If you are like me, these days you are probably on a rollercoaster when it comes to your fitness journey. Between my quarantine fitness struggles, and my typical holiday weight gain (because I love food!), maintaining any fitness progress has been a challenge to say the least. While I’ve been waning on my workout consistency, I also know that I have a tendency to look and feel heavier than I really am. Sometimes, it was like I gained weight overnight, and only in my face!
For me, my fitness/health journey doesn’t revolve around a specific weight. In fact, I personally don’t weigh myself almost at all (because it is deceitful!). I like to base my fitness and health progress on how I look, how I fit into my clothes, and how I feel overall. If I wake up and my face is a bit swollen, that’s normal and not something to start crash dieting about. If I feel good, my clothes fit me just fine, but by noon my face is still pretty swollen, then I know that I am not actually gaining weigh, but retaining water.
It is important to know that our bodies need water, as about 60% of the adult human body is water; with the heart and brain being composed of 73% water and the lungs being 83% water (source). We want our bodies to retain some water, but every now and again certain habits can cause us to retain more than normal. Medically, the excess retention of fluids in your body tissues is called edema and can sometimes be brought on by underlying health conditions (source). But underlying diseases is not the reason why all of us may be retaining fluids. For those who are perfectly healthy, but also perfectly plump (like myself) it’s usually caused by poor habits. Water retention can be caused by something such as your diet, certain medications, and/or prolonged sitting or standing. So as someone who loves salty/savory foods, and has a sedentary office job, it’s not hard for me to retain water.
And retain water I do!
Whenever I notice that my face is a little rounder than usual, I’m feeling a bit heavier than normal, or bloated than I was the day before, I know that it’s time to implement these tips.
So without further ado:
5 Tips to Lose Water Weight FAST
1.Massage
This tip is probably the easiest to implement, as it is something that you can do anytime, anywhere, and doesn’t require a tool. When we have excess water in our bodies, sometimes to release it we need to give our lymphatic system a little help. Our lymphatic system is a part of our immune system that aids in protecting our bodies from foreign bodies, absorbing fats, transporting and removing waste, and maintaining our body’s fluid levels (source). Our lymph will collect excess fluids and try to recirculate them but sometimes that doesn’t happen when, or how quickly we would like it too. Sometimes, we have to push the excess fluid out of our tissues so that the fluid can be collected and recirculated.
One of the easiest ways to do this is through a self massage. I have worked this into my daily routine to ensure that I am helping to circulate any excess fluids in my body and reduce the amount of water I am retaining. A self massage can be done with your hands, or with tools. I like to give myself a massage when I am applying my daily moisturizers for my face and body. I take the time to gently, yet firmly, massage my face and/or body with an oil or moisturizer being sure to push the excess fluid towards my lymph nodes so that the fluids can be recirculated. While I typically use my hands to do this, I do sometimes like to use a tool such as a jade roller, or gua sha, or a kneading body brush. While these are not absolutely necessary, they definitely help.
2.Drink More (Lemon) Water
Believe it or not, a great way to reduce water retention is to simply drink more water. Sometimes our bodies are holding on to the excess water because we are dehydrated due to not having enough water intake. Because the body is responding to the lack of water intake by holding onto the water that it has, drinking more water will alleviate that response and allow the body to stop retaining the water.
If drinking water isn’t something that you enjoy and you are not retaining water due to dehydration, I would suggest adding lemon slices to give it some more flavor. There are also some that believe that lemon can act as a natural diuretic and help you to eliminate excess water by inducing urination, but this is debated. While I have experienced increased/frequent urination when I first started drinking lemon water, it is important to consult a trusted healthcare professional if you feel that you need a true diuretic. If you are dehydrated, you may not want to use lemon water as it could possibly further dehydrate you. However, if you are experiencing water retention for other reasons, such as diet and/or inactivity, then lemon water is an option.
3.Reduce Your Salt Intake
Excessive salt intake can also cause you to hold onto excess water. Because sodium molecules can bind to water molecules, then excess sodium in your diet could cause you to hold on to more water. By having less sodium in your body (and drinking more water) you will slowly begin to flush out those excess sodium molecules and release the excess water.
4.Eliminate Processed/Packaged Foods
Similarly to the tip above, reducing your consumption of pre-packaged and processed foods will help you to reduce your water retention. Since pre-packaged and processed foods are often extremely high in sodium, over indulgence can lead to water retention. Reducing or eliminating processed and pre-packaged foods can be a good thing for a myriad of reasons, but it is definitely something to be considered for reduce any water weight gain.
5.Sweat, Exercise, GET MOVING!
This final tip may seem a bit like a duh tip, but it is absolutely worth putting it on the list! As noted above, we can retain water if we spend prolonged periods of time without moving, either sitting or standing. Simply getting up and moving our bodies will help to get those excess fluids moving and able to be drained. While getting up and moving around is great, active movement ie. cardio is even better! There’s not better way to release excess water than by sweating it out. Exercise is great habit to build for your body in general, however when it comes to water retention sweating out the excess water (and toxins!) is king! If you are particularly tired, but still want a sweat you could possibly head to your gym to make use of their sauna or steam room, or try to get that steam affect in your bathroom.
Do you ever experience water retention? What tips do you have for reducing water retention?
