Water retention

LauraCoth

Well, I though I was doing well until a few days ago.

I've been having this problem for two years, and was really hoping that going low carb would help me, but alas, it's not to be.

I've been trying to lose the same 15-20 pounds for about 2 years now. I'm neurotic about my appearance and have a closet full of expensive clothes I can't wear, so I'm highly motivated. I've never been a big eater anyway, and diets do not daunt me as long as I'm not required to starve myself.

I am diligent about my diet when I'm on one. Right now I eat protein, fat and low carb vegetables. No grains at all. No fruit. No starches of any kind. Calories no more than 1400 daily, and sometimes less. Carbs around 30 daily, all from salad vegetables and the odd tablespoon of almond butter if I'm really hungry at night.

I start to lose weight. I start to feel good about myself again. My pants are no longer tight around the waist and the legs are loose. My bras fit again. I can wear my rings again. It all feels so worthwhile.

Then one morning, it's all back. And I mean, ALL. Bras that fit the day before so tight around my ribs I can't breathe properly and I get heartburn. Pants that fit perfectly a couple of days ago so tight I bulge over them, or worse, they won;t do up at all. Rings that fit me beautifully the day before won't go over my knuckles again.

And though I keep on with the diet for a few more weeks, I eventually give up because ultimately it's making no difference.

The weight I lose must be water, and the loss is fleeting.

This has all happened several times before, and it happened to me again about five days ago. Assuming this would be a temporary setback, I stopped supplementing salt, but that's made no difference. If anything, I'm bigger today than I was yesterday.

Interestingly, when I go back to my non-diet eating -- which is still lowish carb and lowish calorie because I've always been a lowish carb, lowish calorie eater-- I don't gain any more weight. I just remain the same old wobbly, bloated slug. Same weight. Same size. Same frustration.

No matter what, I should be losing weight, even if very slowly. I'd be happy if it was just a bit. Hell, I was happy just to be able to get my rings on again. Even that felt like a huge accomplishment. And there is not a chance in Hell I'm overeating and gaining the weight back. Not on 1400 calories a day. Not on 30 carbs a day. Not even if I was eating 1,800 calories a day (which is my sedentary maintenace intake) -- and I'm not.

I was taking in a lot of salt to counter foot cramps, but I stopped doing that to see if it would help with the water retention. It didn't.

I was taking extra T3 to see if improved thyroid numbers would help. They didn't.

At the suggestion of my N.D. I reduced my hormone supplements to see if that would help. It didn't.

I'm at my wit's end. Any other suggestions about what this could be? Dairy, maybe?

auntstephie321

How long have you gone at a time with your plan without changing things. Is it only a few weeks at a time? The water weight could be from normal monthly fluctuations, they are not a good measure in the short term. Thy could be up a good 4lbs water throughout the day. I think thy need to stick with one thing for a longer time period, you don't have a lot to lose so it's going to be slow. But changing as many factors as you are so quickly doesn't give anything time to actually work.

co_lau

Yes, it could be dairy.

Your electrolytes could be imbalanced, that causes a whole mess of weirdness. Consider electrolyte replacements. I use Nuun, but you use whatever works. Not just salt! Electrolytes.

You may need to eat more. Or evaluate your micronutrients to ensure you're getting enough.

Consider low stress exercise. Also, and please don't share details on this with me, but make sure you're maintaining a regular bowel schedule, as failure to properly move things on can cause bloating.

Sunny_Bunny_

Sounds like inflammation. Do you consume vegetable or seed oils? Are you using margarine instead of butter? I've heard of some people using those as their sources of fat when going low carb. They are highly inflammatory and if you've increased consumption because eating high fat, it could certainly have this kind of effect.
And how much sodium is "a lot of sodium" exactly?

LauraCoth

I use avocado oil for cooking, olive oil for salad, and butter. Sometimes we use coconut oil if a dish can take the flavour. I won't touch canola oil -- to me it stinks of rotten fish and I can't imagine how anyone can use it -- or safflower oil. I don't eat anything made from soy except the odd bit of soy sauce for seasoning, and that is rare.

I don't eat raw goitrogens like cruciferous vegetables.

I was drinking about 1.5 tablespoons of himalayan salt in water daily in addition to the foods I was eating, in order to counter the awful cramps I was getting at night. The salt started to make me feel really sick to my stomach, so I've cut it back to about 1 teaspoon a day. It wasn't helping the cramps, anyway.

In addition, I am taking magnesium bisglycinate to bowel tolerance -- so yes, regular as clockwork! .

I've been using a powdered electrolyte supplement called Vega, which has several electrolytes in reasonably high doses and is sweetened with stevia.

I'm not the most energetic person in terms of going to the gym, but I love to hike or even just take a 1/2 hour walk, and I have a 1/2 acre landscaped property to help take care of, so there's lots of physical activity, even if it isn't exercise per se. I'm not entirely a couch potato.

I am taking progesterone, but it's supposed to help you lose weight, not gain it. Very frustrating, since several of my friends did experience rapid weight loss after starting HRT. Grrr.

The only think I can think of is dairy. I guess I do eat quite a bit of dairy, because lunch is usually a snack of maybe an ounce or two of cheese and some celery or red pepper, or maybe 1/2 cup of Greek yogurt. I also use a couple of ounces of milk in tea and a couple of tablespoons of 18% cream in my coffee in the morning (I have one of each).

I like eating this way, though, and would like to continue with it. My digestive system certainly likes it. And I'm not hungry at all these days, so I never overeat. It's great. It's just that sometimes I feel like banging my head on the wall, what with the cramps and the non-weight loss.

Sunny_Bunny_

Well, there's something else going on other than the usual suspects then. The cramps seem the weirdest to me since you're taking a good form of magnesium up to tolerance and the sodium and still not getting relief. Do you take the mag twice a day? If not, maybe a second dose later on could help a bit more.
Might need to talk to a doctor if it doesn't clear up soon.
Maybe increase carbs in the form of veggies, maybe even some sweet potato. If you do that, try to make the higher carb meal your dinner.

dmariet116

It wouldn't be the EASIEST route to try, but maybe do a 30 day zero carb experiment. Eat meat and drink water. No dairy, no veggies and no fruit. No artificial sweeteners and nothing that isn't from the animal kingdom. If that helps, add one food at a time to see what is causing the problem. If it don't help, then eliminate meats one by one until you see what is causing the problem. The fresher meat, the better. Foods like aged beef and salami can be quite high in histamine. Histamine Intolerance symptoms tend to appear very soon after eating a high-histamine food, typically within less than two hours. Sometimes an elimination diet is the only way to get to the problem.

LauraCoth

Sunny_Bunny_ wrote: »

Well, there's something else going on other than the usual suspects then. The cramps seem the weirdest to me since you're taking a good form of magnesium up to tolerance and the sodium and still not getting relief. Do you take the mag twice a day? If not, maybe a second dose later on could help a bit more.
Might need to talk to a doctor if it doesn't clear up soon.
Maybe increase carbs in the form of veggies, maybe even some sweet potato. If you do that, try to make the higher carb meal your dinner.

I uncovered the solution to the cramp mystery -- it was my new thyroid medication that I started around the same time I started low carb (both at the recommendation of my ND). Thank goodness for that. Just that alone made my life a living hell.

LauraCoth

dmariet116 wrote: »

It wouldn't be the EASIEST route to try, but maybe do a 30 day zero carb experiment. Eat meat and drink water. No dairy, no veggies and no fruit. No artificial sweeteners and nothing that isn't from the animal kingdom. If that helps, add one food at a time to see what is causing the problem. If it don't help, then eliminate meats one by one until you see what is causing the problem. The fresher meat, the better. Foods like aged beef and salami can be quite high in histamine. Histamine Intolerance symptoms tend to appear very soon after eating a high-histamine food, typically within less than two hours. Sometimes an elimination diet is the only way to get to the problem.

This isn't a bad idea. I love meat. Here in mid-Island we have many farms that produce grass fed meats of all kinds, so it's easy to come by. Free-range eggs and chickens, too.

I have an appointment with my ND coming up in a couple of weeks, and I think I'll run it past her. In the past we've discussed the possibility that dairy might be an issue for me, so we might explore that possibility first. She also might have the results of my 2-hour urine test at that point, too, and maybe something obvious will show up.