H20 HELP

I see people preach constantly about drinking water. I NEVER have (during my weight loss regime). When I was pregnant with twins, I drank water, and lots of it. So much so actually that people around me were concerned with the amount of water I was ingesting and the fact that I couldn't stop. I would drink jugs upon jugs of water, guzzling it like I was dehydrated ...daily. I would be up in the night & I would drink 2 bottles of water in the span of 5 minutes before climbing back into my hospital bed. I was in the hospital for high blood pressure which was related to the fact that I was retaining water. I held on to all the water I drank, very rarely using the washroom to release it. By the time I gave birth, I had gained over 100lbs (85 of which was water and dropped off in the week following the birth). By the end, my legs were so heavy and swollen, they were the size of (my now) waist & I had to use 2 hands and ALL my strength to lift my legs to a bending position. I was put on diaretics (which weren't helping much) and was in & out of the hospital for the BP for 2 weeks (after a long 3 week stay IN the hospital). I went home with a prescription of diaretics (which didn't help at all) and kept on those for months and months.

After my pregnancy, I stopped drinking water completely and went back to pop (was only drinking water for the health of my children). I lost all the weight.

I slowly started to gain weight after the diagnosis of my children (won't get into that here & now) so that's what brought me eventually to MFP. Since starting MFP, I've lost nearly 40lbs. I've never touched water. A couple months back, I decided to re-introduce water into my diet. I drank water consistently for 2 weeks (no pop, no juice, etc). I kept my diet the same, exercise the same, etc. In those 2 weeks ... i GAINED 11 pounds and you could physically see my body swelling. I stopped drinking water AGAIN and dropped 11+ plus some that next week.

Fast forward to today. I started drinking water again 13 days ago (yes i'm counting) when I started my new workout regime (clx and c25k). I've slowly learned to LOVE water and choose it over pop these days. Problem is, I'm GAINING once again. My body is bloating & swelling AGAIN from the water intake. I don't understand it. People keep telling me that "drinking water will help your weight loss" and I've never heard anything different. However, EVERY single time I drink water as opposed to pop, I gain incredible amounts of weight. Right now I am + 6lbs (after 13 days of drinking water, eating on target & working out religiously & yes you may check my food diary if you must). It's frustrating to me.

Where do I go from here?

My husband asked me today "With the amount of water you're ingesting, how are you NOT peeing?"

EXACTLY! How am i NOT releasing this water? Yesterday, I drank 2 bottles of water (500ml each) & didn't pee at all for 6-7 hours afterwards. Came home, drank another 2-3 bottles (500ml) and didn't pee at all. I do not wake up in the night to pee. I don't have to rush to the bathroom in the morning to pee,etc. So far today, I've had 2 bottles of water (500ml each) and an ice capp and I have no urge to pee AT ALL. I'm seriously confused as to why my body doesn't let go. I know some people will say "watch your sodium" HOWEVER, when I was in the hospital (when this problem first occurred ... read above story) I was on a LOW SODIUM diet. They kept me pretty much sodium free in the hospital, so clearly NOT the problem.

I'm lost. Do i stop drinking water? Do i continue? I'm really lost.