Dumping Water Weight
 

Hi all!

I need some non-convetional tips on how to drop this bloat I've been having for a week.

Things I've been doing:

-cut carbs more than usual
-cut sugar
-cut salt
-drinking 12 cups of water (i can't drink more due to time restrictions, trust me im trying!)
-i dont drink alcohol
-had some tea which is a diuretic

Also:

-took an extra day off exercising so i'm not sore
-I don't get TOM so I have no clue

Despite all this my scale went up another 2lbs and my measurements are still high from when they skyrocketed a week ago, and I gained another inch on my hips this morning.

I'm so close to yanking my hair out since I never had this problem in the 2 years I've been working out and losing weight, and I haven't changed anything in terms of what I eat. So please forgive me for making another thread so soon! :o

Are you taking any medications? Any new medications? Including OTC cold, allergy, etc.?

How is your hormone cycle? Do you take hormone supplements? Thyroid supplements?

Do you show signs of edema, such as rings too tight, ankle swelling? If you press your thumb on your ankle for a few seconds, does it leave a dent when you let go?

Consider making an appointment with your doctor. Could be a lot of different things. Maybe you have high blood sugar, high blood pressure, who knows? Might as well rule some things out.

Jay

I don't take any meds except birth control, but I was taking it when I lost all my weight, so I ruled that out.

How do you find out your hormone cycle?

No edema, no swelling, tested my ankle but no indent.

It takes a month to see her, so I'm afraid I am on my own for a bit. Any help is appreciated :)

Aisde from medication - increasing your potassium to sodium range often helps drop water. Thus, eat some foods high in potassium and avoid sodium.

Ok I will try that. I have a bunch of bananas and fish that I just bought. Thanks!

I am desperate by this point.

HEY! It all goes up and down, like the risings of the tide! your body could just be rebelling! how long has this been going for? i'd say make a drs appointment, and wait it out for another week or some? bloat happens!

I hate water weight! I just had some this week and for the past 2 days I cut down on my sodium, drank tons of water and added in a banana for breakfast and I have dropped 5 pounds. Those are the only things I changed. Hope that helps!

It was happening for 2 weeks and a half since I started my HIIT strength training program. I kept attributing it to sore muscles and muscle gain. Then I had a 7lb whoosh and my measurements went down. Then the next day it went up 13lbs. Now it inched back down to 196 then 193, then back to 198 (when the whoosh had me at 186!!).

Now it's a week since my whoosh and it seems to just keep going back up, as well as my stomach especially gained 3 inches in measurement. By this point I don't see how it's sore muscles or muscle gain, and I don't even get how it's water since I've cut back pretty much everything that causes it and have been drowning myself drinking water.

Food allergies can cause bloat. They inflame the digestive system and the reaction is swelling in the tissue - bloat. Look at your intake of wheat and dairy and try cutting out one for a whole week and then the other to see if you have sensitivity when you add them back in.

Kudos for the exercise regime!

Try lemon in your water too!

Maybe the "whoosh" wasn't really a whoosh, but you happened to be terribly dehydrated at that precise time, and maybe your body is just now back to where it should be, (now that you are drinking so much water...thus re-hydrating it). How long did the lowest weight last? More than a day or 2?
ETA: Oh, I went back and re-read your post. It was only at the lowest weight for 1 day, so I betcha that was what happened.

I can't speak for you, but when I cut carbs I will dump nearly 10 lbs of water weight in about a week. But when I say "cut carbs", I mean it. No pasta. No rice, not even brown. No bread. No juice. No sugar. Our livers can store up to 10 lbs of glycogen, and when you stop eating carbs your liver will flush it out along with stored water. It's a way to "lose weight" very quickly but keep in mind it's not fat you're losing.

What comes to mind right now are diuretic anti-adipose teas, but you say you already tried that. Can you find the Sanye tea? It's Chinese and pretty hard core, so if that doesn't help, nothing will. My advice is don't get up on the scale for a while, because whenever I weighed myself and saw no change or even weight gain, I'd get really depressed. I suggest getting a Quantumscale (quantumscale.com), it records your weight and tells you your progress from your first day of diet. It did wonders for my motivation and it's pink so it looks cute in my bathroom.
Also, it could be some sort of hormonal imbalance, as someone here suggested, I'm not really sure how to check for that.

Good luck!

That would mean I didn't lose any weight the whole month I worked my *** (bum) off?

...ugh.

Now I feel worse, to be honest. :dizzy:

I don't get how I'd be dehyrated that specific day, since I drank as much water as I always do.

Help? :(

Remember how I said I'm an avid daily weigher, but if all else fails it's time to put away the scale for a few weeks to prevent the crazy time?

Yes Schubunny, it's time. Put that beast away, stow the tape measure, and stick to your plan like glue. Get plenty of healthy fats and minerals from your food and nice scale vacation. Seriously, you need one :hug:

But that scares me. I did that for a month and gained some weight. It's like if I don't constantly check, I tend to fall off the wagon.

I'm especially scared because I'm on vacation starting tonight, and I already plan to have a cheat meal or two for the week I am off, that will have a loooot of sodium.

Have you taken a pregnancy test?

Well you definitely must track yourself another way if the scale is gone - do you log your food or calories in a program? If not, that is something to start before putting the scale away. If you keep eating on plan, the scale changes nothing - it just reports your progress, it doesn't dictate or change it. But if you use scale break as wheee-lack-of-accountability-time! then you're going to have problems.

It is hard either way, you really need to pick what is livable for you - tracking your progress on paper or an app, or weighing daily and adjusting (but dealing with the fluctuations)? If I were in your shoes and couldn't just weigh and be at peace with it, I would choose to lose the scale while keeping up my food logging (which I have done for years now). But I'm not you!

There's no way I'm pregnant, I only have one ovary and have been on birth control for 5 years. :)


I use caloriecount.about and I love it. But my body seems to need a calorie deficit and exercise and the scale and everything else to lose weight.

I don't get why I'm retaining so much water, since I'm actually eating better then I did when I lost 30lbs, and drinking more water. So why am I seeing shabby results and not better results? If I cheated on my calories or my exercise I would completely understand, but I eat 500 or less under maintenance.

I know, I totally understand. It's like I live by results, which is a horrible way to live, but when I don't see that result every week I start going insane trying to figure out what I did wrong. I don't expect something every day, not even every week, but 2 weeks to a month -shouldn't I see something? It was so linear before, I am wondering what happened. :^:

Well our bodies aren't machines with cogs - they are very complex, responsive, and organic. You know that by definition that means we are variable, right?

I understand going crazy when results aren't coming or are being perplexing, I really do. But only you can decide how you will respond. We cannot control how much this bag of fluid we call a body will weigh each morning. The only thing we CAN control are the inputs and our response to them. If you cannot handle the scale bouncing around confusingly and you KNOW your plan works for you and nothing has changed in your adherence, a scale break is necessary. If, like me, you can handle the scale doing its' thing while you do yours, by all means keep weighing. But you're defining insanity right now by continuing to do the thing that freaks you out. Something has to change in either your response to yor weight or finding it out, period, or you're going to burn yourself out in panic and frustration.

I'd suggest changing your plan but it's not suitable for everyone - waiting this out for a good six to eight weeks is a better idea and if it still isn't changing, then it is time to look at differents ways of eating.

I am sure you realize that bc isn't 100% effective. When an ovary is missing the remaining one often compensates. Anyway, just a thought. Hope you figure out what's going on :)

It's just a guess. Our bodies are weird...I mean, how in the world did you drop 7 pounds overnight and then gain 13 the next? Considering the weight was gone for less than 24 hours then it had to have been some sort of a fluke or an inaccurate scale reading, or totally empty colon, or dehydration... The low weight was for one weigh-in, all the rest since, (and before) then are showing higher. You're basing all this water weight theory on one single weigh-in.

We all want the weight gone now, I get it, but why is that one scale reading the only one you want to believe? Why do you think now it's water when the scale has been up for days, but it couldn't be water related for the one and only day of a lower weight?

As far as all the work for nothing, I see you have already planned a few cheat meals for this next week, how many did you have during this last phase? One cheat meal has wiped out an entire weeks work for me on a couple occasions. That is why I didn't "cheat" while I was losing. I wanted it GONE, and didn't want to face the scale without a weekly loss.

As per the doctor I have a strong chance to not be able to conceive, as the remaining ovary is pretty banged up. I had a few cysts and about 4 operations in the last 10 years. But I know what you're saying, there is always a chance. I never miss a dose, so I am very careful.

I've had one cheat meal the whole month, which is great for me. I had some fast food, but just two cheese burgers. Otherwise I would definitely attribute it to my problem. Otherwise clean eating :)

I was thinking about that, but then I got scared if I don't keep checking I will just fall off somehow. I know it's a dumb paranoia. It seems either way I will be paranoid, but I have to choose which way.

I will check the scale less and wait another few weeks before hitting the panic button again. I know I am definitely doing everything right, and am keeping my carbs low and sodium low. Maybe I did have a food allergy to something that week, and it sent my fluid levels into a spiral. I seem to be mostly back to normal now, and almost wish the whoosh didn't come at all, but of course we can't control our bodies. :) And I wanted to thank you for replying so many times, your posts and everyone else has been so much help. I have no one else to speak about this to, and anyone I try to irl could care less.

Have you tried upping your intake for 2-3 days ? If it's water weight or just a small plateau it works for me.

I've been considering that all week. Is there an amount you suggest? I've done it in the past and I tried it a day last week but it didn't do much. I've never done it more then a day before since I usually zigg-zagg my calories.

I read your other post - I am so glad some of that water came off! Something was obviously making you retain it, and it is good to be past that, for sure.