Water retention when you have a cold??

NatAlexander94

Iv had a stinking cold since Monday and since then Iv stuck to just my maintenance calories and kept fluids up, but looking in the mirror I look swollen especially around stomach and have gained few lbs??
Please tell me our bodies retain water when we aren’t well cause Iv Googled it and google says the opposite!?

anubis609

When you're sick, inflammation occurs within tissue. While dehydration is an issue and fluid intake is necessary, it doesn't equate to fat gain, so long as you're not in a large surplus of calories. The scale shouldn't even be a concern at this point.

NatAlexander94

So it is normal for our bodies to become inflamed .... in never ever sick and if anything I expected to be loosing weight not gaining!

MikePTY

I would not weigh yourself while you are sick. Depending on the illness, you can either gain or lose several pounds, neither of which are fat and neither of them stick when you stop being sick.

When you are sick, the primary focus should be on recovery, not weight loss or a calorie deficit.

cwolfman13

In addition to what others have said, if you upped your calories to maintenance those additional calories are also going to cause you to retain more water and also have more inherent waste in your system.

Sparketta

If you've taken Advil or Aleve, that can cause water retention as well. Feel better soon!

TanyaHooton

It takes 3500 calories to gain a pound. If you've gained a few pounds, do you really think you've overeaten recently by 7000 to 10,500 calories? Of course what you are seeing is retained water aka bloating. When the body is stressed (and it is during a cold; all systems are haywire and working overtime, particularly your lymph nodes and kidneys) it will retain water. I don't really know why it does that, but it does, and it will go away in time - in its own time. Be patient, treat your body well by drinking a lot of water and resting, and don't look at the scale for another week or so.