Weight Reduction

Today I am addressing the issue of water weight.  Have you ever wondered what it is exactly?  Why is water weight the first thing that you lose on a diet?  I hope that I can clear it up a little for you.

First of all, you should understand that approximately 60% of our total body mass is made up of water.  There are fluctuations which are normal, that occur all day long.  Two of the factors which influence water retention or water weight are the daily consumption of water that we take in and how much salt we get daily.  Now you are probably thinking that if you drink less water that you will weigh less.  Wrong!  The less water that you drink; the more your body will hold onto it.  The body goes into survival mode, and with even a slight case of dehydration, your body will begin to hold onto all of the water it can get.  So in order to flush out the excess water, you actually need to drink more water.

Sodium or salt also plays a big part in water retention.  A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium.  Doctors tell us that we should only have between 1,000 to 3,000 mg of sodium each day.  You can see how it would be easy to get too much.  Sodium is also a very sneaky substance.  You would expect to find it in mainly in the foods we consider to be salty such as nuts, crackers and chips.  However, a food doesn’t need to taste salty to be filled with sodium.  A great example of this would be instant pudding. A ½ cup of instant pudding actually contains four times more sodium than a one ounce serving of salted nuts. Generally, the more a food is processed, the higher the sodium content will be.  That is why it is best to consume basic, whole foods when dieting.  The smartest choices include items such as fruits, vegetables, beans, whole grains, and lean meats. That is just one of the reasons that you should take the time to read the labels on all of the foods you consume which are boxed mixes, canned or are frozen dinners.

Another factor to consider is glycogen is when looking at water weight.  Glycogen reserves carbohydrate for our bodies to use for energy.  We store some glycogen in the liver and some glycogen in the muscles.  This reserve of energy weighs more than a pound and it is stored with 3 to 4 pounds of water.  Your glycogen reserve will shrink during the day if you do not take in enough carbohydrates.  This is one of the main reasons that the weight loss of a low-carb diet is so dramatic.

It is generally possible to only lose 1 to 2 pounds of actual fat per week.  When you are following a very low carbohydrate or low calorie diet, and you lose 10 pounds in 7 days, it is physically impossible for all of that weight loss to be fat.  What you are really losing is a combination of glycogen and water.

That is why you lose water weight first when you diet and why it happens so quickly.  Any more questions?

Photo by (c) LittleMan, www.sxc.hu

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