I just stated WW this Monday per the advice of my mother who has done it before and liked the results. I try to drink a lot of water each day and usually end up with (after exercise) well over the reccomended 6-8 cups a day. I don't drink much else during the day unless it's 2% or soy milk or tea but those amounts pale in comparison to my water intake...yesterday it was 16 cups!

I am just curous, for those who are more experienced, do you find water intake to make much of a difference? Should I not be killing myself to drink a ton of water on days when I relaly don't want to?

Also, as of today it is the TOM. I was hoping to weigh in with good results at the end of this week, but I'm thinking with bloating and water retention, I may not even want to glance in the direction of a scale and may avoid it all togehter! Any suggestions there?

I'm currently drinking 100 fl oz water, as well as black coffee and tea. My average weekly loss is 2.25lbs, this week 3.3. I definitely lose more consistently when I drink plenty of water.

I wondered this about water, too. I find it really hard to drink that much xxx

I am not on weight watchers but I find that on weeks I don't drink enough my weight loss is less. I think it has something to do with helping keep your metabolism up, keeping you feeling full and that fat you are losing has to come out some how! Good luck keep it up. don't kill yourself drinking too much, if you don't enjoy it you wont stick with it!

Oh my. Thinking of all that water just makes me all queasy. LOL. I like water okay...it's just i hate that feeling of eating or drinking something just to get it down and get your "quota". It just makes me a really uneasy and a little nauseated lol...weird maybe?

there's a thread in Weight loss support about water with a few different responses. May be worth it to check it out.

When I first started WW back in November 2008, I gave up soda cold turkey. (Haven't had one since. ) I started drinking 96 ounces of water every day and that was what made me lose so fast in the beginning. The losses became more gradual after a few weeks, but drinking water is definitely a major plus in losing weight.

Stephanie

Thanks everyone! looks like I'll just keep trekking back to the water cooler (alternated with the restroom of course!)

YES! Water is very important with helping burn fat. Below is an explanation as to why (copied and pasted from a medical document):

There are many forms of metabolism going on in your body right now, but the one everyone is talking about it the metabolism of fat. This is actually something that the liver does when it converts stored fat to energy. The liver has other functions, but this is one of its main jobs.

Unfortunately, another of the liver’s duties is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then can’t metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. If you allow this to happen, not only are you being unfair to your liver, but you’re also setting yourself up to store fat.

wow @ shytowngirl! I never knew any of that! makes perfect sense tho! I just finished my 9th cup of water for the day and although I've been to the potty about 6 times, I'm feeling good

Thanks!

I know. Things finally clicked when I found that info. Now I down water like it's going out of style!

Great job on your 9 glasses! After a few weeks your body will be able to handle all the liquid and your bathroom breaks will be fewer and far between.

oh that would be fantastic! not so bad now since I can take em whenever I want at my internship, but once I go back to college I dunno how that would look to my classmates!

I was looking around today and the sticky for "Plateau Busting" actually says that overweight people need to drink more water. I was shocked at this calculation, but it says that you should take your body weight and divide by 2 to find out how many oz of water your body actually needs. I couldn't believe that I should be drinking about 19 cups of water a day! I have never been really crazy about water but I guess I will really push it now. I have been on again/off again with WW for years. I was only really successful the first time, but ended up putting on all the weight plus some more. I feel like something has really clicked this time. Unlike before, I am drinking water (about 9 glasses a day) and exercising. I only started last week, but I lost 10 pounds that first weigh in! I too have been running to to the bathroom several times a day (about 6-7) and I'm sure my co-workers have noticed. I'm also glad to hear that my body will adjust.