Getting to know your body

Well, I did something earlier this week that could be considered either foolish or wise.

On Monday I started a 3 month weight loss challenge through the gym, with a group of friends through work. I thought that having to be weighed weekly by someone else, and working as a part of the team that it would keep me more accountable, and I wouldn't want to be letting the team down.

I have been doing Jillian Michaels "Making the Cut" program (well, mainly the exercise, don't really like her foods but have followed the principles and just used clean eating). Anyway - one of the things that she makes a point about, which I haven't really paid too much attention to in the past is salt.

Apparently sodium slows your metabolism and excess sodium is deposited just below your skin where it attracts water. And when the water is retained in your cells it impedes the fat burning process and slows your metabolism again. She later talks about water retention, saying that there are three factors influencing this - water consumption, sodium intake and carbohydrate consumption. Even if you are slightly dehydrated, your body holds on to its water supplies, causing the scales to inch upwards. And that sodium holds 50 times its weight in water. The perspective she provides is that if you ate ate a pickle one day, the next day you could be holding another pound of water weight (american examples I know). She recommends on her 30 day program to try and keep sodium to about 1000 mg/day. ( I think the normal guidelines are 2000mg).

So I've been watching this through calorie king every day. And I've never been one to add salt to anything, but I've discovered some new traps. AND I've seen what a higher salt day does to my weight the next day. I've noticed previously that if I eat a food like pizza (this is the family Sunday night treat dinner), I immediately gain weight, no matter how calorie controlled I am about it. So its been good to learn about.

But here's the dicey thing I did.
Before the first weigh in for the weight challenge - I decided to put my theories to the test and water load.
That weekend I ate pizza, potato chips (I said I'd been bad that week) and chinese food. And I intentionally gave myself the ok to do so - with the aim of upping my weight on the Monday, and then reducing my salt intake and increasing my water intake to produce a more dramatic weight loss. I did this partly because I'm never going to lose big numbers on this challenge - I don't really have enough to lose, and secondly to see how strong the theory is with my body. Crazy - maybe. Risky - sure

And here are the results.

I hadn't weighed myself for a few days prior - but I thought when I stood on the scales on Monday - I had possibly gained 1.5 - 2kgs.
Two days later, my weight had dropped by 1.3kgs. Four days later (this morning), down by 2.2kgs. I have continued to eat clean this week and aimed for restricted calories for weight loss, so this will contribute to my weight loss anyway, but 1.3 kgs loss in two days? This is good proof of the vastness of the impact of water retention. And with regards to the 2 kg gain I experienced? If 7000 calories =1 kg, there is NO WAY POSSIBLE that I ate 14,000 calories in excess of what I needed to gain 2kgs in a few days. I don't think that even if I set my mind to it that I could eat that many calories.

So the moral of the story is - when the scales give you unexpected results, that are way off what they should be, think sodium and water retention, they have a big impact. And personally, I think my body is particularly susceptible and will be watching my sodium/fluid intake so much more closely in future.