Water Weight & Weight Loss

Ever get discouraged when you step on the scale & find that you've gained 3 or 4 pounds overnight?

Both men and women experience fluctuations in body weight that can't just be explained by overeating. It takes 3500 extra calories to gain a pound of body fat, so it's pretty hard to gain that much fat weight in one day! Yet these weight fluctuations are often so disappointing that it leads to giving up and going back to old habits that caused the real weight gain in the first place. Here are some strategies that can you can put into practice when water retention and temporary weight gain get in the way of your progress.

For women, it happens every month - things are going great, you're making real progress with your weight loss efforts and then those 7-10 days come right before menstruation and things start to unravel! Most women report symptoms of PMS: feeling especially tired, headaches, back pain, weight gain and water retention. Others have food cravings and routinely overeat during this time. Put those symptoms together with mood changes, increased tension, depression and reduced concentration and it's easy to see why every month women face a real challenge to their weight loss efforts.

While men don't have the same monthly swings in hormonal levels that lead to weight gain as women, men experience water retention and weight fluctuations as well. Sometimes this can happen after a change in routine - like coming home from a trip that causes you to miss a few days of exercise and to eat more meals in restaurants than usual.

Whether temporary weight gain is due to predictable monthly shifts in hormones or a just a change in your normal routine, don't let it get you down and avoid letting this get you into a pattern of negative thinking and acting. The reality is that weight gain happens and weight loss doesn't follow a perfectly straight path. Make sure that you're following a weight loss program that helps you minimize the effects of temporary water retention and weight gain. Here's some things we incorporate in our weight loss program at Personal Dietitian to help reduce weight fluctuations:

1. Reduce salt intake
Reduce salt intake - your body retains water when salt intake is high, and this causes bloating and water weight gain. It's also important to have a good balance of other minerals: calcium, magnesium, and potassium to maintain good fluid balance in the body. Personal-Diet.com provides diet plans that emphasize lower sodium foods and foods with good, natural sources of calcium, magnesium and potassium. Eating well helps with water retention, not just weight loss!

2. Eat smaller meals and snacks.
The Personal diet plan is carefully planned so that you get a good balance of energy throughout the day and don't overload your body with large meals at the end of the day. This helps you burn your calories more efficiently and reduces bloating that can come from overeating late at night.

3. Include a good balance of carbohydrates.
Personal Diet's diet plans emphasize carbohydrates that are a good source of vitamins, minerals and fiber and avoids those that are high in sodium. Salty carbohydrates love water - avoid them! Choosing more unprocessed carbohydrates like beans, fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables of all types helps reduce sodium and increases potassium in the diet and this helps with weight loss and water retention.

4. Diuretics are substances that cause water loss.
We don't recommend or incorporate diuretics in our weight loss program. Some people may need additional help from these but should only be taken if advised by your personal physician.

Finally, you need to team up a healthy, well balanced high nutrition plan with consistent exercise and plenty of water. This helps regulate water balance in the body, and helps the body get rid of the "waste" - drinking water helps to minimize water retention and exercise helps get rid of the waste. These are safe, healthy practices that everyone can do that can get you through the challenges of weight fluctuation, and they work!

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