[kaybee1]

How do you know it's water weight, anyway?

As some of you read, last week I went on a 5 day trip to NYC. I walked A SH!T TON but didn't restrict my diet (even ate two ridiculously decadent sundaes). My feet were KILLING ME and my lower back felt swollen - the walking was nuts, I tell you, and my tiny works-3-serving-jobs travelling companion felt nothing of it (so part of me blames my fatness/sedentary lifestyle save for gyming 4x/week and the other part of me blames my flat feet).

So for curiosity's sake, I stepped on the scale as soon as I got home. I was up 3lbs from 215 to 218). I wasn't totally shocked considering the sundays and my swollen everything and from day to day my scale can bounce me in either direction a couple lbs. This was on Tuesday. Today (Saturday), before eating anything, this morning I got on the scale and it was 211!!! This week wasn't particularly different from my regular diet, but I haven't been to the gym AND I had a couple slices of raspberry lemonade pie! (sounds weird but boy is it good).

So, what the heck? I'm due for a good cleansing - I hardly ate any veg/fruit while I was away and didn't get too much of it this week like I usually do. So I went grocery shopping and spent $90+ on fruit and veg - gonna try the green smoothie craze and even bought some Chia seeds to try that chia seed pudding everything has been freaking out about.

I guess I can see that a lot of the weight that came off could have been due to the decrease in swelling from all the walking but how do you know, in regular life, that what you're battling is water weight? Is it easier to see if you're still on the right track with a measuring tape instead of a scale in this case?

Thanks for any advice!

And, btw, NYC WAS FABULOUS! (next time I'm eschewing vanity and bringing good, solid, walking shoes).

[Jasmine31]

Great job on all the walking!

211, thats is really good news.

I know I walk alot and any time I start up in earnest again it takes time to see any weight lost on the scale.

I think sometimes our muscles when they are sore, they retain water or something.

So 215 - 218, could of easily been water retention. So 215 down to 211, 4 lbs how much time are we talking, a week?

[welder]

Im pretty skeptical about the whole water weight thing.
From what I have heard it's not that influential.
Check out this article...

From a CNN article I just read (I would link but it wont let me because im still new):

The verdict: Water weight isn't as "real" as weight from 
muscles and fat, but it does exist -- and there are health choices
 you can make to keep it at bay.
Look, there's no way you're going to
 suddenly gain three pounds of fat overnight. 
"Water weight is real for some people," 
says Katherine Zeratsky, a specialty nutritionist 
and dietician with the Mayo Clinic and coauthor of "
The Mayo Clinic Diet."

[nonameslob]

kaybee - 211 is awesome!!!!

I "know" it's water weight if it's a big gain over a short period time, followed by a big loss over a short period of time. Like the quote above me, it's really hard to gain 3 pounds of fat (even from an indulgent vacation) in a short time period, and it's equally hard to lose that much weight overnight. So, if you gain quickly and then lose it quickly, it's probably just fluids. It sounds like you probably gained and then lost water weight, plus losing fat, since you're below your initial low.

A measuring tape couldn't hurt, though, but if you're noticeably bloated from water, the measuring tape won't be kind either.

And, btw, NYC WAS FABULOUS! (next time I'm eschewing vanity and bringing good, solid, walking shoes).

Haha! Glad you had fun. I say that about the shoes every time, but have yet to actually wear sneakers in NYC lol (shoe inserts are wonderful!)