Nothing is more disheartening and more frustrating than water weight. It can cause you to want to give up all your hard work all together.
People retain water for a number of reasons, but the primary reason for most people is High Sodium intake, Dehydration, High sugar intake, Caffeine, Starvation dieting, and Hormones.
I started reading about the difference between water weight gain and fat weight gain after I had a "cheat meal" and the next day I gained 3 pounds. I was certain that all my time and effort of calorie counting and restricting was sabotaged by my one cheat meal. But here's the thing. My cheat meal did not contain 10,500 calories in it that would cause me to gain 3 lb's of fat. But it likely had high amounts of sodium and sugar that threw my water balance into complete disarray.
Processed foods tend to contain large amounts of sodium because salt makes things taste yummy! So when you have a lot of processed foods you tend to retain lots of water even if you are drinking more than your 8 glasses of water a day. Sodium is one thing I struggle with day in and day out because I LOVE SALT!
Salt is hidden in a lot in "healthy" foods as well. Because sodium doesn't add ANY calories to the food, it is added to low calorie packaged items all the time. For example, I LOVE deli meat! Especially Ham. You get a protein pack for not a lot of calories. 4 oz gives you 22 grams of protein in only 120 calories. But here's the thing... it'll give you 800-1000 mg of sodium. And you're only supposed to have 2300 mg or less a day. Also I love cottage cheese. Low fat cottage cheese has only 100 calories and 12 mg protein. But has nearly 500 mg of sodium. Sodium is hidden in everything packaged!
Also, dehydration can cause you to retain water. Naturally you would think, less water = less water weight right? But because our bodies are so amazing and adapt to hard situations, when your body doesn't get enough water it doesn't know when it is going to be available to have more so it holds on to every bit of water it is given. If you are drinking your water frequently throughout the day (6-8 oz per hour) your body is knowing it's getting enough water and doesn't hold on to it. Then it is able to flush out the sodium and keep water retention at a minimum.
Speaking of which, did you know that you are supposed to drink half your body weight in water? So if you are 150lb's you are supposed to drink 75 ounces or 9.5 cups of water. I was always so proud of getting my 64 ounces in... but actually I needed more!
Caffeine and alcohol are diuretics and can cause our bodies to lose water and become dehydrated more easily. So if you are a large caffeine consumer you may have to up your water intake even more!
High sugar intake causes an insulin spike that actually causes the body to not to flush out sodium. So if your cheat meal included dessert, that is probably the reason for the 3 lb weight gain.
Dieting very strict (Eating less than your BMR) can actually harm not only your metabolism, but it can really throw your body off. Once you cause your body to go into starvation mode, it does whatever necessary to keep your body living.
Especially if you restrict carbohydrates. Carbohydrates ARE NOT THE ENEMY. If you restrict them too much your body will break down it's own protein (muscle or lean body weight) and carbohydrate stores since it isn't getting enough from food. As it breaks down you end up losing a lot of water weight. That's why when some people start a strict low carbohydrate diet they may lose 5 or more lb's that week. That is just water weight.
So once you start eating carbohydrates again guess what you'll be GAINING?? Yep weight! And it's from WATER as your body starts to store carbohydrates again just in case they are taken away from your diet again.
That is why I am SUCH a advocate for TDEE. It helps you lose weight the healthy weight. It helps you reduce your calories enough without depriving your body of what it needs and balancing your Macro's: PROTEIN, FATS, AND CARBOHYDRATES in a healthy way to give you what your body needs on a constant basis. And you get to eat food enough to feel satisfied and still lose weight.
Hormones can also play into water weight. The woman's "time of the month" can actually cause her to gain up to 5lb's of water weight. Not much we can do about our hormones.
So don't get discouraged if your scale fluctuates up and down. It will. It will sometimes be maddening. But just keep track of your progress and you will see that the scale is slowly trending downward. And look at your before pictures and take progress pictures along the way.
I have always loved this picture because it is so true:
This is my last 6 months:
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