eli5 What’s the difference between “water weight” and calorie based weight?

Question

They both add weight, so I’m confused.

In: 2

Answer 1

On the scale, no difference. A pound is a pound. In terms of long term weight loss, fat is relatively slow to be lost. At a simple level, you need to burn 3500 more calories more than you eat/drink to burn a pound of fat. That’s something like running a marathon per pound. On the other hand, water weight can fluctuate quite quickly. Your body may retain a couple of pounds of water from eating very salty food, which you’ll then easily lose by peeing it out when you don’t consume as much salt.