Exercising intensely - Retaining water help

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VanessaLins90
VanessaLins90 Posts: 22 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
exercising intensely makes you retain a lot of water?

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  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
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    Yes.
  • xaryo
    xaryo Posts: 104 Member
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    Why?
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
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    If it is a new exercise for you, or you have just started. Your body adapts after a few days and sheds the water weight retained by the muscles.
  • French_Peasant
    French_Peasant Posts: 1,639 Member
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    xaryo wrote: »
    Why?

    In many cases, new exercises cause micro-tears in the muscles, and the body is healing them and making them more resilient for that kind of exercise. This is how muscle is built.
  • adelanghe
    adelanghe Posts: 27 Member
    edited September 2016
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    Intense exercise increase cortisol levels and this makes you retain some extra water. You will go back to normal once your cortisol level gets normal again. To minimize this you can pay attention to your sodium and potassium intake and curiously drink more water. Your body needs to know that water will be available for rehydration. Apparently eating a huge plate after exercising also helps because it's supposed to reduce your cortisol levels... it would be interesting to know if somebody had that experience.
  • VanessaLins90
    VanessaLins90 Posts: 22 Member
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    how many pounds of water can you retain right after exercising?
  • leggup
    leggup Posts: 2,942 Member
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    VanessaLins90 wrote: »
    how many pounds of water can you retain right after exercising?

    Impossible to say, especially since you could sweat a lot (water loss) and you should be hydrating (water gain). My weight can fluctuate as much as 6 lbs over the course of a day. Just weigh yourself in the morning and watch the trend over time and water weight fluctuations will average out.
  • TR0berts
    TR0berts Posts: 7,739 Member
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    VanessaLins90 wrote: »
    how many pounds of water can you retain right after exercising?

    I'm not sure how to ask this without it potentially (probably) sounding snarky, but that isn't my intent.

    Why does it matter? It happens, you now know it happens, so just roll with it. As long as your overall weight loss is going down, I wouldn't worry about it.

    A better question, IMO, would be to ask how long does water retention last. The answer is highly variable, but typically only a few weeks - which is one reason of a number why I disagree with "changing your routine every few weeks." Every time you change something - especially major changes such as routines - you're likely to retain more water. Again, since it's a few weeks, look to see how your weight is doing in a month. Adjust Calorie intake, as necessary.
  • Dano74
    Dano74 Posts: 503 Member
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    Yes but it's not indefinite and it's just... weight, not fat. Is there a reason you're concerned?
  • peaceout_aly
    peaceout_aly Posts: 2,018 Member
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    It's your body's way of healing the muscles. Not permanant. Keep working out, you will drop the retained water weight, for sure.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 27,988 Member
    edited September 2016
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    The seven pound spike in late Oct/early Nov was from when I started weight lifting again. As you can see, it took a few days to achieve and to go away. (It went away a little faster than normal because I was sick.) The other spikes are generally from when I ovulated and was premenstrual.

    Weight fluctuations are normal, especially for women with a menstrual cycle. It's the overall trend that's important.

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  • VanessaLins90
    VanessaLins90 Posts: 22 Member
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    Its just because, some people say you shouldn't take the scale seriously.. Specially when you are not only doing Cardio but also lifting since you gain muscles and all the water retained....
    So I was wondering how long it takes to really see the results regardless the water retain, and muscles gain....
  • cathipa
    cathipa Posts: 2,991 Member
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    If you are looking for aesthetic results then ignore the scale. Take pictures and measurements. They speak volumes over the scale.
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    VanessaLins90 wrote: »
    Its just because, some people say you shouldn't take the scale seriously.. Specially when you are not only doing Cardio but also lifting since you gain muscles and all the water retained....
    So I was wondering how long it takes to really see the results regardless the water retain, and muscles gain....

    Take meassurements every month. Judge by how your clothes are fitting.
  • tcunbeliever
    tcunbeliever Posts: 8,219 Member
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    measurements are so helpful when the scale is being a little *kitten*
  • psuLemon
    psuLemon Posts: 38,401 MFP Moderator
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    VanessaLins90 wrote: »
    Its just because, some people say you shouldn't take the scale seriously.. Specially when you are not only doing Cardio but also lifting since you gain muscles and all the water retained....
    So I was wondering how long it takes to really see the results regardless the water retain, and muscles gain....

    Muscle gains are hard and not going to really show that much on the scale, and that is consider that you are following a progressive overload lifting program.

    In general, I carry 2 lbs of fluid retention. Nothing I can do about it, except i track weight loss over extended periods of time (4-6 weeks or longer).
  • Shadowmf023
    Shadowmf023 Posts: 812 Member
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    psulemon wrote: »
    VanessaLins90 wrote: »
    Its just because, some people say you shouldn't take the scale seriously.. Specially when you are not only doing Cardio but also lifting since you gain muscles and all the water retained....
    So I was wondering how long it takes to really see the results regardless the water retain, and muscles gain....

    Muscle gains are hard and not going to really show that much on the scale, and that is consider that you are following a progressive overload lifting program.

    This. It's more likely to show in how you look. And while I'm on that subject, take some progress pictures to compare. It takes a few months before it starts becoming noticable.

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