Do you really think drinking water is really all that important to losing weight???

I mean I have heard all the info that water flushes out your system and all that but I am wonder if the only reason we believe that is because for as long as most of us can remember we always have heard the oft saying "drink plenty of water!" when we are dieting.

I mean I have dieted in the past and I tried to drink as much as a gallon a day and all I did was have to use the bathromm ALL the time.

This time I haven't made an effort to drink extra water I cut out all other drinks (tea, coffee, diet drinks etc.) and just now drink only water but I only drink when I am thirsty.

And I am losing weight right now since I started but I can't help but wonder if I am cheating myself by not drinking the water.

I asked my doctor at the VA and he said by drinking a lot of water I am flushing out my kidneys but there's nothing wrong with my kidneys it is the fat around my middle that I need to get rid of.

I mean I hydrate when I run on the eliptical machine but do you really think we all need to drink 8 12oz. glasses of water a day???

Water itself will not help you lose weight. But yes it does help flush out your system. It also help flush out excess sodium which means you are less likely to be carrying around extra water weight. Its also helpful to be hydrated because something like 85% of the time you feel hungry it is actually thirst.

Yes I hear what you are saying. I have heard many times someone say "water flushes out your system)" .... I am trying to understand WHAT system? Your digestive tract system? Urinary system? Blood system?

Doesn't potassium flush out sodium out of our bodies?

I hadn't known that thanks! That's interesting! Boy when I am hungry I feel like I want a 8 piece bucket of fried chicken or a rack of babyback ribs!

I'm not trying to dispute anyone here I am just trying to understand what does taking in extra water will do for you and is it really a benefit.

Also the edema in my lower legs is already considerably better just in the little bit of weight I have lost in the last two weeks.

Maybe I am just trying to get out of drinking all that extra water because I am already making more trips to the bathroom because I am taking Alli if I start drinking a half gallon of water a day I might as well move my TV and computer in there because thats where I will be spending most of my time!

Hey there!

What I've heard is 8 to 10 8-oz. glasses a day.

Most people don't drink enough fluids, or they drink fluids with other stuff in them, like milk, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and so on.

Kidneys filter your blood, removing waste products and excess salts while also conserving water as much as possible.

There is a relationship between sodium and potassium, but drinking water tends to be what flushes both of them out.

Your kidneys produce 1 to 2 liters (32 to 64 ounces, roughly) a day under normal conditions. If you don't drink enough, then you make less urine, but it's more concentrated. That can be problematic if it goes on for a long time.

When your body is burning fat, it produces wastes that need to be eliminated in urine--so that's another reason to make sure you get enough water. People on extreme diets can stress their kidneys if they don't drink enough.

A gallon of water a day isn't necessary. In fact, drinking too much plain water can be as bad as not drinking enough. That's why athletes in competition drink Gatorade instead of plain water.

So that's some tips about water. Moderation! Of course, I am not a doctor or health professional, and this is not medical advice. You should talk about this stuff with your doctor.

Jay

LOL - Jay - as usual, a GREAT post!

I have found that drinking enough water is essential for weight loss for me. When I don't drink enough, the scale stalls. I logged my fluid intake as well as my food on my weightloss journey - I was able to prove this over and over again.

What is the "right" amount? Trial and error will tell you. Too much is unhealthy, and can even be deadly.

For me, about 72 oz. per day seems the perfect amount. Though lately, that has been in the form of both water AND herbal tea.

Someone posted here before on different thread about the water question. I think it may have been PhotoChick. She said (and I concur) too little water and your pee-pee is dark, too much water and its almost totally clear. Just right will be somewhere in the middle.

Drinking water has been so important to me. I'm just learning that my body is telling me I'm either hungry or thirsty. For a long time I thought my body was only telling me I was hungry. So I ate. But then I realized my friends at 3FC...your body, a lot of the time is telling you you are thirsty. So give it some water and see how you feel. Lo and behold...snacking problem? GONE!

Water is a beautiful thing.

I have never really paid any attention to the amount of water I drink on a day to day basis and have been successful losing weight, so...

I do think hydration is important, but it seems like there are a lot of unsubstantiated ideas out there about what counts as liquid, etc. Remember that there is liquid in a lot of the food you eat, and in all your beverages. The notion that caffeinated beverages make you retain more water than they add has not been substantiated scientifically, so if you want to count hydration, those beverages count too!

Certainly, if you're thirsty, or sweating a lot you NEED fluids. And many people find that drinking fluids helps keep them feeling full. But I don't think that everyone has to do that to be successful in weight loss.

Here's a link to snopes.com article on the topic:
http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

I've read about some studies that say that being under-hydrated ("dehydrated" sounds too harsh) will prevent you from losing weight, because it messes with aspects of your metabolism that you need to burn stored fat. (How vague is that? Clearly I didn't look into it too much, lol.)

I'm a believer that you should drink when you're thirsty... that caffeinated drinks do more good than harm... that eating lots of high-water food like fruits and veggies (like I do now more so than before) helps keep you hydrated. I don't force myself to drink water unless I'm feeling bloated from too much sodium (or from hormones), then I'll make sure to have an extra glass or two.

Hey mayness!

My problem is that I don't feel "thirsty," so I rarely drink enough water. And so, I developed kidney stones. Now I have to make sure I drink the 8-10 glasses a day... And my kidney doc said, count water, not fruit, not juice, not soda, but water.

Just another view... Anyone who has had kidney stones knows that you really don't want to do it more than once...

Jay

The thing is, you cannot with any accuracy say that you need X amount of water, because the amount of water you're going to need changes from day to day.

Did you sit at your desk all day today? You probably don't need as much water.
Did you go to the gym and sweat buckets? You need more water.
Is it cold where you are and the heat is running all the time? You need more water to make up for the natural evaporation from your skin and breathing.
Is it beastly hot where you are and you're sweating? You need more water to make up for the sweat.
Is it very humid and you're not sweating much? You probably don't need as much water.
Did you eat a lot of salty foods today? You probably need more water to flush that out.

The amount of water you need to maintain a healthy body is going to vary depending on what you're doing, what the climate is like where you are, what you've eaten, etc., etc.

I normally drink about a gallon a day, give or take. That works for me. At that level my urine is a very pale yellow - sorta straw colored.

At first I did have to go to the bathroom more, but soon my body got used to the increased water and became more efficient. I probably pee about 5 times a day now (including when I first get up and right before I go to sleep). When I was first drinking this amount of water, I probably had to get up every hour and go.

.

I read that drinking a lot of water makes the body work harder, thus boosting metabolism. Plus you aren't as hungry if you guzzle water all day. I'm a drinkin' lots of water and I bought a juicer too - want to "clean out the system?"... juicing with ginger, carrots, spinich, parsley, etc. Water and juicing to detox body, we eat too much processed stuff these days.

Hmmmmthanks all for the food (or water??) for thought.

Loved the snopes article, very interesting.

I've been reading a lot about the benefits of drinking plenty of water and it seems moderation is the key. I have already tried downing a 12oz bottle of water when I get hunger pangs between meals and I do have to admit it works but not for long for me.

It will kill the hunger pangs for about an hour or so for me but most of the time it will hold me till my next meal which I eat a small meal every 4 hours.

I REALLY love putting those little singles serving of Crystal Light in my bottle of water I can just about down the whole thing if I am thirsty. Also I order water in rest. and use them too. My friends think I am being cheap but thats not it at all. It just tastes better for me and I will drink the whole glass as opposed to if it is plain water I rarely finish the glass.

I think besides drinking water with every meal I will have a bottle of water in the morning when I wake up before breakfast with my meds and vitamins.

This morning I took two tbsps of apple cider vinegar in 8 ozs of water at the suggestion of my very knowlegable healthnut friend who claims it will clean my artieried out but thats another thread!

thanks all for the info!

Don't forget the Emergen C packets too, they have vitamins at least, one is for immunity, another for energy etc and they taste good in water. I finally gave in and bought a Pur water filter deal as buying water so much is expensive, you can't really tell it's tap water actually. In the am put a little lemon in it too, helps "clean" the sytem out thus sayeth the experts.

Remember that by the time that you feel thirsty....you're already dehydrated. It takes the body about 2 hours to register how hydrated it is. Being thirsty is being two hours behind.

Also, when your doctor mentioned water flushing your kidneys - I don't think he was meaning that there was anything wrong with your kidneys at the moment, but being overweight can lead to fat around the liver and can eventually lead to things like cirrhosis and kidney stones.

Water is essential for proper system function. Every system from cellular respiration to your excretory system. On every scale water is important for your body to function best. Our bodies are MADE from mostly water and we need to constantly replenish it.

It is important to drink water in the form of water and not in the form of juices and other beverages, reason being that our bodies don't need to work as hard to use it because water, in its purest form, won't affect our blood sugar.



ETA: Horsey, I wouldn't drink more than the recommended amount of the Emergen-C - Vit. C is water soluble but the mixture includes some things that we may not want to exceed a daily limit of.

And when you are tired, first thing to do is drink water, actually it's often dehydration and we grab caffine instead!