Hey guys,

Naturally, all my life I have drank huge amounts of water... Not until I joined MRC did I realize that most days its about 98-128 oz per day. I asked the center if this was ok and they said it was excellent. I didn't want to sabatage myself with all this water intake.

My issue is I am always thirsty! No matter how much water I drink before the day is out I am always thirsty.... Does anyone else have this problem?

I have heard that too much water intake dries out your electrolytes but don't know too much more than someone saying it?

Electrolytes can be replenished by taking in certain vitamins, like those found in gatorade. I've never heard about them being depleted in your body by drinking too much water, but it's possible that they may flush out in urine. As far as always being thirsty, there's really nothing wrong with that. Most of us drink too little, and I think you should congratulate yourself on drinking as much as is good for you. Who knows, maybe your skin and mouth release much more water than the average person. Or maybe you're just used to it- I find that when I drink a healthy amount of water, I'm thirsty more often as well.

As far as sabotaging your weight loss, there's no way that drinking more water is going to harm the amount of fat you lose. It can only help it. You hear people talking about "water weight" but that's not from drinking too much water- that's from hormones and salt keeping you from letting go of water. In fact, by drinking more water, you're helping to flush out the excess salt and prevent water retention.

So no need to worry at all!

Water intoxication is possible but with normal renal function it's really hard to get there, you would have to drink about 3x as much as you currently do.
Polydipsia is a medical term for excessive thrist which is sometimes correlated to disorders like diabetes, not saying that's what you have but it's worthwhile bringing up with your physician if you have never done so before.

I was reading over on the Livestrong website that kidney's can filter 27 to 33 ounces of water an hour. If you're only drinking 98 - 128 ounces a day, I'd think you would be ok. I agree with jandro and the next time you visit your doctor, you should bring this up.

I have always been one to drink lots of water too. It seems like I am forever thirsty. I have water beside me pretty much at all times.

Since I have been on this program, I've had to decrease my water intake. I thought I would never get used to it, but I have. When I am feeling especially thirsty some days, I know I can always have a flavored water. That doesn't count as your water intake for the day.

I agree with Kelly (by the way, you look GREAT in your before & after pics!!) there's no way that drinking more water is going to sabotage your weight loss. If anything, it'll keep you feeling more full!

My sister and I were just having a conversation yesterday about Electrolytes. She said she read that you can put baking soda in your water to replace the electrolytes that are being flushed out. I haven't yet researched it, but I plan on it. If anyone else knows about this, please let us know.

Also, InfinityFreshman, I don't know what your weight is, but most of us have been told to drink at least 1/2 of our weight in ounces of H2O. So, since I am at 144 lbs, I should be drinking a min of 72 oz a day.

Constant thirst can be an indicator of diabetes. Just an FYI, you might want to get it checked.

Most doctor's say unless you're running marathons or something to the equivalent every day, the chances of having low sodium due to water overconsumption is slim to none.

Generally speaking your body has failsafes in place to prevent things like hyponatremia(low sodium)from excessive diuresis or insensible loss through sweating. If your a healthy person under the age of 70 with normal kidney function/ adrenal glands. I would suggest you generally don't need electrolyte replacement. Ingesting sufficient sodium bicarb(baking soda) can take your body's PH balance over to the alkalotic side and you can seriously cause yourself harm. There is really no way of know how much enteral baking soda is safe for an indiviual person without real time arterial blood gases like they do in emergency rooms and ICUs. If your really worried about it just add little more table salt to your meals and have a bannana and viola most of your macro electrolytes are replaced.

Is it more important to be consistent in water consumption or to drink as much as possible? I should be drinking around 120 oz but can't hit that consistently. I always get at least 64, but sometimes I get all the way to 120. Is this messing with the scale? Or more importantly, my body?

I plan on asking my consultant at my next WI but thought I'd check with you ladies, too.

I was told by the consultant at my center, after she did the calculations, to not drink more than 120 oz in a day. She did some calculation of body weight to lose vs how much oz's of water you can drink.

I FOUND THE DIABETES COMMENT INTERESTING.... I do have hypoglycemia and have all my life. Most hypoglycemics do become diabetics. I went about 6 years without health insurance and have recently got a job with health insurance. I will have to ask a doctor about this.

I have slowed down my water intake but am still thirsty all the time. I guess I will live with it lol

120 ounces is TWO TWO-LITER BOTTLES. It's 15 cups. That's a lot.

Please, go to a doctor and get checked. This is not normal.

I agree that I am a little freaked out about this now and will be going to get checked out very soon. Yes I know I was drinking about 128-135 oz of water a day which is over a gallon....