Someone emailed today who is doing is first show (not a client) and asked how he can get rid of all the water in his lower abs and low back (and included some pictures). It's his first show and it's all too new to really be able to nail your best condition that first time, but he brought up a good question that many people have. Here was my answer:
As you lose, the skin isn't as stretched so it does feel "looser" but fat actually has zero water. Body fat cells are anhydrous.....not a drop of water in them. Any water you do collect under the skin can be from carb intake fluctuations....what we call "spill over" but that's transitional. You can eat a meal, start digesting it and the glucose is in the blood stream getting carried around, and some of it leaks out into spaces outside the vascular system and water follows it.....so you look smoother. As your body uses those carbs (glucose) the water goes where there are solutes - typically in cells, or gets excreted and you look tighter again. So, whether on a contest day or any other day, you'll see those fluctuations in actual water, but body fat is still body fat and that's why you have to look at your best and worst days/looks through the week and get a good feel for what your real body fat level is.
