How to Lose Water Weight
Key Takeaways
Shifts in the amount of fluid in your body can lead to significant fluctuations in your body weight.
Water retention occurs when the body is holding onto more fluid than it normally would. The excess weight this causes is known as water weight.
Water retention can be caused by medical conditions, including heart, lung, liver, and kidney diseases. It can also be caused or exacerbated by lifestyle factors.
If you’re consistently noticing that you’re retaining more water than you used to, it’s a good idea to visit your doctor. They can assess whether this is caused by a medical condition.
Shifts in your diet and exercise habits may help to relieve water retention.
What is water weight?
Water normally makes up approximately 50 to 60% of an adult’s body weight. The specific amount of water that your body contains can have a noticeable impact on your overall body weight. Excess weight that’s due to having excess fluid in the body is often referred to as “water weight.”
Water is relatively heavy, weighing 1kg per liter. Because of this, the exact amount of water that your body contains at any given time can have a noticeable impact on your overall body weight. This amount will vary somewhat throughout the day, as well as from one day to the next.
In fact, if you weigh yourself multiple times on the same day, you’ll likely notice that your weight changes each time, due to slight shifts in how much fluid you’re carrying. When you’re more hydrated, you weigh a little more; if you get a bit dehydrated, then you weigh a little less. One study found that the normal daily fluctuations in body weight were up to 3.6% – for a person weighing 70 kg, this would be more than 2.5kg.
When you gain or lose a kilogram or more from one day to the next, this is generally due to fluctuations in water weight, rather than to the loss of fat tissue. Consider that a kilogram of fat tissue has about 7700 calories of energy, while people normally only consume a total of about 2000 to 2500 calories per day. This makes it impossible to lose a whole kilogram of fat in a single day.
A safe and sustainable amount of weight loss is an average of about 0.5kg per week. However, there will be significant fluctuations throughout each day, due to shifts in water weight. This is why it’s best to weigh yourself at the same time each day (usually first thing in the morning) if you’re working on losing weight.
What is water retention?
Water retention occurs when the body is holding onto more water than it normally would. Medically, excess fluid in the body is known as edema. Edema can be a sign of a medical condition, and it can also be caused or exacerbated by lifestyle factors.
Bloating is generally a more temporary form of water retention. For example, if you eat a very salty dinner, then you may notice that your fingers and toes are a little swollen the next day. Other lifestyle factors can also lead to bloating. Hormonal factors can also play a role – many women experience bloating during certain parts of the menstrual cycle.
By contrast, chronic water retention is more likely to be related to an underlying medical condition. Diseases of the heart, lung, kidney, and liver can all cause this. People with these conditions will often experience water retention that never entirely goes away, although it may still fluctuate somewhat based on lifestyle factors.
Is water weight dangerous?
Although carrying excess weight in the form of fat tissue is associated with a number of chronic health problems (including type 2 diabetes and heart disease), carrying excess water weight will not lead to these same types of problems. In this sense, water weight is not dangerous.
However, if you notice a lot of excess fluid in your body, especially in your legs and feet, this could indicate a serious medical problem. If you’ve noticed that you’re consistently retaining more water, then you should visit your doctor to discuss this. They’ll check for any serious health conditions that may require treatment. If you have edema caused by a medical condition, then treating this condition will often help to relieve the water retention.
There are prescription medications that can help your body to get rid of excess fluids. These medications are known as diuretics, but are sometimes known as “water pills.” Your doctor might prescribe a diuretic to help with your water retention. Diuretics can have side effects, so it’s important that you get a doctor’s prescription for them, rather than trying to find them on your own.
How to lose water weight
Whether or not you have an underlying medical condition, there are many lifestyle factors that can cause or exacerbate water retention. If you’re looking for ways to relieve bloating, there are a few ways to help accomplish this:
Control your salt intake. Sodium, which is found in common table salt, causes your body to retain more water. This keeps the salt concentration in your blood from rising too high. When you eat less salt, you’ll also retain less water. Besides helping to keep you from carrying too much water weight, this can also help to keep your blood pressure under control. You do need a little bit of salt for your health, but most people eat far more than they need. In fact, about 90% of Singaporeans consume more sodium than the recommended maximum of 2000mg.
Take more water. Many people expect that taking more water would cause you to hold onto more water weight. However, the opposite tends to be true. When you’re dehydrated, this triggers the release of a hormone called angiotensin. This hormone causes the body to hold onto water, in case it’s needed later. Drinking more water can allow your body to release this excess water, which can actually reduce water weight.
Consume more potassium. When you consume low levels of potassium, this causes the kidneys to hold onto excess sodium while they’re trying to conserve potassium. Making sure to get enough potassium can help your body to get rid of excess sodium, along with the water weight it holds. Most fruits and vegetables are relatively high in potassium, and lentils and beans are also good sources. Table salt usually contains sodium, but you can choose to replace some of your salt with a version that contains potassium instead, which can be a good way to get more potassium while also reducing your sodium intake.
Consume more magnesium. Magnesium helps to promote relaxation of blood vessels. By improving blood flow, this can help the body to get rid of excess fluids. In addition, when you don’t have enough magnesium, the kidneys may hold onto excess sodium. You could get more magnesium by eating magnesium-rich foods like green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and lentils. Some people choose to take magnesium supplements, although it’s a good idea to check with your doctor before you start taking a new supplement.
Eat fewer carbs. Your body stores excess carbohydrates in the form of a starch called glycogen, which is found in your liver and muscle tissue. Glycogen holds quite a bit of water – in fact, each gram of glycogen is associated with about three grams of water. Because of this, having more glycogen will cause you to retain more water weight. When you eat fewer carbs, your body will use up some of its glycogen stores, along with the extra water that the glycogen was holding onto. It’s generally not considered to be safe to eat no carbs at all, but most people eat more than they need, and can replace some of these with protein or healthy fats.
Exercise. Exercise can help you to lose water weight in a few different ways. When you exercise, your muscles burn through glycogen quickly. You also often lose fluids through sweat, which can help to reduce the total amount of fluid in your body. In addition, by stimulating circulation, exercise helps to release excess fluids that may be trapped in your legs and feet. Beyond helping you lose water weight, exercise also has numerous benefits for both physical and mental health.
Eat more fibre. As it passes through the digestive tract, fibre pulls water into the intestines, and then carries it out of the body. This is one way that your body could potentially get rid of excess water. Good sources of fibre include fruits, vegetables, wholegrains, lentils, and beans. If you suddenly increase your fibre intake, then you may experience some abdominal bloating at first, due to the increased volume in your intestines. As your body adjusts, you should experience better digestive function as a result of eating more fibre.
If you’re on a journey to achieve a healthier body weight, it can be helpful to take steps to avoid carrying excess water weight. However, it’s still important to know that it’s very normal to experience daily fluctuations in your body weight due to changes in how much fluid there is in your body. You’ll want to be watching for long-term trends in your weight to determine whether your weight loss efforts are succeeding. Losing excess water weight may help to relieve symptoms of bloating, but what benefits your health in the long run is losing excess fat tissue.
A holistic approach works for a healthy weight loss journey
In order to lose excess fat tissue and achieve a healthy body weight, it’s important to take a holistic approach. Successful weight loss always involves paying attention to both diet and exercise. Some people also benefit from taking GLP-1 RAs. These medications can make it easier to reduce your caloric intake. However, the medications aren’t a substitute for a healthy lifestyle, but rather an addition.
It can be helpful to have support in order to achieve successful weight loss. A health coach can help you to design – and stick to – a healthy lifestyle plan. If you hit a weight loss plateau, they can help you find ways to break through it. If you’d like to consider using GLP-1 RAs to help you on your weight loss journey, then you’ll need to see a physician for this, because GLP-1 RAs are prescription medications.
Our NOVI Optimum Plus clients always receive support from both physicians and health coaches. This maximizes the chances of successfully achieving a healthy body weight, which leads to more energy and better health overall.
NOVI Optimum Plus includes:
Doctor consultation (video or in-clinic)
GLP1-RA Medication with free delivery
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