EDEMA VS FAT + Misunderstanding BODY FAT & it’s ROLE IN OUR HEALTH // ED Recovery

“How do you know the difference between fat gain and water retention, or edema, when you’re going through your recovery?”

Well, that's what we're going to dive into in this article!

As many of you may know, in my recovery, the edema and water retention I faced was one of  the biggest concerns I had in my recovery.

It was so uncomfortable to where I could barely walk on my feet from my bedroom to the bathroom across the hall.

It was so, so, so painful.

The bottom of my feet felt like there was just like knives stabbing in it.

My knees were so sore and swollen.

My face was puffy and swollen. I call it the "moon face" recovery edema, because in recovery from restrictive eating and under eating and/or over exercising, it has a very distinct look.

The edema is where everywhere is swollen, tight, and just really uncomfortable all around.

In the beginning of recovering from chronic dieting, an eating disorder, or overtraining, a lot of us put on weight quick.

Within the first week, a lot of us see like 15 pounds up on the scale, and within the first month 40 lbs..

Typically this weight gain is a mixture of water retention and fat, as I talked about in my other post “Edema, Fat, Puffiness, Swelling”. I would highly encourage you to check that out as well.

Which, PS, I hope that you’re not weighing yourself in recovery.

I don’t advise you to weigh yourself in recovery.

It can be so triggering and defeating.

The number is irrelevant, so #1, throw out that scale and just don’t weigh yourself.

A BRIEF SYNOPSIS OF WHY WE GAIN WEIGHT & RETAIN WATER 

FOR "THE FAMINE CYCLE" 

Coming from a past of restricting our calories and/or macronutrients: carbs, fats, proteins,

but also from perhaps using diuretics, laxatives, (which FYI restriction of carbs and salts or restriction in general of our food dehydrates us as well).

So when we come from a state of chronic dehydration, and also from a state of malnourishment, the body, once you start to eat more food. consume more salt, and stop purging, your body is going to store all the energy, sodium and water as fat and water retention for future conservation and preservation in response to the threat to survival of starvation and for in case of a future famine.

"Famine" as in, you hop on the diet bandwagon again, a binge eating episode, a 4 hour window to eat per day, a cheat day, etc and then you resume to restrict yourself or "burn all the calorie off" (exercise purging) and therefore dehydrate yourself and create an energy imbalance, perhaps you lose too much weight that is not healthy for your body, perhaps you don't lose any weight at all, and the cycle continues.

This retention of water, sodium and fat happens really drastically because your body doesn’t know: 

• WHEN you’re going to eat more again,
• IF you’re going to be able to eat more again,
• or if you’re going to purge more via exercise, cutting salt and calories, diuretics/laxatives, vomiting, etc

...and create a deficit of energy and hydration again.

FOR HEALING & PROTECTION

The intelligent body holds onto this not only for the diet cycle purpose, but also for healing purposes.

The water and fat is there for hormone production, healing your endocrine system, your brain, and to protect your vital organs.

That’s why you store a lot in the midsection initially, but also all around the body (angles, knees, face, hands, etc) the water retention acts as a protective barrier while your body is healing and balancing out.

This edema shouldn’t be suppressed by "trying to get rid of it."

It should be encouraged and left alone.

Not everybody gets water retention, but it is pretty common.

Now, that’s just a brief synopsis.

Again, you can read more about it in my other posts or in my book “Damn the Diets.”

HOW DO YOU TELL THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN EDEMA & FAT GAIN

Well first off, I want to ease your mind as some people become preoccupied with this, as if knowing the difference would make a difference in whether they begin restricting or over training again...

If you’re wondering what the difference is between the fat gain and the water retention, you don’t really have to worry too much about that.

It is what it is.

I want to assure you, your body’s doing what it needs to do to heal.

Instead of being hyper-focused and trying to micromanage the whole recovery process, speculating:

• what the fat to water ratio is,
• what’s exactly going on at all moments,
• why is it happening,
• and generally being so anxious, fearful and obsessive about it,

(which it’s hard not to be when your body’s changing drastically and you feel so uncomfortable and you feel like you're doing something terribly wrong… I’m not trying to minimize that at all).

I get it, BUT try your hardest to not be so, so over-consumed, fearful, anxious and hyper-focused on this 24/7.

That’s a lot to ask for, but try your best and slowly with time, it’ll get better.

If you'd like a guide I made on HOW in the heck to stop feeling obsessed with your weight, be sure to grab your free copy by clicking below:

SIGNS TO ASSESS FOR EDEMA:

Ask yourself:

1. From morning until evening, when you wake up in the morning, is your face more puffy?
2. By the end of the day does the swelling get a little bit less?

(It’s not probably going to ease all together, but it’s going to get a little less puffy and swollen by the evening).

1. From morning until night, do you wake up, are your legs and ankles less swollen, puffy and tight, or appear not as large?
2. By the end of the day, do your legs seem to swell up a bit more? Do they become more tight? Do they feel more swollen? Do you feel like you just need to lay down and elevate your legs? 

*NOTE: THIS CAN HAPPEN IN REVERSE AS WELL, TO WHERE FROM MORNING TO NIGHT, YOU WOULD WAKE UP WITH MORE SWELLING AND BY THE EVENING THE SWELLING REDUCES AS WELL.

Overall, do you just feel:

• Tight and swollen all over?
• Especially in your thighs, your butt, your calves, your fingers, and ankles?

It’s often a tight, sometimes painful (but not always painful), swollen feeling, like you could pop/burst, where it’s just really uncomfortable.

And then there’s pitting edema.

Around your ankle or somewhere, if you push into the skin and the skin retraction is slow to react, ie the skin you poked at, an indentation remains and it looks "pitted" on the skin, that’s pitting edema as well.

I didn’t have pitting edema, but some people do. So that’s not the only way to tell if you have edema.

If you answered yes to any of these, that means that this is  edema / water retention.

It will ease with time if you stay all in, in your recovery process and complete it.

If you’re just patient, consistent and persistent with your recovery, you’re making sure that you’re eating, hydrating and resting whenever you can, whenever your schedule allows, (resting from exercise too in an exercise, especially if you have this water retention and you haven’t gotten your period back).

If you'd like to learn more about what to do and what NOT to do around exercise and eating to properly go through a diet / ed recovery process, be sure to check out my free masterclass on "My 4 Step Framework To Stop Feeling Obsessed Around Food, to restore your freedom, metabolism and mind" by clicking here!

ASSESSING FOR FAT:

If it’s just fat, this distribution isn’t going to happen from morning until evening.

The fat, stays put and redistributes over a slower and longer period of time, not just on a day to day basis.

It’s the water retention that moves throughout the day/night and either goes down.

My edema and water retention lasted for-freakin-ever, like even past the year mark in my recovery, but it did ease with time.

It was a slow progression.

It wasn’t just overnight.

I can’t give you a specific timeline of when that’s going to happen for you, as it’s all relative to the individual and their recovery ie: where they’re coming from, what their past looks like, and how much damage and depletion, dehydration, malnourishment has occurred, but it will happen with time.

Trust in the process.

Your body is retains water and healthy fat for a good reason for your survival to heal you and to replenish the damaged tissue, muscle tissue, cell damage, bone repair, brain repair, all your vital organ repair, your hormone production.

It actually helps speed up the process.

The more you try to suppress the water retention, the longer that it’s going to stick around and stay around, and the longer the process of healing is going to be.

Try your best to just let go and trust in the process, and it’s going to heal up quicker than if you were to continue to suppress it, control it or avoid it.

A TALK ON "FAT"

I want to talk about changing your perspective and your outlook on the fat that you may gain in recovery.

Because you may know by now, that if it takes a lot of conscious restriction, a lot of overexercising, and misery to be able to maintain a specific weight or body type, then it’s not going to be natural, healthy or sustainable for your in the long term.

And you’re going to run into problems eventually, like I’m sure that you know by now if you’re trying to recover.

You have to remind yourself of that: "if it took that much effort to maintain that body, then it’s not the body type for you."

Now, we all know that we need to gain some healthy weight, but of course when the weight and the water retention starts to come on, we feel so guilty.

We feel shameful.

We feel like a glutton.

We feel wrong and doubtful.

We feel like we’re weak, that we’re lazy,

(or so society has told us to think about fat).

I just want to say that by restructuring your perspective on fat and its purpose and role in your healing process (and your overall health in general, mentally, physically, and emotionally for that matter),

this can help you to ease the amount of shame that you have with having some extra fat on your body, because it’s going to be critical for most people to maintain their health from here on out.

Our culture for so long has demonized the fat molecule.

• We have fat molecules.
• We have muscle tissue.
• We have cells
• and bacteria
• and all the different things,
• ...but fat molecule is the one that’s demonized.

When you're feeling guilty about having extra body fat, remind yourself that a healthy body percentage is critical if you want to have:

• healthy and balanced hormone health,
• healthy endocrine glands, which also produce hormones
• healthy brain function, presence and focus
• You don’t want to have osteopenia or osteopetrosis
• You’ll have a libido again
• full head of hair: your hair stops falling out (if it was falling out before at a low body fat that was not healthy for my body).
• be more happy, I can laugh again and be myself again.
• create fertility again (if you want to have children)
• helped me to be a better human: a sister, brother, daughter, son, friend, parent, lover, everything.

Having a healthy body fat, as well and just being nourished in general, will help prevent this. 

MINDSET TIP #1

Replace the negative thoughts or the negative connotation around fat and replace it with a positive one and a realistic one.

If you try to just think your way out of the negative thoughts in a sense of, “I don’t want to think these negative thoughts. I don’t want to think that,” that’s great.

That’s a great start, but if you’re not talking back to it or trying to replace it with something more productive, positive or rational, then it’s going to keep coming back in.

You have to replace these patterns, habitual thoughts, behaviors, from a negative one and replacing it with a positive one.

The fat molecule and having a healthy amount of fat for your body type, is critical and encouraged.

Instead of being feared, you want to respect, understand, and encourage yourself rather than shame yourself to maintain a healthy body fat.

The fat molecule is not something to be feared.

It’s something that, specifically for people coming from restrictive eating disorders, restrictive extreme dieting and overexercising, changing their perspective and outlook on the fat molecule and having some more fat on their body is going to be the healthiest thing for them actually.

It’s not going to be unhealthy like we typically think of fat in general as.

It’s actually going to be so healthy for you, your body and all the functions, systems and processes that go into keeping you alive and thriving, metabolically, hormonally and mentally - and functioning properly.

When a guilt thought or a shameful thought comes in, around your body weight, just remind yourself:

“That’s my old way of thinking that doesn’t serve me any longer. Now let me replace this thought with a positive, more rational thought process.That is the fact molecule, and having a healthy body fat percentage, is good for me because it’s going to help get me my period back. It already got my period back. It helps me have a healthy libido. It helps me to feel healthy and balanced and not obsessed, always thinking about and binge eating around food. It helps me to live out my life and live a fulfilling and meaningful life with the people that I love and the hobbies that I love and the career that I love and everything else that makes life worth living for.”

“Without having this healthy body fat, I wasn’t able to carry out any of these tasks, projects or goals in my life because I was starving and malnourished before. The fat that I have gained or that I am continuing to gain is so worth it, because I’ve gotten X, Y, and Z in return. I’ve gotten all of this in return. Life is so much more meaningful and fulfilling despite having extra body fat on my body, and therefore I accept it and I would rather live in a body with some extra fat and day because of all that I’ve gotten in return,”

...and reminding yourself that fat isn’t all bad, like a lot of people like to think of it as.

Fat is the devil for most people, but, again, a healthy amount of fat is a critical role in your hormone production longterm and in your healing process short term.

If you’re struggling with having extra fat on your body and feeling really uncomfortable as the changes occur as you move through the phases of your recovery..

MINDSET TIP #2:

Remind yourself of these things of WHY you’re doing it, WHY your body’s doing what it’s doing, and WHY it’s necessary and WHY the healthiest thing for you at this point in your life.

Wherever your body goes in the future, that's great, but take the focus off of, “Fat is bad. No body fat is strength. Skinny is strength.” No, not the truth.

Alright?

That’s all I have to say for this article.

I hope this has helped in your recovery journey! 🙂

xx Kayla

Holistic Nutritionist

 P.S. I have a special complimentary resource that maps out How to Stop Feeling Obsessed With Your Weight, click here to get your copy!