I’ve been really curious to find out how my body responds to carbs and sodium intake and the type of water retention that may occur. At the moment I am a kinda lean 180ish. Last night I went as an experiment to mcdonalds, which is some place I never go. I ordered two quarter pounders a large fry and some chick nuggets. I ate it all with copious amounts of water. Probably in the hour that followed maybe 40 ounces of water.
The next day (today) I am at the gym look in the mirror and I do not appear to be holding an usual amount of water. I step on the scale to see if maybe that will indicate whether I am holding more water then usual and I am actually a lb lighter then I would have anticipated I weighed on a normal day.
So from this would I be able to say that my body is not overly sensitive to carbs/sodium and water retention. I thought maybe because my diet is pretty much on point most the time that this “experiment” really wouldn’t have an effect.
How the hell do you determine if your holding water or not. I usually look for decreased vascularity as an indication but that might not be a good way I don’t know. Anyways I would appreciate all input you all may have.
So cliff notes:
How to know if your sensitive to carbs/sodium and prone to water retention
Does my little experiment provide any insight into this
How to know if your sensitive to carbs/sodium and prone to water retention
Does my little experiment provide any insight into this
How do you know if your are holding water weight
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1)I think you have to know your own body well enough.
2)Maybe, but if you’re more carb tolerant, it might take hundreds of grams of intake before you start to have noticeable bloating and retention effects.
3)Personally, I see it in the mirror the next morning and the scale always goes up a few pounds to reflect water retention. My cheeks look puffier and my pants are a little more snug around the waist, plus the bloated belly is noticeable.
Hence there has been controversies about the negative effects of salt on increased blood pressure, since some people hyper respond and some people don’t at all.
Personally, any large pizza usually bloats me a lot the next day.
What is funny is I went with a friend who only ate two quarter lbers versus the two I ate with large fry and nuggets and the next day he was up 8 lbs where as I was actually down a pound where I normally would be.
That meal probably contained more fat than carbs. If your going to experiment with a carb load I would suggest something like pancakes with lots of syrup or a box of fruity pebbles. If your glycogen levels are low enough, you can get away with more than just one large meal. Try a 4-6hr carb load of 600-800g and let us know how full your muscles look the next day.
You won’t really notice the effects of sodium on water retention unless you kept a consistently elevated level of sodium for several days. The renin angiotensin aldosterone system is what mainly regulates sodium and water and takes a few days for alterations to occur.
What’s also worth mentioning is the fact that your body will adjust to both decreased or increased amounts of sodium. Ex if it is normally 2 grams a day and you suddenly bump it up to 4,grams you will kickin in the RAA system and you will hold more water. However, of you also keep it at 4 grams your body will eventually adapt to that new high level (provided you don’t have kidneys problems) and over a period of a few days to a week or so you would drop that water weight and your new baseline sodium would be 4 grams.