Feeling like you’ve been inflated with a tire pump the morning after pounding a deep-crust pizza? The good news is you haven’t put on 10 pounds in mid-section fat overnight. But you can thank water retention if you awake to a nasty surprise on the scale. Here’s what water weight is, along with some advice to minimize it.
How to Get Rid of Water Weight Fast And Naturally
Did you know, excess weight can be caused by water retention? There are a number of causes and several factors such as age, sex, stress, and hormone levels that need to be considered when trying to understand how much extra water weight we may be retaining.
It is important to note that body fat differs from losing water weight. Body fat loss comes from a combination of calorie burning exercise and keeping diet under control.
This article will look at the best ways to lose water weight fast and naturally.
What is Water Weight?
Usually when we consume liquids, our body uses what it needs, and the excess is disposed of when we urinate.
However, water weight is the process whereby our tissues collect fluids that cause it to swell up and instead of releasing the extra fluids, our body stores it between our organs and skin.
When this happens, we usually feel uncomfortable, bloated and generally unhappy with our appearance.
Why Is Water So Important?
We all know we need water. However, we don’t want to retain excess water unnecessarily. Here’s a quick rundown on why it’s so important to have an adequate water intake each day.
Our body is made of around 70% water and it uses the water for:
- Digestion
- Absorption
- Transport of nutrients through the body
- Temperature regulation
- Cognitive function
- Cleansing and detoxification
If our body is dehydrated, it will not be able to perform the above functions effectively. This will impact how we feel, how our body operates and potentially cause serious health issues. Therefore, ensuring we are constantly hydrated is vital.
The easiest way to identify dehydration is by regularly checking our urine – it should be a light straw like color and odorless. If it’s dark colored and has a strong odor, this will most likely be an indicator of dehydration.
The dark color and strong scent are signs that there is excessive strain on our kidneys as our body is struggling to flush out uric acid.
If we find ourselves in this position, we should drink about half our weight (in pounds) of ounces of water each day. This will ensure proper hydration. For those of us involved in intense exercise, or are in a hot climate, aim to drink another 1.5 to 2.5 cups a day.
The Benefits of Losing Water Weight
There are a few reasons we may want to lose water weight and the big one is because of the amount of bloating it can cause.
Bloating can have a negative effect on our appearance, cause us to feel weighed down and lethargic.
To be honest, it’s just an uncomfortable feeling altogether as we are left constantly feeling “stuffed”. That bloated ‘stuffed’ feeling is caused by excess gas production or disturbances in the movement of the muscles of the digestive system. This can come from food intolerances, infection, irritable bowel syndrome, or medications.
There are numerous reasons to lose water weight, these include improving athletic performance or even achieving an ideal weight goal for an event or competition such as boxing, modelling or fitting into that bikini for an upcoming holiday.
Regardless of the reason, the last thing we want is to feel bloated at any time in our life let alone at a special event and that is why in-order to prevent bloating, it is important we know what causes bloating.
When our body stores water in between our muscles and skin, we end up with the ever dreaded bloated “puffy” look and feel. Not only this, it causes the number on the scale to go up, making it hard to determine what our true weight is.
To get the best indicator of body weight, use a BMI Calculator or take consistent tape measurements and record progress.
Remember, you may be in good shape, but due to water retention, it might not be visible. If we’ve gained good lean muscle, and have dropped significant body fat, all this work can be hidden if we are retaining water.
How to Get Rid of Water Retention
Here are 9 ways to lose water weight fast and naturally:
1. Cardio
30 minutes of cardio is a great way to sweat out water and burn body fat. Also, there are health benefits and cardiovascular improvements – a double whammy!
For best results, cardio should be done before breakfast as the body will use fat stored along with the retained water. Remember to pace yourself. Once exercise has been completed, wait 20mins before eating.
2. Use a Sauna
Sitting in the sauna is a great and easy way to lose water weight fast. If you’re new to a sauna, you probably won’t be able to sit in it that long. You may be able to do 10 to 15 minutes before it gets uncomfortable.
So, if you’re trying to lose water weight quickly, try staying in there for an hour, breaking it up into four 15-minute cycles.
Always remember to check any concerns you have with your doctor.
3. Wear a Sweat Suit During Your Workout
Whether it’s during the morning cardio or a regular workout any time during the day, wearing a sweat suit will get us sweating more. After all, the clue is in the title and it does exactly what it says ‘sweat suit’.
Sweat suits really are a forgotten natural way to lose water weight.
4. Decrease Your Sodium Level
We should all aim to be conscious about decreasing our salt intake. Too much of salt can cause issues with high blood pressure and causes water retention in the body.[1]
Aim to stop adding salt to meals and be aware of sodium being added in manufactured and processed foods. Consumption of processed and prepackaged food will lead to an intake of large quantities of sodium.
Be aware that extra sodium even shows up in places we wouldn’t expect such as frozen food, frozen vegetables, and seasonings. The aim should be to get under 2300mg of salt each day.
5. Eat Asparagus
This is a natural food that combats bloat and helps our bodies flush out more water.
6. Get More Potassium
Foods high in potassium such as bananas, help to counteract salt; add them to your diet to reduce bloating.
Potassium supplements are available but for those who prefer to get it naturally, the following are good sources:
- Bananas
- Cooked spinach
- Cooked broccoli
- Sweet potatoes
- Mushrooms
- Peas
- Cucumbers
If you have any kidney problems, it is vital to be careful with high potassium foods and remember to always check with your doctor first.
7. Drink Herbal Teas
Most herbal teas are a safe, natural diuretics which help to flush out water from the body.
Unnatural diuretics can be dangerous, causing symptoms such as jitters and other health problems. This is because, with herbal tea, we get smaller amounts of caffeine which acts as a diuretic.
Examples of berbal tea include:
- Dandelion tea
- Green tea
- Peppermint Tea
- Rooibos tea
- White tea
8. Cut out Refined Carbs and Sugar
This is an overall good health tip as these types of carbs are very high glycemic and cause a lot of inflammation in the body.
One symptom from inflammation is swelling and bloating. Not to mention, our blood sugar will spike and crash from consuming carbs, leading to more cravings and feeling of lethargy.
Cutting this stuff out, especially sugar, will help lose water weight fast.
9. Drink Distilled Water
Distilled water is water that has been boiled into vapor and condensed back into a liquid in a separate container. When it comes to water weight, distilled water can help reduce it because it decreases the amount of sodium in the body by attaching itself to it and flushing out the excess sodium and water.
It is ironic but the best way to get rid of excess water weight is to drink more water. This is because, the human body likes to store and retain whatever we aren’t giving it enough of.
Dehydration makes our body hold on to water as a safety measure because our body doesn’t know if it’s on the verge of shutting down or not. Therefore, once our body is given adequate water it will flush out the excess water naturally.
The Bottom Line
Hopefully this article has shed light on the the importance of staying hydrated and how to lose water weight in a safe and healthy manner.
Remember, water weight loss differs from body fat loss. For whatever reason, if it is water weight we want to lose, this can be achieved in a natural and healthy way.
Are Water Pills Safe for Weight Loss?
Are water pills safe for weight loss? The answer is that they should never be used for that purpose alone, and that the are only safe when prescribed by a medical doctor.
Some people are prescribed water pills, medically known as diuretics, for the purpose of lowering blood pressure or for another reason, however they are not safe for weight loss. Water pills are used to treat a wide range of different conditions such as lung problems, heart problems and high blood pressure.
These conditions and other conditions can cause a fluid back up in the body, and diuretics are used to reduce that fluid backup. Diuretics help the body rid itself of the excess water by telling the kidneys to empty it rather than holding onto it. When using water pills, you will use the bathroom more often, which reduces the water in your body.
Water pills should only be prescribed by a medical doctor
When water pills are prescribed by a medical doctor for a condition, they can be lifesaving because they prevent a dangerous accumulation of fluid. When they are not prescribed by a medical doctor and obtained some other way, they are not safe for use at all. There are some people who take water pills to reduce their weight, but the weight loss is far from real and can come with serious health consequences.
A prescription for water pills is completely different than taking them for weight loss; taking them without any medical supervision can have many risks, and can be quite dangerous for a person, while taking them under medical supervision due to a condition is important for treating a particular illness.
Using water pills leads to dehydration
Although two thirds of the human body is water, using water pills to lose weight is far from a good idea, and it can even lead to dehydration and other serious side effects. Although some people use water pills as a short term weight loss solution, losing weight by reducing the water in your body will lead to dehydration.
Also, the effect is always temporary; as soon as you lose the water weight you’ll gain it back within a few days. There are several health benefits of losing fat naturally, but losing too much water can cause serious side effects such as heart palpitations, fatigue or dizziness, and it can even be fatal in severe cases.
The only safe way to lose weight is to do it through dieting and exercising; not by trying to lower your water weight. Your body has delicate balance of electrolytes and water that is crucial to its functioning, and when you use water pills to lose weight you upset that balance and can make yourself very ill.
Regardless of what you may have heard about water pills, they are not safe for any type of weight loss purpose, and although many people are aware of this, there are still a few that push this dangerous fad. The weight loss that you obtain from dieting and exercise is permanent, but any weight loss that you get from water pills will not last, and simply put there is no shortcut for losing weight other than the hard work of diet and exercise.
Non-FDA approved water pills are highly dangerous
Another important thing to consider is the fact that non-FDA approved water pills are highly dangerous and may contain very toxic ingredients. There is no government oversight on these products, meaning that the producers can put anything that they want in them, even compounds that would never be allowable due to safety risks to humans.
For example, water pills can contain ingredients like caffeine, theobromine, juniper seeds, horse tail, equistine, dandelion extracts and other ingredients that are touted as “natural”, but many of these ingredients can have significant and dangerous side effects. Horse tail can cause seizures, equistine can cause brain damage, and juniper seeds can cause kidney damage.
You may not even be lucky enough to know exactly what they are putting in the product that you’re buying when you purchase a non-FDA approved water pill, because they are not obligated to actually tell you what’s in it on the label. So you’re taking an extra risk with these products, and there have been several cases where people have been hospitalized as the result of using water pills or otherwise trying to dehydrate themselves to lose weight temporarily.
Although the FDA tries to regulate the sale of these illegal and dangerous products, there are simply too many of them available on the market, and as a result you have to exercise your own caution and avoid any product that claims to be able to help you lose weight through water loss.
If you think you need water pills, talk to your doctor
If for some reason you believe that you need water pills for weight loss, due to a condition or symptoms that you have, you should speak to a medical doctor to get advice and treatment. Never try to treat your own symptoms or weight gain using water pills or any other type of supplement or pill without medical supervision.
Of course diuretics are not the only dangerous weight loss products out there, and you should be careful with any product that you purchase to ensure that it is produced by a company with a medical license and with FDA approval.
If you have a condition that can be treated by water pills, your medical doctor will prescribe them. Otherwise, you should completely avoid any diuretics that you can purchase without a prescription.
If you believe that you are gaining weight as a result of water retention, you can make changes to your diet such as eating more foods that are high in potassium and limiting your sodium intake.
By eating healthy food and exercising you’ll lose fat naturally rather than just water weight, and the fat loss will last as long as you continue to eat healthy food.
There’s just no shortcut or easy way out when it comes to weight loss, and although new weight loss products are always being released, at the end of the day the only safe way to lose weight is by following a medically supervised diet like the HCG diet or by natural methods like exercising.
Sources: Lifehack , Nuimagemedical