Sodium & Water Retention
keithcw_the_first
Posts: 382 Member
I find if I eat out a lot on the weekend and take in more sodium than normal, it may take me a week or more for things to normalize and the water to work itself out. If that week includes another weekend with more carb and sodium heavy food, then it's like the water weight never leaves.
Anyone else see this cycle? How long do you normally hang on to extra water for?
Anyone else see this cycle? How long do you normally hang on to extra water for?
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Yes, if I eat a combo of high sodium and carbs it takes a long time to come off. The one example I always remember is having a high sodium/carb Saturday in January. I went up 4 pounds and it took me two full weeks (two Saturdays later) to get back to the weight I was before that day.0
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I find that it hangs in there for a few days. if you do this frequently, you should still see the weight going down
some people suggest that you only weigh once a week or month.
I weigh every day but I also realize that weight varies and only the downward trend is important0 -
Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.0 -
Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
I've never seen the numbers for sodium. I feel better. When I was bulking, I didn't really care. Now I'm cutting and it's disheartening to see the scale leap 5 pounds and then linger, especially when I know that the true scale number is lurking somewhere in there.0 -
Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?0 -
If I were to eat at a restaurant that often, I'd be putting fat back on in a jiffy. I don't get many cals to work with. On those occasions that I do eat out, I avoid the scale for about 5 days. Minimum of 3 days if I wasn't *that* bad. *shudders* There's the inlaws' family pig pickin coming up for the 4th of July and not one item at those could be considered low calorie. I don't wanna go. I married into this giant North Carolina family and the way they eat normally would cause me to be 500 lb and die of diabetes. *runs away and hides*0
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form of renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form or renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
How does this answer my questions?0 -
You hang on to the water until your body is done fighting off the salt, however long it takes.
You might want to take a gander at this: http://sodiumbreakup.heart.org/sodium-411/
And whatever anyone says, do not - I repeat, DO NOT - start taking potassium supplements to try to undo the sodium. Too much potassium is a bad thing.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form of renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
How does this answer my questions?
I'll break it down:
Where is this information from? It's an extracellular osmolality calculation.
Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Yes, unless there is some form of renal disorder
Blood potassium has no bearing? No
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form or renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
How does this answer my questions?
I think he's saying that the extra sodium isn't just hanging out in your blood. People talk about weight loss and "homeostasis", but the amount of sodium in your blood is a real example of the body putting the mechanisms to work that resulted in the idea of "homeostasis." It has to keep a million different things balanced and sodium hanging out in blood is one of them.
If there is too much in the blood, it gets moved elsewhere. And if nobody learned anything else about physiology, there's one thing you can know: where salt goes, water follows. It's the first thing every student should learn, IMO. When there is too much sodium, enough to damage things, water moves in to keep a balance.
Blood has a bazillion things in there and they all need to be at certain levels, including sodium and potassium. The excesses will be dealt with (moved, excreted, whathaveyou) so that the blood can remain the same.
At least, that's what I think he was trying to say.
It might be a little nitpicky for a forum. 0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form or renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
How does this answer my questions?
I think he's saying that the extra sodium isn't just hanging out in your blood. People talk about weight loss and "homeostasis", but the amount of sodium in your blood is a real example of the body putting the mechanisms to work that resulted in the idea of "homeostasis." It has to keep a million different things balanced and sodium hanging out in blood is one of them.
If there is too much in the blood, it gets moved elsewhere. And if nobody learned anything else about physiology, there's one thing you can know: where salt goes, water follows. It's the first thing every student should learn, IMO. When there is too much sodium, enough to damage things, water moves in to keep a balance.
Blood has a bazillion things in there and they all need to be at certain levels, including sodium and potassium. The excesses will be dealt with (moved, excreted, whathaveyou) so that the blood can remain the same.
At least, that's what I think he was trying to say. It might be a little nitpicky for a forum.
I think that's a perfect summation.
Thanks for adding the potassium warning. I work in pharmacovigilance and deal with the after effects of bad advice people get from diet websites. Most people think in terms of the sodium / potassium pump and think the balance occurs on a macro level - with sometimes serious consequences.0 -
Mine takes a good 4 days probably. And that's just going from my weekend after consuming a crap ton of salt, to my normal daily intake of slightly less than a crap ton of salt. My weight is all over the place.0
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arditarose wrote: »Mine takes a good 4 days probably. And that's just going from my weekend after consuming a crap ton of salt, to my normal daily intake of slightly less than a crap ton of salt. My weight is all over the place.
Made me LOL for sure (slightly less than a crap ton of salt being normal).
400 MG sodium retaining 4 cups water really is an eye opener. No wonder they hand out jerky and pretzels at the blood donation sites.0 -
arditarose wrote: »Mine takes a good 4 days probably. And that's just going from my weekend after consuming a crap ton of salt, to my normal daily intake of slightly less than a crap ton of salt. My weight is all over the place.
Made me LOL for sure (slightly less than a crap ton of salt being normal).
400 MG sodium retaining 4 cups water really is an eye opener. No wonder they hand out jerky and pretzels at the blood donation sites.
Yeah. I'm a mess with salt. I'll cook with taco seasoning, and still add salt to my dinner. Then make popcorn for dessert, add salt. Tuna for lunch? There better be salt.
There are some days when I see my abs...and other days when they are completely gone and my waist is up .5 inch.0 -
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Any time I see physical/physiological processes discussed here, it's always about cell polarization. Always, lol. Every time.Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form or renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
How does this answer my questions?
I think he's saying that the extra sodium isn't just hanging out in your blood. People talk about weight loss and "homeostasis", but the amount of sodium in your blood is a real example of the body putting the mechanisms to work that resulted in the idea of "homeostasis." It has to keep a million different things balanced and sodium hanging out in blood is one of them.
If there is too much in the blood, it gets moved elsewhere. And if nobody learned anything else about physiology, there's one thing you can know: where salt goes, water follows. It's the first thing every student should learn, IMO. When there is too much sodium, enough to damage things, water moves in to keep a balance.
Blood has a bazillion things in there and they all need to be at certain levels, including sodium and potassium. The excesses will be dealt with (moved, excreted, whathaveyou) so that the blood can remain the same.
At least, that's what I think he was trying to say. It might be a little nitpicky for a forum.
I think that's a perfect summation.
Thanks for adding the potassium warning. I work in pharmacovigilance and deal with the after effects of bad advice people get from diet websites. Most people think in terms of the sodium / potassium pump and think the balance occurs on a macro level - with sometimes serious consequences.
I only add the thing about potassium because people are forever saying that sodium doesn't matter if you drink water or take in extra potassium or jump up and down on your left foot.
One day, someone said they found potassium supplements and were going to take those so that they could stop worrying about their sodium. Someone else thought that was an excellent idea. So, I add it. At least they've been warned.
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Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Water retention rates:
400mg sodium causes ~ 4 cups of water retention ~ 2 lbs.
1g glycogen ~ 3g water
That is what is physiologically necessary to store those nutrients.
Calculating how long the weight gain lasts is a factor of how much you exceeded the daily recommended on your bad day, and how much your depletion rate is.
One of the best ways to fight water retention due to sodium is to actually drink more fluids. The extra hydration gives your body the resources it needs to process and flush the sodium out of your system.
Anecdotally, I have eaten double my daily allotment and gained 5 lbs. that took a week or more to get back off, and i have also done the same and 2 days later it was gone. There are too many variables to determine a precise answer.
As to whether your situation is normal or not ? It completely is.
Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Serum Sodium/Potassium concentration at the molecular level has little to no bearing on a macro/extracellular level. Plasma osmolality is essentially the same for everyone unless they are in some form of renal failure.
Drinking additional fluids will help flush out the excess sodium, but it does not speed up the process.
How does this answer my questions?
I'll break it down:
Where is this information from? It's an extracellular osmolality calculation.
Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Yes, unless there is some form of renal disorder
Blood potassium has no bearing? No
For the first question (where from) I was looking more for a link to reputable source to back up the post.0 -
sunn_lighter wrote: »Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Yes, unless there is some form of renal disorder
...or they are on a medications that affects the body's water retention/electrolyte levels. Or a diet that changes their glycogen levels. Or they are a women around TOMS. Really, do you mean "water retention is the same for everyone, if everyone had the exact same outside variables effecting their body's ability to retain water."
This sounds more in line with my personal experience.0 -
Need2Exerc1se wrote: »Where is this information from? Are you suggesting that water retention from sodium is the same for everyone? Blood potassium has no bearing?
Google search, here are a couple links:
http://www.livestrong.com/article/441246-high-sodium-and-water-retention/
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/high-sodium-water-retention-7494.html
Livestrong is an accurate source ( in my experience ).
And no, I am not implying it is identical for everyone, or that potassium has no effect. The point I was demonstrating is that a small change in sodium can cause a noticable change in retention, that is visible on a scale.
Which, I might add, was the OPs remark ... over indulging in salt, and the amount of time it takes to clear the retention. A discussion of all the variables involved would require much more space that a typcial forum post provides, and even then it wouldn't be complete, because I'm not a research biologist or nutritional scientist.0 -
This happened to me 2 weeks ago had a lot of pizza Sunday and gained 3 pounds of water weight overnight I was freaking out but everyone assured me it was water retention from high sodium so I drank lots of water lost the weight in 4 days. I find it easier to avoid fast food with high sodium period because I hate feeling bloated and gross the next day.0
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I'm still retaining a pound of water weight I gained on Wednesday from a popcorn binge I had at the movies. I'm trying to drink a lot of water!0
This discussion has been closed.
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