extreme water retention and demotivation.

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Hoping someone might have had a similar issue.

I'm currently trying to cut but i spend most of the week if not the whole week looking severly bloated and carrying a lot of water weight, which doesn't come off until i stop lifting or eat a crazy amount of carbs!.

I have noticed i can go to the gym looking lean and defined and midway through my session begin to bloat up and i'm not talking muscle swelling but belly looking pregnant and face looking puffed up.... the change to most might not be massive but i can see it from how i look before leaving and when i get back to my flat.

and this bloating remains for days and only subsides if i stop lifting for a 4-5 days or eat an insane amount of carby not so healthy food... tried and tested but is no good to me right now while im trying to cut.

I've also tried to push on through without eating the carbs to remove the water weight and well it ends up a lot worse i remain bloated and also begin to feel unwell catching flu like symptoms and becoming weak and irritable unable to perform in the gym etc....

any ideas how i can get round this massive water retention and recover enough to avoid being weak the next session without overeating carbs ?
 
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stop lifting forever ? i'd rather lift than not lift.....
Binge on carbs while cutting aint great though
 

PillarofBalance

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Are you on a cycle? Any other meds?

You can try salting the hell out of your food and boost your water intake upwards of 1.5 gallons per day.

While training you can drink some Pedialyte as well.
 
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Are you on a cycle? Any other meds?

You can try salting the hell out of your food and boost your water intake upwards of 1.5 gallons per day.

While training you can drink some Pedialyte as well.

No i take nothing just the occasional protein shake in the past but haven't taken a shake in months.

It's funny you mentioned salting my food because people associate too much salt with water retention.

But for years i have been getting treated for something called a prolactinoma and one of the issues was low cortisol which i was placed on hydrocortisone to kick start my adrenals, and i remember reading that people with low adrenals need more salt as we don't produce enough and should limit our potasium intake, i only scanned over it so i might have missed something.

I am right now and have been for about a year off the hydrocortisone as my adrenal glands are working efficiently according to my endocronologist, i do however continue to take cabergoline to keep the tumor shrunken and my prolactin levels low.

But i dont think the cabergoline would be the cause as i went about 4 months off of it to see if my prolactin would be stable without treatment and during that time i was still getting the same issues, so with our without cabergoline water retention and fat storage around chin and abdomen remained.

however maybe my adrenals are not as good under stress as a normal persons... i brought it up with endo but they were not to interested in my body building hobby and were more interested in results on paper so never got any advice or help from them.

but i may try this salting my food something i never do..... can you explain your reasoning for suggesting this ? genuinely interested why you thought a higher sodium level would help with a water retention problem ?
 
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DocDePanda187123

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Dieting increases cortisol and aldosterone. Seeing as it goes away with a reduction of training volume and/or carbs, I'd guess that's the cause. What are you doin workout wise? What are your stats and current diet like?
 
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Loving you guys right now! i asked similar question on another bb site and got nothing but smart ass replies.

I did train very hard too hard according to others, way too many variations to work the same muscle ie chest press db then chest press with cable machines etc... ended up doing like 15 different things in one session, i had it in my head cause i could only get to the gym 3 times a week to do more when i was there.

I have since cut right down and focused on doing all my work with dumbells with only using machines for things like tri's etc....

So i think im gonna start adding a qaurter of a teaspoon of salt to bottled water post workout, and also to my water when im working... as my work involves constant walking,lifting,pulling and climbing ladders all day im guessing im sweating even on the cool days and maybe not noticing it....

cause when i go to work my work pants fit pretty well, when i get home and go to take them off my belly has swollen up so much theres marks round my waist where the pants have gotten way to tight lol!
 
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What do you consider to be low carbs?

I've been doing keto for just over a year now and when I stick below 40g net carbs per day (aim for 25g but peanut butter typically pushes me up), I find that I don't retain much water at all.
 
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well just a little update....

This week I decided to take time off lifting so haven't lifted since last week and decided to toss the diet right out the window and I noticed something strange and can't quite get my head round it.

this week I have mainly been an absolute slob.... I have ate whenever I like whatever I like and this includes so much chocolate and sweet things in one day it would probably turn most of your stomachs and dinners of pizzas and cheesburgers etc..... diet coke instead of water and many other unhealthy things...

And in just a week I have seen my mood change for the better, bloating reduce drastically... my skin looks tighter no double chin or bloated belly and more definition.... muscles remaining hard all day long instead of flabby on non lifting days and yeah I just look and feel much better....

So maybe my constant chocolate cravings are telling me something and not just a craving like most normal people ?

I feel like I have been eating way over my daily recommended that is suggested for me and yet I am slowly slimming down my pants are a little looser and I don't look like some bloated monster.. swoley poley no more!

So I think my diet is good for my adrenals or something ?

thing is when I return to lifting say next week i'm gonna have to eat like this but a lot more as this week I have ate like a horse but done very little in the way of exercise... so what I've eaten this week might not be enough to satisfy my body when I'm putting it under stresss again.

will keep you informed.
 

DocDePanda187123

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well just a little update....

This week I decided to take time off lifting so haven't lifted since last week and decided to toss the diet right out the window and I noticed something strange and can't quite get my head round it.

this week I have mainly been an absolute slob.... I have ate whenever I like whatever I like and this includes so much chocolate and sweet things in one day it would probably turn most of your stomachs and dinners of pizzas and cheesburgers etc..... diet coke instead of water and many other unhealthy things...

And in just a week I have seen my mood change for the better, bloating reduce drastically... my skin looks tighter no double chin or bloated belly and more definition.... muscles remaining hard all day long instead of flabby on non lifting days and yeah I just look and feel much better....

So maybe my constant chocolate cravings are telling me something and not just a craving like most normal people ?

I feel like I have been eating way over my daily recommended that is suggested for me and yet I am slowly slimming down my pants are a little looser and I don't look like some bloated monster.. swoley poley no more!

So I think my diet is good for my adrenals or something ?

thing is when I return to lifting say next week i'm gonna have to eat like this but a lot more as this week I have ate like a horse but done very little in the way of exercise... so what I've eaten this week might not be enough to satisfy my body when I'm putting it under stresss again.

will keep you informed.

Sounds like you just verified my original post.
 
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Pretty much but this also makes cutting while keeping muscle a total guessing game now. Because before I was tracking calories loosely and going along with the recommended for my bodyweight,height,age and I was looking and feeling crap.

With this new approach I have upped what they recommended by a few thousand for sure! and that was without lifting this week so I can only imagine on a week where I am back to lifting and a hard week at work I would need to add another few thousand more on top which would then total at least 3 thousand calories more than the recommended?

So whats going on here ? is my body different ? is it needing a few thousand more calories than a normal person to heal and maintain while cutting ? I would probably say I'm eating what most would consider a dirty bulk but I'm managing to cut on it.
 

zuzulo

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Didnt read every post but if you want to get rid of the bloat drop the carbs to arround 150g/day. Worked like a charm.
 

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