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Hey everyone, it's Mikki here. You're listening to Mini Mikkipedia on a Monday. And have you ever woken up feeling puffy for no reason? Like your face feels a bit swollen, your rings are tight, your body just feels a bit off. Today, I'm gonna talk about water retention, inflammation, and just feeling puffy, where it comes from and what you can do. And often they are all lumped together, but they're not actually the same thing. So,

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We're gonna look at what's going on in your body when it feels swollen or soft and how to support your body through it. And also of course, because often this gets lumped into the same category, I'm gonna talk about creatine and water retention from taking creatine and I guess the what to do side of things. So I got a question from one of my members or more of a comment really. She was like,

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Mickey did a 10 hour hike in the weekend. Firstly, I thought, well, that's bloody great. And she said, and I woke up 1.5 kilos heavier the next day. And this absolutely always happens with athletes, particularly. You do a super hard training and you expect that the scales might reflect a drop due to maybe dehydration or an accumulated calorie deficit, if that is your goal. But often the opposite is true.

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does take a couple of days to sort of normalize on the scales to get back to your usual. For what it's worth, a mate of mine, he says that when he tapers for a big race, he used to race Ironman, he would literally, I believe the amount of weight he would lose in his taper might be three to five kilos because of the order retention, the microtears of his muscle, and just some of these other things I'm gonna be talking about that all impact.

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on his scale weight. And so when your body gets this opportunity to just relax and not be put through the work, it actually can, you can have a drop in body weight, a lot of it to do with a drop in inflammation. So inflammation is your body's natural response to injury, infection, or stress, like training stress, like the 10 hour hike. And it's part of the healing process. But of course there are two types of inflammation.

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Inflammation is often lumped as always bad and that's not at all true. There is acute inflammation, which is short term, like when you sprain your ankle and it swells, but also inflammatory cytokines, are, I suppose, little chemicals which are released in response to stress. Like they actually do form part of the adaptation process.

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to exercise, so they do allow you to become fitter, faster, stronger. So there is an element of necessity to inflammation for those two reasons, but ideally, inflammation would settle down pretty quickly and your body's got the ability to resolve it. But then of course there's chronic inflammation, long-term, low-grade inflammation that can be caused by stress, poor diet, lack of sleep, or underlying health conditions. And so to my clients,

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She's like, is it just water retention, what I'm experiencing? Well, it kind of is, but it's not exactly. So when people say that inflammation is water retention, they're often actually confusing swelling, so something called an edema, with inflammation. And there's a distinction. So inflammation does include fluid, yes, water, immune cells, like white blood cells, proteins and chemical messengers, like cytokines, which I was just referring to.

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And swelling can be a result of inflammation, but it isn't just water. It's a mix of immune activity, fluid shifts, tissue response. So it is more than just water retention. And I think that from the tissue damage that occurs through activity, that swelling that you get is a result of the tissues responding and holding onto water. So swelling, edema, and inflammation are two different things.

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Inflammation from exercise is your body's immune response to the stress of training, especially intense or unfamiliar exercise. It's controlled, it's purposeful, and mostly it happens on a cellular level. You don't always see it, but you might feel it as being delayed onset muscle soreness domes, fatigue, or slight warmth or stiffness in a trained area, like your hammies or your quads. It involves immune cells, cytokines,

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and fluid rushing to the area to kick off recovery and adaptation. It's short term and it does resolve quickly. It's part of what makes you fitter and stronger, as I mentioned. So you sort of think about it like, it's your body going awesome, that was hard, let's repair and build back better. Swelling is more about fluid accumulation and it's usually visible, puffy hands, ankles, face, et cetera. It can happen after exercise, especially long endurance sessions.

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gravity causes fluid pooling, hot environments, phase dilation and sweating shift fluid balance, and heavy workouts causing localized fluid retention. It's not immune-driven like inflammation. It's a mechanical and fluid balance issue. And it often resolves with movement, elevation, hydration, and time. So inflammation is that recovery process at the cellular level,

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usually invisible but essential. And swelling is that fluid buildup, which is visible and sometimes uncomfortable, but not always linked to injury and immune response. And for what it's worth, there are pictures of me after that long day at Southern Lakes Ultra, and my face is 100 % swollen. It's super interesting. got a lot of swelling and a lot of that is a result of the long day we had the day before, the heat.

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and also sleeping slightly on a downhill slant because of my sleeping mat. So essentially my legs were up, but all the fluid was like draining into my face. It was awesome. Anyway, so my client asks, you know, how does the inflammation like come out of the body? Like how does it resolve? And the inflammation doesn't come out like sweat or like, you know, going to the bathroom, but your body does resolve it through several processes.

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The immune cells clear the damage. think of your immune cells as a cleanup crew. Fluid is reabsorbed into the bloodstream or drained via the lymphatic system. Waste and debris are cleared via lymphatic drainage. Our liver and kidneys, which help eliminate inflammatory byproducts. And also our sweat and our breath. So these are minor routes for detoxification.

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So you might feel puffy or swollen during inflammation, but when it subsides, the fluid gets naturally reabsorbed and excreted. And that inflamed or puffy feeling, whether it's in your face, your hands, your ankles, or just a general sense of bloating, is often due to the mix of the fluid retention and immune system activity. Common triggers, as I've mentioned, include a tough workout, but could also be a night of poor sleep, a high sodium meal, alcohol, stress,

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hormone fluctuations like around your menstrual cycle or your period, and even introducing new supplements or foods your body isn't used to. This can all cause your body to temporarily hold onto more fluid and activate low level inflammation. And all of these things that I've mentioned also will trigger an increase in that body scale weight. So it's not an increase in fat tissue, it's an increase in your body holding on to the water.

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So obviously the good news is it is usually temporary and your body will be equipped to handle it. But if you want to support the process and feel better sooner, make sure you hydrate well. Drinking water might feel counterintuitive, but if you're retaining fluid, it helps flush out excess sodium and supports your kidneys and your lymph system. Gentle movements such as walking, stretching, or light activity help circulate lymph and blood, reducing puffiness.

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And unlike your blood, the lymph system doesn't have a pump, so it relies on movement to circulate. That's why a short walk, which is like active recovery, a swim or something non-weight-bearing, or even rebounding on a trampoline, can be powerful to help with the puffiness. Prioritize sleep. Sleep is when your body clears out waste products and it can dampen inflammation. Also, focus on getting rid of ultra-processed foods, which are

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refined sugar, carbohydrate, refined oils and lot of sodium and sugar, already said sugar, and increasing the anti-inflammatory foods such as berries, dark leafy greens, turmeric, ginger tea, milk thistle is also really good, milk thistle tea, and of course omega-3 rich foods like salmon, sardines, mackerel, fish oil capsules.

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I would, of course, things like flax seeds and walnuts and chia seeds are good fiber and have fats in them, but they're not a great source of omega-3 fats, which helps drive down inflammation. And also think about deep breathing or stress management. Chronic stress raises cortisol, which can promote inflammation and water retention. If the inflammation lingers, becomes painful, or is accompanied by other symptoms like joint pain, skin rashes, or fatigue,

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then it's definitely worth checking in with a health professional because chronic inflammation can be a sign of something deeper going on. And if you're constantly feeling puffy or bloated, might not be what you ate. Yesterday, it could be an ongoing issue like gut permeability or food reactivity, which triggers an immune response under the radar. So actually keeping a food diary, if that is you and you've got this ongoing issue,

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may be able to help you identify patterns between foods that might be triggering something and how you feel, because it might not just be an immediate response that's occurring, it could be just this sort low-level stuff. And then since we are talking about water retention, I feel like I need to mention creatine because it is such a buzz supplement right now, and I love it and I take it. And yes, it can cause puffiness or water retention, but...

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think we need to unpack it a bit because it's not the bloated kind of water retention that people usually worried about. So creatine works by drawing water into your muscle cells, which is a good thing because it helps improve cell hydration, supports muscle function and performance, and it may even help with muscle growth and recovery. And this process is called intracellular water retention.

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The water is being pulled inside your muscle cells and not hanging around in the space under your skin like the classic bloating, which is extracellular. However, some people can feel softer on creatine and that soft feeling is usually due to that initial increase in water weight within the muscle, especially during a loading phase. That's when you might take creatine at 20 grams a day for five to seven days. And that might be because of that rapid water influx into muscle cells.

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making the muscles feel fuller but not necessarily tighter or leaner. Especially if you do carry excess body fat and you're not that lean to begin with. This can give the illusion of being smoother or less defined, particularly if body fat is covering that muscle. You do have a slight extracellular retention. So whilst the majority of the water will be pulled into the cells, there may still be some water outside the cells in some people, especially if they're

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body is adjusting to a higher intracellular water. This might cause a subtle soft or squishy feeling under the skin, but it isn't true fat gain. And don't forget that perception really does play a role. If the scale jumps 1-2 kilos quickly or your clothes fit a bit differently due to that intracellular fullness, it can feel like you're puffier, even if visibly nothing much has changed. And don't forget, if you're taking creatine and your training isn't dialed in, the water-driven muscle

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illness might not have that honed look. And I think this is more of a long-term issue than it is a short-term issue, if I'm honest. But just do think about it in the context of your diet, your training, and body composition. So why does that soft feeling from creatine subside? mean, people talk about it being transient over a couple of weeks. That's because fluid balance normalizes. So once your muscles are saturated with creatine, which, depending on the dosage, may take anywhere from two to four weeks,

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The dramatic initial water pool slows down. Your body stops drawing in extra water and the balance between intracellular and extracellular fluid stabilizes. And also your kidneys adjust. So your body is great at maintaining fluid homeostasis as you continue taking creatine consistently at about three to five grams daily. Your kidneys and hormonal systems like aldosterone, which is

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related to water retention, it adapts to the increased water shifts and any excess extracellular fluid is naturally cleared out. And your body composition could improve. As you train, the extra water retention becomes less noticeable because your muscles grow and you potentially lose fat. Because of course creatine is a performance enhancing aid that can help you push harder, go harder and be more powerful in the gym. So you are going to notice

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training differences and this will result in increased strength and potentially muscle hypertrophy. So the softness gives way to muscle fullness and better definition, especially if you're training hard and of course dialing in your nutrition. And then your brain adapts to the new normal. Once a number on the scales stabilizes and the physical changes feel consistent, your perception shifts too. You no longer feel puffy because it's become your baseline and often you look

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and perform better than ever. So the soft feeling fades because your body gets used to the increased creatine and water in your muscles. Fluid shifts become more balanced, your kidneys do their job, and you stop noticing the initial changes. All that's left is improved strength, performance, and muscle recovery. So I would also say though that in perimenopause around your cycle, you're more sensitive to fluid shifts, and this might actually be the case with creatine as well.

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due to changes in the estrogen and progesterone. So it does mean that puffiness might worsen at certain times of the month, even without inflammation or creatine in the mix. But if you do throw creatine in the mix, you might consider just coming off creatine in your luteal phase. Now there isn't any research that I've seen to say that you have to do this. This is just my clinical observation. And that if the goal is to saturate your muscle cells with

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creatine, you're not going to lose all of the benefits if you are off creatine for a week. It'll just take you longer to saturate your cells, but you will still have that baseline. So absolutely play around with that. And of course, there are so many reasons why people are puffy or inflamed anyway, but that sort of gives you a little bit of insight into why we have that inflammation, the difference between just swelling and inflammation,

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what's going on in the body and also what you can sort of do about it. Albeit, if this is just an acute experience and nothing chronic, it will subside over time. So hope that helps. And want to mention that I am running a webinar, this is a bit of a tangent really, on vegetarian diets and how to optimize them for body composition. And this is something I get asked about a lot. So I figured I would put it all in one place as a bit of a resource and

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do a webinar. take a note of the link in the show notes and you can absolutely sign up Wednesday 16th of April. So it's in less than two weeks now and 7pm it is being recorded if you can't make it live. So would love to see you if it is relevant for you in your dietary patterns. All right team have the best week. You can catch me over on Instagram threads or X @MikkiWilliden.

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Facebook @MikkiWillidenNutrition. Head to my website, MikkiWilliden.com and sign up to that vegetarian webinar. team, see ya.