How much weight is water loss?

[Reinventing Myself]

Hi,

I am just curious to know how much of the initial weight loss is water, and for how many weeks are you losing water instead of fat? I've lost 15 pounds (yeah me!) so far and seem to be absolutely stuck. I started again about 8 weeks ago, lost the 15 pounds pretty fast and haven't budged in maybe 3 weeks. Is it mostly water? (Which would be fine, I just would like to know.)

Thanks, RM

[Gabriel Guzman]

There is no magic number to the amount of water that is loss at the beginning. Healthy weight loss from occurs around 0.5-1 lb/week or even 1.5 lb per week (average). Dramatic loses, particularly at the beginning are likely to be water but that stops perhaps after the first couple of weeks if not earlier. It also depends how much overweight there is as those with more to lose may experience more water loss than those with few pounds to lose only.

A closer look at your menus may give more clues to see if you're on a true stall or just not inducing the necessary energy deficit so your body starts using the fat in store.

[Bogie]

According to my sister-in-law, a piled high and deep dietician, I've lost about 75 pounds of water...

[Reinventing Myself]

Thank you both for your input, I really appreciate it.

I do have a lot of weight to lose (total 80 lbs), and I am certain that a good portion of my loss is probably water, especially because I have a hard time believing that this early in I am stalled. In reviewing my menues, I may be a little shy on protein, a smidge high in carbs and I have been eating very little saturated fat. I do eat fat: olive oil, nuts, some cheese, yogurt, etc., but haven't been eating much saturated fat. Maybe I had better start keeping a real log of my eating.

Bogie, I know what you mean, I hear that when people talk *smack* about low carb eating. 75 lbs of water!! Imagine!!

Thanks again for your responses,
RM