So I've been reading up a lot about diets and losing weight like everyone else here, and I understand that if you don't do it in a healthy way or lose weight too quickly you will just lose a lot of water weight.

But what is water weight???

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At the beginning of a lot of people's weight loss adventures, when they switch over from eating anything tehy want - and generally not healthy - to foods that are healthier andnot packed with preservatives and stuff - the body will respond by letting go of water weight that's hanging around the body.. which is why a person can put of up bigger numbers at the beginning of their weight loss journey than a few weeks into it.

By losing weight at a reasonable pace, like 1 percent of your body weight a week, by healthy eating and exercise, you not only lose fat, but you will also retain muscle... if you jsut crash diet and not feed your body you run the risk of losing muscle as well.

Yes, the scale might move but it doesn't mean you're l osing fat...

There's a big difference between fat loss and weight loss...

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This is the part in the movie when the person gets the SLOW clap... well said. Love ya Mal.

To add, the reason people generally hang onto EXTRA water weight is due to extra sodium usually found in the diet prior to weightloss. Better health choices usually come along with a lower sodium diet. Therefore, the cells in the body like to create an equilibrium between Sodium and water solution. When the sodium solution lowers, the water is released. Another way to release water (believe it or not) is to drink a lot more of it therefore flooding the cell with water and pushing out sodium.

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I swear hanging out here is like going to Science class.

My first thought was that it was from a soduim reduction but I think Mal's point is good as well (I know I am not contributing anything of value here, I just feel smarter by association) in that eating badly can 'mess' the body up resulting in a bloated appearance.

Get rid of the junk, get rid of the bloat - hence the large initial drop in weight.

Not scientific at all but that is what I have noticed. The reason for the difference would be for exactly the reasons Mal and Keith said.

Ok - that was my 2 cents (which was probably only worth about a half cent but, hey, at least I am entertaining )

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Maybe entertaining yourself... most certainly not me.

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Thanks everyone! That helped a lot - now I understand the science behind it and how it applies to losing weight vs. losing fat. I think I want to lose my fat weight AND lose some of my water weight too.

I already drink A LOT of water (at least 2.5-3L a day even before starting my diet), but I've been trying to cut down on sodium and I'm really confused about it. A lot of food options which seem great at first for losing weight (fat-free, low-calorie) are loaded with sodium like fat-free cottage cheese, diet drinks, low-fat deli meats, etc. It's so frustrating!

How much sodium should people actually be having in order to reduce water retention?

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the US RDA for a normal healthy person is 2400mg a day -which is about 1 tsp of salt (but a lot of processed foods, and canned foods has sodium in it...

A person with high blood pressure, according to the American Heart Association is under 2000mg - and really under 1500mg -(for people with really bad blood pressure, the DASH diet is suggested (dietary approach to stop hypertension_ that diet is rather bland for my tastes but it's all fresh food all the time... so it's good for you long term..

your body does need some sodium -but if you're eating a lot of processed foods, or going out to restaurants, it's easy to have your sodium go well over 5000mg a day which can lead to bloating and water retention.

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I have found the exact same thing, it is very frustrating. You can add salad dressing to that list also, I looked at EVERY SINGLE ONE in the grocery store 3 times last week and they are all loaded with it. I literally stood there for 15 minutes trying to find one that wasn't, no such luck. The best thing is just find whichever is the lowest, same with the lunch meat and cottage cheese. I have been told there is no salt added Cottage Cheese but I have yet to find it. I am going to check some other stores soon. It isn't much fun but I count everything that matters now. Calories, Fat, Sodium, and Protein. This way you know for sure, since the Sodium adds up real quick. I have had days where it's around 3000mg but compared to my past eating habits I don't concern myself with it to much, just make sure you drink plenty of water.

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the low sodium cottage cheese is pretty vile stuff... I've seen it occassionally, Dean's (I think they're midwest only) and Breakstone (national brand) both make one - but I'mnot a salt user but you really miss the sodium in it -and adding in tons of salsa or other flavorings doesn't help it much - I've heard of people rinsing cottage cheese but that's just ickier to me -the creaminess is the best part.

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