Water weight....how long is your body affected?

walkswithfire4598
walkswithfire4598 Posts: 7 Member
edited November 2024 in Health and Weight Loss
As we know salt, carbs hold excess water in the body when consumed...

So even when eating within your TDEE or your cals for losing you can find an incline on your scales and in your inches the next day.

I found myself searching impacts on others on the internet on boxing day after I indulged on Christmas Day....simply for interest and data.

I know on Christmas Day I am unlikely to have eaten my TDEE plus 3500 (the alleged amount for a pound of fat gain

Replies

  • GemstoneofHeart
    GemstoneofHeart Posts: 865 Member
    It’s different for everyone and dependent on if you exercise as well, how much you ate, how much water you are drinking etc.
    there is no one right answer, but for me, I would say it’s anywhere from 3-5 days
  • BootyfulBikerZX10r
    BootyfulBikerZX10r Posts: 72 Member
    Once a month I gain 10lbs of water weight. it affects my scale and my measurements. After 3 months of tracking i know this is normal for my body. So I don't stress about it. I just keep with my program and drink lots of water and exercise to cycle it all out.
  • 4legsRbetterthan2
    4legsRbetterthan2 Posts: 19,589 MFP Moderator
    edited December 2017
    for me: from food usually about 2 days, from changing exercise 1-2 weeks
  • SCoil123
    SCoil123 Posts: 2,111 Member
    For me it’s usually like this
    From food 3-4 days
    Hormones 5-7 days
    Intense workout or new workout 7-10 days

    This is after 2 years of daily tracking
  • OldHobo
    OldHobo Posts: 647 Member
    I was looking into this a couple days ago and learned something, if not surprising, at least a little counter-intuitive. I was having pain in my feet and ankles caused by swelling and probably aggravated by a spike in salt intake. One of the ways to speed up getting rid of that excess water, I read, is to increase water intake, at least temporarily. So I did. The first day the pain abated. The second day I lost two lbs.
  • iheartmakeup01
    iheartmakeup01 Posts: 35 Member
    My body is usually affected 4 days and I will resume back to my normal weight. Just make sure to deplete the excess salt by drinking a gallon of water
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    iheartmakeup01 wrote: »
    My body is usually affected 4 days and I will resume back to my normal weight. Just make sure to deplete the excess salt by drinking a gallon of water

    There's no need to chug water like that (unless you happen to be extra thirsty). Just drink a normal amount.
  • emjay6x3
    emjay6x3 Posts: 213 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    iheartmakeup01 wrote: »
    My body is usually affected 4 days and I will resume back to my normal weight. Just make sure to deplete the excess salt by drinking a gallon of water

    There's no need to chug water like that (unless you happen to be extra thirsty). Just drink a normal amount.

    While a gallon of water a day is above the recommended intake (recommended is always the lowest suggestion), it's not excessive and actually flushes the body more readily. I have been drinking a gallon a day for almost a year now (at least 5 days a week) and definitely see a difference in water weight/retention. When I first started a gallon a day, I had an overnight difference in weight of 5 lbs.
  • RoxieDawn
    RoxieDawn Posts: 15,488 Member
    edited December 2017
    This varies. Dietary (more carbs sodium) can be up 2-3-4 pounds for a couple to 3 days. I am usually down 2 pounds premenstrual (2 days prior) but back up 3 pounds. I gain a couple during ovulation as well.

    Increase/change in exercise, I can be weight stable, up or down as hydration is a key factor for the workout change, more sweat lost and how well I replenish electrolytes.

    I don't think anyone will gain or lose the same amounts in similar conditions.

    side note: drinking a gallon of water each day is actually harmful to me in the way that it flushes too much and makes me electrolyte imbalanced. I do not need this much water generally for my current stats.
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    walkswithfire4598 wrote: »

    I know on Christmas Day I am unlikely to have eaten my TDEE plus 3500 (the alleged amount for a pound of fat gain

    All this over a 1 lb fluctuation? Don't you have fluctuations like that at other times?
  • try2again
    try2again Posts: 3,562 Member
    Might be of interest to you:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10624876/who-gained-the-most-weight-over-the-weekend/p1
  • walkswithfire4598
    walkswithfire4598 Posts: 7 Member
    try2again wrote: »
    walkswithfire4598 wrote: »

    I know on Christmas Day I am unlikely to have eaten my TDEE plus 3500 (the alleged amount for a pound of fat gain

    All this over a 1 lb fluctuation? Don't you have fluctuations like that at other times?

  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    2-14 days
  • 2baninja
    2baninja Posts: 519 Member
    I ate too much sodium, Saturday and Sunday, Monday I was up 2 pounds, I ate normally on Monday and Tuesday, those 2 # were gone.
  • emjay6x3
    emjay6x3 Posts: 213 Member
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    emjay6x3 wrote: »
    janejellyroll wrote: »
    iheartmakeup01 wrote: »
    My body is usually affected 4 days and I will resume back to my normal weight. Just make sure to deplete the excess salt by drinking a gallon of water

    There's no need to chug water like that (unless you happen to be extra thirsty). Just drink a normal amount.

    While a gallon of water a day is above the recommended intake (recommended is always the lowest suggestion), it's not excessive and actually flushes the body more readily. I have been drinking a gallon a day for almost a year now (at least 5 days a week) and definitely see a difference in water weight/retention. When I first started a gallon a day, I had an overnight difference in weight of 5 lbs.

    Saying there is no need to do something isn't the same thing as saying it is harmful. If someone wants to drink a gallon of water a day, more power to them. Doing it just because you're in a hurry to get rid of some water weight, what's the point?

    Your body weight naturally fluctuates all the time. Sometimes I'm 5 pounds up, sometimes I'm 5 pounds down. Neither one is a big deal.

    I totally understand and did not state that you said it was harmful, just to clear that up. A gallon a day is "normal" for me, so I was just adding my two cents. :)
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,672 Member
    From extra sodium or carbs, usually a day, at most 2.

    A big day with material extra volume (not just salt or different macro balance), there's extra digestive system contents, not just water weight. Digestive transit time, per research, can be more than 50 hours.

    For exercise, I've had the water weight persist until I stopped the exercise, I believe. (It was off season weight training that I did for several months, consistently and progressively to the point of having pleasantly sore muscles pretty much all the time. Started late Fall, stopped mid-Spring.)
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