I guess you can't try dieting and losing weight too long before you encounter the concept of "water weight". After all, our bodies are made up of mostly water, they say. And like oil in your car, you need it just to survive. What do they say? Three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food? Something like that! Anyhow we are made up of alot of water, and our body has some sort of built in regulation of the water level in our bodies "tank" - so to speak.If you just start a diet, then you will drop a good bit, before your weight loss often slows to a certain level that is consistent for awhile. That first big drop everyone is quick to assure us is "water weight". The slow ebbing away that you struggle with after that first rapid loss is fatty tissue.
If you eat too much salt in your diet you will find that your body will retain water. Beware of processed meats (lunchmeats, hot dogs and sausages, bacon), dill pickles and some other pickled foods, as they are highly salty! They dope these things up with so much salt that I suppose you could have them sit out for a while in a buffet or picnic serving with little (or less) worry of spoilage or bacterial contamination.
I have been tracking my own weight loss and it tends to cycle up and down and up and down. Each cycle I hit lower new weights, and then my weight rides up, up, up, then back down, down, down. For more people on a low carb diet they observe a similar body behavior on their scales. Typically it is 4-5 lbs for many. For me I fly up and down at least ten pounds each cycle. Occasionally I will only have a five pound variance, but mostly more.
So it got me to thinking. Just how much does water weigh???!!! I mean, ten pounds is alot. How much water is that exactly? Well I went to the source of all information (Google) and "Googled it" - and found a bunch of helpful answers at http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_does_one_gallon_of_water_weigh.
It turns out that the helpful phrase "a pint is a pound, the world around" is an easy way to remember water weight at a rough approximation of it's weight. "Close enough for government work", as they used to say when I was in the military ages ago. So a gallon of water is somewhere between 8.34lbs or 8.35 lbs if you were to weight it, with a pint actually being a smidge over a pound.
That is interesting to put into perspective, as that means the difference between a "water-lean" me and a "water-porky" me it actually about a gallon and a couple pints or so. Hmmm. And a 5 pound weight shift on account of water retention is a pint or so more than half a gallon (or a pint or so more than two quarts).
I have noticed a few things about when I am water-lean. My skin is tighter. I look better. People comment on my weight loss more. I also get leg cramps on occasion when I wake up in the morning. My belt goes a notch or more tighter.
When I am water-heavy, my skin looks baggier all over - but especially in my face. I feel a little demoralized too. It's depressing to go from better looking to jowly and baggy looking. And the scale - ARGH! It is so depressing and frustrating to see it ride up ten pounds over my new low weight.
Anyhow, that's life. Low carb life for me. But I have a little visualization of the amount of water that I now trade on and off in these weight loss cycles. Hope this helps you too!!
