Ask Mira : Eating Right to Live Happy & Healthy
Water retention is a common disorder that troubles many people.
I have been working with a lot of obese people; some of them are really obese and others are less so. I have also seen people losing up to 4 kg in just a week, and this loss in weight comes about mainly from loss of water from the body.
So water can actually make up a lot of your excess body weight.
Usually my clients get to perform a body composition test that indicates the water, fat and muscle mass of the person and its relative percentages.
So If the body water mass or percentage is very high compared to the normal range, that means a fast weight loss will be seen during the first week of the diet.
People who do ot lose a lot during the first week usually do not suffer from water retention.
Fat needs time to be lost, that is why in the coming weeks we cannot lose as much weight as we do during the first week.That is the whole point!
How to get rid of this extra water weight?
Drink enough water:
If you are not drinking enough water, your body will hold on more water than it actually needs.
Two glasses of water before each meal are a must, especially before breakfast when you wake up.
Decrease your sodium intake:
Salt has no calories but it retains water in the body. For example, after a heavy sushi dinner, do you not feel thirsty and bloated? This is due to the high sodium content in seafood and from the soya sauce used to flavor them. In that case, ask for the low-sodium soy sauce and do not check your weight the next morning after your sushi consumption.
Do not add extra salt to your meals, go for the Pink Himalayan Salt.
Decrease your processed and fried carbohydrates: Fried carbohydrates contain more sodium than other foods. Choosing brown bread, baked potato, steamed rice and pasta in addition to whole grains will help a lot.
Both processed carbohydrates and sodium are molecules that attract water. So when you have them in your bloodstream, water will stick around them.
Organize your meals: Eating three healthy meals also helps in flushing the water out of your body, with the emphasis being on vegetables and fruits that are low in sodium and very high in water.
Do not forget that water retention is the main cause of cellulite development, so you do not need this extra water, nor the cellulite.
Last but not least, a quick tip that will help a lot: Boil some water with a few parsley leaves in it, and have a cup of that mix first thing in the morning and last thing at night, and see its results.
