What exactly IS "water weight"?

alaskagrown

So... I lost a bunch of water weight. Like 5 lbs of it the first week on MFP. Cool, I guess. But what IS it? I'm familiar with adding 3 or 4 lbs around my TOM, and I think of that as "water weight", but what exactly causes your body to store "water" like that? And does drinking water have anything to do with it?

My question is not phrased very well and has probably been on here before, but I'd appreciate any clarification!

krd82

When I had my baby while I was in the hospital the nurse told me to drink alot of water to flush out the excess water my body was holding, if that makes sence. So I don't think water gain comes from drinking water. When my mom eats alot of fruit like canalop she has alot of water gain and you can really see it in her face like around her eye lids, in her arms and feet. Hope this helps.

NoAdditives

Your body will hold on to water for a variety of reasons. Excess sodium, not drinking enough water, strength training will make your muscles hold on to water, hormone fluctuations...

If you recently started drinking about 8 glasses of water a day, started limiting your sodium intake and have been eating healthier foods, you will lose weight quickly. There was a time when I drank a lot of soda and could lose 10 pounds in a week from drinking water instead.

sliceofsarah

http://www.inch-aweigh.com/water.html

I actually just recently read this article on water weight and it made sense to me so I think it is accurate. Basically when you start regularly drinking enough water that makes your body think that you will continue to drink enough water for it everyday (hence, "regularly"). So then your body sheds some of the water it was storing before as emergency supplies (because your body didn't think it could depend on you to give it enough water regularly), because now your body trusts you to keep drinking that water. Hence you lose "water weight".

The article phrases that a lot better, but I thought I would summarize it in case you didn't want to read the whole thing!

krd82

Your body will hold on to water for a variety of reasons. Excess sodium, not drinking enough water, strength training will make your muscles hold on to water, hormone fluctuations...

If you recently started drinking about 8 glasses of water a day, started limiting your sodium intake and have been eating healthier foods, you will lose weight quickly. There was a time when I drank a lot of soda and could lose 10 pounds in a week from drinking water instead.

I was wondering why the next day after working out my weight went up about 2lbs, lol.

TropicalKitty

It's just your body holding onto excess water for a variety of possible reasons. Usually, it's from too much sodium and/or not drinking plenty of water.

In addition to some of the things mentioned that cause it, carbs can cause it too. If I recall the number correctly, each gram of carbohydrate gets stored with 4g of water.

NoAdditives

Your body will hold on to water for a variety of reasons. Excess sodium, not drinking enough water, strength training will make your muscles hold on to water, hormone fluctuations...

If you recently started drinking about 8 glasses of water a day, started limiting your sodium intake and have been eating healthier foods, you will lose weight quickly. There was a time when I drank a lot of soda and could lose 10 pounds in a week from drinking water instead.

I was wondering why the next day after working out my weight went up about 2lbs, lol.

That happened to me when my trainer gave me a new exercise routine. I was doing mostly cardio and then she switched me to a more intense strength training program with a little less cardio. Now I make sure I drink a protein shake after exercising so my muscles get the protein they need to recover and hold on to a little less water.

kawraith

I was going to write a technical and science-y explanation, but this article explains it much better than I could do justice here

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-You-Losing-Body-Fat-or-Water?&id=49646

Jennkies

Great question Alaska, I was subliminally wondering the same thing, but didnt think enough to ask. Great explanations everyone, thanks for sharing.

Lyadeia

I was going to write a technical and science-y explanation, but this article explains it much better than I could do justice here

http://ezinearticles.com/?Are-You-Losing-Body-Fat-or-Water?&id=49646

Great article! Thanks for sharing. :flowerforyou:

sweebum

Great article, thanks! Always something I wondered about myself..

alaskagrown

Thanks for all the replies. Both articles were really helpful, thanks!