Is water making me fat?

lmkaks

Since weighing myself on 12/27 I have GAINED five pounds.

I didn't start monitoring calories until yesterday, but before then I was watching what I eat so wasn't going crazy. I know I did not eat enough to gain five pounds in less than a week. I am not in super freakout mode yet becuase I know I have only been serious about this for one day so I will give it more time, but I am really bummed out.

In the mornings, I can't take my rings off. I am also weighing myself in the morning. Why would I be so swollen/bloated in the mornings?

I drink a lot of water during the day (11 or more cups) so could this all be water weight? If so, could I have gained five pounds in water weight?!?!?!

This has happened every time I have tried to lose weight and the main reason I just give up. It is the bloating and lack of weight loss. I lose maybe four or five pounds and then get stuck. What is going on?!?!?!?!?

doughnutsanddumbbells

Your body will be adjusting to the changes. Obviously water isn't making you fat, it's physically impossible, however your weight can fluctuate by +/- 7lbs per day. Have you been eating low fat/calorie foods that have hidden sodium in them? Have you gone from drinking no water to 11+ cups? All of these things can be a big shock to your body. You obviously haven't gained 5lbs in fat, so don't worry about that, just ride it out another few weeks and let your body fully adjust to the healthy changes you're making. If by the end of the month you still haven't lost anything, then relook at how you're doing things, but a week isn't long enough to do anything.

lmkaks

Thank you,
I know water isn't making me fat...I just am wondering why there is so much water retention. YOu bring up some great points. I wont freak out...yet.

LeenaRuns

Thank you,
I know water isn't making me fat...I just am wondering why there is so much water retention. YOu bring up some great points. I wont freak out...yet.

Water retention is caused by excess sodium, not by drinking lots of water. Drinking lots of water, eating lower sodium, and eating higher potassium are the best ways to reduce water retention.

amanda_catherine

fat?....no ....pee more.....yes

kr1stadee

Check your sodium levels in your foods. Drinking water will not make you fat...

You either ate a lot of food with sodium, or there is an underlying health condition.

luv2ash

Watch the sodium content in your food. I am very super sensitive to sodium. I have been so strict with my sodium content since getting healthy that one slip up, and I balloon up due to excess sodium.

Restaurant food is loaded with it. Frozen foods are loaded with it and sometimes even your meats at the market have are injected with it.

Try to watch those numbers and read your labels and buy as fresh as possible to keep the sodium levels down.

FitLifeDiva

I think I'm having issues with water retention as well. I will be paying closer attention to my salt intake and continue to drink water.

thebigcb

Nope, all the food you eat makes you fat.

amdahwd

I swell up really bad during the night too; to the point where I wake up and my fingers are aching because they are so tight. A lot of people say to weigh right after you go to the bathroom first thing in the morning, but I weigh more at that time. I have to start drinking first thing in the morning so that I go to the bathroom several times before it is time for me to weigh. Don't know why it works that way for my body, but it does. It can be as much as a 2-pound difference in that few hours.

You have not gained 5 pounds from eating and water is not making you fat, so do not freak out. If you keep doing what you are supposed to be doing (watching calories), then eventually the numbers will catch up with what you are doing!

SloRunner25

Don't worry you're not alone! My sodium has been horrible the past few days and I've gained. Don't worry too much! Watch your sodium and keep those good eating and exercising habits you've started. It's frustrating but the scales will move...eventually.

lmkaks

I swell up really bad during the night too; to the point where I wake up and my fingers are aching because they are so tight. A lot of people say to weigh right after you go to the bathroom first thing in the morning, but I weigh more at that time. I have to start drinking first thing in the morning so that I go to the bathroom several times before it is time for me to weigh. Don't know why it works that way for my body, but it does. It can be as much as a 2-pound difference in that few hours.

You have not gained 5 pounds from eating and water is not making you fat, so do not freak out. If you keep doing what you are supposed to be doing (watching calories), then eventually the numbers will catch up with what you are doing!

Yes! This is exactly it! My fingers are so fat in the morning and I am incredibly uncomfortable in the belly. I always heard you way less in the AM than the PM so that is why I am so confused.

Roni_M

I agree with the others, sodium could be the culprit. Once you have that under control, if you continue to be swollen in the morning you should check with your doctor just to be sure you don't have an underlying health problem. I am always stiff and "puffy" in the morning, but I have psoriatic arthritis so this is pretty much normal for me. My weight can fluctuate by 5lbs a day, depending on how my joints are, sodium intake and how close to TOM it is. So many factors can effect your bodies water content! Be patient and keep up the healthy habits and you'll start noticing the numbers going down.

beachlover317

Your ticker indicates that you do not have much weight to lose. I agree that you should track your sodium for a few days and just see if it's too high ( I keep mine between 1500 -2000mg a day- rec. by the heart assoc). Having said that, swelling usually lessens overnight. The fact that your hands are really swollen in the morning is not normal If you reduce sodium and still have that problem, I would suggest a visit with your doctor.

LoraF83

As everyone else has already said, drinking water is not causing your bloating issues. That said, you don't necessarily NEED 11 cups a day. You should just drink enough to make your urine very light yellow.

My guess is, that your body is adjusting to a new routine and that could be part of your bloating issues. The other part is probably sodium. But since your diary is closed, that's only a guess. It could be a medical issue - do you have high blood pressure?

Just take your rings off at night before you go to bed. Put them back on in the morning after the swelling goes down. If it persists or you get any other symptoms, go see your doctor.

My other advice: Put the scale away. Your weight can, and will, fluctuate quite a bit. Mine can vary up to 5lbs in one day. If you can't handle that, you should only weight once a week.

missability

I am definitely not here to promote any particular diet, but I am 50 yrs old, and I have yo-yo- dieted since 1976! There is nothing, and I mean nothing I have not tried. I have been 125 LBS, and I have been 305 LBS. But after reading your question I feel obligated to share. I always wondered why some days I could eat 500 calories, literally starve myself, and maybe lose a pound, then on another day eat 1200 calories and lose 3 LBS. So I started journaling.....I found out several things.....first there was a lot of hidden sugar in foods I ate......and sugar is a weight gainer, much more than fat. In fact low fat foods, especially dairy, often have higher sodium and or sugar content to try to increase the flavor appeal. I mean who knew there were 8 grams of sugar in a cup of low fat cottage cheese? Not me! After many years I also noticed another thing.....Certain foods, like tomato, chicken, olives, (which basically makes up most of my salads), seemed to slow down weight loss for me. But NEVER water. Finally at age 45 I just gave up, it was just getting to tiresome......by my 50th birthday, last June, I was close to 300 lbs. again. I decided ENOUGH! So I pulled out years and years of notes, and knowledge I picked up along the way, and started digging my heels into research. Now I know there will be be people that read this and roll their eyes....but after much "looking into" things.....<<<that's much shorter than explaining what I did, I came to the conclusion that since we are all different, it's not unreasonable to think the SAME diet won't work for everyone, and I think I found something that acknowledges that, it's a book called "Eat Right For Your Blood Type", By Dr. D'Adamo. The more I read, (on his website), the more fascinated at the concept I became, so first I asked my doctor for my blood type, I am a B, relatively rare, actually. Then I got on Amazon and bought the book that was the food list for B Blood type. I made a commitment to start eating only from the food list starting January 1st, 2013. However I did start using the book before Thanksgiving, and slowly incorporating the foods. I only made some small changes, and dropped 11 lbs in 7 weeks. I started 2 days ago, full speed ahead, meaning nothing but the food on the list, (There is definitely a lot of foods on the list), and only water, which I squeeze both lemons and oranges into to flavor, (not a big water fan). Now I am not saying this is typical, and who knows how it will go from here, but I have been on this way of eating 2 full days. Tuesday (new years day) and yesterday....Today is the beginning of day 3. I have a good digital scale and I went from 280.4 Tuesday morning to 274.0 this morning. That's 6.4 pounds in 2 full days. Now this is not really a diet, just a list of foods to avoid for each blood type, obviously it's like anything else, if you eat 3000 calories, it does't matter what it is, you are not going to lose weight! So I am using the food list for what I eat, but I set my own calorie limit for HOW MUCH I eat. As for what I eat....well it is actually a lot of choices....but remember the tomato, olives, and chicken, I mentioned? Well they are ALL on my " foods to avoid list", because of something called lectins and how they react to the B blood type in the body. So all those years I was making salads with those very ingredients, I was actually thwarting my own success.
Like I said, Who knew? Another example is: I should eat bananas, they are highly beneficial to me, but yet that was the one fruit I stayed away from due to the starch and sugar content....But in the meantime, my sons who are both AB, the rarest blood type, should avoid bananas!...I just wanted to tell you this, because I too use to wonder when I dieted if all the water I drank was the culprit.....but now I suspect it was a few "healthy foods", like tomato and lean chicken, that were slowing my progress.
.Again, I am not trying to say this is the way to go....Who knows, maybe it's all crap....but my gut, and the scale, even the last 2 months, when I was just making small changes, tells me it isn't.
I do want to say this: There is information and research by other doctors besides D'Adamo to back this up, and it was not intended for dieting, but rather to eat right for your health. So this is NOT another Fly BY Night, everybody jump on the bandwagon.....cookie cutter, diet. Just lists of foods that are highly beneficial to you based on your blood type, along with 2 other lists. 1. Foods that are neutral, meaning you can eat them and they have no effect either way, and 2. Foods that you should avoid, again, based on your blood type, not sugar, fat, or calorie content.
Just some "FOOD" for thought. GOOD LUCK TO YOU!

gimmegimmemoar

I personally went from never drinking water to drinking water like crazy, and I lost no weight and even put on a lb.... I was a FIRM believer in the scale until I measured myself and realized I had lost 5 inches all over my body in 3 weeks.. I fluctuate like crazy from water weight, so I don't really rely on the scale too much... So water=good

Cinflo58

Like everyone else said, check the sodium content of your food. One of the many great things about MFP is it tells you! You don't gain weight from water unless you have kidney disease!

As for the Blood Type diet - there are no studies to back it up, but everyone is different so do whatever works for you!

kluvit

The body is a strange machine! The scale showed that I gained 7 pounds between 12/21 to 12/31 as I'd been maintaining and losing slightly for months. I kept trying to figure out how...no way did I eat an extra 25,000 calories, but I was eating more junk (higher sodium), drinking more fluids, working out harder/longer to the point of soreness, and spending more time sitting still in the hot tub and on the sofa. After one day back to my normal routine, I'm already down 3 pounds and fully expect to be back to normal within a week.

Just keep doing what you know is right...eat less, workout more, stay hydrated...the weight will come off.