I have had a personal struggle with pitted edema or water retention for years. This is especially true in my feet, ankles and legs. However, it has sometimes been so severe that even my fingers and arms were swollen. Over the next two Mondays, we’ll cover how water retention affects weight loss and what we can do about it.
Water retention, personally, makes me feel tired. I can tell a huge difference in my energy level on the days when my swelling is at its worst. The worst effect, however, is psychological. When watert retention is high, the scale goes up. It can make it difficult for me to feel like I’m making progress. Even when sticking to my plan, water retention can make the scale jump up 3, 5, 10, even 15 pounds overnight.
Yes, i have had the scale jump up 15 pounds in less than 24 hours! In fact, I let it get to me too much one time and stopped trying to lose weight. When I finally got the water weight gone and got back on the scales, my true weight was up. I had let myself fall into some old sinful habits and I had to work even harder to get back to where I was. Although, in some ways, it grieves me to remember the hard work I had undone, I really learned a hard lesson about keeping my faith and trusting that God still has my back.
Have you had issues with water retention? Next week we’ll cover some ways in which we can combat water retention. So, if you’ve found some things that work for you, share them and we may include them in our article.