Does a Reduction of Exercise = Reduction of Water Retention?

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Lillymoo01
Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
edited December 2019 in Goal: Maintaining Weight
I know that increasing exercise will result in fluid retention but is the opposite also true. I am asking because over the last week I have reduced the amount of walking I do while slightly increasing my net calories in the hopes of slowly gaining a few kilos while finding an amount of exercise which is maintainable long term. The result has been weight loss. Just trying to work out why as I am a bit nerdy like that. The amount of carbs and sodium I consume haven't changed.

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  • PAV8888
    PAV8888 Posts: 13,605 Member
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    yes. My personal observation has been two fold. a) that reducing exercise reduces water retention associated with muscle repair and b) that when i eat base calories (ones that are less significantly incremented by "exercise" calories) the results are more dramatic.

    For b) arguments could be multi-fold and range from exercise is always over-estimated to smaller TDEE = larger effect for any given absolute deficit or surplus, to: eating less food since my TDEE is now lower due to less exercise means that there is less food in transit and thus a lower scale weight! :smiley:

    In your personal case, a potential issue could be that you have been on a particular net calorie equilibrium that was either a deficit or "pushing" towards a deficit, "pushing" towards an overage may result in some NEAT increase which in turn would actually increase your TDEE for the given amount of activity.

    Or it could be too small of an observation period, especially if monthly hormonal fluctuations are still part of your picture--so it could just be a normal fluctuation and you need a longer trend-line!

    In any case... keep going as is and increase Cal if it doesn't work at first and depending on urgency and needs! :smiley:
  • fdlewenstein
    fdlewenstein Posts: 231 Member
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    How does increasing or decreasing exercise result in fluid retention?
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    It is definitely curiosity over concern so thanks for the insight. I am pushing towards a reduction of water weight because of a reduction of exercise and the possibility of hormones due to TOM. Although my weight would normally have stabilised at this point of my cycle, the fluctuation is always changing as a result of perimenopause. It is also possible that I was eating at a slight deficit which has just become more pronounced over the last week. My Fitbit has always underestimated my calorie burn. There has always been an element of guesswork when the amount of steps I do a day has varied significantly from day to day. It will be interesting what unfolds over the coming weeks.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    fdlewenstein wrote: »
    How does increasing or decreasing exercise result in fluid retention?

    When you work out, micro-tears form in your muscles which results in inflammation around the muscle fibres. As you recover, your body may retain water around the muscle. This muscle fluid retention is a healing response to the micro-trauma.
  • sardelsa
    sardelsa Posts: 9,812 Member
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    Yup. I took about a week off lifting and lost 3lbs on the scale, despite 3 days of Christmas eating.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,811 Member
    edited December 2019
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    I notice the effect in the run up to a big cycling event when I'm training hard and often in a slight deficit. Soreness and water retention will mask fat loss after about 5 or 6 weeks. Taper week before the event when calories come up to maintenance and exercise intensity and volume drops I will typically lose a couple of pounds despite carb loading (that's going from high carb to even higher carbs though!).

    For low intensity exercise personally I wouldn't expect to see a difference as it's masked by my general weight fluctuations.
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,464 Member
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    There are so many things that cause a 2-4 lb fluctuation. Do you track your weight daily and correlate it to your activity, food, monthly cycle, meds, travel, etc? That is the best way to learn your body’s patterns. Even after 5 yrs I can’t say definitively what causes a particular up or down fluctuation.
  • magnusthenerd
    magnusthenerd Posts: 1,207 Member
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    Lillymoo01 wrote: »
    fdlewenstein wrote: »
    How does increasing or decreasing exercise result in fluid retention?

    When you work out, micro-tears form in your muscles which results in inflammation around the muscle fibres. As you recover, your body may retain water around the muscle. This muscle fluid retention is a healing response to the micro-trauma.

    There's also probably systemic fluid retention from cortisol. We tend to think of cortisol as being involved in strenuous activity, but cortisol fluctuates slight amounts even from things like standing up.
  • liftingbro
    liftingbro Posts: 2,029 Member
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    Actually, you will likely retain more water if you stop exercising , depending on the state of your glycogen stores in the muscle.

    If you are eating lower carb or exercising intensely your glycogen levels may be reduced. As soon as you stop exercising and thus have more glucose in the blood stream that's not being burn as fuel it will probably store more of it in the form of glycogen which is partially made up of water.

    You want to see mega bloat do keto, stop exercising and go high carb a few days and see what happens.
  • Lillymoo01
    Lillymoo01 Posts: 2,865 Member
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    Seems like I don't really have a definite answer. I am aware of all the things that can affect the day to day change with the scales and have fun trying to determine whether it will go up or down based on the previous few days. I normally get it right but this one truly baffled me.
  • teresadannar
    teresadannar Posts: 199 Member
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    When you work out, micro-tears form in your muscles which results in inflammation around the muscle fibres. As you recover, your body may retain water around the muscle. This muscle fluid retention is a healing response to the micro-trauma.[/quote]

    This is very interesting, thank you for sharing.
  • fdlewenstein
    fdlewenstein Posts: 231 Member
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    Well...maybe this is an anomaly! Sometimes we can't find a definitive answer. I hope you are back on track. Thank you for the interesting discussion.
  • MikePTY
    MikePTY Posts: 3,814 Member
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    I tend to find that when I stop exercising, the scale drops 3 or 4 pounds, even though my eating usually gets worse.

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