Body Water % vs Body Fat %

This topic contains 3 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by hotdigiti 10 years, 9 months ago.

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pj130608

7:04 am
2 Jul 13
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Hi everyone,

I have been doing the 5:2 now for 8 weeks and have had very good results. Last year I went to the doctor for a general checkup as I had turned 40. Good thing I did because my LDL Cholesterol was far too high and so were the triglyceride levels. My doctor put me on statins and within 2 weeks the LDL levels had dropped significantly.

Now as I do not want to take meds for the rest of my life I decided to try the fasting. I bought myself a Tanita BC-100 so I could track the results (as a guy I do need the bells and whistles for added motivation I know 🙂
But the results after 8 weeks are quite good.
Weight (kg) -5.89
Body fat (%) -4.24
Metabolic age (yrs) -12
BMI -1.7

Now what I find strange is that my body water % is hardly going up, I do drink decent amounts of liquids throughout the week but it just doesn’t seem to stick. When I started, admittedly after having had a cold, my body water % was 49.58%. Over the last 8 weeks the highest I got it to be was 52.86% and now it dropped again to around 51%.

I am not certain that this is a bad thing, but as it is a volume % less body water equates to a higher body fat %.

Any thoughts on a. how to improve the body water% levels and sustain them and on what is considered acceptable? Is it simply a matter of training the muscles more so they retain the water or are there other tricks and tips?

Many thanks and happy fasting 🙂
Pat

Jeanius

8:31 pm
2 Jul 13
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Oh, boy, Pat ( pj130608), how interesting! – I’ve just been reading-up about our body’s various fluid compartments (inside and outside of our cells). You might like to read the following piece, that appears to be part of a lecture for medical students, about the average water volume in a human body:

‘Normal volumes, fluid compartments’ – http://surgstudent.org/lectures/flud/node5.html

I wonder what you call ‘decent amounts of liquids’? Here’s an ex-US Navy Seal military fitness trainer, Stew Smith, advising on the appropriate quantity – and type – of fluid intake required for weight-loss. (Speaking as a 63-year-old female pensioner, I thought it might particularly appeal to you, as a ‘bells and whistles’ type of guy!):

http://www.military.com/military-fitness/health/water-plus-oxygen-equals-weight-loss

Stew says: ‘If the body does not receive adequate amounts (1-2 quarts a day), you will actually start to retain water causing a net gain in weight…..The bad news is that coffee, tea, diet drinks, alcohol, and nicotine are diuretics meaning they actually will dehydrate you. These drinks should not count as your 1-2 quarts a day of daily water consumption.’

Ladies, don’t forget this is mostly a man-to-man article but there does appear to be some general relevance. He emphasises the need to maintain sodium levels when drinking lots of water but goes on to say: ‘If you think you maybe retaining water, try adding up to a gallon of water a day and you could lose about five to ten pounds of retained water in a few short days.’

And just to finish off: an article entitled ‘Ideal Body Fat Percentage Chart: How Lean Should You Be?’: http://www.builtlean.com/2010/08/03/ideal-body-fat-percentage-chart/

I can’t find anything about actively increasing one’s body fluids % levels, which appear to regulate themselves quite naturally. It seems to me, that that idea would be looking at things from the wrong way round and the key thing is just to work at reducing the body fat %. Presumably, then, the fluid % would eventually increase accordingly, although there must be an individual upper limit for each person, Shirley? (- Sorry, old ‘Airplane’ joke!)

pj130608

8:27 am
3 Jul 13
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Thanks Jeanius, I appreciate the articles you sent.
By a decent amount of water, I mean that I drink around 1-1.5 liters of water per day and get the rest of my fluids through salad, vegetables and other drinks. I am not certain that I agree with the Navy Seal article, but then again 10000 people have 10000 opinions 🙂

One thing I will try though is to slightly increase my salt intake as I eat very little of that. The first thing my wife does after I cook, is to add salt 😉 My blood pressure is well within the safe limits so I should be good there. Let’s see if this actively increases the volume a bit.

Say Hi to Jack for me 😉

hotdigiti

11:39 pm
18 Jul 13
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Less fat you have more water you have and vice versa, also more water you drink less your body holds onto. A healthy rage is anywhere between 50-60%