Water

indianwin2001
indianwin2001 Posts: 296 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know water is great for you and everyone says to drink alot of water. My question is what does water do in regards to losing weight? Does water flush the body of sodium? I come close to hitting my macros every day except my sodium levels are always way over. I have my blood pressure under control,but since joining MFP and logging food,I am now aware of my sodium intake. I am not worried about my blood pressure now but am curious of the ways water is beneficial to losing weight and contributes to health.

Replies

  • pander101
    pander101 Posts: 677 Member
    Drinking water helps maintain the amount of fluids you lose just by breathing, evaporation from skin, sweating... It can help you maintain how much you eat as well. It also helps your kidneys and transports waste from the body, helps your skin look nice. Also helps your muscles.
  • indianwin2001
    indianwin2001 Posts: 296 Member
    Thanks for answering Pander. I understand the health benefits like the kidneys but how does water help people lose weight as opposed to drinking O.J. or cranberry juice as an example?
  • happyfeetrebel1
    happyfeetrebel1 Posts: 1,005 Member
    OJ and Cranberry juice have calories, water does not. You can drink water and not worry about it upsetting your intake deficit.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    Water helps to flush out some of the sodium.
  • indianwin2001
    indianwin2001 Posts: 296 Member
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Water helps to flush out some of the sodium.

    Thanks-So that would help me get rid of some of my excess sodium. Thats important to me. For some reason,my diary tells me I eat way too much sodium and I eat mostly at home
    and have kale and tomatoes daily and NEVER put salt or cook with salt. I don't even have salt in my house but I must enjoy sodium-heavy food.
  • FitOldMomma
    FitOldMomma Posts: 790 Member
    It's crazy how much sodium can be present in breads and crackers. I eat a lot of cottage cheese-one cup has 900 mg of sodium! I often exceed my daily sodium allotment also.
  • Liftng4Lis
    Liftng4Lis Posts: 15,151 Member
    indianwin2001 wrote: »
    Liftng4Lis wrote: »
    Water helps to flush out some of the sodium.

    Thanks-So that would help me get rid of some of my excess sodium. Thats important to me. For some reason,my diary tells me I eat way too much sodium and I eat mostly at home
    and have kale and tomatoes daily and NEVER put salt or cook with salt. I don't even have salt in my house but I must enjoy sodium-heavy food.

    Processed foods have a lot of sodium. Unless you have a medical condition, its not usually a problem- BUT, it will make you retain water.
  • indianwin2001
    indianwin2001 Posts: 296 Member
    oldmomma wrote: »
    It's crazy how much sodium can be present in breads and crackers. I eat a lot of cottage cheese-one cup has 900 mg of sodium! I often exceed my daily sodium allotment also.

    I never realized all the natural sodium in food. Thats why I asked about water in this thread and I learned I should drink lots of water to help flush the sodium bye-bye
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  • socalkay
    socalkay Posts: 746 Member
    edited November 2014
    From article cited below:

    "There’s a whole host of benefits to drinking enough water, one of which is proper kidney function. Dehydration impairs your kidneys, and when your kidneys aren’t working properly, your liver has to pick up the slack. Your liver is responsible for the metabolism of fat, which means fat cannot be metabolized as efficiently when your liver has to work twice as hard to remove toxins."

    https://blog.myfitnesspal.com/2014/10/5-unusual-reasons-youre-not-losing-weight/?
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I would also like to know how drinking water helps you lose weight??? In every diet program they always emphasize to drink loads of water!!
  • TimothyFish
    TimothyFish Posts: 4,925 Member
    While it is true that water is needed to flush out sodium, that has nothing to do with losing weight. If you had a lot of sodium and very little water, you would weigh less, but it wouldn't be healthy. Water is needed for most functions of your body. If you don't drink enough, your body begins shutting down, causing your metabolism to decrease.
  • Austinjori
    Austinjori Posts: 1 Member
    Before I start let me say I am not an expert (I'm guessing I'm not the only one in this discussion). This is from my experience and what I am learning about the "right" kind of water to drink.
    First of all... Water will help your stomach "feel" full. This will then cause you to eat less. Which reduces your caloric intake and helps you lose weight.
    Second... 70 % of Americans are under hydrated no matter how much water they drink. The solution to this is problem, according to several sources, is to drink alkalinized, ionized water.
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  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I add the juice of 1 lemon to my water everyday. This would help it become more alkaline, right?
  • indianwin2001
    indianwin2001 Posts: 296 Member
    Austinjori wrote: »
    Before I start let me say I am not an expert (I'm guessing I'm not the only one in this discussion). This is from my experience and what I am learning about the "right" kind of water to drink.
    First of all... Water will help your stomach "feel" full. This will then cause you to eat less. Which reduces your caloric intake and helps you lose weight.
    Second... 70 % of Americans are under hydrated no matter how much water they drink. The solution to this is problem, according to several sources, is to drink water.

    In regards to point #1 I can see how water will give your stomach a "full" feeling ,so you would eat less.As far as point #2-I googled alkalinized, ionized water and there were immediatly 3 threads saying those machines are hogwash

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