I frequently hear that water is important when losing weight. I understand that it helps to fill you up when you might mistake thirst for hunger but what other benefits does it have when it comes to weight?

being fully hydrated helps your fat cells release the "fat" in them...the more dehydrated you are the more "rubbery" your fat cells become and the more they resist releasing fat. Also, it aids in the digestion process and in elimination (bowel movements).

so, if i drink more water my body will become more able to release fat? Do diet drinks count? tea? coffee?

Water is also really good to get rid of the toxins in your body to make you more healthy.

Diet drinks do not count.

When you think about it, where does the fat go? I have over 100 pounds to lose so the fat has to go somewhere - down the toilet! And it's so hard for me to get that water in too! I was teasing my kids and saying that my hips and stomach weren't just going to fall off - the water helps you to get rid of it.

This is OT of the water post, but is that a pug in your user picture? My parents have 2, and I adore them. sweetest dogs on the world!

as was said, coffee/tea (except green)/pop even diet, do not count...but you can count green tea/crystal light/water in your daily amounts....You should get eight 8oz of water per day, and for each 25 lbs you are overweight you should add 1 more 8oz glass...so I my ideal weight were 150, and I weighed 225, I should be getting ELEVEN 8oz glasses of water per day.

Hi Curbside,

Yep, that would be TAZ!! She is my baby girl - full blooded pug dog and runs the whole house! We have 5 kids, 3 dogs, a kitten, a snake, a turtle and pond fish - only TAZ is the queen boss! My other two dogs are nearly 10 years old and when they go to the rainbow bridge I will get another pug - they definitely are the sweetest!!!

To me water has absolutely nothing to do with weight. It is and has always been my favorite drink along with tea and soy milk.
I guess if you're one of those people that love sodas (yuck) it does have some benefit weight wise. Because I've gained with water and I've lost with water. I think the whole thing is many people like soda and alcoholic drinks so for them to start drinking more water and less soda it is beneficial in the weight department.
Drink water anyway! It tastes grrreat! :-)

Water is very important to flush the kidneys, keep your skin hydrated and healthy and to help with making you feel full.
Soda-diet & regaular can actally rob you of bone mass due to the acids in them, so if you weight train and drink soda, you are really defeating the whole purpose. I can't recall the spcific details, but it tends to deterirate calcium..water on the other hand does not do this.

There is actually new research that battles the old ideas that even diet soda is so bad for you. Caffeine was often accused of making diet drinks not count as water since caffeine actually dehydrates you and can drain calcium from your body. However, new studies show that the amount of caffeine in an average soda is not enough to cause harm. In fact, an average of the equivalent amount of caffeine as is found in 4 cups of coffee daily has been ruled as typically harmless.

I have read articles stating that ANY water counts as "water" intake. Not only do we get water from just plain old water, but we also get a lot from the foods we eat (especially fruits and veggies). Flavored waters, carbonated waters, diet sodas, sugar-free drinks, black coffee (creamer adds calories), sugar-free teas...I don't think there's any real reason to think these beverages do not hydrate our bodies.

Personally, I drink about 9 servings of water daily just while sitting at my desk in the office. I don't like coffee or tea (never have), so I have a diet soda in the morning for my caffeine fix (plus I find that the carbonation in the soda makes me feel fuller than plain water). After that, I sip water all day until dinner time, when I have either another diet soda, skim milk, or sugar-free kool aid (which has, I think, 5 calories). The reason I choose water to drink all day instead of anything else is simply that it's free and readily available (I can get it even if I forget my wallet!).

In the end, I think what matters most is how you feel. If you feel like you're cheating by drinking anything other than plain water then don't do it. If you feel better (more hydrated, more regular, etc.) when drinking plain water, then do it. Just like anything else, it's one of those things that depends highly on the individual.

OH, and just as an aside (and a scary thought), fat cells grow and shrink, but they NEVER go away!

lots of interesting stuff here.

I think i'll try cutting back my diet coke intake due to bloating and up my water because although it doesn't 'magically' make you loose weight i think it might help flush things through seeing as i exercise quite a bit.

thank you for all the information. it's much appreciated!

Just water counts. The body breaks down soft drinks (even calorie free ones like Crystal Light) differently than it does water. Water contains nothing but Hydrogen and Oxygen -- there are no chemicals of any kind for the body to have to break down.

Water helps you "pee out" the bad stuff. So, make sure when you eat salty foods or not-so-good-for-you-but-sure-taste-good foods, you drink 32 oz of water to start flushing it out of your system.

I HATED water when I first started dieting. I didn't even think I could drink Diet Sodas either. But now, I tolerate it and dare I say, like it! I posted something about water ideas in another forum. Let me see if I can find it...

Found it. It was in the South Beach Forum. Best use of 15 minutes of searching ever

Enjoy...

"One of the biggest hurdles for me being on South Beach (especially for those first two weeks on Phase 1!) was phasing [pun intended] myself out of drinking diet soda all the time and switching to water.

I HATED WATER!

I wouldn't drink the stuff if I were playing softball and sweating a whole person out of me!

So, here are some tips I found helpful to get myself to drink, and dare I say LIKE, water! Feel free to add on!


1) Eat a sugar free cinnamon candy. Then drink plain water to cool you down.

2) Cut up a lemon or a lime and put in a baggie and take with you to work. It really does make water taste better.

3) I have a Nalgene -- so what I do is 32 oz of plain water. If I drink that, I reward myself with 32 oz of Crystal Light.

4) Buy flavored waters. Nestle now makes a "Pure Life" brand with Splenda in flavors like Raspberry and strawberry. What I do is drink half a bottle, then fill the half with plain water. You still get the berry taste but instead of only drinking 16 oz, you drink more like 24!

5) Buy flavored seltzer. I love the fizz! Or buy plain and add SF Syrups to it! Italian Soda it is

Hope that helps you a bit!"

Check this out (and even the resource articles it links to at the end):
http://www.wwrecipes.com/water.htm
Hmm, best 5 minutes of searching ever? Nah, I wouldn't go that far
But like I said, it all depends on the individual, so to each his own