Is it true that fast weight loss means it’s only water weight?

[alexis82]

I'm 30/F, 5'2". I've lost about 7.5 pounds in the last three weeks, down from 180lbs to 172.5lbs.

What I've been doing to lose the weight is eating much less than usual (I don't count calories but I'd guess between 1000-1200 depending on the day?), limiting carbs, and adding 45-60 minutes of intense cardio six days a week.

I was really pleased about my progress, but my husband says that it's only possible to lose about 2 pounds of fat in a week and anything more than that means I'm just dehydrated. He's kind of a fitness bro so I figure he either definitely knows what he's talking about or else he absolutely fucking doesn't.

Any thoughts?

 

[smooman]

@alexis82 Well 7.5lbs in 3 weeks is 2.5lbs a week. So it's not that much off his "only 2lbs of fat loss a week" logic.

 

[alexis82]

@smooman That's a really good point!

 

[brokenangel1991]

@alexis82 1000-1200 calories, particularly if you're doing 45-60 minutes of intense cardio per day, isn't enough food. Think long game, and making sustainable choices.

I disagree that there's something inherently wrong with that much cardio, but I'm also a 50-55mpw runner so YMMV, quite literally.

 

[smooman]

@brokenangel1991 OP definitely needs to pay attention to how much she is eating. It's not just to make sure you're not eating too much, but to be sure you're not eating too little.

 

[brokenangel1991]

@smooman Yes. She may feel fine now but fatigue, sluggish workouts, feeling foggy, etc. can creep up quickly- just as quickly as feeling energized can happen when fueling enough.

OP, for reference, 1000 calories is less than what's recommended for my 3 year old.

 

[smooman]

@brokenangel1991 OP is the same height and roughly the same weight as me. My fitbit tells me I get 600 active minutes a week and I still eat an average of 1400 a day to lose 1ish lbs a week.

 

[alexis82]

@brokenangel1991

1000-1200 calories, particularly if you're doing 45-60 minutes of intense cardio per day, isn't enough food. Think long game, and making sustainable choices.

I haven't actually been counting the calories, that's just my estimate. I wasn't worried because I've been feeling pretty good the whole time, but I'll try to keep a sharper eye on it going ahead.

 

[warriorcatsbooklover]

@alexis82 Can someone explain water weight to me like I’m 5? I lost 10 pounds in a month and have maintained that loss for over a year. What was it that I actually lost and does the difference matter?

 

[alexis82]

@warriorcatsbooklover Yeah, I might also need this explanation!

 

[glaubenszentrum]

@alexis82 When we eat carbs and sugar, our body will covert these into glycogen and store this in our muscles for immediate use.

But the thing about glycogen is that it can't be stored in our muscles by itself. For every gram of glycogen stored it needs to be bond to 4 grams of water.

So basically for every 1 gram of additional carb we eat - we also gain 4 grams of water in our bodies.

If we stay on the same diet, then the we use glycogen at the same rate that we use it - so our weight doesn't change. (If we are eating at a surplus, our body will convert the glycogen to fat).

When we go on a diet - one thing that normally happens - is that we eat less carbs - so we have less glycogen in our body and therefore also less water being held onto.

As such, when we first see then drop in the scale - it's not fat loss just glycogen loss and losing the additional water attached. Until we get to a new normal average of stored glycogen.

Also note, that salt holds onto water in the same way. On a diet, our salt intake is normally reduced too - causing the water bound to the salt / sodium to also be lost.

 

[michellelovesjay]

@glaubenszentrum

 

[rodneys]

@alexis82 This is unsustainable and unhealthy. Please seek the support of a doctor or a registered dietician to help you reach your goals in a healthy way

Edited to add: I mean eating at a very low calorie intake and doing a lot of exercise is unsustainable an unhealthy, not necessarily that the amount of weight loss is unhealthy

 

[alexis82]

@rodneys I did actually consult a doctor when I realized I needed to lose weight (the gain was pretty rapid), who put me on meds to help with appetite reduction. We just had a check-in where he didn't express any concern about how much weight I had dropped, so I'm pretty sure it's kosher.

 

[rodneys]

@alexis82 Your doctor advised you to eat at 1000 calories? The amount of weight you lost isn’t the concern, it’s an extremely low calorie intake combined with a very high activity level. I did something similar and ended up with permanent damage to my body in just a couple months. This is also a recipe for immediately gaining the weight you’ve lost back once you are no longer on this diet. Crash dieting doesn’t work.

 

[alexis82]

@rodneys To clarify, it's not that I've been deliberately eating 1000 calories, but I haven't been counting and am now estimating that it's probably been 1000-1200 calories on any given day. I said in another comment that I'll pay more attention going forward because I agree that sounds low.

And what my doctor advised was to stick to whatever diet/exercise combination felt sustainable and was giving me the desired results, which so far is what I had been doing. I wasn't feeling too tired or too hungry so I hadn't seen a reason to be concerned.

 

[rodneys]

@alexis82 That’s good that you’re going to focus on getting enough calories in! I would still recommend talking to a doctor or dietician. I don’t mean this to be harsh, but regardless of whether or not you were tracking eating at 1000-1200 calories, you still believe this is your calorie intake and thought that was fine. This is the recommended calorie intake of a 2-3 year old child.

It’s really important to understand what your nutritional needs are when attempting to lose weight so that you don’t accidentally do harm to your body that you cannot undo. There’s so much bad information about nutrition, exercise, and weight loss out there that it’s best to get information straight from a professional who can go over your goals with you and help you understand how weight loss works and how to go about it in a healthy way.