Mary Lou’s Before Photo

When Mary Lou started training with us last July, she lost weight really fast. In addition to eating within the confines of her prescribed metabolic formula she had an ace in the hole–water. Mary Lou drank water all day long. We never saw her without her pink sixty ounce bottle! Whether you want to lose weight or not, we all need to drink much more water.

Five reasons people gain water weight:

Thirsty?

1.  Dehydration: The body needs water way before you feel thirst. When dehydration takes place, it means the body comes into panic control mode so next time you drink water, the body clings to it and gains water weight. Therefore, just as you need to eat every four hours to keep your metabolic furnace burning, you must drink water to lose weight.

2. Inactivity: A person sitting around doing nothing will cause the body to stick to a lot of extra water. Only by regular exercise can the water be eliminated from the body causing water weight loss. Start sweating!

3. Medication Side Effects: Some drugs, like estrogen, causes you to hold on to a lot of water making weight loss more difficult than it should be.

4. Sugar Level: Excess sugar levels causes insulin levels to be blocked, which no longer allows water molecules to be flushed out, thus making weight loss harder.

Mary Lou’s After Photo

5. Salt content: If salt content gets too high, flushing water molecules becomes difficult, increasing the overall water mass.

Three recommended steps to take to shed water weight are:

1. Cut down on sodium — Salt shares water retention traits with high glycemic carbs. The higher your salt intake, the more likely you are to have excess water weight. The lower your sodium intake, the body won’t hold on to water.

2. Eat more fruits and vegetables — Fruits and vegetables naturally hold water, as you eat them you are taking in water plus healthy nutrients that may help balance your hormones and replenish vitamin deficiency.

3. More water! — As always, you have to drink more to lose more weight. Constantly drinking water will send your body into flushing mode, constantly getting rid of water before it can retain it which results in getting rid of excess water.