Question about water weight and such

P

Personfromtexas

New member
Howdy. I know that some of what you weigh is food, water, waste etc. but I'm trying to figure out how to determine my actual weight given the amount of training I've been doing the the following measurements I've taken:

On Aug 21st I weighed in at 185 lbs

On Sept 3rd I weidhed in at 190lbs

I've kept a meticulous log of calories consumed/burned. In the mirror I don't look like I've put on 5lbs but I'm just trying to do the math here because somethings not adding up:

Since Aug 21st to present I've consumed 26,035 calories and burned 38,524 calories so a defecit of 12,489. If there are 3500 calories in 1 lb of fat then I should've lost 3.5 lbs. This would mean that I apparently weigh 8.5 lbs more then I should? Is all that 8.5 lbs supposedly 'water weight?' I find it highly unlikely that I gained lbs of muscle in 14 days on a caloric loss or that I gained fat so what exactly is going on here?

I should've prefaced this question that I'm not necessarily looking for advice on how to lose weight, no disrespect. Over the past year I've gone down from 210 to 185 so I think I'm doing alright. I'm just asking about where these weight fluctuations come from and exactly how that all works.
 
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That's the problem with you analytical types when it comes to fat loss. You think too deeply. You try and confine fat loss into this rigid box and have trouble realizing it's an impossibility.

Here's a huge hint: Caloric burn estimates are huuuuggggeeee estimation. Giving it as much weighting as you are is sort of silly.

And considering how much 'stuff' comprises what your total weight really is, trying to decipher how much fat you've lost using solely your weight is completely futile.
 
Ya know, I'm wondering where in here you asked a question that required a health science person to answer opposed to someone using basic logic and rational thought.

These are the questions I see:

This would mean that I apparently weigh 8.5 lbs more then I should? Is all that 8.5 lbs supposedly 'water weight?' I find it highly unlikely that I gained lbs of muscle in 14 days on a caloric loss or that I gained fat so what exactly is going on here?
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Now you're waiting for an answer that you'll never get. Or you'll get but won't be right. But I guess that will be better than the advice I gave you using your perception. To each his own, I suppose.

What you're doing right now is similar to taking your temp using a thermometer, reading a high temp, and asking why. That's silly. So many variables do and can correlate to a high reading.
 
The reason I said that about asking for the thoughts of someone who knows about health science is because of the comment you made about analytical people and the lack of information in your post. The question I'm asking is: given the fact that I'm on a strict and carefully monitored diet what factors besides fat/muscle gain could account for the weight fluctuations.

Steve said:
Ya know, I'm wondering where in here you asked a question that required a health science person to answer opposed to someone using basic logic and rational thought.

These are the questions I see:



Now you're waiting for an answer that you'll never get. Or you'll get but won't be right. But I guess that will be better than the advice I gave you using your perception. To each his own, I suppose.

What you're doing right now is similar to taking your temp using a thermometer, reading a high temp, and asking why. That's silly. So many variables do and can correlate to a high reading.
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You start off saying that science isn't needed to answer my question, just logic, and then go on to say that the question is unanswerable. Lets say I did ask what you propose in your example and I had just taken a high temperature and asked why I might have that temperature. Its true that there are a lot of reasons why I could have a high temperature but someone could probably rule out all of the irrelevent ones like my heads in an oven or I'm standing near a volcano etc. and go on to talk about medical causes. You're example actually proves the point that this is a simple question for someone who knows about the subject matter.
 
If it were a simple question, I'd answer it.

If it could be answered given what we know about you, I'd answer it.

You can play the semantics card all you like... it's not going to magically pull an answer out of thin air.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. I'm not bragging, but I'm probably one of the better versed people you're going to find on the subject at hand. And I'm not out here trying to be a dick and give you the run around.

Without dragging this out any longer, let's just list what it *could* be.

1. Your meticulous calculations are wrong.
2. You're holding water.
3. Glycogen flux.
4. You've added some muscle.
5. A combination of some or all.

What more do you want, besides an answer that nobody is going to be able to give you given what we know?
 
Steve said:
If it were a simple question, I'd answer it.

If it could be answered given what we know about you, I'd answer it.

You can play the semantics card all you like... it's not going to magically pull an answer out of thin air.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. I'm not bragging, but I'm probably one of the better versed people you're going to find on the subject at hand. And I'm not out here trying to be a dick and give you the run around.

Without dragging this out any longer, let's just list what it *could* be.

1. Your meticulous calculations are wrong.
2. You're holding water.
3. Glycogen flux.
4. You've added some muscle.
5. A combination of some or all.

What more do you want, besides an answer that nobody is going to be able to give you given what we know?
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I'm not sure what you mean by playing the semantics card. I'm not debating over what a word means or definitions or anything.

I'm aware that I do not and will not ever have very accurate information regarding exactly what my body is doing with the calories I'm giving it or precisely how much I'm burning. All I'm saying is however small or large my margin of error I'm clearly in a state of caloric defecit and I was curious about what else might cause my weight to go up since it obviously would not be fat or muscle gain.

Right? I mean what else causes your weight to go up besides gaining fat or muscle? That was the question I was asking.

I just came here to post a question and right off the bat you start posting attitude about how I've got everything wrong and people like me just don't get it. Then you go on about how you're the pro here and that my question is just impossible to answer. Really? Theres just an innumerable amount of reasons why my weight might change? It could literally be anything? Theres just billions of reasons and you can't even begin to name them? Looks like you've come up about 5 and that seems to have been a stretch for you. You honestly think I could've gained over a pound of muslce in 14 days with a caloric defecit? That was one of the outrageous number of possible explanations?
 
Personfromtexas said:
I'm aware that I do not and will not ever have very accurate information regarding exactly what my body is doing with the calories I'm giving it or precisely how much I'm burning. All I'm saying is however small or large my margin of error I'm clearly in a state of caloric defecit and I was curious about what else might cause my weight to go up since it obviously would not be fat or muscle gain.
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It's not clear from my perspective, no.

Right? I mean what else causes your weight to go up besides gaining fat or muscle? That was the question I was asking.
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See the list above.

Fat gain, muscle gain, holding onto water, glycogen, poop, you name it.

I just came here to post a question and right off the bat you start posting attitude about how I've got everything wrong and people like me just don't get it.
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Meh, if that's your perception, cool. Feel bad for you but nothing I can do or care to do about it. If you read attitude, so be it.

Then you go on about how you're the pro here and that my question is just impossible to answer.
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Yea, that's me. Just high on my fucking horse with very little practical information.

Really? Theres just an innumerable amount of reasons why my weight might change? It could literally be anything? Theres just billions of reasons and you can't even begin to name them? Looks like you've come up about 5 and that seems to have been a stretch for you.
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Yup, huge stretch.

The complexity of this situation is well beyond my understanding, experience and abilities. I'm sure someone will come along to help you though. Sit tight.

You honestly think I could've gained over a pound of muslce in 14 days with a caloric defecit?
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Nope.
 
Just to recap here I asked what else contributes to weight gain besides fat and muscle. So far responded with feces, water and glycogen. Well, that was after a few posts of you being a dick and crying about how the question was impossible to answer. Thanks for the pro tip chief. You really blew my mind with that myriad of variables and possibilities. I was going to make fun of your massive post count but seeing how dense you are I can see how you'd rack a figure like that not understanding things.

Peace
 
Personfromtexas said:
Lets say I did ask what you propose in your example and I had just taken a high temperature and asked why I might have that temperature. Its true that there are a lot of reasons why I could have a high temperature but someone could probably rule out all of the irrelevent ones like my heads in an oven or I'm standing near a volcano etc. and go on to talk about medical causes. You're example actually proves the point that this is a simple question for someone who knows about the subject matter.
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I would send you a shiny new nickel if you went to your personal physican, said to that person "Yesterday morning, I took my temperature and it was 98.6. Then this afternoon, I took my temperature again, and it was 100.4. I have no other symptoms of anything wrong with me. Why is my temperature elevated?" and got any response other than "it's normal for temperature to fluctuate within a range for a variety of reasons, almost all of them benign and/or self-limiting."

It's normal for your weight to fluctuate within a range for a variety of reasons, almost all of them benign or self-limiting.

Or it could be kidney failure. Or a brain tumor. You might luck out, and just have Cushing's disease.
 
Personfromtexas, Steve's delivery may not be to everyone's liking (he's very blunt) but he's almost always right. I say "almost always" because nobody's right about everything 100% of the time, but so far I haven't seen him steer people wrong here about weight loss/fitness.

When he doesn't know something, he says so. He's not going to blow smoke up your ass and give you the answer you want if that's not what he thinks is going on.

Given his post count (very high) and the fact that he's not getting paid to be here (that I know of, I don't think anyone's getting paid to answer questions here), this is obviously something he cares about a lot. He answers questions and asks for nothing in return. That's pretty cool of him to do.

I don't always like his answers either, but it isn't because I think he's wrong. It's because he's confirming something I didn't really want to know or face up to. I think the only thing we've really disagreed on is how frequently I should weigh myself. He made some excellent points, but I'm going to continue to weigh myself every day. That doesn't mean I won't ever listen to anything else he has to say; he's a great source of information here.

Basically, ease up on the guy. He doesn't have to help anybody here, but he does anyway.
 
WoW

And this person is getting more attention than any of my dumb posts do, all 3 moderators at once, lol.

*grumbles and goes off to post something silly*
 
get your head out of your ass personfromtexas and realize how ignorant and childish you are acting. you are not doing anyone any favours by being rude to steve, as he has helped a good number of people here with all his realistic and helpful advice. and yes i would label him a pro, even though you fail to see that because again your ignorance is blinding you. if you dont like someones answer to your *insignificant IMO* question then dont go attacking that person after they had just taken time out of their day to respond to you! grow up
 
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