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Lead Stories: Friday, December 5, 2008

Q&A: Is it normal to gain weight and be puffy after long, intense exercise?

Posted August 9th, 2007 at 12:30 PM by Adam Jacobs

Section: Health & Fitness, Injury & Rehab, Exercise

It is not normal to be puffy after a long ride or any other form of exercise. Your doctor should check for kidney problems, hormone abnormalities or diabetes. If these tests are normal, you drank way too much during your ride and are lucky that you only suffered from excess fluid retention. You could have developed hyponatremia, a serious condition that can kill you.

Normal healthy kidneys have a limit to how rapidly they can rid your body of excess fluid. If you take in more fluid than your kidneys can clear, fluid accumulates in your blood and dilutes the salt level. Since fluid moves from an area of low salt to high salt, and your brain has far more salt than your blood does; the fluid will move into your brain to causes swelling, seizures and even death.
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