Hi Maintainers! Any tips for water retention?

[azmom]

I am holding on to about 5lbs. of water weight. Just got my period today but feeling so weird & puffy!!!

Any tips to lose this water weight? I didn't even eat much salt yesterday but may have over done it in the sugar dept. Do any of you retain water from eating too many sweets?

Also, if you over indulge for a couple days, how quickly can you get rid of it so it doesn't turn to fat? Am I making any sense?

Probably not, I have water on the brain too!

Help!!

[Megan1982]

When I'm holding a lot of water weight, first and foremost, I drink lots of water (counter intuitive I know), no alcohol (even 1 glass of wine or beer will really bloat me), and try to avoid salty foods - this means being hyper aware of the sodium in everything you wouldn't think to check for sodium in. I also try to drink it all as straight water - no crystal light, etc. I'm sorry to say that where hormone fluctuations come in I can do my best to minimize the water retention results but haven't figured out how to stop them altogether.

If I overeat in general - if I end up eating around 3000 calories in one day (it's embarrassing but I do have occasional problems with binging, or way overeating at parties), or drink any alcohol at all, I gain a bunch of water weight. That includes sweets too.

I know exactly what you mean about "getting rid of it quickly so it doesn't turn to fat". If I've overindulged and the scale says I've gained 5 lbs (even if I didn't eat enough calories to equal 5 lbs of weight), if I don't take steps to get rid of it after a few days it's just permanent. I try to just cut the calories a bit to my "losing" range of calories, and do the same things I do to flush out water retention - drink lots of water, avoid excess sodium, and also make sure I'm getting in my workouts and enough sleep. I eat tons of fruits, veggies, and fiber-rific things anyway but I'd say it's important to make sure you're keeping your digestive system moving, IYKWIM. Even if I have another "event" coming where I'm tempted to overindulge again, I tell myself it will only compound the problem and then the weight will be "real" (at least, I try to tell myself this).

[Shannon in ATL]

The only thing that really helps me is to drink lots and lots more water, as odd as that sounds. I often retain 5-6 pounds of water, it often takes me several days to a week to flush that much out. I do retain water pretty quickly from sweets, salt, and recently from too many processed foods.

On the overindulging question, I don't know how long before it turns into fat. I pound in more water after I overindulge and ramp up the exercise for the next few days if possible to try to burn the calories back off. ETA, and cut my calories consumed for the next few days as well.

[traveling michele]

I find that drinking green tea helps to flush out some of my extra water weight.

[Shanna]

I've always heard that lemon is a natural diuretic, so when I'm feeling bloated I add lemon to my water - not sure if it actually makes any difference, but at least in my head it does.

Here's a good article about water retention and natural diuretics - in addition to salt, it lists excess sugar and a couple of other items as causes, and also lists several natural things to help.

http://www.targetwoman.com/articles/...-diuretic.html

____________
Shanna



A bit of my weight loss history and a few pictures

[Ilene]

Pure cranberry juice, not the Oceanspray stuff, but the pure stuff that you need to add only 1/4c. to water, I think it's called Knudsen, is really a good diuretic...

Sugar definitely bloats me up, probably more so than salt...

[ICUwishing]

Diuretic - I will never understand why, but low-sodium CANNED (not fresh, oddly enough) asparagus is a total water-buster. The bad news is that canned asparagus is mushy and a very, very pale imitation of the fresh stuff! I won't pretend it's any good to eat, but it sure works.