Quote:
Originally Posted by Trudiha
Drinking four gallons of water a day is verging on dangerous; healthy kidneys can deal with about 1 litre an hour (you're drinking over 17 per day) but if they are being put under any extra stress, for instance if you are exercising to the point where you sweat or you get an upset tummy you are in danger of diluting the electrolytes in you body, this will mess with your brain function and could, in extremes, do you some serious damage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication
|
+1 Over drinking water is much more dangerous than under drinking water. Drink to THIRST. Having a small amount of water if you are not sure if you are hungry or thirsty (some of us really do have messed up signals) is one thing. But if you drink a cup of water and 10 minutes later you are still hungry, then EAT. Using water to fill the stomach to avoid eating is dangerous.
If in addition to overdrinking water you are eating relatively "clean" you may induce too low of a level of sodium and potassium in your blood and give yourself a heartattack or brain edema. Really.
Risk of dehydration without underlying illness is low and the symptoms are generally mild, progress slowly and are easily reversed.
Risk of hyponatremia is fairly sudden onset of symptoms that if not resolved quickly lead to death.
As to the weight loss I would not be concerned with the speed of the weight loss, but yes, I think anytime you are going under 1200 you are probably undereating. At your weight I would say that even being at 1200 everyday is probably lower than you need to be for sustainable weight loss.