Water Retention?

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danielwillis22
danielwillis22 Posts: 43
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi guys, so after coming off a super low calorie diet ( one that definitely wasn't healthy) ive started eating normally and going to the gym. im just wondering whether I have water retention as my belly seems to change size a hell of a lot from morning to night.

I ate really clean for a couple of days and my belly pretty much vanished and my abs were more or less visible. The next day my mum had a day off and made a big pot of home made onion soup and put 2 vegetable oxo cubes in it which have about 1.8 grams of salt each. Me, being the greedy (growing) teen I am now pretty much polished off the lot to myself because my mum had lovingly made it for me because she likes seeing me eat after I got far too skinny. That night i felt really bloated but that was probably due to eating a lot to try and put more muscle on. the next morning I had a belly and for the rest of that day probably ate a decent amount of salty foods along with fruits and veg. I then went to the gym yesterday morning and had put on about 1.5 kg in 2 days. Could this be fat gain? I also have a picture of my belly after I pressed it and it left a slight indent as you can see from my profile picture.

Any help would be appreciated and if you think it is fat just give it to me straight and ill right back to a strict diet :L

Replies

  • Branstin
    Branstin Posts: 2,320 Member
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    Salt/sodium holds water, sometime lots of it. Try to drink plenty of water to balance it out.
  • _Calypso_
    _Calypso_ Posts: 1,074 Member
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    Yep - sodium will do that to you!! Try to keep your sodium level under 3000mg per day (I have mine set to 2000). You need sodium in your system, but too much will make you retain water and feel/look bloated. That soup might have been the culprit.
  • danielwillis22
    danielwillis22 Posts: 43
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    Yea, i have been quite aware of what sodium does but im not positive whether its been water retention that ive had or just fat. How long would it roughly take to get rid of water retention do you think?
  • KatyE213
    KatyE213 Posts: 446 Member
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    it normally takes me a couple of days, I love Chinese food but its sooo high in sodium I always gain a couple of pounds water weight if I eat it. Usually back down after 2-3 days if I drink plenty of water. You would have to eat a huge amount to gain 1.5 kg of fat in such a short space of time, so I'm sure its just water weight.
  • danielwillis22
    danielwillis22 Posts: 43
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    Awesome, thanks a lot, like im probably eating around 2200 calories a day which isnt enough and the majority of it is clean except from the occassional sneaky bit of chocolate or cereal bar. It just annoys me that i was seeing my abs and then BOOM! wake up the next morning and they were very faint under what seemed to be fat. Thanks again for the help :)

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