LONNIE123 id really like to get your opinion on this, sorry my PMs dont seem to work
Greetings everyone,
I wasnt sure if i should put this in the bodybuilding forum or in the nutrition forum…so i just picked this one. warning, i wrote a lot.
Recently i did my first bodybuilding show…at some point around 4-5 weeks out i began noticing that when i woke up i was seeing the indents of my sweat pants around my waist…fastforeward a few weeks with a cardio increase my feet and ankles began holding lots of water, i assumed this would go away when the cardio stopped. fastforeward to the monday before the show, we start loading sodium and water—at this point i bloated up like a ballon- calves and feet and ankles were completely swollen- i was freaking out (It should also be noted i was on an extreme diet at this time…basically protein only and green veggies and 90 mins cardio a day- i was very overtrained and metabolism and hormones did not exist at all)on the thrusday night before i show i almost decided to drop out because the retention was so bad. stuck it out and competed anyways, after i cut water and used an over the counter diuretic, they looked less bad on stage…
Fastforeward to the monday after the show- the retention has gone down even more…at this point i go see a doctor and he is concerned and perscribes me an actual diuretic (lasix-20 mg).
Tuesday i woke up, and weighed 5 lbs less than i did at the weigh in at the show and look damn dry. continued taking the meds for 6 days- this eliminated almost all the water retention that was left over. However now that my life is normalized, im still retaining a bit of water. By the end of the day my socks are leaving an imprint above my ankles…and you can just feel a bit of the water in the legs. Although it is very mild at this point. I got blood work done while i was on the direutic and it showed that my UREA and Creatinine levels were elavated. I met with my family doctor about this and we agreed that we should get the bloodwork done again now that i was feeling more normal and not taking the lasix. I have not gotten the results back from this yet. (i will call about it on monday)
So that brings me to the point of this thread…Im trying to figure out anything i may have been doing nutritionally that could of caused this (and is still causing it).
During the last run of my prep i really did salt everything heavily (just trying to make things taste better/different) and used A LOT of artificial sweetners. Aspartame, stevia, lots of sucralose, you name it…if it had 0 cals i was drinking it.
Now my diet has normalized and im using moderate amounts of sodium and sweetners. for example i might have some sugar free maple syrup, a few cyrstal lite singles, and flavour some oats with a couple 1g packs of stevia. I eat Kale chips with some salt every night, nothing extreme, maybe still a bit heavy on the sweeteners. Does anyone think this could be causing my water retention?
a few more questions:
1- perhaps its possible that my body isnt holding water, its just the same water thats been stuck in my body forawhile now? (i know this sounds silly but the amount im retaining is mild and has stayed constant for the last week) Im considering attempting to dry out again to see if this clears up/changes anything
2- Is it normal to just retain a little bit of water? because like i said its pretty mild, but before dieting for this show, i never noticed anything like this
Im very worried that my kidneys arent functioning properly and that i perhaps won’t be able to compete again.