Sodium Retention from Chinese Food...
 

Had Chinese takeout the other night (double mushroom shrimp and Hot and sour soup)...got on the scales the next morning and I had gained 5lb.'s over night! Was not a happy camper to see my scale rise. Has anyone had a similar outcome from eating chinese? I didn't even add those soy sauce packets. Makes me not want to eat chinese anymore. And in reality...guess I shouldn't be eating chinese anyway because of the corn starch they use to thicken their sauces/soups. Right? Guess I fell off the wagon...but was craving Chinese. Luckily, the next day after the scale scare...I was back to my same old weight before the Chinese.

Sounds like you may have had a bout with water retention. I love Chinese food but haven't gone near it since I started LC'ing. I can't remember where but I did read that MSG will act just like salt when it comes to retaining water.

Great to hear that you lost it again, talk about a major whewwwwwwwww eh !!!

Have a great evening
Dusty

Thanks for the reply...yup water retention indeed! The chinese restaurant in question states on the menu...no MSG used. Soo...must have been the soy sauce. Ditto on the major Whewwwww! LOL!
You have a nice eve too....

Oh yeah, mine was an 8 pound rise though. I hade sweet and sour chicken 1 week after starting Atkins. I lost 10 pounds and wanted to celebrate with a little carb binge. Next morning I gained 8 of those 10 lost.

It was gone in 3 days but I could have lost much needed weight in those 3 days instead of relosing what I had lost before then gained for cheating.

Lily

Hi, AF-Wife and others who have experienced the same...Wow! U had a larger weight gain from Chinese than I had! Isn't it amazing how just eating takeout Chinese will stump the scale the next day? Guess Chinese is off my list for a while. Didn't think eating shrimp and veggies w/o the rice would turn my weight into limbo and dim-sum? LOL! GEEZ! Guess I will have to cook Chinese myself...if I'm craving it? Thought if I had lots of protein dense Chinese...it would be ok? Guess not! Bummer.... Wanting Chinese...but cant' eat it!!!

Hey, you can have sort of chinese ( if you cook your own), I do heaps of stirfrying...bit of meat, garlic, ginger, assorted veg, itsy bitsy bit of soy sauce..tastes great, and might help with your craving? Good luck!

Even if there is no MSG there are other chemicals such hydrolyzed proteins, yeast, grains etc that are flavor enhancers that have replaced MSG in many uses including MANY prepared foods. You can't buy any soup without one or more of these chemicals, including "natural" products. They can cause problems including, I believe, water retention.

Connie

I had the worst time with soup!

I used to use this great tasting powdered boulion that has corn syrup, MSG, dextrose and I think yeast. No more of that. It had like 5 carbs per tsp.

I went looking all over for an easy way out can or powder (I also used to use it as a spice and flovoring in a ton of dishes)

I finally just spent a day making it from scratch and then putting the concentrated broth in Ice trays and freezing them up and just tossing in an ice cube or 2 when I need it for something.

Thanks for all the info Keisha, Connie and My Journey....
I have made my own chinese before...just got lazy. It's fun to get takeout...not anymore. Boo-Hoo.... Didn't think of all the other additives that might be in Chinese food besides MSG...bummer/Yuck. Think I will do the ice cube broth thang next time I slow cook a roast. I always have extra broth/gravy after slow cooking.