Answer
When it comes to track progress water can be a pain in the ass. I’m pretty bad at staying hydrated, so my weight goes all over the place. The only constant is that on day 4 of each fast I’m lighter than on day 4 of the previous fast.
Looking at my log:
- The most I have lost on a 4-day fast was the first one, was 8.8 pounds. That was a whole lot of water.
- - The least weight gained between fast periods was 1.2 pounds. Basically I did not hydrated well and did not eat much carbs, which kept me from gaining water weight.
- Then for the very next fast I only ‘lost’ 2.6 pounds, because of the lack of water to loose; I’m pretty sure most of that was actual fat.
- On the last eating window I had pizza, beer, and soda; I “gained” back all the weight I lost on the previous fast. That “gained” is in quotes because there was a whole lot of water retention happening; fast forward to this current fast and I ‘lost’ 3 pounds between Monday and Tuesday, 2 more pounds between Tuesday and today. I’m probably will ‘lose’ 7 pounds this cycle which will be mostly water.
For me the real weight loss seem to be a hair over half a pound per fasting day. I can see that by looking at my low weight at the height of my 4 day fast; no matter how much yo-yoing happens because of water my lowest weight for the week (after shedding whatever water was there) seems pretty consistent.