ponedeljek, 1. junij 2020
5 Best Ways to Lose Body Fat
No matter why you want to lose weight, it won't be easier for you to achieve this goal. Aside from diet and exercise, many factors have an impact on your weight loss efforts. Fortunately, we can share a few tips with you that can help you boost your fat loss. Let's find out more about the simple but best ways to shed weight.
1. Strength Training
Strength training is an exercise that gives strength to your muscles. As a result, it helps you develop your muscle mass as well. Typically, strength training requires you to lift weights to develop your muscles with the passage of time.
According to researchers, this type of exercise offers a lot of benefits as far as burning body fat is concerned. According a research study, this type of workout can help you get rid of visceral fat, which is a type of fat that can be found around your belly organs.
With resistance training, you can save your fat-free mass. This way you can burn more calories when you are idle. So, you should do body-weight exercises as well.
2. High-Protein Diet
If you want to burn more fat and curb your appetite, you may want to add protein-rich foods to your diet. As a matter of fact, many studies have found that a high-protein diet can reduce your risk of developing belly fat.
According to a study, high-protein diet preserves muscle mass and boosts your metabolism during your fat loss journey. Aside from this, increasing your protein intake promote feelings of fullness, reduce your caloric intake and curb appetite.
So, what you need to do is add a couple of servings of protein-rich foods to your diet for faster fat burning. For instance, you can add dairy products, legumes, eggs, seafood and meat to your menu.
3. More Sleep
You may set your alarm to wake up early in the morning or go to bed earlier to boost your fat loss and prevent weight gain. According to many studies, weight loss and sleep are linked with each other.
Another study found that getting a minimum of 7 hours of sleep in 24 hours could help you control your weight. Similarly, lack of sleep may make changes to your hunger hormones, boost your appetite and make you fat.
Although not all of us require the same amount of sleep, you may want to get at least 6 hours of sleep per night.
4. Vinegar
Vinegar is quite popular for its healthy properties. Apart from blood sugar control and heart health, it can also boost your weight loss pace. If you consume 2 tablespoons of vinegar per day, you can reduce your belly fat significantly over a period of 12 weeks.
5. Healthy Fats
Contrary to popular beliefs, upping your healthy fat intake can help you prevent fat gain and sustain feelings of fullness. Actually, your stomach takes longer to digest fat, which can curb your hunger and appetite.
In short, these are a few simple but best ways to lose body fat.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10222709
1. Strength Training
Strength training is an exercise that gives strength to your muscles. As a result, it helps you develop your muscle mass as well. Typically, strength training requires you to lift weights to develop your muscles with the passage of time.
According to researchers, this type of exercise offers a lot of benefits as far as burning body fat is concerned. According a research study, this type of workout can help you get rid of visceral fat, which is a type of fat that can be found around your belly organs.
With resistance training, you can save your fat-free mass. This way you can burn more calories when you are idle. So, you should do body-weight exercises as well.
2. High-Protein Diet
If you want to burn more fat and curb your appetite, you may want to add protein-rich foods to your diet. As a matter of fact, many studies have found that a high-protein diet can reduce your risk of developing belly fat.
According to a study, high-protein diet preserves muscle mass and boosts your metabolism during your fat loss journey. Aside from this, increasing your protein intake promote feelings of fullness, reduce your caloric intake and curb appetite.
So, what you need to do is add a couple of servings of protein-rich foods to your diet for faster fat burning. For instance, you can add dairy products, legumes, eggs, seafood and meat to your menu.
3. More Sleep
You may set your alarm to wake up early in the morning or go to bed earlier to boost your fat loss and prevent weight gain. According to many studies, weight loss and sleep are linked with each other.
Another study found that getting a minimum of 7 hours of sleep in 24 hours could help you control your weight. Similarly, lack of sleep may make changes to your hunger hormones, boost your appetite and make you fat.
Although not all of us require the same amount of sleep, you may want to get at least 6 hours of sleep per night.
4. Vinegar
Vinegar is quite popular for its healthy properties. Apart from blood sugar control and heart health, it can also boost your weight loss pace. If you consume 2 tablespoons of vinegar per day, you can reduce your belly fat significantly over a period of 12 weeks.
5. Healthy Fats
Contrary to popular beliefs, upping your healthy fat intake can help you prevent fat gain and sustain feelings of fullness. Actually, your stomach takes longer to digest fat, which can curb your hunger and appetite.
In short, these are a few simple but best ways to lose body fat.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10222709
nedelja, 31. maj 2020
Why is Losing Fat So Difficult? The Science Behind Weight Loss.
Weight loss ought to be easy. Right? After all, you just have to eat fewer calories than you use every day. So why is weight loss so hard? And why is losing fat even more challenging?
Weight loss is a sign of imminent starvation to your body; therefore your body doesn’t want to lose weight, and it especially does not want to lose fat. For thousands of years starvation was a real danger, so your ancestors’ genes developed an insurance policy: fat storage. Their genes also developed mechanisms to protect fat from being used for as long as possible. This means fat is not your body’s first choice for fuel when it faces a calorie shortage. In fact, it’s not even your body’s second choice.
Your genes are still in the Stone Age. They don’t know there is an all-night pizza delivery and a convenience store on every corner. They also don’t know when you want to deliberately lose weight. Think of it as a communication problem: you cut calories to lose weight, but your body interprets that as starvation, a potentially life-threatening event. You want to lose fat, but your body wants to keep it. The body thinks fat is good, useful, valuable stuff, which it is in reasonable amounts. If you really were starving, it would help keep you alive.
To lose fat, you have to “speak” your body’s language and send it the right signals at the right time, so your body doesn’t think that you are starving. The body’s hunger control mechanisms, like its fat storage and
release systems, are not yet fully understood. Based on established and evolving science, to lose weight safely and effectively, you must follow a plan that “speaks” your body’s language.
Using smart nutrition and frequent small meals, will send the signal that food is plentiful, encouraging your body to release fat for use as fuel. This approach takes advantage of your body’s physiology to maximize weight loss.
As every dieter knows, to lose weight you must eat fewer calories than your body requires every day, creating a prolonged calorie or energy shortage in your body. This deficit is met by “burning” stored calories and thereby losing weight.
Not all calories are treated the same. When you cut calories, your body turns to the three macronutrients⎯ carbohydrates, proteins and fats ⎯ for fuel. In nature, protecting fat reserves can mean the difference between survival and death. Consequently, the body has excellent mechanisms for storing fat and lousy mechanisms for losing it.
How does this affect you? If you want to lose weight, you have to send the right signals to your body. Use the three principles of weight loss ⎯ frequent meals, sufficient protein and calorie restriction ⎯ to tell your body to use its stored fat for fuel.
Weight loss is a sign of imminent starvation to your body; therefore your body doesn’t want to lose weight, and it especially does not want to lose fat. For thousands of years starvation was a real danger, so your ancestors’ genes developed an insurance policy: fat storage. Their genes also developed mechanisms to protect fat from being used for as long as possible. This means fat is not your body’s first choice for fuel when it faces a calorie shortage. In fact, it’s not even your body’s second choice.
Your genes are still in the Stone Age. They don’t know there is an all-night pizza delivery and a convenience store on every corner. They also don’t know when you want to deliberately lose weight. Think of it as a communication problem: you cut calories to lose weight, but your body interprets that as starvation, a potentially life-threatening event. You want to lose fat, but your body wants to keep it. The body thinks fat is good, useful, valuable stuff, which it is in reasonable amounts. If you really were starving, it would help keep you alive.
To lose fat, you have to “speak” your body’s language and send it the right signals at the right time, so your body doesn’t think that you are starving. The body’s hunger control mechanisms, like its fat storage and
release systems, are not yet fully understood. Based on established and evolving science, to lose weight safely and effectively, you must follow a plan that “speaks” your body’s language.
Using smart nutrition and frequent small meals, will send the signal that food is plentiful, encouraging your body to release fat for use as fuel. This approach takes advantage of your body’s physiology to maximize weight loss.
As every dieter knows, to lose weight you must eat fewer calories than your body requires every day, creating a prolonged calorie or energy shortage in your body. This deficit is met by “burning” stored calories and thereby losing weight.
Not all calories are treated the same. When you cut calories, your body turns to the three macronutrients⎯ carbohydrates, proteins and fats ⎯ for fuel. In nature, protecting fat reserves can mean the difference between survival and death. Consequently, the body has excellent mechanisms for storing fat and lousy mechanisms for losing it.
How does this affect you? If you want to lose weight, you have to send the right signals to your body. Use the three principles of weight loss ⎯ frequent meals, sufficient protein and calorie restriction ⎯ to tell your body to use its stored fat for fuel.
Originally
posted on: https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/Why_is_Losing_Fat_So_Difficult.html
sobota, 30. maj 2020
The Significance Of Water In Your HCG Diet
The crux of a successful HCG diet is sufficient consumption of water. A lot of water is needed to help sustain through this program especially because the dieter is on a very low calorie diet. Most Vancouver based HCG experts recommend a minimum of eight glasses of water every single day. On some days you may even need to consume a little more than that. Here is a list of reasons why consumption of water is so crucial to your diet –
1. The primary objective of this diet plan is to facilitate quick and consistent weight loss. Water consumption acts as a catalyst to enhanced metabolic rates and thus it is important to constantly keep yourself hydrated at all times.
2. To be able to increase your metabolic rates, it is important for you to consume the perfect amounts of water. Additionally, dehydration can result in bloating of the body, since your body tends to hold the water as reserve in cases where they aren’t getting enough. This results in adding more pounds to your weight and consequently working against the objective of your HCG diet in the first place.
3. The lack of water intake can also result in constipation. This further adds to your weight and even stalls the weight loss process. If you consume water on a regular basis as per the generally prescribed norm, you can not only prevent this from happening, but also avoid feeling exhausted, getting sick and building on your personal ability to sustain the diet.
4. The extra water consumption facilitates easy digestion of food, thus boosting your diet in general by providing your body with all the necessary nutrients. A good balance of micro flora in your intestinal tract further ensures that your body doesn’t lack the energy that it requires to function every day.
5. Water also helps in ensuring that your appetite remains low. A few sips of water can help you sustain through your next scheduled meal, hereby ensuring that you aren’t motivated to cheat in between meals. By consuming water regularly, you can easily avoid snacking and wrong eating habits.
6. Water is vital to weight loss in an HCG diet. Water flushes out toxins in your cells and organs and helps improve the overall performance of your body. In addition to this, while one is losing weight, the fat begins to break down in your body. Water helps you flush out the unwanted by-products. Contrastingly, if you aren’t able to flush out these products your body will be susceptible to lack of energy and other unwanted effects.
One cannot emphasize enough on the benefits of this calorie free beverage. Not only does it offer all the necessary minerals that a human body demands, but the extra benefit is that water contains not added sugars, preservatives and additives that can harm your body.
1. The primary objective of this diet plan is to facilitate quick and consistent weight loss. Water consumption acts as a catalyst to enhanced metabolic rates and thus it is important to constantly keep yourself hydrated at all times.
2. To be able to increase your metabolic rates, it is important for you to consume the perfect amounts of water. Additionally, dehydration can result in bloating of the body, since your body tends to hold the water as reserve in cases where they aren’t getting enough. This results in adding more pounds to your weight and consequently working against the objective of your HCG diet in the first place.
3. The lack of water intake can also result in constipation. This further adds to your weight and even stalls the weight loss process. If you consume water on a regular basis as per the generally prescribed norm, you can not only prevent this from happening, but also avoid feeling exhausted, getting sick and building on your personal ability to sustain the diet.
4. The extra water consumption facilitates easy digestion of food, thus boosting your diet in general by providing your body with all the necessary nutrients. A good balance of micro flora in your intestinal tract further ensures that your body doesn’t lack the energy that it requires to function every day.
5. Water also helps in ensuring that your appetite remains low. A few sips of water can help you sustain through your next scheduled meal, hereby ensuring that you aren’t motivated to cheat in between meals. By consuming water regularly, you can easily avoid snacking and wrong eating habits.
6. Water is vital to weight loss in an HCG diet. Water flushes out toxins in your cells and organs and helps improve the overall performance of your body. In addition to this, while one is losing weight, the fat begins to break down in your body. Water helps you flush out the unwanted by-products. Contrastingly, if you aren’t able to flush out these products your body will be susceptible to lack of energy and other unwanted effects.
One cannot emphasize enough on the benefits of this calorie free beverage. Not only does it offer all the necessary minerals that a human body demands, but the extra benefit is that water contains not added sugars, preservatives and additives that can harm your body.
Originally
posted on: https://articlebliss.com/Article/862215/The-Significance-Of-Water-In-Your-HCG-Diet.html
petek, 29. maj 2020
Best Foods to Eat for a Flat Stomach
Are you looking for a list of foods that can help you flatten your stomach? If so, you are on the right page. In this article, we are going to discuss the best foods that can help you lose belly fat and get back into shape.
Green Tea
Green tea contains antioxidants that can help your body prevent fat absorption. Aside from this, drinking green tea on a daily basis can boost your metabolism, which will boost your weight loss progress.
Lemon
If you squeeze a lemon into a glass of fresh warm water, you can kick-start your digestive tract. This way your intestines will find it much easier to move food. So, you will have no bloating.
Bananas
Potassium can work wonders as far as helping you remove excess water weight from your body is concerned. Banana is a good source of potassium. Therefore, eating bananas on a daily basis is a good idea.
Potatoes
Potatoes are a great source of potassium as long as you don't have a lot of it in the form of chips or other stuff. If eaten in moderation, they can help you boost your digestion and reduce belly fat.
High-Fiber Cereal
High-fiber cereal is also good for your weight loss. For instance, if you have one bowel or All-Bran or shredded wheat, you can easily prevent constipation, which is a major cause of belly fat.
Olive Oil
Olive oil is one of the best anti-inflammatory ingredients that can help you flatten your stomach and protect you against the bad effects of cholesterol. However, it will be much effective if you add it to salad dressing.
Yogurt with Probiotics
Yogurt has a lot of protein in addition to healthy bacteria that boost digestion and reduce stress. Actually, when you are under stress, your body produces cortisol, which causes the fat to head for your midsection. So, this is not good for your weight loss.
Cucumbers
Cucumber is on the list of hydrating veggies. If you have it, it will help you get rid of excess water weight.
Quinoa
Quinoa is one of the best flour alternatives. Actually, this is a gluten-free food and contains a lot of fiber. Therefore, it helps with digestion.
Dark Chocolate
The good news is that dark chocolate can work as a natural appetite controller if taken in moderation. Actually, it boosts your metabolism and helps fight stress.
Blueberries
According to many studies, blueberries contain antioxidants that can help you reduce belly fat.
Asparagus
Asparagus works like cucumbers. Actually, this veggie works like a diuretic and removes the excess water weight from your body.
Salmon
Salmon is a great source of omega-3s, which is a fatty acid. It helps you prevent bloating, in addition, to speed up your metabolic rate and reduce inflammation.
Spinach
Although a healthy diet is full of leafy greens, spinach is much more special. Actually, it contains many antioxidants, such as vitamins K, E, C, and A. All of these are good for your belly fat loss.
So, these are some foods that you can eat to reduce your belly fat.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/10222712
četrtek, 28. maj 2020
Water Retention and Weight Loss: You Can Lose Fat, But Not Weight?
Fluid retention can be an insidious problem to deal with when dieting to lose weight.
Have you ever been rolling along nicely on a cut and then, out of nowhere, had your scale freeze up on you? That is, you go one, two, even three weeks without losing any weight, and without looking any leaner?
Weight loss plateaus like these are usually caused by accidental over-eating or under-exercising, and there are simple dietary and exercise strategies you can use to remedy those issues.
That said, increased water retention can also be the cause of “mysterious” weight stagnation. Women can really suffer from this due to the fluid retention that comes with the menstrual cycle.
If you’re not familiar with water retention and what to do about it, it can really throw you for a loop because cutting calories further and increasing cardio–the two simplest ways to get the scale moving again–can actually make it worse. This can then lead to a nice, greasy bout of frustration binging, which sets you back even further.
So, let’s learn more about fluid retention and weight loss, and how to defeat it so you can avoid this aggravating pitfall.
When a Weight Loss Plateau isn’t a Fat Loss Plateau
In a perfect world, we would always lose weight in a neat, orderly manner.
We would do our daily exercise and follow our meal plans and wake up a little lighter and leaner every morning. On we would go until we eventually have our six packs, we would celebrate with our favorite cheat meal, and that would be that.
Well, it usually doesn’t work out like that.
It turns out that weight loss can be quite erratic sometimes. You can sit at the same weight for several weeks, and then lose 3-4 pounds overnight, and it can sometimes occur after pigging out.
How is that possible? I mean, as long as you maintain a daily caloric deficit, your body is going to mobilize fat stores, so why would your weight stay the same?
The answer lies in water retention. If you lost a pound of fat in one week, it can be obscured–both on the scale and in the mirror–by an extra pound of water that your body is holding.
While daily fluctuations in the amount of water you drink and sodium you eat account for most of the water you retain, simply being in a caloric deficit can cause water retention. A major reason for this is the fact that it raises cortisol levels, which in turn increases fluid retention.
So, let’s take a closer look at this phenomenon and what we can do about it.
What a World War II Starvation Experiment Can Teach Us About Water Weight
Scientific knowledge of this phenomenon goes back decades.
A good example of this is the “Minnesota Starvation Experiment” conducted by Dr. Ancel Keys during World War II, wherein 36 men willingly submitted themselves to a semi-starvation diet of about 1,500 calories per day for 6 months. The purpose of the experiment was to study the physiology and psychology of starvation, and to work out a proper regimen for gradually helping starved war prisoners back to normal diets and metabolic functions.
While there is plenty of interesting information among his findings, I want to call your attention to one observation in particular.
Weight loss progressed in a nice, linear fashion in the beginning. Men lost about 2 lbs per week, every week. Eventually, however, it became erratic. Weight would remain stagnant for weeks with a dramatic increase in water retention, and then a “burst” of weight loss would occur as water was rapidly expelled.
I want to repeat this point: the caloric deficit did systematically reduce body fat levels, but the reductions in total body weight were often counter-balanced by increases in water retention. This extra water would suddenly flood out, causing apparent “bursts” in weight loss of several pounds overnight. Bodybuilders are very familiar with this phenomenon, calling it the “whoosh effect.”
“What triggered these whooshes in the prisoners?” you might be wondering.
Sometimes they just occurred randomly, but a reliable trigger was a dramatic increase in calories for a meal. For instance, a 2,300-calorie meal was served to celebrate the half-way mark of the experiment, and scientists noted that many of the men woke up several times to pee that night and, in the morning, were several pounds lighter than the day before.
If you’ve ever dieted down to a super-lean level (7% and below for men, 15% and below for women), you’ve probably experienced this “whoosh” after you do a nice re-feed meal/day. In fact, it’s common for weight loss to continue for several weeks even after you reach your body fat goal and start increasing your calories (this was noted in the Minnesota Experiment as well).
Practical Advice for Losing Water Weight
If you find your weight stuck for several weeks despite being absolutely sure that you’re in a caloric deficit (weighing food you eat, keeping your activity levels up through exercise), the strategies below will probably un-stick you.
Reduce Your Sodium Intake
Increasing your sodium intake above your normal daily levels increases water weight. Conversely, reducing it below the daily norm reduces water weight. Thus, an easy way to trigger a “whoosh” is reducing your sodium intake.
When I cut sodium, I bring it down to 1-1.5 grams per day for a few days (the Institute of Medicine recommends just 1.5 grams of sodium per day, by the way). That means…
No canned or pre-packaged foods (salt is used as a preservative).
No deli meat (full of sodium).
Reduce your use of table salt and spices. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium. Use a salt substitute instead, and use it sparingly. Many spices are high in sodium–avoid them.
Watch out for sauces and salad dressings, many of which are high in sodium.
Watch out for cheese, which is often quite high in sodium.
While it might be annoying to count yet another thing in your diet, it’s worth reining in your sodium for a few days to get the scale moving again. (Oh and as a note, I’ve yet to see any valid scientific proof of claims made about “diuretic foods” like asparagus and celery.)
Drink More Water
Drinking plenty of water helps normalize your fluid retention. Shoot for around 1 gallon per day.
Get Your Cortisol Under Control
If you’re retaining a lot of water, it may be due to elevated cortisol levels. To get your cortisol back to normal, try the following:
Cut back on the exercise. Exercise elevates cortisol levels, and when combined with a caloric restriction, this can be a double-whammy of cortisol for your body. Reduce the frequency and intensity of your training for a week to help bring things back to normal.
Make sure you’re not in too severe of a caloric deficit. Go over your diet and compare it against your total daily expenditure using a calculation like the Katch McArdle (and use the “light activity” multiplier–unless you exercise less than 7 hours per week, higher multipliers will have you eating too much). Bring yourself to a 500-calorie deficit to avoid the cortisol issues that come with greater caloric restrictions.
Chill out. You can reduce cortisol levels by simply taking some time each day to relax, listen to some good music, drink some tea, and do some deep breathing. Taking a nap and getting a massage can help, too.
Get more sleep. Not getting enough sleep can result in elevated cortisol levels later in the day. Try to get 7-8 hours per night.
Eat a Bunch of Food
Don’t you love me for this one?
I’ve talked about the importance of “re-feeding” when you’re dieting, and its benefits extend to dealing with fluid retention. As was seen in the Minnesota Experiment, a jump in calories for one meal can trigger a “whoosh” of water.
So have a nice cheat meal and enjoy it. For an added bonus, include a good amount of carbs, as it can reduce cortisol levels.
Originally posted on: https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/water-retention-and-weight-loss-you-can-lose-fat-but-not-weight
Have you ever been rolling along nicely on a cut and then, out of nowhere, had your scale freeze up on you? That is, you go one, two, even three weeks without losing any weight, and without looking any leaner?
Weight loss plateaus like these are usually caused by accidental over-eating or under-exercising, and there are simple dietary and exercise strategies you can use to remedy those issues.
If you’re not familiar with water retention and what to do about it, it can really throw you for a loop because cutting calories further and increasing cardio–the two simplest ways to get the scale moving again–can actually make it worse. This can then lead to a nice, greasy bout of frustration binging, which sets you back even further.
So, let’s learn more about fluid retention and weight loss, and how to defeat it so you can avoid this aggravating pitfall.
When a Weight Loss Plateau isn’t a Fat Loss Plateau
In a perfect world, we would always lose weight in a neat, orderly manner.
We would do our daily exercise and follow our meal plans and wake up a little lighter and leaner every morning. On we would go until we eventually have our six packs, we would celebrate with our favorite cheat meal, and that would be that.
Well, it usually doesn’t work out like that.
It turns out that weight loss can be quite erratic sometimes. You can sit at the same weight for several weeks, and then lose 3-4 pounds overnight, and it can sometimes occur after pigging out.
How is that possible? I mean, as long as you maintain a daily caloric deficit, your body is going to mobilize fat stores, so why would your weight stay the same?
The answer lies in water retention. If you lost a pound of fat in one week, it can be obscured–both on the scale and in the mirror–by an extra pound of water that your body is holding.
While daily fluctuations in the amount of water you drink and sodium you eat account for most of the water you retain, simply being in a caloric deficit can cause water retention. A major reason for this is the fact that it raises cortisol levels, which in turn increases fluid retention.
So, let’s take a closer look at this phenomenon and what we can do about it.
What a World War II Starvation Experiment Can Teach Us About Water Weight
Scientific knowledge of this phenomenon goes back decades.
A good example of this is the “Minnesota Starvation Experiment” conducted by Dr. Ancel Keys during World War II, wherein 36 men willingly submitted themselves to a semi-starvation diet of about 1,500 calories per day for 6 months. The purpose of the experiment was to study the physiology and psychology of starvation, and to work out a proper regimen for gradually helping starved war prisoners back to normal diets and metabolic functions.
While there is plenty of interesting information among his findings, I want to call your attention to one observation in particular.
Weight loss progressed in a nice, linear fashion in the beginning. Men lost about 2 lbs per week, every week. Eventually, however, it became erratic. Weight would remain stagnant for weeks with a dramatic increase in water retention, and then a “burst” of weight loss would occur as water was rapidly expelled.
I want to repeat this point: the caloric deficit did systematically reduce body fat levels, but the reductions in total body weight were often counter-balanced by increases in water retention. This extra water would suddenly flood out, causing apparent “bursts” in weight loss of several pounds overnight. Bodybuilders are very familiar with this phenomenon, calling it the “whoosh effect.”
“What triggered these whooshes in the prisoners?” you might be wondering.
Sometimes they just occurred randomly, but a reliable trigger was a dramatic increase in calories for a meal. For instance, a 2,300-calorie meal was served to celebrate the half-way mark of the experiment, and scientists noted that many of the men woke up several times to pee that night and, in the morning, were several pounds lighter than the day before.
If you’ve ever dieted down to a super-lean level (7% and below for men, 15% and below for women), you’ve probably experienced this “whoosh” after you do a nice re-feed meal/day. In fact, it’s common for weight loss to continue for several weeks even after you reach your body fat goal and start increasing your calories (this was noted in the Minnesota Experiment as well).
Practical Advice for Losing Water Weight
If you find your weight stuck for several weeks despite being absolutely sure that you’re in a caloric deficit (weighing food you eat, keeping your activity levels up through exercise), the strategies below will probably un-stick you.
Reduce Your Sodium Intake
Increasing your sodium intake above your normal daily levels increases water weight. Conversely, reducing it below the daily norm reduces water weight. Thus, an easy way to trigger a “whoosh” is reducing your sodium intake.
When I cut sodium, I bring it down to 1-1.5 grams per day for a few days (the Institute of Medicine recommends just 1.5 grams of sodium per day, by the way). That means…
No canned or pre-packaged foods (salt is used as a preservative).
No deli meat (full of sodium).
Reduce your use of table salt and spices. One teaspoon of table salt contains 2,300 mg of sodium. Use a salt substitute instead, and use it sparingly. Many spices are high in sodium–avoid them.
Watch out for sauces and salad dressings, many of which are high in sodium.
Watch out for cheese, which is often quite high in sodium.
While it might be annoying to count yet another thing in your diet, it’s worth reining in your sodium for a few days to get the scale moving again. (Oh and as a note, I’ve yet to see any valid scientific proof of claims made about “diuretic foods” like asparagus and celery.)
Drink More Water
Drinking plenty of water helps normalize your fluid retention. Shoot for around 1 gallon per day.
Get Your Cortisol Under Control
If you’re retaining a lot of water, it may be due to elevated cortisol levels. To get your cortisol back to normal, try the following:
Cut back on the exercise. Exercise elevates cortisol levels, and when combined with a caloric restriction, this can be a double-whammy of cortisol for your body. Reduce the frequency and intensity of your training for a week to help bring things back to normal.
Make sure you’re not in too severe of a caloric deficit. Go over your diet and compare it against your total daily expenditure using a calculation like the Katch McArdle (and use the “light activity” multiplier–unless you exercise less than 7 hours per week, higher multipliers will have you eating too much). Bring yourself to a 500-calorie deficit to avoid the cortisol issues that come with greater caloric restrictions.
Chill out. You can reduce cortisol levels by simply taking some time each day to relax, listen to some good music, drink some tea, and do some deep breathing. Taking a nap and getting a massage can help, too.
Get more sleep. Not getting enough sleep can result in elevated cortisol levels later in the day. Try to get 7-8 hours per night.
Eat a Bunch of Food
Don’t you love me for this one?
I’ve talked about the importance of “re-feeding” when you’re dieting, and its benefits extend to dealing with fluid retention. As was seen in the Minnesota Experiment, a jump in calories for one meal can trigger a “whoosh” of water.
So have a nice cheat meal and enjoy it. For an added bonus, include a good amount of carbs, as it can reduce cortisol levels.
Originally posted on: https://www.selfgrowth.com/articles/water-retention-and-weight-loss-you-can-lose-fat-but-not-weight
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