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At 5’11” and 165lbs, Woo doesn’t need to lose weight, although he did drop 12lbs over the week. 12 lbs of fat in one week is 7000 Calories/day. Either he had

At 5’11” and 165lbs, Woo doesn’t need to lose weight, although he did drop 12lbs over the week. 12 lbs of fat in one week is 7000 Calories/day. Either he had crazy ketonuria (and was literally pissing away calories) or he was significantly dehydrated by the end of the week. If you're planning on fasting, make sure you stay hydrated. Between the water content of food and the habit of drinking at meals, we get far more water from meals than most people realize; cutting that out without compensating is not healthy.

rhinoceraptor 9y ago
You need to consume salt (and other minerals) to retain the water. Just drinking water might actually hurt since you’re further diluting the salt you have left.
heymijo 9y ago
There's more than fat and water that could compromise Woo's 12 pound difference. - Glycogen (stored glucose in your muscles/liver) is depleted - Muscle breakdown may occur (gluconeogenesis-converting amino acids to glucose) Glycogen is also a multiplier as it draws water into muscles. Less glycogen means less water.
- cperciva 9y ago
  Sure, at the start some of the weight loss will be glycogen, and later some of it will be protein. Those aren't as energy dense as fat, but they still have a significant caloric content. The point remains: If you're losing more than 1 lbs/day and you're not running an ultramarathon (or equivalent), you're almost certainly getting dehydrated.
  - dpark 9y ago
    Glycogen storage causes significant water storage. If you deplete your glycogen, you'll lose a significant amount of water weight. This is why people lose so much when they first start dieting. 12 pounds in a week of a real fast seems reasonable for someone who weighs 170. Call it 4 pounds of fat and 8 pounds of glycogen and water.
  - rhinoceraptor 9y ago
    You can account for 12 pounds weight loss in a week without much dehydration. Let's say he burns 2500 calories a day, or 17500 in a week. If he has 500g of glycogen, subtract 4 calories/gram and we're left with 15500 calories. He's already lost 500g from the glycogen, and somewhere around 2000g from the water storing the glycogen, so he's down about 5.5 pounds. If the other 15500 calories are from fat, at 3500 calories per pound, he would lose about 4.5 pounds, for a total of about 11 pounds.
    - cperciva 9y ago
      12 lbs = 5450 g. 500 g of that could be glycogen, stored along with 1500 g of water. That's 2000 Calories and 2000 g in total. If the remaining 3450 g is fat, it would be 31000 Calories, for a total of 33000 Calories, or 4700 Calories/day over the week. Not a reasonable amount! Taking your 2500 Calorie/day value, I get about 1700 g of unexplained weight loss.
freehunter 9y ago
You're going to lose some water weight no matter how hydrated you stay. Carbs soak up water, so without carbs you will weigh less as the water disappears. You don't want to be dehydrated, but especially if you're fasting, you can overdo it on the water and end up in the opposite arena: overhydrated. This can suck out minerals and nutrients from your body, and since you're not eating to replace them, you're in major trouble.

rhinoceraptor 9y ago

You need to consume salt (and other minerals) to retain the water. Just drinking water might actually hurt since you’re further diluting the salt you have left.

heymijo 9y ago

There's more than fat and water that could compromise Woo's 12 pound difference. - Glycogen (stored glucose in your muscles/liver) is depleted - Muscle breakdown may occur (gluconeogenesis-converting amino acids to glucose) Glycogen is also a multiplier as it draws water into muscles. Less glycogen means less water.

cperciva 9y ago
Sure, at the start some of the weight loss will be glycogen, and later some of it will be protein. Those aren't as energy dense as fat, but they still have a significant caloric content. The point remains: If you're losing more than 1 lbs/day and you're not running an ultramarathon (or equivalent), you're almost certainly getting dehydrated.
- dpark 9y ago
  Glycogen storage causes significant water storage. If you deplete your glycogen, you'll lose a significant amount of water weight. This is why people lose so much when they first start dieting. 12 pounds in a week of a real fast seems reasonable for someone who weighs 170. Call it 4 pounds of fat and 8 pounds of glycogen and water.
- rhinoceraptor 9y ago
  You can account for 12 pounds weight loss in a week without much dehydration. Let's say he burns 2500 calories a day, or 17500 in a week. If he has 500g of glycogen, subtract 4 calories/gram and we're left with 15500 calories. He's already lost 500g from the glycogen, and somewhere around 2000g from the water storing the glycogen, so he's down about 5.5 pounds. If the other 15500 calories are from fat, at 3500 calories per pound, he would lose about 4.5 pounds, for a total of about 11 pounds.
  - cperciva 9y ago
    12 lbs = 5450 g. 500 g of that could be glycogen, stored along with 1500 g of water. That's 2000 Calories and 2000 g in total. If the remaining 3450 g is fat, it would be 31000 Calories, for a total of 33000 Calories, or 4700 Calories/day over the week. Not a reasonable amount! Taking your 2500 Calorie/day value, I get about 1700 g of unexplained weight loss.

freehunter 9y ago

You're going to lose some water weight no matter how hydrated you stay. Carbs soak up water, so without carbs you will weigh less as the water disappears. You don't want to be dehydrated, but especially if you're fasting, you can overdo it on the water and end up in the opposite arena: overhydrated. This can suck out minerals and nutrients from your body, and since you're not eating to replace them, you're in major trouble.