Water Weight. Worse than Terrorism.
First off, I apologize for the title. I can already see someone freaking out about how A2C is somehow a terrorist sympathy site and should be boycotted. Breathe you crazy sensitive folks. For those of us in the battle for weight loss we understand the idea of water weight being an evil, evil thing.
When you first lose weight on a Low Carb regimen people are quick to alert you that you haven’t actually lost any weight. It was all water. That’s what Low Carb diets do, make you lose water. Not fat. NEVER FAT. You’ll gain it back soon as you eat some of those healthy life sustaining carbs. Got it?
Low Carbing does cause you to lose water weight, its true. But personally, I don’t want to walk around with 10 pounds of excess water in my system. Fact is carbs cause you to retain a bit of water. Ketosis causes you to lose water. So yes, you have just lost water weight when you first jump on that new lifestyle of yours. But that’s not the only cause of water retention. Sodium, dehydration and a few other things can all play a part in you keeping a few extra pounds you’d prefer to have off of you. This is one of the biggest problems when you possibly have a cheat day or a cheat weekend. Perhaps your resolve wasn’t as…er…resovlve-ey as you would have preferred.
Next thing you know you stepped on the scale and you gained8 pounds in a day!
HOLY CRAP. You’ve gone and done it now. Ruined your diet. Might as well just eat because you already gained 8 pounds. Whats the worst that could happen at this point?
This was my theory and the theory of a lot of folks who are trying to lose the weight. And to this I say STOP! STOP RIGHT NOW.
Quick question. Do you know how many calories 1 pound is? You probably do. Just in case – It’s 3500. What did you eat? Really think about it. How many calories did you eat? If the scale went up 8 pounds. That would imply you ate 28,000 calories in order to make that happen. Is it possible to eat that much? I guess, but I’m betting you didn’t. I’m betting you probably were closer to 4000 cals. That’s what I’ve noticed I’ve done when I decide to rage out with food. Its NEVER 28,000 calories. So inhale! You didn’t destroy your diet. You’re retaining water. For 1 of a few different reasons your body has picked up some water.
Have you been drinking enough water in the first place? Dehydration causes water retention. In a cruel twist of science, the body lacking water causes it to keep every ounce it can get its hand on. You could actually drop the water by drinking MORE water. Same with sodium. It’ll take a few days possibly but you will drop that excess water if you don’t do anything crazy like giving up and going out for Pizza and a 17 beers. (Mmmm. Pizza and Beer. Whoops. Sorry.)
When I type posts like this, it’s really just me telling me to relax. I noticed a 5 pound swing on the scale in the past day or 2 and I know I didn’t eat 5 pounds of food. I literally counted it up and realized that freaking out would be crazy. This has happened to be me before. Long as I just decided to watch my sodium and drink plenty of water, I drop back down in no time. But it’s nice to say it write it out and read the clear, clear logic and then go about my day with out dropping into the fetal position rocking back and forth and saying “I’m getting fat!”
Not that I’ve ever done that. 
