First off how do you know it's just water weight and second how do you get rid of it?! I drink a lot of water throughout the day, just because I know I need to and to feel full, so I'm not quite sure on this whole subject...help?!
Well, first off, you're never going to "get rid of" all your water weight. You are MOSTLY water, so your body weight is always going to be a good percentage water.
EXCESS water weight can be caused by lots of things, some of which we can control, some of which we can't. Dehydration can cause water retention, as can excess salt or carbohydrate consumption - drinking more water and eating less salt or carbs can help with that. But hormones (particularly around your time of the month, but at other points in your cycle, too) and hard exercise like weight lifting can lead to temporary bumps in stored water as well.
So why is water weight important? It can help explain some of the crazy things that happen on our scales. Let's say you're on plan, exercising a lot, and you are weighing yourself daily - some people can still gain 7 lbs overnight (let's say it's the day before TOM, you had a lovely soy-sauce filled stirfry for dinner last night, and did a killer leg workout so you're sore...it can happen). You KNOW that can't be fat...it's water weight. And knowing that can make it a little easier to deal with.
To get RID of water weight, you really just need to drink more water. That'll flush out the excess sodium and the scale will go down a bit faster. It'll go down eventually anyway, though, just because water weight by nature is temporary/transitory.
Awsome! I understand now. So that's why I felt kinda bad yesterday morning because we had mexican food (I had a chicken taco salad) for lunch that day. I've been trying to watch sodium intake because it made me feel yucky, but now I know for sure its that! Thanks for the help!
Most people get their most consistent weights first thing in the morning, after using the restroom, wearing light clothes or naked.
If you think about it, anything you eat or drink gets added onto your weight (the scale can't tell if it's weighing you or the chicken taco in your stomach), so weighing yourself with an empty stomach first thing in the morning will usually give you the most accurate picture.
Mandalinn82 pretty much covered all the bases there. Just the other day I did a super intense (for me, anyway) 60 minute work out, and I went out for a jog, stupidly. The next day I had "gained" about 5lb and was so sore I could hardly move. Drank a ton of water and had a rest day, and by the next day I was down to my normal weight, plus an additional 1lb loss.
I also second the weighing first thing in the morning, after using the restroom.
KatieAlyse , 03-12-2012 12:05 PM
mandalinn82 , 03-12-2012 12:22 PM
