Hi everyone,

I'm just new to working out. I have an elliptical machine that I have been using for a week (20 mins a day - starting slowly), and when I started using the elliptical I also began drinking about 8-10 glasses of water a day. But ever since I started, I'm retaining some the water I'm drinking. My rings feel very tight and I am not losing my post pms water weight (I normally will gain 3-5 lbs of water around that time and lose it post pms).

Is this normal? Will my body regulate itself and get rid of this excess water? And if it will... when? I'm tired of feeling bloated. Maybe I should cut back on some water? I'm clueless.

You really need to be drinking more water than 8 to 10 glass's if you plan on losing weight. 8 to 10 is the normal but you are excersing plus don't forget that your muscels will hold water too when excersising.

I love the elip machine I think they are so much fun and much easier then the treadmill which hurts my body more than toning it

lol, then I'm going to give you completely different advice, just to keep things interesting.

You DO need water, but you don't need to force yourself to drink glass after glass of water in order to lose weight. Remember that there is a lot of water in food you eat throughout the day (depending on what you eat, estimates I've seen range from 3-5 glasses worth), and other drinks that you might imbibe (coffee, diet coke-my favorite-, iced tea) also count as water.*

I usually add some "plain" (for me-I add crystal light) water during my workout just to cover what I lose through sweat, but I let my thirst take care of everything else. So far, it hasn't harmed my weight loss at all. (60 lbs as of this morning.)

Plain water is great, there's a lot to be said for it, but it isn't some sort of magic cure-all that is going to shed the pounds. That only comes from eating right and exercise.



*A study conducted in Omaha of the water retention rate from drinking caffeinated vs. noncaffeinated drinks found that people accustomed to drinking caffeine retained the same amount of water from coffee or soda than from drinking noncaffeinated drinks. People who were not accustomed to caffeine were still able to retain the vast majority of water vs. noncaffeinated.

I didn't pay attention to water at all when I was losing weight. I don't like drinking glass after glass of plain water, so I mostly drank tea during the day. Didn't seem to affect my progress one way or another.

Have you maybe been eating more salt than normal? I know when I don't pay attention to how much salt I'm eating my hands will feel swollen and I'll feel a little more bloated.

Other than that, I'm not sure what's wrong.

Drinking diet soda is what makes me retain fluid. When I was new to this forum and weighed 160, I read that I should drink 1/2 oz. water for each lb. daily. I started drinking 80 oz. water daily and still had my coffee, tea and diet soda. Gained 2 lbs. that week and haven't done it since. Now I take into account how much other fluids I have and drink only 32 oz. of plain water.This is what works for me, but everybody could be different. I also did read that the 8-10 oz. of water daily in addition to your other fluids is a big myth.

I should point out the "water retention" mentioned in the study was not the retention as in "look how swollen my ankles are" but the retention as is "you drink 6 oz of water, and 5 oz could be used by your body for hydration before being elliminated". All water is retained by your body for at least some amount of time, so that it can do it's functions. Other issues, such as salt levels, potassium, TOM, other chemicals, circulation, and water in vs. water out have the bigger impact on swollen tissues.

Thanks so much for your responses! I think I'm going to take a break with the water and lookout for my salt. I don't drink soda or caffinated beverages, but when I factor in my decaf coffee and milk with cereal, I'm looking at probably more than 12 cups of liquid a day. No wonder I'm up a few times in the night to use the washroom!