Many of us can’t resist peeking at that the scales every morning even though we know that this is futile. From water retention to glycogen storage and changes in lean body mass, daily weight fluctuations are normal. Water makes up approximately 60% of total body mass. Normal fluctuations in the body’s water content can send scale-watchers into a tailspin if they don’t understand what’s happening.
Two factors influencing water retention are water consumption and salt intake. Strange as it sounds, the less water you drink the more of it your body retains. The solution is to drink plenty of water.
Excess salt (sodium) can also play a big role in water retention. A single teaspoon of salt contains over 2,000 mg of sodium. Read the labels of processed foods. Their hidden sodium content can be sky high.
Women may also retain several pounds of water prior to menstruation. Pre-menstrual water-weight gain can be minimized by drinking plenty of water, maintaining an exercise program, and keeping high-sodium processed foods to a minimum. You can also add water balancing supplements.
Another factor that can influence the scale is glycogen, our body’s carbohydrate store. This energy reserve weighs more than a pound and it’s packaged with 3-4 pounds of water when it’s stored. When the glycogen supply shrink (for instance when you don’t eat enough carbohydrates), you’ll refuel with carbs and water. It’s normal to experience glycogen and water weight shifts of up to 2 pounds per day even with no changes in your calorie intake or activity level.
It’s best to weigh yourself in the morning because everything you eat and drink will show up on the scales until it is digested and expelled.
On a very low calorie diet that causes you to lose 10 pounds in 7 days, it’s physically impossible for all of that to be fat. What you’re really losing is water, glycogen, and muscle. This brings us to the scales’ sneakiest attribute. It doesn’t just weigh fat. It weighs muscle, bone, water, internal organs and all. When you lose “weight,” that doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ve lost fat. Losing muscle is nothing to celebrate. Muscle is metabolically active tissue. The more you have, the easier it is to lose weight. If you are exercising and eating right, don’t be discouraged by a small gain on the scale.
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