Total body water and water intake

springmiyake

Hi guys,
This is my first post ever. I have been in MFP for a few months since I decided to start a better and healthier life. So far I am satisfied with what I am doing. Eating right and exercising. I also bought a new scale so I can keep track on my body fat and muscle. Then I started to notice my total body water never changes. It always shows 43%. I believe the normal range for women is 40%-60%. The thing is that I always drink okay amount of water(6-8 cups). I also increased my water intake due to constipation problem 2 months ago. I now drink about 10 cups of 8oz water each day. After increasing water intake, I also tend to go to the restroom every 1.5 hours. I am not sure if my body is not absorbing all the water I am taking in as I am peeing so much more than before. My friends who drink way less water than me (probably 3 cups each day) has 50% on total body water. Is it because they weigh much less than me? I just feel like having body water percentage on the lower end of the normal range is not healthy enough.

myheartsabattleground

0_0 What.

springmiyake

@Myheartsabattleground am I not being clear enough or is my question not relevant?

Lasmartchika

Aren't we made of 70% water? :huh:

myheartsabattleground

Too much to read, for my C-ACC.

rainbowbow

I don't think you need to concern yourself with this as long as you're not dehydrated.

As you up your water intake you're definitely going to go more often and probably lose some water weight.

Another factor to mention is that your scale is using electrical empedence which sends as current through your body to measure the resistance. They are NOT very accurate.

jgnatca

If you want to retain more water, get more salt in your diet. Try it and see if the scale gives you a different result.

rainbowbow

From Wikipedia:

By weight, the average human adult male is approximately 65% water.[4][5][6] However, there can be considerable variation in body water percentage based on a number of factors like age, health, weight, and gender. In a large study of adults of all ages and both sexes, the adult human body averaged ~65% water. However, this varied substantially by age, sex, and adiposity (amount of fat in body composition). The figure for water fraction by weight in this sample was found to be 48 ±6% for females and 58 ±8% water for males.[7]

The body water constitutes as much as 73% of the body weight of a newborn infant, whereas some obese people are as little as 45% water by weight.[5][6] These figures are statistical averages, and so like all biostatistics, the estimation of body water will vary with factors such as type of population, age of people sampled, number of people sampled, and methodology. So there is not, and cannot be, a figure that is exactly the same for all people, for this or any other physiological measure.

SingRunTing

Those scales are never very accurate, so don't worry about what it says. If your pee is a light color, you're getting enough water. It's really as easy as that.

jgnatca

Most people are trying to reduce water retention. Which is different than drinking plenty of water.
http://www.wikihow.com/Treat-Fluid-Retention