How do you know if you are retaining water?
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lorib642
Posts: 1,942 Member
My weight loss has stalled. I think I am just eating at maintenance. I am trying to control my hunger.
But, I was wondering if I could be holding on to water. How do you know? What is the best thing to do if you are? Just drink more water? I know caffeine is a diuretic. I drink a cup in the morning.
But, I was wondering if I could be holding on to water. How do you know? What is the best thing to do if you are? Just drink more water? I know caffeine is a diuretic. I drink a cup in the morning.
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Replies
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less salt, more water4
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Or if the water retention is stress related, less stress. That could mean for example meditation, exercising less, eating a bit more food,... Depending on the type of stress.3
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When my scale goes up 6 pounds every month when I ovulate despite me continuing to eat in a deficit, I know it is water retention.
Last I knew you were doing keto, yes? If you've recently added carbs you'd likely gain some water weight.
If you've added new exercise, you could retain water from that.
Basically, if you are very confident in your logging of CI and CO, and the scale surprises you, the likely culprit is a water weight fluctuation.4 -
kshama2001 wrote: »When my scale goes up 6 pounds every month when I ovulate despite me continuing to eat in a deficit, I know it is water retention.
Last I knew you were doing keto, yes? if you've recently added carbs you'd likely gain some water weight
If you've added new exercise, you could retain water from that.
Basically, if you are very confident in your logging of CI and CO, and the scale surprises you, the likely culprit is a water weight fluctuation.
Thank you. I have been eating homemade yogurt made with half and half. I am not sure of carbs, bacteria eat the lactose, but it is an increase. And, I just started some light resistance training.
I am not very confidant in my logging. I am sure there are things I miss and I have trouble staying under. It is probably just that I eat too much.0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »When my scale goes up 6 pounds every month when I ovulate despite me continuing to eat in a deficit, I know it is water retention.
Last I knew you were doing keto, yes? if you've recently added carbs you'd likely gain some water weight
If you've added new exercise, you could retain water from that.
Basically, if you are very confident in your logging of CI and CO, and the scale surprises you, the likely culprit is a water weight fluctuation.
Thank you. I have been eating homemade yogurt made with half and half. I am not sure of carbs, bacteria eat the lactose, but it is an increase. And, I just started some light resistance training.
I am not very confidant in my logging. I am sure there are things I miss and I have trouble staying under. It is probably just that I eat too much.
If you open up your diary, we can take a look and see if we think it might be logging errors of some kind (im about to get off for the night but others will be around, and ill be on in the morning for a bit)
as someone else suggested, an increase in carbs if you have been doing keto will do it. higher sodium, eating out, increase in exercise, etc.... lots of reasons, really.
also, time of month if your cycle is about to start. Mine is starting to get more irregular now as i *ahem* get older but my scale can jump up anywhere from 3-6 pounds for no reason at all around that time of month when it decides to show up.1 -
If you were losing at a reasonably good rate, then suddenly stalled without significantly eating more (calories) or moving significantly less, it's likely to be water weight.
Usually - without a fairly noticeable change in calorie intake or movement - reaching maintenance calories via weight loss is going to be a relatively slow tapering of loss rate over quite a period of time, not a sudden switch from losing well to not losing at all.
Personally, my answer, when I think I'm holding water weight, is to wait it out. However, I've been calorie counting for a long time now (over 6 years) so have a pretty strong trust in my calorie needs estimates and my logging processes, via experience. I don't try to game my body to get the water weight off (more water, fewer carbs, less sodium, more sweating, electrolytes, whatever). Why bother? It's just water. Fat is the one I care about in the shorter run (lean mass longer term, too, of course).
I'd add that I have some things I can notice about myself when I'm holding a little more water (usually), but I don't think they necessarily generalize to others. I've seen other people cite indicators of water retention for them that don't seem to happen with me, like slackness of skin in certain body areas. (One of mine is that - sigh - bags under my eyes look puffier if I'm holding more water than normal.)
As far as the carbs specifically: Your body temporarily holds onto some water while metabolizing carbs. (There's a reason why they're called carboHYDRATES, I think.) Eat more carbs than typical, hold more water than typical . . . until carbs return to the typical level, after which water retention should settle back to typical, too. It's not that you're adding fat because of the carbs, if at consistent calorie intake and activity levels.1 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »When my scale goes up 6 pounds every month when I ovulate despite me continuing to eat in a deficit, I know it is water retention.
Last I knew you were doing keto, yes? if you've recently added carbs you'd likely gain some water weight
If you've added new exercise, you could retain water from that.
Basically, if you are very confident in your logging of CI and CO, and the scale surprises you, the likely culprit is a water weight fluctuation.
Thank you. I have been eating homemade yogurt made with half and half. I am not sure of carbs, bacteria eat the lactose, but it is an increase. And, I just started some light resistance training.
I am not very confidant in my logging. I am sure there are things I miss and I have trouble staying under. It is probably just that I eat too much.
If you open up your diary, we can take a look and see if we think it might be logging errors of some kind (im about to get off for the night but others will be around, and ill be on in the morning for a bit)
as someone else suggested, an increase in carbs if you have been doing keto will do it. higher sodium, eating out, increase in exercise, etc.... lots of reasons, really.
also, time of month if your cycle is about to start. Mine is starting to get more irregular now as i *ahem* get older but my scale can jump up anywhere from 3-6 pounds for no reason at all around that time of month when it decides to show up.
I log my food on Cronometer because it links with my devices, but the forums there are quiet. I may come back to logging here. I am attaching a pic of yesterdays log. One thing is that it counts my steps twice so it gives me a higher calorie goal. I have it set at 1/2 lb/week.
I am 57F 5'5" 160 lbs Pretty sedentary. My job involves sitting, walking. standing I walk my dog. Just added in an intro to home workout.
I was eating store bought yogurt and switched to homemade. I don't know how to log it. I have been eating more leafy greens lately.
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If you were losing at a reasonably good rate, then suddenly stalled without significantly eating more (calories) or moving significantly less, it's likely to be water weight.
Usually - without a fairly noticeable change in calorie intake or movement - reaching maintenance calories via weight loss is going to be a relatively slow tapering of loss rate over quite a period of time, not a sudden switch from losing well to not losing at all.
Personally, my answer, when I think I'm holding water weight, is to wait it out. However, I've been calorie counting for a long time now (over 6 years) so have a pretty strong trust in my calorie needs estimates and my logging processes, via experience. I don't try to game my body to get the water weight off (more water, fewer carbs, less sodium, more sweating, electrolytes, whatever). Why bother? It's just water. Fat is the one I care about in the shorter run (lean mass longer term, too, of course).
I'd add that I have some things I can notice about myself when I'm holding a little more water (usually), but I don't think they necessarily generalize to others. I've seen other people cite indicators of water retention for them that don't seem to happen with me, like slackness of skin in certain body areas. (One of mine is that - sigh - bags under my eyes look puffier if I'm holding more water than normal.)
As far as the carbs specifically: Your body temporarily holds onto some water while metabolizing carbs. (There's a reason why they're called carboHYDRATES, I think.) Eat more carbs than typical, hold more water than typical . . . until carbs return to the typical level, after which water retention should settle back to typical, too. It's not that you're adding fat because of the carbs, if at consistent calorie intake and activity levels.
This ^^ (the bolded sentences, especially). In a reasonably healthy body, water weight is self-regulating. There's a limit to how much water your body will retain, so it can't cover weight loss forever (i.e., if you're eating in a deficit, eventually you will lose more fat, by weight, than the amount of extra water you have retained above baseline).
Are you eliminating waste (solid and liquid) in a more or less normal rate (for you)? Are parts of your body puffed up in a way that makes your skin look and feel taut? Are you having trouble breathing? A no to the first question or a yes to the second or third are probably good reasons related to the water-retention/scale-stall issue to see a doctor.1 -
Yes, I see my dr next month and will ask if my ankles look swollen, no thank goodness..
What made me ask is I saw something on weight plateaus and they gave a list of things and the first that popped out is the food you eat and how active you are, but one was water retention. They listed other things too, like sleep and stress.
I also had a medication change in June, a diabetes med ( Januvia) and it took me awhile to adjust to the change.0 -
Yes, I see my dr next month and will ask if my ankles look swollen, no thank goodness..
What made me ask is I saw something on weight plateaus and they gave a list of things and the first that popped out is the food you eat and how active you are, but one was water retention. They listed other things too, like sleep and stress.
I also had a medication change in June, a diabetes med ( Januvia) and it took me awhile to adjust to the change.
Up front admission: This is mostly a rant, not aimed at you. You're fine. 🙂
I hate it when blogs or books or whatever talk about reasons for weight loss plateaus, and mention carbs/sodium/water retention, but then don't even seem to think to mention that for most of us, weight loss goals are about *fat* loss, and when *weight* loss stalls because of water retention (or constipation or something like that), it doesn't mean *fat* loss has stalled.
If you're going for half a pound a week loss at this point - a fine thing to do - realistically, that can be happening very nicely, but play peek-a-boo on the scales for a long time with water/waste weight. If normal day to day fluctuations can be a pound or two, maybe more - they can for me, routinely, at 5'5", around 125 pounds these days - then playing that off against half a pound a week fat loss suggests there can be multiple weeks, maybe whole months, that look goofy on the scale, maybe longer.
Summer heat can increase water retention, exercise changes, moderate changes in carb/sodium levels, medication changes, maybe random cosmic rays or people who don't like us dunking voodoo dolls in water, who knows. I care about fat levels, not really much about scale weight weirdness. With this amount of personal history, I trust the process. I can understand that that may not work psychologically for someone with less history/experience . . . but I still think waiting it out isn't a bad plan, if you can stand it (and as long as you don't have indications, like those Lynn outlined, to think something could be medically wrong).
IMO, the lactose levels in your yogurt vs. in commercial yogurt are unlikely to be significant calorically (depending on what your commercial yogurt was, fat levels maybe could be, if you eat a lot of it).
Best wishes . . . try not to worry.3 -
callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »When my scale goes up 6 pounds every month when I ovulate despite me continuing to eat in a deficit, I know it is water retention.
Last I knew you were doing keto, yes? if you've recently added carbs you'd likely gain some water weight
If you've added new exercise, you could retain water from that.
Basically, if you are very confident in your logging of CI and CO, and the scale surprises you, the likely culprit is a water weight fluctuation.
Thank you. I have been eating homemade yogurt made with half and half. I am not sure of carbs, bacteria eat the lactose, but it is an increase. And, I just started some light resistance training.
I am not very confidant in my logging. I am sure there are things I miss and I have trouble staying under. It is probably just that I eat too much.
If you open up your diary, we can take a look and see if we think it might be logging errors of some kind (im about to get off for the night but others will be around, and ill be on in the morning for a bit)
as someone else suggested, an increase in carbs if you have been doing keto will do it. higher sodium, eating out, increase in exercise, etc.... lots of reasons, really.
also, time of month if your cycle is about to start. Mine is starting to get more irregular now as i *ahem* get older but my scale can jump up anywhere from 3-6 pounds for no reason at all around that time of month when it decides to show up.
I log my food on Cronometer because it links with my devices, but the forums there are quiet. I may come back to logging here. I am attaching a pic of yesterdays log. One thing is that it counts my steps twice so it gives me a higher calorie goal. I have it set at 1/2 lb/week.
I am 57F 5'5" 160 lbs Pretty sedentary. My job involves sitting, walking. standing I walk my dog. Just added in an intro to home workout.
I was eating store bought yogurt and switched to homemade. I don't know how to log it. I have been eating more leafy greens lately.
Did you mean to enter 0 for the heavy cream and half & half?0 -
kshama2001 wrote: »callsitlikeiseeit wrote: »kshama2001 wrote: »When my scale goes up 6 pounds every month when I ovulate despite me continuing to eat in a deficit, I know it is water retention.
Last I knew you were doing keto, yes? if you've recently added carbs you'd likely gain some water weight
If you've added new exercise, you could retain water from that.
Basically, if you are very confident in your logging of CI and CO, and the scale surprises you, the likely culprit is a water weight fluctuation.
Thank you. I have been eating homemade yogurt made with half and half. I am not sure of carbs, bacteria eat the lactose, but it is an increase. And, I just started some light resistance training.
I am not very confidant in my logging. I am sure there are things I miss and I have trouble staying under. It is probably just that I eat too much.
If you open up your diary, we can take a look and see if we think it might be logging errors of some kind (im about to get off for the night but others will be around, and ill be on in the morning for a bit)
as someone else suggested, an increase in carbs if you have been doing keto will do it. higher sodium, eating out, increase in exercise, etc.... lots of reasons, really.
also, time of month if your cycle is about to start. Mine is starting to get more irregular now as i *ahem* get older but my scale can jump up anywhere from 3-6 pounds for no reason at all around that time of month when it decides to show up.
I log my food on Cronometer because it links with my devices, but the forums there are quiet. I may come back to logging here. I am attaching a pic of yesterdays log. One thing is that it counts my steps twice so it gives me a higher calorie goal. I have it set at 1/2 lb/week.
I am 57F 5'5" 160 lbs Pretty sedentary. My job involves sitting, walking. standing I walk my dog. Just added in an intro to home workout.
I was eating store bought yogurt and switched to homemade. I don't know how to log it. I have been eating more leafy greens lately.
Did you mean to enter 0 for the heavy cream and half & half?
Yes, I hit the wrong items. Sorry, that is confusing. I usually put cream in my coffee but ran out.
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the thing that stands out to me, and it could just be because I am not familiar with that logging platform (I only know MFP), is the egg and cheese recipe and the ice cream. how are the calories in the recipe calculated? is it like mfp where you enter in the weight of all the ingredients or is it a generic entry you selected? the ice cream- i know it would be low carb since its keto, but the measurement on it - did you measure it in actual cups or guesstimate or something else? I know I weigh everything (solids) in grams as it is more accurate (not to mention easier) than measuring cups. Same for the protein powder. Did you weigh it out, or just use the scoop?
Just wondering. As I said, im not familiar with that platform and how its done or how you do things.
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The egg recipe I weighed out initially. I may be off when I made it again. The ice cream is a brand. I split it into 3 servings but don't measure each serving. Thank you. I going to switch to just 4 oz yogurt I was really over carbs that day1
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My weight loss has stalled. I think I am just eating at maintenance. I am trying to control my hunger.
But, I was wondering if I could be holding on to water. How do you know? What is the best thing to do if you are? Just drink more water? I know caffeine is a diuretic. I drink a cup in the morning.
I don't know how to successfully control it but I know I'm retaining water by making a fist and my skin on my hand goes taut, smooth and shiny. I can go up and down 10lbs a day through this. Generally though by the end of the week it levels out.1 -
For me, I know I am retaining water when my rings are tight. Sometimes I can tell because I get lines from something pressing into my legs, like a table edge or socks. When my rings are loose I am either not retaining or may be a bit dehydrated. To check that, I pinch some skin on my hand. If it doesn't smooth out immediately, then I'm dehydrated.0
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You indicate you just started resistance training.
Any soreness? Stiffness? Duck walking? Joint pain?
Your body will retain water to heal sore or injured areas. For that reason, it’s very common to hold on the several pounds of water weight when beginning a new exercise regiment.0 -
You are on the right track in so many ways, OP. First off, props for that.
You are smart to focus first on understanding the hunger. I know you know it's highly individual and you just have to experiment to find what is satisfying TO YOU. Other have suggested good things to try (fiber, high volume, fat, protein), so best wishes for finding the combination that you truly enjoy most.
If I am going to eat the entirety of a package or recipe of something, I'm not careful about portioning it exactly either. I figure it will average out once I've eaten it all. The caveat is some packaged food labels aren't terribly accurate and might be worth weighing and logging by weight. E.g. for the bread I buy, every piece has a different weight, but the tortillas I buy are uniform (which I know from weighing them a lot and now don't bother).
About water weight, I'm like @AnnPT77 on this one -- I wait it out. I think being fully hydrated, and having glycogen stores stocked for that matter, are awesome things. I would not intentionally deplete myself of either. I'm not talking about abnormal or uncomfortable bloat here, just normal muscular/liver hydration fluctuation. I too have frustrating times when the scale weight just doesn't make sense. As noted, that sensibility relies on being pretty confident of my logging. Even if I am not confident of my logging (e.g. I was on vacation or otherwise not bothering), I will give it 3 or 4 weeks of making an effort to count accurately before deciding I need to change something. I've been maintaining a long time. Sometimes it seems to take more effort than it should, but whenever I do make the effort, the math always works. It may not work as quickly as I want it to, but eventually it does. Sometimes it takes 4 weeks.
It really sounds to me like you are on the right track. :flowerforyou:3
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