Tell me about water retention

RawCarrots

I'm a bit confused with the whole water retention problem and how exactly does it work. I've been eating at deficit and I know weight will eventually start dropping down again, so will have to be patient, but how long could it last for? While I'm eating at deficit I should be losing fat (and muscle), right, and the water retained in my body is masking that making the scale go higher. However as I continue to eat in deficit I should continue to lose fat/muscle so eventually even with water still being retained I should start seeing the scale moving down. Right?

So what's the maximum amount of water our bodies can retain? And for how long? And how come you see people saying they've been stuck at the same weight for weeks and weeks while eating at a resonable deficit? Is it that when they lose 1lb of fat their body retains an extra pound of water? Doesn't make sense to me.

I'm more interested in the science behind it, not too worried about myself, scale has only been misbehaving for couple of weeks so not a big deal.

mjrkearney

The whole water retention "problem" is mostly just a part of life. It's a little bit level of hydration, a little bit recent sodium consumption, a little bit hormones. That, and how much food is physically in your body at any given time account for the minor fluctuations throughout the day. Long-term, the effects balance out if you're tracking your numbers. Hopefully you will never weigh in fully empty.

RawCarrots

So how come people eat at deficit and scale doesn't move for weeks and weeks? The common reply given here is "water fluctuations"