text: how to get rid of water retention- from eating too much salt? yesterday- thanksgiving, i ate way too much salty food.  today i feel very bloated and puffy... my rings won't come off my fingers, my pants feel very tight, and my eyes feel like they are going to swell shut- i have been chugging water all day long but with little relief... what else can i do? relax, don't stress yourself about it. stress will add to the affects.  keep drinking fluids...because right now you are overloaded on salt and your body is tyring to maintain homeostasis by using osmosis to get the concentration of salt in the extracellular fluid to equal that of all of your cells.  so you must keep bringing in water to do this.  using coffee or other diruretics will only prolong this process...stressing your body even more.  you are doing exactly what hsould be done by drinking lots of liquids and relaxing.