat and it didn't work. Me, over 50% fat? I was horrified. I'm still in the 40's but it is going down.



so if i had one of those scales, i can look at water percentage as my indication of "water weight" and if so what is the right level?
I've just checked on Google and Wiki says the average is 57% to 60% water content of the human body.
thanks for replies.. any more light to shed on my specific questions in post 1. still a little confused.
Well, you asked :) All IMHO, I'm not an expert...

Q. What's the diff and why is water weight easier to lose or so it implies.
A. for "water weight" definition see Volek & Phinney quote above; other weight can be stuff in transit or, more importantly for weight managers fat or muscle (and all the other bits your body is made of, like bones, which tends not to change that much unless you're growing or shrinking)

Q. How do people know if their weight is water or real. The scales cant tell
A. If your weight shoots up (or down) by more than the difference in calorie consumption from your TDEE divided by 3500, then it's likely water - e.g. your TDEE is 1700, you've eaten 1800, your weight goes up by 1.2lbs => 1800-1700/3500 = 0.03lb, which is lots less than 1.2lbs, ergo you're looking at water weight...

Q. Can you tell by feeling your tummy?
A. Mine's often "squishier" when I'm carrying water weight

Q. Is this related to bowel movements?
A. That's "transit" material, and it can / will effect your weight, maybe up to a 1lb - but you know whether you've "been" or not and can, presumably make allowances?

Q. Is it affected by "time of the month"? Particularly for women though may equally apply to men.
A. Pretty certain it will be - water retention goes up, if I remember rightly

Q. Is this related to what you consumed or drank in last week?
A. Absolutely. Carbs and salt are the main culprits that spring to mind; I'm sure that there are others...

Q. Does exercise affect one or the other more?
A. Don't quite get the question - but exercise will effect water retention as it usually involves "damaging" your muscles => inflammatory process => ups water retention

Q. Should you not worry about water weight and worry about real weight?
A. Shouldn't "worry" about either :) The significant one, health wise is your "real" weight, obviously - the water bit will just obscure that "real" figure with +/- 2lbs, occasionally without rhyme nor reason...

Q. Can you dismiss all sudden fluctuations in weight as water weight.
A. Probably, or transit

Q. And what leads to water weight and what leads to real weight
A. Lots of things - you've covered them above, TOM, food, transit, exercise etc; "real" weight changes are, crudely, usually down to increases / decreases in food (calorie intake), occasionally they're engendered by pathological conditions... e.g. continued significant weight loss / gain without a change in diet is probably a good reason to see one's doctor

Q. And is losing real weight done in a different way to water weight
A. To lose "real" weight you need a calorie deficit, do it right and it will be fat coming off not muscle; to lose water weight just pee a lot and don't drink anything to rehydrate - that's how the boxers do it (amongst other things) prior to a weigh-in :)
Juliana.Rivers wrote: @Aurigai never knew there are scales that measure water content. Dumb question but how do they do it?


Basically, the scales that measure body fat % also measure total body water. From wikipedia:

Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a commonly used method for estimating body composition, and in particular body fat. Since the advent of the first commercially available devices in the mid-1980s the method has become popular owing to its ease of use, portability of the equipment and its relatively low cost compared to some of the other methods of body composition analysis. It is familiar in the consumer market as a simple instrument for estimating body fat. BIA[1] actually determines the electrical impedance, or opposition to the flow of an electric current through body tissues which can then be used to calculate an estimate of total body water (TBW). TBW can be used to estimate fat-free body mass and, by difference with body weight, body fat.
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