Water retention - talk to me like I'm 10!

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MrsSchmidty7
MrsSchmidty7 Posts: 45 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm really having a hard time with the idea of and understanding water retention...can someone break down into small words and ideas for me, please! Thanks! Also, if you have anyother links where it has been previously discussed would be appreciated too!

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  • drasr
    drasr Posts: 181
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    The body has to maintain an ideal concentration[concentration is mass per volume i.e. c=m/v] of sodium for normal functioning. The ECF range is 134-145 meq/l. You don't need to know the units and stuff.
    Now the important thing is if you eat more sodium, then to maintain the normal concentration of sodium in the body, it retains more water. The concentration has to be kept constant. Eating more sodium is eating more solute[mass] i.e. numerator is increasing. Now to keep the ratio of mass/volume constant, the denominator i.e. volume i.e water also increases.
    I hope i made it simple enough.
  • nosey_rosey
    nosey_rosey Posts: 380 Member
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    The body has to maintain an ideal concentration[mass per volume] of sodium for normal functioning. The ECF range is 134-145 meq/l. You don't need to know the units etc
    Now the important thing is if you eat more sodium, then to maintain the normal concentration of sodium in the body, it retains more water. The concentrations has to be kept constant. Eating more sodium is eating more solute i.e. numerator is increasing. Now to keep the ratio of solute/volume constant, the denominator i.e. volume i.e water also increases.
    I hope i made it simple enough.

    HUH? You just totally went over my head!
  • AllyV0621
    AllyV0621 Posts: 81
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    your body relies on a delicate balance. water retention happens when the water to sodium balance is thrown off. if you eat too much sodium, your body holds on to more water, to even it out. water is heavy, so you appear to gain weight.
  • drasr
    drasr Posts: 181
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    The body has to maintain an ideal concentration[mass per volume] of sodium for normal functioning. The ECF range is 134-145 meq/l. You don't need to know the units etc
    Now the important thing is if you eat more sodium, then to maintain the normal concentration of sodium in the body, it retains more water. The concentrations has to be kept constant. Eating more sodium is eating more solute i.e. numerator is increasing. Now to keep the ratio of solute/volume constant, the denominator i.e. volume i.e water also increases.
    I hope i made it simple enough.

    HUH? You just totally went over my head!
    I edited the post a bit. Try reading it again. I will try to make it more simple.
  • daintycake
    daintycake Posts: 23
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    The body has to maintain an ideal concentration[mass per volume] of sodium for normal functioning. The ECF range is 134-145 meq/l. You don't need to know the units etc
    Now the important thing is if you eat more sodium, then to maintain the normal concentration of sodium in the body, it retains more water. The concentrations has to be kept constant. Eating more sodium is eating more solute i.e. numerator is increasing. Now to keep the ratio of solute/volume constant, the denominator i.e. volume i.e water also increases.
    I hope i made it simple enough.

    HUH? You just totally went over my head!

    I read that as your body has to maintain a certain sodium/water ratio. If you eat too much sodium then your body retains water to keep the ratio intact.
  • Dippydog
    Dippydog Posts: 154
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    Reduce your sodium intake and increase the amount of water you drink (I know that sounds backwards, but trust me).

    Once you flush out the sodium in your system, you will lose the water weight and drinking all the water will get rid of the sodium and keep your system 'clean'.

    Hope that is simple enough.....:smile:
  • littlemili
    littlemili Posts: 625 Member
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    Don't eat too much salt. Drink lots of water.

    That's the long and short of it.
  • MrsSchmidty7
    MrsSchmidty7 Posts: 45 Member
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    The body has to maintain an ideal concentration[concentration is mass per volume i.e. c=m/v] of sodium for normal functioning. The ECF range is 134-145 meq/l. You don't need to know the units and stuff.
    Now the important thing is if you eat more sodium, then to maintain the normal concentration of sodium in the body, it retains more water. The concentration has to be kept constant. Eating more sodium is eating more solute[mass] i.e. numerator is increasing. Now to keep the ratio of mass/volume constant, the denominator i.e. volume i.e water also increases.
    I hope i made it simple enough.
    LOL! Over my little pea brain too!
  • MrsSchmidty7
    MrsSchmidty7 Posts: 45 Member
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    Don't eat too much salt. Drink lots of water.

    That's the long and short of it.

    I have never really considered my salt intake, but I do drink lots of water. Oddly, the other day though my lips were chapped! How quickly can you begin to retain or lose water weight?
  • MrsSchmidty7
    MrsSchmidty7 Posts: 45 Member
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    The body has to maintain an ideal concentration[concentration is mass per volume i.e. c=m/v] of sodium for normal functioning. The ECF range is 134-145 meq/l. You don't need to know the units and stuff.
    Now the important thing is if you eat more sodium, then to maintain the normal concentration of sodium in the body, it retains more water. The concentration has to be kept constant. Eating more sodium is eating more solute[mass] i.e. numerator is increasing. Now to keep the ratio of mass/volume constant, the denominator i.e. volume i.e water also increases.
    I hope i made it simple enough.
    LOL! Over my little pea brain too!
    What role do carbs play? Is there a lot of salt in breads - or bad carbs?
  • drasr
    drasr Posts: 181
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    Ok so body has to maintain the concentration of sodium within a range for normal functioning. Concentration of a substance is defined as the mass of the substance per unit volume.

    Hypothetically lets assume that the normal concentration of sodium in the body is 1.
    Now if somebody takes 5 mg of sodium, then the body retains 5ml of water to achieve a concentration of 1. The formula is c=m/v i.e. 5mg/5ml=1mg/ml
    Now if somebody takes 10 mg of sodium, then to maintain the concentration of sodium as 1, the body retains 10 ml of water. 10mg/10ml=1mg/ml
    So you see the difference. More salt means more water means more weight.
  • teanabean
    teanabean Posts: 168 Member
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    When you create your custom food diary, have SODIUM be one of the options you choose to log. When you log your food in for the day, it will automatically tell you how much sodium you are consuming and how much you need.

    Women tend to bloat, or retain water during their periods, so during that time try not to cave into to cravings of salty foods and continue to drink more water.
  • drasr
    drasr Posts: 181
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    Recommended Daily Allowance[RDA] of sodium is 2500mg. You can follow your sodium concentration by editing from your profile. Now keep your daily intake around that, you should be fine.
    If you need to get rid of that excessive salt that you think you already have, drink plenty of water and consume less sodium/salt.

    For any food item, sodium concentration is always mentioned under the nutritional value. I think it is required by law. So you can check and decide what you want to eat and what you want to avoid.
    Usually processed and frozen foods esp meat and fish have high concentration of sodium.

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