Water Weight? Stuck for Ten Days

jas82007

I am 70, weighed 210 when starting this latest diet a month ago. Made slow progress but did at one point get down to around 207. Ten days ago my family went out for my son's 21st birthday. I counted the calories as best I could from that dinner, went over my 1500 daily amount just that one day. I have not recovered since. My weight now is stuck at 208.8, my wife and others say I look thinner, it is not showing in the scales.

Could I be retaining water? I have had this happen on prior diets and sometimes took an over the counter diuretic which seemed to cause a lower scale weight for awhile. I know that is probably something to avoid, I probably don't drink enough water, currently six glasses per day.

Any advice? I am so discouraged.

CaptainPepperJack

Hi. Don't give up. One bad day won't undo the good ones. My doctor told me I should drink 0.9 ounces of water for every pound of body weight. I have a really hard time drinking that much water, but I try. I weigh 164, so that would be 147 ounces of water (128 is a gallon). The thing I do is I have a 32 ounce cup, and I try to make sure I drink at least 3 a day, and if I can do the 4th one before the end of the day I do - but most of the time I barely make it to a gallon. The days I have drank a gallon of water, I have felt so good - and lost weight. The doc told me that sodium (a derivative of salt) is sneaky and is in things we wouldn't even think about. It causes us to "gain" because our bodies hold onto water to "flush" the sodium from it. So if I eat out, I know for sure I'm probably going to "gain" and it will be water weight. The only way to get rid of it is to drink extra water. I know it sounds crazy but its the truth. If I eat out somewhere for a meal, I try to drink that 4th cup of water. It seems to help. Good luck! Don't be discouraged, we are all in this together!!

Tacklewasher

I just spent 2 weeks trying to break 250. It sucks but it happens. There is a good thread on here about weight loss not being linear, and I really need to bookmark it.

Yes, you are probably holding onto some water and will see a whoosh and drop a couple.

I don't fuss with how much water I drink and drink if I am thirsty. The 8 glasses thing is a bit of an old wives tale and as long as your pee is in the right colour range, your fine. Sometimes drinking more will flush out the sodium and the water retained, but it isn't fat loss and as much as it is nice to see the scale move, it's not really making a difference. And that is more for me than for you.

Stick to your plan, keep at it and just understand weight doesn't come off evenly and goes in spurts. Use a trending app if you weigh daily (I use trendweight.com) to focus more on the trends than the actual number.