Why I will Make Sure to Hydrate

JBHawaii

Hey MFP friends!

I wanted to share a small epiphany I have had in the last few days and then ask the community, why?!?!?

My weight loss to date has been going really well. When I started I was hovering around 240 at 5'11 1/2" with a BMI of 32 or so. Yes, obese by medical standards. Since I began my diet and exercise regieme I have lost almost 42lbs. I am closing on a healthy BMI. I have my energy and life back.

However, seeing such awesome numbers coming up week in and week out I decided to push the envelope. I decided, foolishly, 2 weeks ago that I would stop hydrating as much so that in the morning I would see better numbers on the scale. (Yes, I am a psycho that weighs in daily... It's how I roll).

At first, It worked! The next few days I saw constant weight loss, which is unusual, and I started thinking that all was well AND even better than before. However, about a week in, my weight loss slowed. The next week, even on a 1K calorie defecit, i lost only 1/2 a pound. So, I decided to cut calories foolishly (dumb move), exercise more, and drink less. The following week I started to plateau, then, I stalled completely and finally, reversed! My worst nightmare had happened! How, with cut calories and daily exercise was I gaining weight? At first, it was only about 1/2 pound, the next day the same... finally, 2 days later I gained back almost 3 pounds... overnight!

This gain-back, however, happened after a night of drinking so I attributed it to that. So, i continued doing what I was doing and the next day, guess what? I gained back another 2 lbs!

Now I was depressed. I seriously started thinking about quitting. I looked in the mirror and was seriously peeved off and worst of all, I was mad at the process and myself =(

But i kept going. Slowly, with persistence a little came off again, no much, but a little. Then 3 days ago I decided, screw it, what do I have to lsoe, I'm going to start drinking water again, a lot of it, just like I used to... And guess what happened? Within three days almost my entire gain-back came off!

So what is the moral of this story? Well, here is what I got from it. When we don't hydrate, we lose the ability to flush salts and other hypertonic promoting substances from our body. In turn, we hold a lot more water in order to balance the substances in our cells e.t.c. to try and keep our internal environment in sync with our external. What I was doing was loading up on salts, sugar substitutes and not adequately cleatring them because my body was trying so hard to hold onto any water I was giving it. Going out that one night gave my body all the fluids it needed and it took up as much water as possible. However I had not drank enough to flush the junk from my system. When I started drinking adequate water again (and probably a bit more than necessary) I finally gave my body what it needed... the ability to flush solutes and properly hydrate. Once in balance, my body got rid of the excess water and let me finally lose the weight I had been busting my butt over.

So, the question. Has anyone else had this happen to them? Can anyone shed light on what occured? Am I right in tinking how I am?

Let me hear what you have to say and good luck in the journey to a better you. And remember, keep on drinking your dihydromonoxide!

realme56

Happens every time I have lost weight in the past. I would get to the difficult time and figured I would push past the slow weight loss by decreasing my intake and increasing my exercise.... never worked, got madly disappointed and gained weight again.

This time I am eating well every day and just not worrying how fast I lose this last 19#. The way I see it I am in better shape than I was in March 2011 and this is for life, not just to get to this weight.

DataBased

Yes - only I wasn't bright enough at first to recognize what I had done differently. My problem, which has been life-long, is that I have never willingly consumed pure water. Until a month or so ago, I believed completely when people said "Oh, that 8 glasses of water a day thing is a myth - it's never been proven - any liquid will do."

About a month or so ago, I started working out hard and I was just plain thirsty. I quit having sodas and I worked out in the evening, so coffee was out. We didn't have any tea in the house - so I held my nose and drank a shload of water. The next day, I drank the "good water" at work. I started drinking more than 64 oz a day, which for me was crazy.

The pounds haven't come off rapidly ever, but until then getting the scale to move was sheer agony. But during the time that I drank loads of water - it came off more easily than it ever had. More importantly, I began losing inches. 21.5 in total, to be exact.

I've lost 2 sizes now. That tells me I'm getting rid of fat. I'm truly not doing anything different other than increasing water consumption. So people can say that it's just a myth if they want to. For me, it's working.

Thanks for your post! :flowerforyou: