Losing water weight - does it always come back?

[TeensyTiff]

I've read that when you lose water weight, it comes back. This is one of the reasons why many diet pills and detox diets work so well for the short term, because they cause you to lose water weight quickly, but then apparently you gain it all back again. Why does the water weight come back and is there any way to stop it from happening?

[TaraNorth]

Water weight tends to come back gradually over time, but you don’t actually have to gain back all of the water weight you do lose. The best way to keep it off is to avoid eating processed foods and those high in sugar and salt. Also, as silly as it might sound, if you want to stop your body from retaining water, drink more of it. This will not only help flush toxins out of your system, but it will help your body stay hydrated, so it won’t need to hold on to the extra water like a safety blanket.

[BabyButtons]

It doesnt always come back. Like taranorth said, avoid eating foods high in salt & sugar & drink lots of water. Its all the salt, additives and perservatives in foods that make u blow up like a balloon lol.

[enviroTodd]

If the fluid levels in your tissues reduce to the point that you are dehydrated, then you will always regain those amounts (and the size associated with it) once you rehydrate yourself. This is actually a size that you want to be, because when you are dehydrated you are actually putting yourself at risk of a number of serious health problems that only grow more dangerous over time.

If you have been consuming salty and sugary foods (as the lovely BabyButtons pointed out) then you may actually be retaining fluids and be holding too much water. This is actually also a sign of dehydration. So in that sense, even though you are holding too much water, you still need to rehydrate to get rid of it. So if you flush out that excess water, then you will only maintain your normal level of fluids. This could mean that you will be smaller after that is done.

The fluid levels in your tissues will go up and down throughout your entire life, causing you to gain and lose size. The best thing for you to do in order to be at your smallest and yet healthiest point is to make sure that you always drink lots of water, every day. The better hydrated you are, the better your body will be able to maintain its own natural balance and it will neither wither nor swell up in reaction to your abuse of it.

[brightstar]

Water weight fluctuates constantly in your body. If you lose a lot of it, then the odds are that you'll get most of it back because it's not lost fat. It's fluids in your muscles and other body tissues.

[TeensyTiff]

Thanks for all the great advice. I thin it's amazing that the best way to make sure you keep water retention down is to drink more of it. LOL! You'd think that if you drank less you would have less in your system.

[M-Stark334]

I read in some article that when you reduce your caloric intake, your body gets its needed energy by releasing and utilizing its stores of glycogen. Glycogen holds onto water, so when glycogen is used and burned up for energy, it also releases the water it holds onto.

That's an interesting piece of information, jadenmiller, I never knew that. Guess that's another good reason to lower the amount of calories you eat

[brightstar]

Good point jadenmiller. It really has to be a full program, not just tracking one thing