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I’ve often come across this situation myself: without binging or anything like that, the jeans that fit me perfectly last week suddenly seem to be a bit too tight this week. Fortunately, being a professional in the field of nutrition, I am aware that the answer is water retention.
First, let see what water retention is and why it happens to us.
Water retention is the accumulation of fluids in the tissues and cavities of your body. Excessive water retention makes you feel dull, bloated and lacking in energy; you feel like being on some sort of permanent holiday so you don’t have to attend to your daily chores.
Our body follows a logic and pattern that is slight off-beat. Just as if you eat less food your body assumes that food is not available and therefore attempts to convert all available (eaten) food into fat, so also, if you consume less water, your body assumes water is not readily available and therefore it seeks to retain as much as it can.
If you are fairly confident that your water intake level is sufficient for your age and gender, then take a closer look at your diet; have you been recently eating salty food or perhaps adding more salt that usual to your food?
Salt in your diet causes dehydration and triggers your body to store as much water as it can. The same thing also happens if you have been binging on sweets or have increased sugar intake.
Signs of water retention include bloated abdomen, bloated fingers and bloated ankles.
And now, let’s see some practical tips on how to lose water weight:
If we reverse the reasons for which our body store water, we would end up losing the stored water and hence lose water weight. So to lose water weight:
Drink more water.
A human body needs no less than 8 glasses of water per day. Drink up. The body will understand that there is no shortage of the stuff and forget all about hording it leading to loss of water weight.
Put your diet under the scanner.
Have you recently started buying bags of chips? Or perhaps started adding more salt to your food? Cut back on salt. It not only leads to water retention, it also leads to destabilization of your blood pressure.
Reduce the sweets or sugar intake.
Did you know that the human diet can do without sugar? When we eat anything sweet, it leads to higher production of insulin which in turn leads to water retention.
The above three corrective steps should help you release excess water in your body and lose your water weight. As far as possible avoid over the counter diuretics or drugs specifically designed to get rid of excess water retention. It is always best to tackle the cause of water retention and get rid of the problem permanently rather than treating the symptom while leaving the underlying cause intact.
Stay healthy and if you have not yet done so, start making better food choices today!