Sorry this may be a dumb question but I’m really new to fasting, never done it before and I know now that it’s important to take electrolytes like sodium, potassium etc., but will that cause water retention/make it harder to lose water weight or fat? Thank you!
It should not impact fat loss. Sodium will increase retention of water, which is a good thing during fasts longer than 36 hours or so. You drink water, and you pee out water AND salt… you need to replace that salt. You get pretty sick if you continue fasting without replacing that lost sodium.
If you start looking for shortcuts so you lose weight quicker , you’ll undermine your efforts and give up. Take electrolytes. Drink ample water. Lose the weight at a slower pace in a healthy manner. “Water weight” means you’re hydrated. The weight didn’t go on overnight, so don’t look for “hacks” to take it off quickly. It isn’t worth the literal headaches you’ll get.
Taking electrolytes will help retain water, but you need that in order to mobilize fat. If you want to lose weight faster, then sticking to a ketogenic diet would be the way to go, but in any case you’ll want to supplement electrolytes.
You don’t need anything fancy, a trip to your local grocery store is all you need.
Not taking electrolytes will help you lose a lot of weight! After you die (if your loved ones choose cremation) all the fat will be burned from you. If you go the burial route it will take a lot longer since the worms have to manually eat you.
To be clear, take your electrolytes. Low electrolytes is a danger to your health.