The phenomenon of a sudden jump downwards in the scale reading does happen, but I agree that the explanation about the fat cells accumulating water and then suddenly letting it go doesn’t appear to have any data behind it.
It would be difficult to strudy this phenomenon, because it happens so randomly. As I recall, the 20-lb./9 kg whoosh I experienced occurred about five or six months after I began eating this way, and with no indication that anything was going on that might have triggered it.
Random, inexplicable jumps in scale readings might simply be part of the keto experience, however, because I also experienced an “anti-whoosh,” in which my scale suddenly read 32 lbs./14.5 kg heavier than the day before. Both jumps in the scale number appeared to have been “real” in the sense that subsequent readings were consistent, but they had no effect on my clothing size or anything like that. You’d think that, if I’d really gained 32 pounds, my trousers would have felt a lot tighter, but they didn’t. And they didn’t feel noticeably looser after my 20-lb. whoosh, either. Perhaps the scientific explanation will turn out to be that these phenomena are the result of local fluctuations in the Earth’s gravitic field, I don’t know. 