I lost 8lbs my first week, it is water weight – losses will even out.

I made the exact same post when I first started.

What is the layman’s science behind the loss of ‘water weight’ folk keep referring to? How and why does it happen?

Hi Little and welcome:

See my 17 Jan 15 post in this thread: https://thefastdiet.co.uk/forums/topic/the-basics-for-newbies-your-questions-answered/

Good Luck!

When you change your caloric intake your body starts taking energy from a carb called glycogen – glycogen stores water, so as this is burned the water goes.

That is how I remember it from my old PT, I probably got some stuff wrong.

X

Hi Little:

There is much science behind weight loss, but most of it is simple. As many want to make money ‘helping’ people lose weight, they come up with stuff that sounds good but is really almost worthless – but anything to sell a book.

If you think about it, you really can’t lose a lot of weight quickly (except for water weight). Let’s say your TDEE is 2000 – that means you neither gain nor lose eating 2000 cal. a day. Now assume you completely stop eating. Your body still needs 2000 per day to operate, so that is what it will ‘burn’ daily. 2000 times 7 = 14000 cal. a week burned if you eat absolutely nothing all week. 14000 cal = about 4 pounds, which is about what long term water fasters lose over time (not counting their initial water weight losses). Note they don’t suffer from ‘starvation mode’ – they just keep losing weight.

So consistently losing a lot of weight each week is very, very hard when you are eating food. That is why the average weight loss on 5:2 is about a pound a week over time.

Good Luck!