I have never seen a difference with how much water I drink. Thank you to Lori Bell for posting that study summary. Some times I feel like the only person that doesn't buy into drinking a ton of water for weight loss. When I looked in to this, the advice from several experts was simple: drink when you're thirsty. There was no magic number, and there was no consensus on drinking more when dieting. I sometimes wonder if, for those of you who drink a ton of water, it isn't more of a psychological thing, in that it's something you can control and do that makes you feel positive about your journey.

But, that's coming from my perspective. I don't like plain water most of the time. Getting 3 "bottles" in when I was working 9 hours a day was HARD and now that I'm at home all day... it ain't going to happen. Have I noticed a difference, going from drinking 3 bottles of water a day to none for days at a time? Have I noticed a difference since my diet pop intake increased 3x? No. I haven't. I should probably get more pure water in daily just to make sure my kidneys stay healthier, but it just isn't my biggest concern right now.

I see the recommended water intake as being another one of those out-dated things, where the strict rules we've known for so long simply don't work for everyone. I know I've heard before that 8 8oz glasses of water is too much for most people. But this is like saying, "Exercising isn't essential to weight loss." It really goes against the convention. Though, "most people" probably doesn't include those seriously dieting and exercising. And the amount you need is obviously effected by your body type as well, how sensitive it is to dehydration, how well your body works at processing it, etc.

Which is why I usually end up back at "Drink when you're thirsty. And maybe hungry." Try drinking more and see if it makes a difference for you. Clearly it does for some, but not others. But like Heather said, I wouldn't feel the need to chug it.