Water retention is SO discouraging

driaxx

I'm feeling very discouraged.

All week I've been eating really well and exercising well, although yesterday I ate a slice of cake, however, that would have only put me 300 calories over maintenance MAX. I drank HEAPS of water with my dinner, and worked my shoulders yesterday at the gym, a muscle group that I haven't focussed on in a while (I don't know if you can retain water from weights. Google says you can, but I don't know if I was kind of looking for that answer and that's why I found it if you know what I mean).

Anyway I woke up this morning and was a staggering 4lb heavier. What the hell? It's so draining to be working hard and then actually gaining! Has anyone been here before? Is there any way to beat this?

Longbowgilly

This hapens to me, look at it as a good thing, it means that you have worked your muscles hard enough to force them to fix themselves, they NEED the water to grow and heal, it WILL go back down, don't worry.
Keep pushing!!

mrossi1730

That happens to me all the time - especially when I eat Chinese. Sodium causes water retention. Creatine supplements will also do it. Don't get too upset with these. Use how your clothes fit as your main barometer of your progress.

grimendale

and worked my shoulders yesterday at the gym, a muscle group that I haven't focussed on in a while (I don't know if you can retain water from weights.

Yes, you do. When you work out muscles for the first time in a while, as you have, you generate microtears in your muscle fibers. Your body retains glycogen and water at the site of the tears as part of the inflammation response. This is is normal and just means that you got a good workout. Water is very dense, particularly compared to fat, so it can balance or offset any losses fairly easily. As previously suggested, using a tape measure to track your body measurements will give you more accurate results. I've been doing Insanity for the past five week. I have lost 4" off my belly, but I am up 2 lbs. Obviously, I am losing fat, so I don't sweat over the weight gain. If you gain a lot of weight in a matter of a few days, water is almost always the culprit. Your retained water fluctuates throughout the day, and can wreak havoc on scale measurements, particularly when you are close to your healthy weight. Don't worry about it.

ndj1979

you can definitely fluctuate water weight about +/- 5 pounds over course of the week...

At one point I was at 181 and starting drinking a crap ton of water, by end of week I was 175..so that is 6 pounds in water weight in five days..

I weight myself three times a week to take account of variations..

so far this week was 178.8 on Monday and 175.8 today...