I chuck up some info on keto and water weight / fluid managment etc
…while on that topic apparently during ketosis your body doesn’t retain water as easily, so a small amount of the loss may also be water loss may be 14 or 15kg of fat rather than the 16kg….. if that makes any sense?…
Basically – think of ketosis as a baseline, a ketogenic diet is designed to feed your body ONLY what it requires – that is energy, protein, and nutrients – and to do so in a way that spikes or blunts hormones the least amount possible.
All your fundamentals effectively level out when ketogenic, eg blood glucose, cholesterol, fluid levels, electrolytes, insulin, leptin, ghrelin, etc – oh and fat stores too. So don’t think of keto as “losing water” – or any of the other measurable biomarkers (fat/glycogen), it’s more like your body re-establishes it’s baseline and only retains what it needs.
I’ve been doing a lot of writing about this stuff lately, here’s a sneak-peek at something I’ve jotted down in my little notebook about water weight and fluid management – lemme know if it makes sense enough from a not-too-technical standpoint.
Water retention is very tightly controlled, the quantity of water changes plenty on a day-to-day basis, some of the primary reasons are to maintain correct salinity (electrolyte concentration), viscosity (thickness/flow of blood), and pH levels (relative acidity or alkalinity). These values are some of the most tightly controlled constants in the body, a minor wavering above or below optimal can have serious detrimental effects – the easiest way to maintain these constant levels is for the body to manipulate fluid stores.
A “normal” diet is typically fortified with with salt etc via many processed foodstuffs, promoting fluid retention in order to maintain optimal levels. Also it is usually high in carbohydrate which maximises glycogen stores, of which requires approximately 2-4 times it’s own mass to maintain storage – in other words for each gram of glycogen held in the body, an additional four grams of water are required to sustain it.
A ketogenic diet all-but eliminates external glucose introduction, and glucose stores (glycogen) throughout the body are rapidly depleted. Cellular viscosity is significantly altered, and water is released into the blood in order to balance it and avoid flow problems.
Thirst signals are increased to correct the hypertonic state, cells are more capable of exporting the salt and water back out to the blood, and increased fluid turnover induces increased urination. This also dilutes electrolyte levels and the kidneys continue to attempt to retain sodium, giving up potassium in exchange.
This may all sound scary and dangerous, but really it’s just a side-effect of the body making rapid adjustments to the amount of glucose and electrolytes entering and leaving the system. Most of the negative effects and their severity can be traced to the amount of processed foods and carbohydrate dependency prior to a ketogenic diet.
You may require minor supplementation during the transition phase which can take a couple days or a few weeks, for the most part though, symptoms can be offset simply by adding salt to meals, and having a nice hot cup of broth every day until the carbohydrate withdrawal phase is over.
In the end, yes it’s true that most of the initial drop in weight on a ketogenic diet is “just” water weight, but consider it more like your body is re-calibrating to a more healthful state which doesn’t need to hoard all these fluids and electrolytes any longer. For the long-term it’s mostly not an issue. Some people maintain a higher level of thirst and electrolyte needs, most are perfectly fine day-to-day just eating and drinking naturally.
For what it’s worth – water is much heavier than fat and has zero energy, there’s no reason why losing “just water weight” isn’t a good thing.
