The more water you drink the more your body will flush out. We lose a pint a day just breathing. I think your friend got a hold of some bad information. I would continue to drink your water. I believe it is one of the reasons I was able to keep losing without a plateau. I drink a little less now but I would drink from 128 oz to 160 oz the whole time I have been losing.

You can drink too much water...but it would have to be a lot lot lot of water! Unless....you have a tendency to have low sodium in your blood (hyponatremia). In that case, you could drink a "relatively normal" amount of water and be in big trouble because the lack of sodium could actually affect your heart. If you are that concerned, maybe a visit to your doctor would be a good idea for some bloodwork.

I drink that much every day and even put lemon in hot water for the first 32 oz bottle. Water is not going to hurt you in any normal amounts you drink. I have learned not to listen to people... when I am losing weight there is ALWAYS someone who tries to tell me I am doing it wrong LOL.

I am up to 2.5 gallons a day now, sometimes 3.

I always thought that water-intoxication (water "poisoning") was nearly impossible, but then my mom was hospitalized for it. She was on weight watchers and was drinking 8 glasses of water, plus a few cups of milk and coffee. Basically 3 to 4 quarts a day. She is reasonably healthy, but does take a low dose high blood pressure medicine. Her doctor now has her on permanent 2 qt liquid restriction (he said she could occasionally drink an extra glass of liquid, but not any more than that).

I'm on the same blood pressure medicine that she is, and also tend toward low blood sodium levels, so although I try to get in at least 2 quarts of liquids, I no longer drink over a gallon regularly like I used to.

I did want to mention that I don't mean to imply that the average person has to worry about the amount of water they drink. But if you know that any of your electrolyte levels are routinely much higher or much lower than normal, or if you take medications that deplete or increase electrolyte levels, you might want to discuss your water intake with your doctor.

Are you on an ACE inhibitor, or an angiotensin blocker?

Thank you for putting it plainly like you did! My brain was saying it the way you did, but my fingers didn't type it out that way!

I too notice that on weekends when I get busy and don't drink as much water, I can really tell a difference in the way I feel and how my system works. Water might make you gain weight for the moment but believe me you will pee it out very soon!

I don't know that much about the amount of water you should drink. I read that you should add 8 oz to the recommended 64oz for every 50 pounds overweight. Who knows how accurate that is. All I know is that I'd rather have water weight than fat weight.

When I came to this site and weighed about 160 lbs. , I saw it recommended for me to drink 80 oz. of water a day. I did this for a couple weeks and gained 2 lbs. a week and that was without changing the way I was eating or exercising. (I had already lost 70 lbs. or so at this time). I realized this was too much water for me and think it was because of the prednisone (which will cause a person to retain fluid) that I take daily. I think most healthy people can drink large amounts of water, but ones like me that are on a lot of medications should check with their doctor.

One thing to remember, too, is that there is a difference between "weight" and "fat". Unfortunately, most of us are stuck using scales to measure our progress, and they are not able to measure how much fat we have, only how much weight.

Eating a bag of marbles would also make you gain weight (for 2 or 3 days), but you wouldn't gain fat. Uhh... don't try this at home.

I just found a great article on water and what it does for us. Here is the link.
http://www.inch-aweigh.com/water.html

Pretty face,

I'm on atenolol, and lisinopril with HCTZ. Not sure about the class of either.