- What's goin' on, Jigsawland?
A lot of people wonder about minerals,
water retention, low carb, keto
and the whole enchilada.
So let's talk today about why you might drop some water
when you first go on a new diet protocol.
It's important to know that it's not always bad
to lose water weight.
We just need to reframe our positioning
and understand why it's actually happening.
And, believe it or not, minerals are right
at the forefront of this entire equation.
Alright, so let's get down
to the science of what's going on.
There's really two things I want to address.
Okay, the first thing is when someone starts
to go on any kind of low carb diet,
of course, you're gonna lose some water,
simply because carbohydrates hold water
within the body, so for every one gram
of carbohydrate you consume, you generally hold
about 3.7 grams of water, so,
as you can figure, this will add up.
Now it's not quite that simple.
It's not like you consume 400 grams of carbs
and you're gonna hold close to 1600 grams of water.
It's not quite that extravagant.
What it is, is it's the carbs that are stored
in the way of glycogen,
and when you first go on a low carb
or a keto diet or even a paleo diet,
what's happening is your body has no choice
but go through what is called glycolysis,
where your body takes carbohydrates
that are stored inside your muscle
as a stored form of energy and releases them
into the bloodstream.
If you're glucose dominant,
which means that you've been eating carbs
for most of your life
and your body usually is synthesizing carbohydrates
as a fuel source, the first thing
that your body's gonna do when it's in any kind
of caloric deficit or any kind of carbohydrate deficit,
is it's going to release those carbohydrates
into your bloodstream to be burned
because you're not consuming those carbs
through your actual diet,
so once those carbs are burned and evacuated
from the muscle stores,
then you're no longer holding the water
that is associated with them.
You only hold that excess water
when those carbs are stored as glycogen.
So it's not like you consume 100 grams
of carbs right here, right now
and you instantly hold 400 grams of water.
It's not that that easy.
But, still, it explains why you drop some weight
really, really quick.
Now is this something to be upset about?
Absolutely not and here's why.
You see what happens is once your body loses
that additional glycogen,
and it loses that additional water,
your body actually reduces amounts
of inflammation in it.
Which means that your body is able
to mobilize fat a lot better.
Your joints are able to move a lot easier.
You're able to work out and get your heart rate up
that much higher, so it actually plays a very big role,
and acts as sort of, for lack of a better word,
catalyst for more weight loss later on down the line.
So, sure, some of it may just be water,
but it's a very powerful way
that your body is using its own resources
to get more energy, to get more efficient,
and ultimately burn more fat.
It's the kickstart and it means you're doing it right.
But there's another thing that you have to remember.
When you're on a keto diet or any kind of low car diet,
your kidneys expel more water.
And, simply put, when you have insulin
in your system, so insulin is something
that's released whenever you eat carbohydrates
or whenever you spike your blood glucose,
your kidneys are triggered to hold onto water.
They hold onto sodium so, therefore,
it holds onto water.
When you don't have high levels of insulin,
your kidneys don't regulate quite as well.
And I know that sounds like a bad thing,
but, in this particular case, it's a good thing.
It means that your kidneys signal to your body
to excrete sodium and, when your body excretes sodium,
you excrete water, too,
because sodium is what's gonna allow a lot
of that water to be held.
But where does it release that water?
Well, it generally releases it
from the subcutaneous tissue.
So, when you release water from the subcutaneous tissue,
you're not releasing water inside the msucle.
You're releasing water on top of the muscle
underneath the skin, giving you a leaner appearance.
Now, why is this good?
Well, it's good because it gives you a fair look
at what you actually look like.
It gives you a fair assessment
of what your muscle tone is like
and a fair assessment of where you really need to go.
And this does some things very powerfully
when it comes down to a psychological aspect.
If you start to see results early on in a diet,
you generally can excel a lot further
throughout the entire range of that diet.
Again, not saying that keto or paleo is even a diet.
It's more of a lifestyle,
but it still helps give you that initial surge
that you need, that motivation to really keep on going.
So it's really two reasons that you drop that water
when it comes down to low carb or keto.
And it's nothing to be ashamed about.
It's something you should be proud of
'cause at the end of the day
that water is still affecting what you look like,
and, believe it or not, a lot
of the weight you're holding probably is water
that doesn't need to be there.
And once inflammation is modulated within your body,
that water will never come back,
unless you start to go back to totally unhealthy habits.
So, as always, Jigsawland, make sure
that you're getting your proper minerals.
Make sure you're getting your sodium
from your healthy diet,
make sure you're getting your magnesium from Jigsaw,
make sure you're getting the plethora
of other minerals that you need
to keep a nice, balanced body inside and out.
I'll see you on the next page.
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