[Riddy]

I tried a new recipe last night. It called for fish sauce - over 2 tablespoons of it. I just bought it, and made the recipe, never looking at the nutrition info on the bottle. I thought it was a little salty when I was eating it. It wasn't til I woke up this morning 3 pounds heavier and thirsty as all H*** that I realized my error. That stuff has over 1100mg of sodium per tablespoon!

I've drank over 160 ounces of water today, and I'm STILL THIRSTY! My tongue even feels weird!

At least I'll know why when I blow my weigh in tomorrow.

[Italiannie]

At least you know they're not fat lbs. You've got a good grip on it. Just keep doing what you're doing, pumping water and time will cure it. When that happens to me, I can't get my rings off.

[CocoTruffles]

You can use soy sauce in place of fish sauce sometimes, not sure how much sodium is in that though. My mom makes a lot of Thai dishes, like fried rice that require fish sauce I usually cut it in half or leave it out altogether and use regular salt and season to taste.

[Riddy]

Fortunately I ended up down 0.3 pounds for the week. At this point, I'm just happy to have lost all the fish sauce water weight. Mostly I'm just annoyed at myself for not looking at the label. If I had known it was soy sauce type salty, I would never have used the full amount up front.

This week's lessons -
1. Learn about a new ingredient BEFORE it goes in the pot
2. Don't assume the recipe is right for me exactly as it's written

[DietVet]

On the other hand, it's just sodium in soy sauce and fish sauce, not calories. Both of those add so much flavor to a dish that it seems silly to avoid them merely to avoid a little water weight.

[gagalu]

i ate 4 servings of cheez-its on accident last night, lmao. exact same thing happened to me this morning. no amount of water has satisfied me today! seriously, i'm on my 12th cup.

[berryblondeboys]

Originally Posted by DietVet

On the other hand, it's just sodium in soy sauce and fish sauce, not calories. Both of those add so much flavor to a dish that it seems silly to avoid them merely to avoid a little water weight.

This.... I refuse to get so obsessed with the scale that I worry about water weight from higher sodium foods. I would only worry about that if I ihad to make weight for boxing or wrestling or something and since that is not an issue, I'll just deal with the ups and downs of sodium weight gains and losses.

[kaplods]

I also don't consider water weight gain from extra sodium a "mistake."

Until I knew better, I used to get very discouraged during TOM, because even if I starved myself, I gained water weight. Then I'd binge out of frustration (making what would have been temporary weight gain, if I'd just "stuck it out" become permanent gain).

Now I know that water weight doesn't matter - and that's why I use an exchang plan to count/control calories and portions.... so that I know if I'm following my food plan, the weight gains ARE water and don't matter.

Some people try to avoid every possible source of weight fluctuation and I think it's pointless and even harmful in the long run. I've even known people to avoid exercise in order to avoid the temporary weight gainthat it can cause from water retention (or worse to avoid muscle "gain").

It's important to remember that the "number" shouldn't be the most important part of weight loss. For people wanting to lose weight, gaining muscle is good (in the long run, it will help you burn more fat) and gaining water isn't necessarily bad. In fact, in some situations it can be a good thing. For example, during injuy, illness, or after unacustomed levels of exercise, the body needs water for repair and recovery.

Because of my medications and probably my unique body chemistry, I tend to shed sodium faster than most people, and even tend toward sodium deficiency. Occasionally after reading my lab results my doctor will actually TELL me to eat more salt for a few days. I even had to take sodium supplements before a surgery once (and now always have to be tested for sodium levels before any surgery).

I DO gain weight temporarily when I increase my salt (either because the doctor suggested it, or because I just want asian food), but it's only water weight and two or three days of drinking extra fluids for it to disappear.