can one person have? I always lose 4-6 pounds the first few days I'm on a diet. I never got past that 6 pounds the last time I "started a diet" but I only lasted 2 weeks.

When will the weight I lose count? I want big numbers! LOL! (Who doesn't?) But, I want it to mean something and not be just water weight.

I count it from the beginning. But i would say the first week is mostly water, whereas the second week is mostly fat.

Personally, my weights can fluctuate as much as 5 pounds in a couple of nights due to water retention/loss (main determined by how much salt I've been eating lately, how much water I'm drinking, and whether I've done intense cardio).

But I, and many others, have been in your shoes -- amazed at the "sudden" weight drop, only to be disillusioned when the water creeps back in. But that's only more the reason to keep at the healthy eating/exercising & logging it all down, because over time, even though you'll still have your weight peaks & troughs, you'll notice an overall general trend of it going lower.

Don't worry about it. Just stick with your program! You'll lose fat, you'll lose water, but the longer you stay on program, the more it will be fat.

Jay

I'm going to echo Jay here. I wouldn't worry one iota about how much water weight and how much fat weight you are intitially losing. It's irrelevant. STICK with your plan and you WILL wind up losing FAT.

I understand how you feel. the first week or two, I'll drop 10 pounds like nothing, but i have to work hard for the next two weeks to lose 5 pounds...if that. It always made me fall off my plan.

I use to hate my "time of the month" because I will gain at least 8-10 pounds for a week and a half. and I would get so mad. But I know I just have to keep working and stick it out and remember that the water will go away just as fast as it came.

I would say, any weight lost after 2 weeks "counts"..i.e is fat, not water. and fat is harder to lose than the water. try not to compare your fat lost to the amount of water lost.

I HATE "that time of the month" because I, too, gain 8-10 pounds. It's SO depressing! I think the dreaded Aunt Flo will come visit next week, so I'm going to try to lose all I can this week as to not be utterly depressed when the rag's 10 pounds take effect.

Water retention... I've found that my weight can fluctuate as much as 5-8 pounds throughout one day, depending how much sodium I've eaten and such. I'm 163 now, naked in the morning, and stay 163 throughout most of the day, though in the evening, I can be as much as 168-170. I don't sweat it, though - IF for any reason, I wake up in the middle of the night to use the restroom, I'm back down to 163. And yes, yes, I need to stop obsessively weighing myself.

ItsAboutTime: like everyone else said, after your first week or two (usually your first week), your results will be fat loss instead of water.

Wow...I have to agree with everyone on here. It is a long fight to get to the finish line, but it is so worth it. If i had given up after 2 or 3 weeks because i wasn't dropping weight as quickly as i wanted, i'd still be 196. but i stuck with it, i feel better about my loss and my determination. If we just stick to it and make it a lifelong plan to eat less, eat healthier, and move more, we will feel so much better. And drink plenty of water. You need plenty of water moving thru your body to push the fat and toxins out of your body. You can do this.

And about the TOM water gain, yeah, i'm having a bad one this month. I have "gained" 4 pounds of water weight. But i am not losing faith. I know i went out of town this weekend and ate off plan, but i also know i made good choices and didn't over eat at any meal.

It all counts. We don't need that extra water on board either.
Water is heavy. One liter weighs one kilogram. So if you lose two pounds like swoosh after your period starts, you're not becoming dehydrated. It's only a liter of water.

I'd like some scientific explanation of why we almost all have that water weight. Alomst everyone drops a few pounds very quickly at the beginning that might be water. Why are we retaining at our heaviest?

Susan, I'm certainly not a scientist but I think the large weight loss at first has to do with how much sodium we're consuming. A few days of eating a healthful diet leads to a release of the water that we were holding because of the poor diet of higher sodium foods.
Pam

Good thought Pam and it also means that that weight is better gone! You are smaller, lighter and healthier ... even if it is just water weight. It counts.

I lost 12 lbs in my first week. I was thrilled until I realized more than likely it was mostly water weight. My next 12 lbs I will be happier about.

I'm with the others who say that it does't matter if it's water or fat. Excess water is still inside your body, just like fat is, puffing up your skin and making your clothes feel tight and the scale weigh heavier. Who needs it? Plus, let's say that you lose 6 pounds that first week of dieting. I think probably 1-2 pounds of that must be fat (with 4-5 pounds being water) because you're restricting your calorie count and exercising, i.e., burning more than consuming. There's no rule that says you can't lose FAT the first week of a diet. Experts say, though, that it's probably not possible to lose more than 1-3 pounds of actual fat in a week.
Pam

Thanks guys! I am not quitting this time. I have every other time and it's only made me angry in a few months when I have to relose all that I had lost and gained back.

A pound is a pound I know. I love to see the scale go down no matter what. I am staying at 194 or so even in the evening so I'm happy with that. I better see some 180's in a week or 2 cause then I KNOW I'll keep my head totally in the game. The more I lose the more focused I get.