Mountain Project Logo

water weight

Original Post
kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608

I've noticed that my body weight sometimes changes a lot from day to day. I'm not sure I've ever gained or lost 5 pounds in one day, but sometimes I've gained (or lost) at least 5 pounds in just two days. Not that I changed my eating habits. So I think it must be the weight of water gained (or lost).

Over-hydrated. I think most of the time I drink much more fluids than I need. Partly because I just like to, and because making tea or coffee gives me an excuse to take a break from something. Also because when I grew up my father was a big believer in hydration.

Therefore, sometimes when I'm planning for a key day of pushing my limits on climbing difficulty, starting two days ahead I can lose a significant amount of weight, by giving up the excess water I normally carry.

Doing this does not seem to hurt my climbing performance or health. I assume because beforehand I was substantially over-hydrated.

How do you manage your water weight?

Should I get out of this habit I have of being over-hydrated?

Or maybe I've mis-diagnosed myself, and really I'm not over-hydrated, and my weight swings are due to something else?

Ken

Eric LaRoche · · West Swanzey, NH · Joined Aug 2011 · Points: 25

I wouldn't worry about the water weight. High sodium intake makes you retain water so that could swing the scales. I went on vacation and was 10 pounds heavier when I got back but I dropped all of it in 2 days when I went back to my normal diet which is much lower in sodium. If your pee has a slight yellow tint you are not over hydrated. Also your performance would be worse if you were dehydrated vs slightly over hydrated.

Cor · · Sandbagging since 1989 · Joined Mar 2006 · Points: 1,445

Just drink beer instead of water.
It helps keep you hydration in better balance (so as not to be over hydrated.)
And is the perfect amount of calories to sustain you while climbing. (Yes, drink while climbing!)

;)

R. Moran · · Moab , UT · Joined Mar 2009 · Points: 140

Beer is only half the equation. A good coke bender will take the pounds right off, and you can stay up all night and train.

Matt Wilson · · Vermont, USA · Joined May 2010 · Points: 316

Large weight fluctuations in short times are always the result of water weight. To put it in perspective, to gain 5 lbs, you must consume about 17,500 calories above what your body burns (about 2,000 to 2,200 a day for an average person, although closer to the 3,000 mark for a fairly active person). 17,500 calories is a lot. A stick of butter is about 800 calories. This means you would need to eat almost 22 sticks of butter to gain 5 lbs (that's 5.5 lbs of butter). The idea of eating 17,500 calories over what your body uses in 2 days is insanity... that would mean eating 9 times your normal food intake over the course of 2 days.

Gene S · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Sep 2015 · Points: 0

Dehydration can lead to fatigue thus bad performance. I would err on the side of staying hydrated. Also, if you have ever experienced a kidney stone, you will want to stay as hydrated as possible.

Gunkiemike · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 3,492
Gene S wrote:Dehydration can lead to fatigue thus bad performance. I would err on the side of staying hydrated. Also, if you have ever experienced a kidney stone, you will want to stay as hydrated as possible.
+1 on the kidney stone. Drink!!
SMarsh · · NY, NY · Joined Sep 2013 · Points: 37

If I am concerned about water weight, and not otherwise limited, I will focus on limiting quantities of "free foods" (vegetables) and on avoiding pre-cooked or frozen entrees. I will try to drink tea or coffee as well.

If I have a rather strenuous day the prior day (long hike or bike prior to climbing), then I live with the water weight gain.

kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608
Gene S wrote:if you have ever experienced a kidney stone, you will want to stay as hydrated as possible.
Thanks for the point about kidney stones.
I've never had one, but checking some sources, it does seem like being over-hydrated most of the time could be valuable for preventing them.

Ken
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion · · Colorado · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 35

To prepare for a hard route you need to follow a few basic guidelines.

1. Drink nothing for 2 days. Well, almost nothing. You are allowed one tablespoon of Red Bull every 4 hours.

2. Ex-lax is your friend.

3. Nap in a hot car.

At the end of this, you'll be ready to crush your proj.

kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608

I just dropped 5.6 pounds in 24 hours.
. . . (for those inclined toward standand units, 2.5 kg).

Nice because I do have a sort of project coming up Monday + Tuesday. "Sort of" meaning all day multi-pitch, so body weight might not be as critical as for a half-pitch crag test.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:
> To prepare for a hard route you need to follow a few basic guidelines.
> 1. Drink nothing for 2 days. Well, almost nothing ...
> 2. Ex-lax is your friend.
> 3. Nap in a hot car.

Number 2 there ...
I think my lower intestines were so bloated from eating lots of vegetables for several days, that I didn't need any specialized purgative substance / technique to solve that.

An action I did take was an 8-hour scramble traverse, and brought along one liter (quart) of water on a moderate-temperature day - then poured out some after the approach was over. Confirmation that I was overhydrated beforehand: I did not feel thirsty when I got back to my car. Losing water weight by sweating on a spectacular hike suits me better than napping in a hot car.

Ken

Jon Nelson · · Redmond, WA · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 8,196

It takes about 3 days for food waste to go through the entire digestive tract. Water goes through it very quickly. If I drink an extra cup of water or cocoa, I have to pee within an hour.

So, I'd guess that instead of purely "water weight", the 2-day fluctuation is mostly due to food weight (not calories). After all, if you ate 5 pounds of food in one sitting, you obviously just gained 5 pounds. I imagine that much of that would come out about 3 days later. Five pounds does seem like a lot though, so it could be a combination of factors.

Jon Clark · · Planet Earth · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 1,153

I wouldn't play around with cutting water weight for climbing performance. I did plenty of it as a high school and collegiate wrestler. Aside from making you miserable, it is extremely difficult to manage in way that does not affect athletic performance. Most people have low hanging fruit in their diets that could be avoided or eliminated with minimal effort. You can also reduce caloric intake in the short term to drop some artificial weight for a specific climbing objective.

Gunkiemike · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 3,492
Jon Nelson wrote:It takes about 3 days for food waste to go through the entire digestive tract.
You're slow. My tract transit time is under 24 hrs.

Source - corn
kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608
Jon Nelson wrote:I'd guess that instead of purely "water weight", the 2-day fluctuation is mostly due to food weight (not calories).
Not sure if we're disagreeing.
Much of the food I eat contains a pretty high percentage of water.

I choose most my foods to have a high ratio of perceived-volume-in-my-stomach+intestines to calories. Typical way to construct food that way is fiber structures with spaces to contain lots of ... water.
. . (Another way that I over-hydrate).

I say "perceived volume" because the point is to fool my neural appetite control center into deciding not to give me urges to keep eating more. Drinking liquid water (or plain tea or coffee) does have physical "volume" (along with little or no calories for the "ratio") - but somehow does not fool the perceptions of my appetite control center.

Ken
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion · · Colorado · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 35
Jon Nelson wrote:It takes about 3 days for food waste to go through the entire digestive tract.
Wait, is this a true false question? I'm going with false.

Source, every physiology textbook ever, also common sense.

Also Jon, water weighs 2.4lbs per liter. It's easy to get 2L low in a day. Boom, 5lbs.

So yeah, weight fluctuations are water. If you want to prove it to yourself, save a weigh your poop for a day. It's going to weigh less than your pee from the same time period.
kenr · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Oct 2010 · Points: 16,608
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:save and weigh your poop for a day. It's going to weigh less than your pee from the same time period.
Or less messy ...
When you're ready to poop, just weigh yourself before and after.

Sometimes when my morning weighing showed a high number, I've hoped that procedure would make more of a difference. But it didn't.

Ken
simplyput . · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Nov 2013 · Points: 60

Coffee is not hydrating. Nor is caffeinated tea. Both are diarretics and will cause your body to purge all other liquids.
Water weighs 1 pound per pint (16oz. or 1/2 quart). You do the math.
I would check your salt intake as salt causes water retention in the body. This can be both bad and good. Consuming salt while being physically active will help to retain water so the body can efficiently utilize it. Large amounts of salt during times of inactivity will cause an obvious weight gain due to water retention.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion · · Colorado · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 35
simplyput wrote:Coffee is not hydrating. Nor is caffeinated tea. Both are diarretics and will cause your body to purge all other liquids.
Widely believed and also false.

Source

Source

Source

and

Source

You have been educated.
Jon Nelson · · Redmond, WA · Joined Sep 2011 · Points: 8,196
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote: Wait, is this a true false question? I'm going with false. Source, every physiology textbook ever, also common sense. Also Jon, water weighs 2.4lbs per liter. It's easy to get 2L low in a day. Boom, 5lbs. So yeah, weight fluctuations are water. If you want to prove it to yourself, save a weigh your poop for a day. It's going to weigh less than your pee from the same time period.
There is bound to be some variation (could it really be the 300% claimed by Gunkiemike?), but my "3-day passage" claim came from two sources. 1) A gastroenterologist I once visited, who was also a prof. at the UW, and 2) the time it took for waste to appear after my colonoscopy. It took three days, just like the Dr said. I had been doubtful myself so I kept a record.

What are these textbooks you refer to? Could it be that we are referring to different things?

At any rate, my point is that the observed 2-day timescale is much closer to the 3-day scale from food passage than the 1-hr from drinking fluids. Sure some, maybe most, of the weight from food comes out earlier than the 3-days from the water content. Obviously, gas passes much more quickly too, but there is little weight there.
highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion · · Colorado · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 35
Jon Nelson wrote: What are these textbooks you refer to?
All of them. The highest number I could find anywhere was 53 hours. Most say about 40 hours.

Personal experience is that it only takes overnight and some morning coffee. The size of my GMD (good morning dump) is directly in correlation to how much I ate for dinner. Chipotle? Big shit. Entire Digiorno's? Big shit. Something sensible my wife made for me? Small shit.

Also, while double checking google, to be sure I remembered poop well I noticed that poop is 75% water weight.

So even if poop is the culprit (it isn't), it's still water.

I'm not at all saying that I'm clear enough to have a colonoscopy immediately after my morning throne assault. It's the vast majority of it though.

Maybe you take too many opiates?

Re-read what Matt Wilson wrote upthread. He's spot on.

"Large weight fluctuations in short times are always the result of water weight. To put it in perspective, to gain 5 lbs, you must consume about 17,500 calories above what your body burns (about 2,000 to 2,200 a day for an average person, although closer to the 3,000 mark for a fairly active person). 17,500 calories is a lot. A stick of butter is about 800 calories. This means you would need to eat almost 22 sticks of butter to gain 5 lbs (that's 5.5 lbs of butter). The idea of eating 17,500 calories over what your body uses in 2 days is insanity... that would mean eating 9 times your normal food intake over the course of 2 days."

Math, it's what's for dinner (and I'll poop it out in the morning).
Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
Post a Reply to "water weight"

Log In to Reply

Join the Community

Create your FREE account today!
Already have an account? Login to close this notice.

Get Started.