An Unexplained Gain is Nothing to Sweat Over

After posting this last night I got to thinking about it and realized I unintentionally misinformed on the issue of carbohydrate water retention. If you have already read this blog, please reread! I may have unwittingly caused you to believe that you can maintain a higher carb level and lose water weight!

As many of you know, I've recently completed a cutting diet. It was an excellent learning experience.

One valuable thing I gleaned is that diet makes a MASSIVE difference in what I weigh from day to day, and while it's generally good for me to weigh a couple of times a week, at least, to keep my head in the game, I don't need to panic when the scale is up a few pounds.

During the process of cutting my nutritionist, Ruben Sandoval, switched me from high-carb to low carb, high protein to low protein, regular sodium to low sodium, and high calorie to low calorie. Each time he told me what my body would probably do on the scale for the next few days, and you know what? He was spot-on every time!

It absolutely astounded me how quickly the body can be manipulated through diet.

The most notable changes: The first one you probably have already guessed. This was when we brought my sodium from lowered levels back up to what I normally consume. But what might surprise you is that big changes also happened when we took me from low carb to high carb. In BOTH instances, I would gain a few pounds of water weight. Even more notable was when I would go from both low carb AND low sodium to raising them simultaneously. When we did that, my scale really jumped- I'm talking 5 or 6 pounds. I could actually see the water weight gain all over my body within just a few hours, as evidenced by lack of muscle definition, particularly in my abs (I hated that!).

There were separate things at work, here:

The first was what we all know, that sodium causes you to retain water. The thing is, the body doesn't like to have it's sodium level off kilter and will fairly quickly (within about 24-48 hours) process the excess water AND sodium out to establish it's balance once again. This is why reducing sodium to low levels for longer than 24-48 hours is counter-productive: The body wises up and replaces the needed sodium in the blood through the kidneys. It also puts unnecessary strain on your system to do so for an extended period of time.

In the case of excess carbs, it's an entirely different issue going on, but with the same outcome- The body stores three grams of water for every gram of glycogen stored in the cells (glycogen comes from carbohydrates). This is why, when your cells aren't 100% full of glycogen, as is usually the case with people who are watching their weight, you aren't holding as much water. Raise your glycogen levels to 100% through a higher-than-normal carb day, and wa-la! Weight gain! Once your carb levels go back down to what you traditionally eat, the body releases the glycogen and the accompanying water weight with it.

So while you may have gained a LITTLE fat from the over-consumption of calories when you have a chocolate-chip-cookie binge, a majority of it is water that will go away when your diet returns to normal.

Therefore, if you have been following an eating plan that should be causing you to either lose or maintain your current weight, yet you suddenly show a gain of a few pounds on the scale, it's almost certain that something has changed in your diet and you are holding water. Don't sweat it! Just keep up or restore your good habits- it will come down eventually.

Also, it almost goes without saying that we women have much wider fluctuations in weight than men. Hormones play a big part in water retention, too.

For the carb-induced weight gain, you can get in a couple of good, hard cardio sesssions to help work it out. And the good news? You'll have plenty of energy for those cadio sessions, because glycogen is fuel used for exercise.

In either case, just keep on drinking lots of water (and by water I mean actual, non-flavored water, not other calorie-free drinks- I get over a gallon a day), and don't worry too much about a sudden rise in scale weight. Your body's natural tendency is to seek normal and stabilize to it's genuine weight in a few days.