Morton's and the Dueling Scales

Talk about throwing someone for a loop...

I go to WW yesterday, weigh in, down 3.4lbs! WIN! I'm pumped, I do a little dance, I continue on eating my  fruits and veggies. I weigh in this morning for our work competition (Go Flabulous!), and I'm only down .4 lbs. Not even a half pound.

What. The. Hell.

Looking back at my food journal, I can maybe blame some of it on the fries I had with my veggie burger last night. And the 97% Fat Free popcorn from earlier that day.  Maybe. Together with the little bit of water I drank yesterday (it was a Diet Coke kind of day), definitely.  

I've always heard that sodium can affect your weight loss because of water retention. That's why people lose so much weight the first week or two of any diet program. They're knocking back water like it's going out of style, rehydrating themselves and "removing the toxins," whatever that means. What I *didn't* realize was that too little sodium can be just as detrimental. The 2005 health guidelines recommend not exceeding 2,300 mg of sodium a day if you're a healthy adult. More than that can cause water retention. More water in your body = more weight showing on the scales. Less than 500 mg of sodium on a regular basis will also lead to you increasing your weight- and is extremely unhealthy. So, what gives? Where's the balance?

Wise Geek states, "There are essentially two main things that help stop water retention. Ironically, the first of these is drinking more water. Water retention is common when we are dehydrated or low on water. The body tends toward conserving water, and will retain a bit in order to keep us hydrated. Drinking 8-10 glasses of water a day helps shed extra water, reducing water retention.

The other thing that can help stop water retention is minimizing extra sodium in the diet, which can be difficult. We usually can point to a few foods high in sodium, but just about any packaged food contains some level of sodium. Most natural food sources also have some sodium too, though the amount is negligible. If you’re having problems with water retention, lowering overall sodium intake is one of the best methods for reducing it. Look for low sodium varieties of foods, especially canned foods and prepared meals."

Wise Geek suggests that, to decrease your sodium intake, you should have caffeine in limited amounts- too much (like me with the Diet Coke) has a reverse diuretic effect and will make you retain water. It also suggests substituting a glass of 100% cranberry juice for one of your glasses of water daily, since it's a natural diuretic. Keep on with the Vitamin C, as it is a natural diuretic as well (go, lil clementines, go!)

I've never had sodium issues- never affected my heart rate, my blood pressure, any of that. Then again, I'm not a salty-snack kind of girl. Give me chocolate and I'm happy (but a salty ruffly chip, dipped in chocolate, and I'm in heaven). But this was a bit of an eye opener. On WW, I tend to eat a lot of frozen meals for lunch- they're easy and we have a super powered microwave in our office that can cook an entire frozen turkey in like 15 minutes. I hit the Diet Coke- hard.  So, besides the mass increase of fruits and veggies, it looks like I have to start making less salty foods-- or at least remember to drink my 8-10 oz of water a day.

Water. The word of the day. There's so many benefits to drinking water- it curbs appetite, is necessary to your body functioning properly, it's thirst quenching... why fight it? Because it's bland? Has no flavor? Mix in a Crystal Lite pack for 5 whopping calories. That's going to have to be my trick (for today- or until I run out of them)- and I'm going to have to cut back(NOT cut out) on the Diet Coke. Sad.