Sudden stop in weight loss with low calorie intake.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

I am finding myself with Water retention in the AM;s and ran across this so I thought I would share this every one.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

How to Deal With Water Retention: Part One

1:03 PM | Posted by Martin Berkhan

In an ideal world, weight loss would be perfectly linear.

You'd lose weight in a predictable manner, seeing small but consistent changes each passing day. But this is rarely the case, which my experience has proven me many times over.

If you've ever been on a diet and tracked your progress with the scale or the mirror, you're probably familiar with water retention and long weight loss plateaus. Even though your diet is on point, nothing seems to be happening.

Stalling at the same scale weight for weeks is not unheard of - I've experienced it myself. Fortunately, these phases are followed by rapid weight loss seemingly over night. This delayed weight loss is often referred to as the "whoosh"-effect. Nothing for weeks...and then whoosh, 2-4 lbs lost over night. What triggers a whoosh? No one knows, but Lyle McDonald offered a hypothesisbased on something his old exercise physiology professor said.

So what's the big deal here? The issue with water retention is the frustration it brings while waiting for the whoosh.

Waking up every morning to see no progress on the scale can have profound effects on your motivation to maintain your diet and training regimen. Why put in all this effort when nothing is happening? Doubt creeps up. Maybe you're eating too much? Maybe you're not doing enough cardio, maybe your carb intake is too high? So you cut calories and increase cardio in the hopes that it will get the scale moving down again. If we're talking water retention (and not an actual stall), this has the potential to actually worsen the situation. Dumbfounded you watch as your weight creeps up even higher despite your ambitious attempts to set things right.

So at times like these, it's no wonder that people are likely to say "screw this ****" and go off their diet for a day. Or two. Or a week. In the worst case it triggers a binge that sets them back several days or weeks. Not good.

Given the negative impact of water retention on your morale, knowing the causes for water retention, and how to deal with it, can be very useful when you find yourself in this situation.

Water retention - what is it?

Water retention (or edema which is the term used by the medical establishment) is a common, concrete phenomenon that occurs during calorie restriction. It's not just some trivial vanity issue unique to the fitness crowd.

The magnitude of water retention varies; most often it's mild, but enough to obscure your fat loss results on a short-term basis. Sometimes it's more prominent, giving you the impression that nothing is happening for weeks. More severe types of water retention are a common characteristic of malnutrition and life-threatening starvation; it can be so extreme that people will appear to lose no weight at all, as greater amounts of fluids accumulate under the skin. Jewish doctors often observed this phenomenon in the Warsaw ghettos during World War 2.

Water retention can take many forms, such as swollen watery tissue or as an accumulation of fluids in the stomach, chest, lower body and in between joints. You might notice it in the form of fat that feels "squishy" or in the form of red strech marks when waking up in the morning. You can also notice it on your ankles when taking your socks off in the evening; the pressure from the socks leaves an indentation, which might be barely noticeable (no water retention) or big enough to fit half of your thumb in (an extreme example as told to me by a competitor after three days of post-competition binging and gaining 35 lbs). The latter is called pitting edema.

During starvation, inadequate nutrition depresses the pumping mechanisms within the cell that keeps excess salt and water out. The cell deteriorates and the distinction between in and out is lost. However, for the average Joe out there, water retention is more often related to daily shifts in water and salt intake.

Lessons from The Minnesota Experiment

In the Minnesota Experiment during World War 2, men willingly embarked on a semi-starvation-like regimen designed by Dr Ancel Keys. Yes, that's the same Keys who "discovered" a connection between saturated fat and cardiovascular disease - a controversial figure. But I digress. The objective of this study was to observe the effects of semi-starvation and to establish guidelines for properly refeeding war prisoners (this is critical, since refeeding victims of starvation can lead to cardiac arrest due to massive mineral and electrolyte fluctuations). His findings were later published in two books: The Biology of Human Starvation: Volume I http://www.assoc-ama...=1&a=0816672342

and The Biology of Human Starvation: Volume II http://www.assoc-ama...=1&a=0816672334

A lot can be written about this fascinating experiment, but at this point I want to highlight some curious happenings related to the topic at hand. First of all, this wasn't quite starvation per se. The men were getting 1500-1800 kcal per day, while engaging in moderate amounts of daily activity, and that's not too far off from the usual diet fare today. The main difference being that this was done in a controlled setting lasting six months, which is longer than most people would endure a dieting stint.

At the start of the study, the men were losing weight linearly, dropping about 2 lbs per week. However, after some time the weight loss became erratic and unpredictable. No longer was it linear, but rather it occurred in "bursts" with long periods of plateaus. The researchers overseeing the experiment noted that water retention was noticeable in most men and in some cases quite severe.

Half-way through the study the men were allowed a relief dinner to Celebrate their progress. One big meal of 2300 kcal was served; roasted chicken, potatoes, gravy and strawberry shortcake. That night everyone got up more often than usual to urinate. The next day they discovered that they had each lost several pounds.

This was not a one-time occurrence. When the experiment was over and the refeeding phase began, the men continued to drop weight at an accelerated rate until calories were increased substantially.

What I want you to take away from this is the following:

* Refeeding can cause rapid weight loss, a whoosh. This seems counter intuitive, but it's a phenomenon observed in the scientific literature and retold by many dieters. My clients experience this, and so do people embarking on diet regimens where planned carb refeeds are integral parts of the plan (for example, The Ultimate Diet 2.0).

* In my experience, the more severe and rigorous the diet, the higher the likelihood of retaining water. In simple terms, higher calorie deficits usually result in more erratic, non-linear weight loss. This is not a proven fact, but rather a hypothesis based on what I have observed throughout the years - and it has some backing if we look at the weight loss curve observed in starvation and studies like The Minnesota Experiment.

* The hypothesis has credibility if we look at the hormonal response to starvation diets. "Starvation diets" in this context simply mean any diet approach that results in a very high weekly caloric deficit created through diet and/or exercise. This is perceived as a significant stress to the body, to which it responds with chronically raised levels of cortisol. Some cortisol is great, but too much of it is very bad; and studies suggest that cortisol increases in a dose-dependent manner related to the calorie deficit. Prolonged elevations of cortisol can lead to massive water retention. If you've ever been treated with hydrocortisone, a pharmaceutical form of cortisol, you know what I mean.

* The above makes me wonder if the myth of "starvation mode" is actually perpetuated by extreme dieters who find themselves not losing any weight on starvation-level caloric intake (due to severe water retention obscuring weight loss). While some metabolic slowdown occurs during any diet, it's never so profound that it completely negates a substantial calorie deficit. For example, during The Minnesota Experiment the researchers noted a 15-20% reduction in basal metabolic rate at the end of the study (it was actually 40% compared to the start of the study, but this was due to a higher body weight; a large percentage of the drop could be explained by the simple fact that they weighed less and not due to any hormonal impact).

Now you know a little bit about the erratic nature of water retention and the impact it can have on your body weight and diet adherence. In part two I will get a little more practical and tell you about some effective strategies that can help you deal with it if it rears it's ugly head.

Also, feel free to comment, e-mail me or share your own strategies if you have found something that works for you.

[lessofmeismore 1,405]

Wow great information!

That answers so many questions!

Thank you

[leeann71 539]

That was so interesting! Where can you read part 2 at? would love to find out how to rid body of this Water retention weight.

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Great read! Thanks for posting. I am always thrilled to read about the "why" behind certain physical processes such as weight loss. It is like we all bought in to the same Rules of weight loss before, but then never asked why certain rules should exist. What if the rules are wrong or they do not equally apply to everyone? It was like a dumbing down of information for the masses. I suppose there is a place for that to help the gaussian averages succeed, but it lets the minority hang out to dry when something deviates from the Rules. The more you know, as they say... once we know the why behind the rules, then we can form our own customized set of rules that help us succeed at an individual level. It is kind of like knowing that 2+2=4 and then finding out the proof behind that is 4 pages long of abstract mathematics and number theory.

[Ms skinniness 3,003]

Glad you guys like this. I will post part 2 now with credits for the writer's page....http://www.leangains.com

How to Deal With Water Retention: Part Two

4:54 AM | Posted by Martin Berkhan

In part one of this article series I covered the basics of Water retention.

This time I'll list a few effective tricks that will help you deal with it when and if it occurs. Don't worry, you won't be sweating it out in a sauna and sucking on ice cubes. I'll offer simple and non-intimidating strategies that don't require a whole lot of thinking. They can be used in isolation or in combination.

Reduce sodium

The most common reason people hold water is due to shifts in sodium balance. Going from a low baseline intake of sodium to sudden and high intakes can have dramatic effects on your visual appearance (which any bodybuilding-competitor can attest to). Conversely, reducing sodium can have the opposite effect and cause water loss. This is all about relative and not absolute numbers; it's not high sodium per se that cause water retention/water loss, but deviations from the habitual intake. The solution therefore is to reduce sodium to a level below baseline. So for a day or two...

* Ditch all canned or pre-packaged foods since they tend to contain a lot of sodium. A paleo approach to food choices is a pretty good model to use for your diet during these days since it's relatively low in sodium.

* Reduce spices and table salt - make a conscious effort to use less than you're used to. An easy way to reduce sodium without feeling deprived is to use a salt substitute, which contains only half of the sodium chloride found in regular salt.

* Drink a ton of water. Aim for 6-8 liters. You should be pissing like a race horse.

* It's claimed that some foods have a diuretic effect and they're often referenced as natural remedies to combat water retention - asparagus, celery, cucumber and watermelon, for example. I've yet to find some scientific backing for these claims, so take it for what it's worth. I suspect that the proposed diuretic properties of these foods is related to their high water content rather than some other magical mechanism.

Get cortisol back to normal

Elevated levels of cortisol can cause water retention, potentially due to interfering with aldosteron (a hormone that regulates Fluid balance). Excessive cardio, particularly of the more intense variety (HIIT), and low calorie intakes increases cortisol.

* Only do low intensity steady state cardio, such as walking or similar activities with a low perceived rate of effort.

* Increase calorie intake to a level that is no less than 500 kcal below maintenance (i.e if your maintenance intake is 2700 kcal, you should eat no less than 2200 kcal these days).

Have a drink

Alcohol has a quite profound diuretic effect, so drink a a large glass of wine (7 ounces/2 dl) or a large shot of vodka (2 ounces/6 cl) shortly before going to sleep. Caffeine-rich beverages are often said to have a diuretic effect as well, but this is actually a myth. Studies show that the fluids ingested with the caffeine more than makes up for the diuretic effect of caffeine itself. In order for caffeine to have a diuretic effect, take caffeine pills.

Look over your Fiber intake

In my experience, both high and low Fiber intake can cause water retention and a feeling of bloatedness. Look over your diet and it should be clear what the problem is.

Do a refeed

Do a carb-refeed, preferably after having depleted muscle glycogen. A full-body session consisting of 2-4 sets of 12-15 reps per body part will get the job done. Carb choices should consist primarily of starches such as potatoes, rice, Pasta and bread. Keep fiber low, potassium high. The exact amount of carbs to be ingested depends on several factors, but I suggest playing it safe and not going overboard.

* 4-6 g of carbs per kilo lean body mass is a good starting point, preferably on the low end of that if you're inexperienced with carb-refeeds and how you react to them.

* If you do it right, this will have the effect of pulling water outside the muscle cell into the muscle cell. Along with increased muscle glycogen, this will give you a lean and full appearance the next day - ideally also causing a "whoosh" over night.

[lessofmeismore 1,405]

Wow!!! That's so cool!! Things make sense now... I'm going to implement these things!

Thanks again!

Great post!!!

[KristieAtkinson 589]

I can't thank you enough for posting this. I've been struggling with Water retention issues for months now. It's been driving me crazy! And I've even done the gain with calorie reduction thing!

I'm so relieved to know what this is & how to fix it!

[leeann71 539]

Msskinniness

Thank you for these postings they will help tremendously. Good luck on your journey :-)

[KristieAtkinson 589]

I just want to let everyone know, if you follow this advice, it works!! I'm already down 5 pounds in 3 days since starting this. And I am at TOM.

Thanks again for posting this! I'll let y'all know how this goes long term for me.

[Catracks 865]

EXCELLENT INFO!!!!!!!!

[takroom 192]

I'll try it!

[janarae 93]

I can't thank you enough for posting this. I've been struggling with Water retention issues for months now. It's been driving me crazy! And I've even done the gain with calorie reduction thing!

I'm so relieved to know what this is & how to fix it!

What exactly did you do to get the scale moving?

Revision 1/31/13 by Dr Cabrera and Venezuela in MX

[KristieAtkinson 589]

What exactly did you do to get the scale moving?

Revision 1/31/13 by Dr Cabrera and Venezuela in MX

This is what I took from the article & ran with:

1. Reduce sodium from packaged/ processed foods

2. Drink 6-8 liters of Water

3. Do only low intensity cardio

4. Increase caloric intake

5. Do a carb refeed. (Every 4 or 5 days) 4 sets x 15 sets per body part to deplete glycogen stores. Then increase carbs with fast burning carbs gonna start with 100 grams.

I checked with my Bariatric Dr & she said 100 grams is plenty to refeed a sleeve.

Hope this helps you like it has helped me!

Kristie

[mark! 449]

Lyle McDonald has several great books out regarding refeeds and carb cycling. I've worked with him a few times and made great gains and lost a good amount of weight. I'm anxious to get back on normal foods to start running through his programs again. Most carb refeeds you see these days are branched off of what he started.

[Success2013 186]

This kind of reminds me of "The Wendy Plan" on Weight Watchers. Basically it's about switching things up. Has anyone tried this? Success or not?