How to Tell if You re Losing Water Weight or Fat

Avoid taking quick-fix pills like diuretics, which claim to help you shed pounds fast by flushing water from your system. While they may help you temporarily lose water weight, you’ll regain it quickly and run the risk of electrolyte imbalances and dehydration, per the Mayo Clinic.

What’s Water Weight?

The Rumor: Water weight isn’t real weight — and I should take that into account when weighing myself

Chances are you’ve been tempted to try to cheat the bathroom scale at some point, especially on those mornings when your fingers are swollen, your ankles are puffy and your pants feel a little more snug than usual. Clearly that’s just water weight, not real weight, right? So who’s really going to blame you for subtracting a few extra pounds from your total to bring your number down a notch? Can this type of bathroom-scale math be messing up your fitness goals? What’s the skinny on water weight, anyway — and is there anything you can do to avoid seeing the extra pounds it (temporarily) creates?

The Verdict: Water weight isn’t as “real” as weight from muscles and fat, but it does exist — and there are health choices you can make to keep it at bay

Look, there’s no way you’re going to suddenly gain three pounds of fat overnight. “Water weight is real for some people,” says Katherine Zeratsky, R.D., L.D., a specialty nutritionist and dietician with the Mayo Clinic and coauthor of The Mayo Clinic Diet. “Having too much salt or sodium in the body is a big factor, and so is being sedentary and not moving around enough.”

To be clear, we’re talking about water weight as “bloating” and not chronic water retention, which indicates a malfunctioning of your kidneys or hormones. Bloating is sporadic, usually triggered by diet or lifestyle, and can be remedied without a trip to the doctor — though the kidneys do play an important role. “The kidney is a dynamic organ,” says Zeratsky. “It decides whether to hold on to water. If you’ve had too much salt the night before, then your kidneys will hold on to more water to dilute or correct that salty imbalance. Then they flush it all out.”

Extra water is typically stored all over your body in the tissue or between blood vessels, and tends to pool in the extremities (fingers, toes and lower legs). It may seem counterintuitive, but your body also tends to store water when you’re dehydrated: If you’re not drinking enough, your salt/water ratio becomes unbalanced and your body will hang on to any extra fluids until the balance is restored. (Don’t drink alcohol to replenish your fluids; it will only dehydrate you further — thereby adding to your water weight.)

Water weight tends to magically melt away as your kidneys restore your body’s salt/water balance, which may still leave you thinking these “ghost pounds” are fair game to be subtracted off the bathroom scale. But Zeratsky warns against this: “Sometimes your body’s weight fluctuates,” she says. “It’s around a five-pound range; that’s normal for everyone. [But] it’s important to weigh yourself at the same time and in the same way every day — without making deductions — to get a good picture of your overall weight.”

Since fooling the scale is no longer an option, here are some better ways to ditch that water weight fast:

Get moving. The last thing you want to do when you’re bloated is exercise, but working up a sweat is a great way to ditch the water weight. Working out also reduces inflammation so your body retains less water overall. It’s a win-win situation.

Drink up. Sounds weird, but getting more H2O into your body helps eliminate those extra fluids and sodium. Aim for two to three liters of water a day. Another trick is to eat some of your water by adding hydrating foods to your diet.

Pump up the potassium. Potassium helps moderate many important bodily functions, including blood pressure and water balance. Potassium-rich foods include bananas, pumpkins, plantains and papaya.

Feed yourself fiber. “A healthy digestive system is the best way to avoid water weight, because it means everything is in balance,” says Zeratsky. “So make sure you’re getting enough fiber, too.”

How to Tell if You’re Losing Water Weight or Fat

It’s common to experience a weight-loss plateau after you start a new diet plan. That’s because, initially, you may be shedding water weight instead of fat. But how can you tell the difference between losing water weight versus fat?

Aside from regularly getting your body fat measured, there’s no foolproof way to tell if you’re losing water weight or fat. That said, here are some clues that can help you determine if you’re experiencing water weight loss versus fat loss.

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Water Weight vs. Fat

The number you see on your scale when you weigh yourself is a measure of every single thing in your body. So, how do you know if you have water weight? Well, we all do. That’s because most of the weight in your body comes from water — it’s the heaviest component of your body besides your bones, according to Texas A&M University.

When you first start losing weight, most of those initial pounds lost are in the form of water. That’s because when you restrict or burn off extra calories through exercise, your body turns to a substance called glycogen for energy.

Glycogen binds to water — in fact, for each gram of glycogen in your muscles, you hold on to 3 grams of water, per a September 2015 report in the ‌European Journal of Applied Physiology‌. So when you burn through glycogen, you likewise decrease the amount of water in your body.

But the inverse is also true. When you replenish your glycogen stores (by eating carbohydrates), you can regain that water weight quickly.

It’s also possible to carry excess water in your body, per Texas A&M University. Water retention can occur for the following reasons:

You ate too much salt
You have a thyroid condition
You have a heart condition

Fat, on the other hand, doesn’t fluctuate quite so readily. In fact, as you lose weight or cut calories, your body will fight to preserve fat to use for energy in the future, according to Northwestern Medicine. As a result, fat loss usually only occurs over longer periods of calorie restriction.

What Does Water Weight Look Like on Your Body?

Typically, water weight looks like bloating (think: a tight, full belly), according to the Mayo Clinic. Swelling of your extremities can also be a visible sign of water retention (more on that in a moment).

How to Tell if You’re Losing Water Weight

So, how do you know if you’re losing water weight or fat? Here’s how to know if it’s water weight specifically:

Your Weight Changes Frequently or Quickly

A major indicator that you’re losing water weight is frequent fluctuation in the numbers on the scale, according to the Cleveland Clinic.

The amount of water your body holds onto depends on many different things, like your hormones and salt intake, per the Mayo Clinic. So if your routine stays about the same and you’re seeing your weight go up and down a lot, that’s how you can tell you’re losing water weight.

Tip

The best method for how to lose water weight depends on why you’re retaining fluid — for instance, some people may have to cut back on sodium, while others may have to address a hormone imbalance.

Your Weight Changes Overnight

Similarly, here’s another way to determine if it is water weight or fat that you’re losing: You gain or lose pounds overnight.

If you lost several pounds overnight, that’s a good indication that you’ve shed water weight, according to Texas A&M University. On the flip side, if you’ve gained a few pounds overnight, you’re probably holding on to excess water.

This differentiates water weight versus fat loss because it requires burning or eating a significant amount of calories — about 3,500 — to change the fat content of your body, per the Mayo Clinic.

Tip

Avoid taking quick-fix pills like diuretics, which claim to help you shed pounds fast by flushing water from your system. While they may help you temporarily lose water weight, you’ll regain it quickly and run the risk of electrolyte imbalances and dehydration, per the Mayo Clinic.

You’re Swelling

Another clue that you’re experiencing water retention versus fat gain is if your extremities — your hands, arms, feet, ankles or legs — swell, per the Mayo Clinic.

This is a sign of a condition called edema, which occurs when your body hangs on to excess fluid. It’s usually caused by underlying factors like:

Medication
Pregnancy
Heart conditions
Liver conditions
Kidney conditions

So if you’re wondering whether your weight changes are the result of water retention or belly fat, swollen body parts may help you tell the difference.

How to Lose Fat Instead of Water Weight

The best way to shed fat is to eat a nutritious diet and exercise regularly, per the Mayo Clinic. More specifically, you should cut your daily calorie intake by about 500 calories through a combination of eating less processed foods, lowering your portion sizes and moving more.

And when it comes to exercise, be sure to incorporate both cardio activities and strength training into your routine, according to the Mayo Clinic.

How to Tell if You’re Losing Fat

On the other hand, here’s how to know if you’re losing weight from fat loss:

You Slowly Lose Weight Over Time

One key way to determine if you’re losing fat or water weight is if your weight loss is gradual, according to the American Council on Exercise (ACE). Generally, losing 1 to 2 pounds per week or shedding 1 percent of your body fat per month indicates that you’re losing fat, not just water.

This is why it’s important to focus on the overall trend of your weight rather than the number on the scale on any given day, per the American Heart Association. As long as you’re gradually shedding pounds over time, it’s normal to see some weight fluctuations day to day as you balance losing water weight versus fat.

Check Your Body Fat Percentage

Perhaps the most accurate way to determine if you’re losing water weight versus fat is to have your body fat measured by a doctor.

According to Kaiser Permanente, there are a few ways to measure body fat:

‌Skinfold thickness:‌ During this test, a doctor will use an instrument called a caliper to measure fat thickness on different parts of your body.
‌Bioelectrical impedance:‌ During this test, the doctor will pass a small electrical current through your body to measure your body’s electrical resistance. They’ll then calculate your body fat based on your resistance, height and weight.
‌Underwater weighing:‌ Your doctor will weigh you underwater to more accurately measure the weight of your fat compared to other tissues like muscle and bone.
‌Air displacement plethysmography:‌ This measures your body in the air (instead of under water).
‌DXA:‌ This is a type of x-ray that can identify how much fat tissue you have.

Tip

It’s important to note that you don’t only have to consider fat loss versus water weight loss — you can also shed muscle, per the ACE. You can prevent muscle loss by eating a nutritious diet and incorporating regular strength training into your exercise routine.