What Is Water Weight (and How Can You Lose It)?

“Water weight is the fluid weight your body hangs onto,” explains Sass. And if you’ve ever started a diet and noticed the numbers on the scale dropping almost immediately, that’s likely due to the loss of water weight. Do adds that “body weight from water can vary from day to day and depends on one’s current hydration status, dietary habits besides water, geographic location including weather and altitude, and other factors.”

Water weight is often due to a higher than usual intake of sodium, because excess sodium triggers fluid retention, Sass continues. “Water weight can also be retained due to hormonal shifts,” she adds. If the water weight is due to excess sodium, ironically, “the best way to lose it is to drink more water, and up your intake of potassium, which triggers the release of excess sodium and fluid,” she explains. Potassium-rich foods include potatoes and sweet potatoes, bananas, avocados, and leafy greens like spinach, per the Cleveland Clinic.

From a health perspective, water weight is not harmful — in fact, it’s natural for the body to hold some water weight. Rather, weight from fatty tissue (also known adipose tissue or fat mass) is of concern for health. “Total body weight is a substitute measure for fat mass weight as the latter is difficult to directly measure,” he continues. 2 Buy Fat Burner Supplements Online “Fat mass quantity directly causes metabolic health issues such as elevated cholesterol, insulin resistance and diabetes, cardiovascular and fatty liver diseases.”