Of Whooshes and Squishy Fat
A few weeks back I answered a question about Not Losing Fat at a 20% Deficit, What Should I Do? and among other things, one comment I made had to do with a water retention that often occurs during fat loss which can mask fat loss and make it appear as if the diet is not working. I also mentioned specifically that I had written (with a straight-face no less) about whooshes in The Stubborn Fat Solution, along with a related phenomenon which I call squishy fat.
In any case, to expand on that issue, I’m going to excerpt the chapter section from The Stubborn Fat Solution dealing with both phenomena. With that introduction, I give you (again, with a straight face)…
Of Whooshes and Squishy Fat
Before you freak out and think you’ve entered some weird Internet forum where people talk about stalls and whooshes, please bear with me; there’s actually some physiological rationale to what I’m going to discuss.
Many people have noted that fat loss is often discontinuous, that is it often happens in stops and starts. So you’ll be dieting and dieting and doing everything correctly with nothing to show for it. Then, boom, almost overnight, you drop 4 pounds and look leaner.
What’s going on? Back during my college days, one of my professors threw out the idea that after fat cells had been emptied of stored triglyceride, they would temporarily refill with water (glycerol attracts water, which might be part of the mechanism). So there would be no immediate change in size, body weight or appearance. Then, after some time frame, the water would get dropped, the fat cells would shrink. A weird way of looking at it might be that the fat loss suddenly becomes ‘apparent’. That is, the fat was emptied and burned off days or weeks ago but until the water is dropped, nothing appears to have happened.
For nearly 20 years I looked for research to support this, I was never sure if it was based on something from the 50’s or he just pulled it out of thin air as an explanation. Recently, one paper did suggest that visceral fat can fill up with water after massive weight loss but that’s about it.
Somewhat circumstantially, people using Bioimpedance body fat scales (which use hydration to estimate body fat levels) have noted that body fat appears to go up right before a big drop. This implicates water balance as the issue here.
As well, women, who have more problems with water retention, seem to have bigger issues with stalls and whooshes than men. Further, some individuals who have done dry carb-loads (high carbohydrate refeeds without drinking a lot of water) have seen them occur; presumably the body pulls water into the muscles and out of other tissues (fat cells). In lean individuals, appearance is often drastically improved with this approach, it doesn’t do much for those carrying a lot of fat.
I’d note that dry carb-loads suck because you’re so damn thirsty. Interestingly, even normal refeeds often work in this regards, perhaps the hormonal effect ‘tells’ the body to chill out and release some water. So not only do refeeds seem to improve stubborn fat mobilization the next day (as discussed above), they may help the body drop some water so that you can see what is happening.
Finally, many have reported whooshes following an evening which included alcohol. A mild diuretic, this would also tend to implicate water balance issues in the whoosh phenomenon.
I’d also note that this isn’t universal, lean dieters often see visual improvements on a day to day basis; a lot seems to depend on whether or not they tend to retain water in general. Folks who do have problems with water retention tend to have stalls and whooshes, those who don’t show nice consistent visual changes.
On a related topic, I wanted to discuss something else that often happens when people are getting very lean and dealing with stubborn body fat: the fat gets squishy, feeling almost like there are small marbles under the skin. Yes, very scientific, I know. That’s the best I can do.
As folks get very lean, down to the last pounds of fat, the skin and fat cells that are left will often change appearance and texture. It will look dimply (as the fat cells which are supporting the skin shrink and the skin isn’t supported) and feel squishy to the touch. This is bad in that it looks really weird, but it’s good because it means that the fat is going away. I have nothing truly profound to say about this topic, just realizes that it happens and usually indicates good things are happening.
Hey Lyle… Great book by the way. It’s just an idea, but maybe the wooshes and squishy fat could be a result of faulty mineral balance on the diet- ie more sodium than potassium, or not enough of either. What do you think? Perhaps adding more K could speed the exitting of intracellular fluid… Maybe you could write an article about the physiology of fluid balance for body builders and how it is affected by mineral intake, or maybe it could be the topic of another booklet.
Mario,
Certainly electrolyte intake affects all of this. For the most part, water balance is so brutally complicated that I have steadfastly tried to ignore it and hope it goes away.
Lyle
This makes sense to me. It doesn’t have to be true or scientific. God knows we see so many “scientifically proven” facts that have turned out to be nothing more than myths.
What you are saying truly makes sense and I feel that in the long run the results will be more beneficial and longer lasting if we remain patient with our bodies.
Can you explain further what these “squishy marbles” are? Maybe picture. I don’t know what to make of it
@Marclee: When you pinch the fat, it doesnt feel as one continuous substance, but rather there are small ‘marbles’ or ‘balls’ that are somewhat squishy suspended under the skin. It’s pretty bizarre really
I have noticed the squishies myself. It does feel like BBs in my case.
Great article. Exactly my experience right now on RFL.
I just experienced this phenomenon myself. After a 10 day plateau I lost nearly half a pound last night then woke up this morning to find another pound and a half gone OVER NIGHT! That’s 2 pounds in two days! The body is really quite the mysterious machine and is a heck of a lot more complex than much of the diet industry would like us all to believe. lol
The hard balls of fat are almost like calcified fat. I have them in my chest right now — it’s bizarre.
The analogy of small marbles is a good one. I experience this in the sack of fat just below the belly button. Squishy with tiny marbles. What I notice myself is that the morning after a cardio session of 40 minutes at say 140BPM, 500 ml of water consumed during the session, followed by 15 minutes in the steam room (along with a lot of water consumed 500ml at LEAST) results in the feeling of ‘tightening up’ in that region. The squishy feel dimishes (doesnt entirely go) and the skin appears and feels alot tighter. Just my thoughts and experiences, it may differ for others.
Cheers
Fascinating – I’ve noticed for years that I look leaner / trimmer the day after a night of drinking and it always bothered me.
Know this is a little late, but isn’t this phenomenon known as dieter’s edema? From my understanding, this was something that was covered in the Minnesota Experiment, that Dr Key’s had trouble gauging the true loss of the people in his experiment due to edema.
This my second go-around at weight loss. Small frame. 130′s in college. In my 40′s peaked over 170 …. toooo much for my size. 2 years of strict diet and exercise got down to 141. Back over 160, so reapplying myself. First time I was stuck +160 for the longest time. Read about drinking water (1/2 your weight in oz) … staying hydrated. Three weeks later had that sudden breakthrough. What I had read simply stated that when dehydrated the body will hold on to as much water as possible, Give it a constant supply of water and and it will no longer have the need to hold onto it. RIght now, am currently stuck around 155, but haven’t been drinking sufficient water. So I need to get back to that.
Very interesting to read of how alcohol might make you look trimmer the next day. I once went on a three day drinking binge for a stag party and came back to work to be greeted with a load of ‘You’ve lost weight’ type comments. I was perplexed because I had consumed many, many thousands of calories through beer and alcoholic sodas etc.
YES!!!! my abdomen has SQUISHY FAT – all dimply and and and SQUISHY!!! i WAS going to write in to the inner circle ( i am on the 98 day challenge, into the 12th week now) and ask if anyone else knew why. THANK YOU.
Interesting read! Squishy fat. Very technical ;D
Oh alcohol, is there anything you can’t do?
So the marble feeling like fat is fat cells retaining water which will be the next fat to go?