[SweetCakes417]

has anyone heard of this before?? I always thought the more water you drink the better.. and well my Aunt that has dieted for years also and is doing WW, just told me that I shouldn't drink like 5 WW pitchers a day.. that I should probably not drink over 3 a day. Which would be 96oz a day.

Thoughts?? Anyone know about this??

[SlimLindy]

This is ridiculous, unless you are training very extensively, in which case you could actually reduce your sodium levels too low. This has only really been known to happen in people who are training for marathons or doing other abnormally high levels of cardio causing a lot of sweating and loss of sodium. Very rare. The thing I am wondering is, why are you drinking so much? Once your body is well-hydrated, more water isn't doing anything for you.

[andreaphilip3]

its not ridiculous, it is real....BUT it would be very hard to do. its takes alot of water for danger to happen. mostt ppl find that a gal os more than enough water.

[tracteso]

The only downside I can see is the trips to the little girl's room. I have that problem with drinking the normal 6-8 glasses per day. My teeth would be floating all day long, so to speak.
Any amount of water couldn't hurt. Your body can only hold so much water anyway or things would start to happen. Major leakage for one. ha ha! If you overfill a a water bottle it will overflow somehow.

[Kelly_S]

Can you drink too much water?
by Lynn Grieger, R.D., C.D., C.D.E.

Yes, and there is even a technical term for it: water intoxication!

In healthy people, the amount of water we drink is controlled by our thirst mechanism, located in the brain. We consume water in the form of liquids (juice, milk, soda) and also in foods primarily fruits and vegetables). The only foods that DON'T contain water are commercially dehydrated foods. Healthy adults require approximately three quarts of fluid each day. About half of this comes from food, with the remainder from beverages, hence the advice to drink eight cups of liquid each day. If you exercise, are breastfeeding, are ill, or live in a hot climate,your fluid needs are higher than the three quarts each day. However, it is possible to drink too much water if you put your mind to it. We're talking A LOT OF WATER, more than is possible under normal circumstances. Often associated with other obsessive-compulsive behaviors, drinking large amounts of water can be hazardous. Too much water in our system causes the dilution of essential electrolytes in our blood stream, which has implications for control of heart beat. My recommendation is 8-12 cups of fluid, combined with additional fluid to support exercise or hot conditions.

If you're drinking more than this, consult your physician.

Water intoxication
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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In medicine, water intoxication (also known as hyperhydration or water poisoning) is a potentially fatal disturbance in brain function that results when the normal balance of electrolytes in the body is pushed outside of safe limits by a very rapid intake of water.

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/5/f/blwaterintox.htm

http://www.alpharubicon.com/med/watertox.html

[andreaphilip3]

i have a question was this on tv or som,ething? cuz i was just over on the ww.com board and someone asked the same ?

[MistySeptember]

I think it is a recurring question that crops up every so often. It came up on here several times before and at my meetings.

Hyponatremia (water intoxication) is real, but like stated before rather uncommon in the average population. Athletes who fail to replenish sodium during extreme training can suffer from sodium imbalances. In that case one can drink too much water.

Babies can become victims of it if pushed under water in swimming pools, like the infant swimming classes you see on TV with babies frog swimming through the water. The YMCA banned infant submersion in thier swimming classes b/c of infant deaths from Hyponatrimia. But the average person doing the average amount of exercise and hyrdating what could be considered an average amount is not going to have a problem.

5 pitchers seems like alot, but I am assuming by WW pitchers you are talking about the ones they sell at meetings, not a gallon or anything. There probably does come a point when you've taken in enough water to sufficiently hydrate your body and flush out toxins and any beyond that isn't "helping". From what I have read you can judge if you are taking too much or too little in by the color of your pee, it should be light yellow, not dark or completley clear.

[SweetCakes417]

Great info!!! Thanks alot. Yes, i am talking about the WW ones you get--my Mom got me one from WW. I drink normally 4-5 a day.. is that bad you think?? And TMI, but you did mention it, my pee is 'clear' now, is that really bad???

[MistySeptember]

I wouldn't say it's really bad it just probably means your body has enough water and the extra is just going straight through. If you like drinking that much water, I'm not a dr or anything, but I don't think it will hurt. But if you're forcing it down then you probably could back off a bit b/c you are getting more than enough to reap the bennefits.

[jules1216]

There has been alot of discussion on this board. There are two sides and I don't think either will ever agree. I am trying to get back into drinking 8 to 10 glasses minimum a day. When I do stick with drinking water I feel better and I don't gain weight. It's like everything else though, what works for one person may not work for someone else or all of the posters on 3FC would be doing just one diet.

[Kelly_S]

I work for a Urologist and here is what he said....

go by the color of your urine.

if it is clear you are over hydrated
if it is light straw colored you are properly hydrated
if it is dark yellow you are dehyrated

[justsomegirl]

I saw this on the news and keep hearing about it. It makes me think of this thread everytime I hear something about it, so here's the story!

A woman died of water intoxication for a radio station contest where the contestants had to drink as much as they could and hold their "wee" to win a "Wii" - one of the newest game systems.

She was a mother of three children and was trying to win this for them. She apparently drank two gallons of water which caused the intoxication.

Here's one of many articles online about it: MSNBC - Click to read