Does drinking water really help you lose weight?
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Water Retention Prevention
Consistent water consumption keeps your body hydrated and sets the stage for your weight loss. Aim for eight to 10 8-oz. glasses of water each day. Registered dietitian Andrea Wenger Hess notes that insufficient fluid intake actually results in your kidneys stockpiling the liquids they do receive. You therefore experience unwelcome water retention, which makes it more difficult to lose weight.
Measurable Benefits
Pre-meal water consumption has been shown to lead to weight loss, an August 2010 report, in which the National Women's Health Information Center summarized a study conducted by Virginia Tech professor Brenda Davy. The study followed two groups of overweight or obese men and women. One set of 55- to 75-year-old subjects followed a low-calorie, low-fat diet for 12 weeks. The other group followed a similar diet, but was asked to drink 2 cups of water before their three daily meals. The water drinkers lost 15.5 lbs. compared to 11 lbs. for those who did not have pre-meal drinks.
One year after the study, water-drinking subjects had kept the weight off. Davy noted that middle-aged and older men and women enjoyed success with this approach because aging digestive systems meant subjects felt fuller for a longer period.
Overconsumption Warning
Adequate water consumption helps hydrate your body and can help you lose weight. But too much water intake causes a significant health risk. Your kidneys cannot eliminate your body's surplus water fast enough. Your body's blood electrolyte levels become diluted, which leads to abnormally low blood sodium levels. Endurance athletes, who typically drink massive amounts of water quickly, are at a higher risk for this condition.0 -
ABSOLUTELY water helps lose weight. It metabolizes fat. It also, ironically, keeps you from retaining water, especially if you have a high sodium diet. If I lapse on drinking at least 10 cups of water a day, I stop losing. And it's so, so, so good for you. I highly recommend you make it a priority.0
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Break up with the diet drinks! Seriously bad for you - way too many chemicals - I could elaborate, but just dont drink it.
Great way to get your water in every day....
Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body:
2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs
1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal- helps digestion
1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure
1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack apparently drinking water at bed time helps prevent night time leg cramps. Your leg muscles are seeking hydration when they cramp and wake you up with a Charlie Horse.
Who knew?!0 -
Drink what you like to drink. If it has calories, fit them in, if it is diet coke that's fine too. Just drink. Especially with a healthier diet and increase in fiber you need the extra liquids to help move things along.0
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Yes!0
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I drink almost no water. I wish I could but I just can't seem to force myself to do it.
I have approx 5 hot drinks (normally tea, occasionally a coffee) per day, and a can of coke zero about once a week.
My skin etc is not dehydrated, and I rarely feel overly thirsty.
I have plateaued (weight-loss) for 3mths without changing my calorie intake, so yes sometimes I wonder if upping my water consumption would help, but I actually don't think it's likely. I just need to convince myself to give it a try & find out one way or the other, lol!0 -
Water has helped me because years ago I wasn't consuming enough liquids throughout the day to keep me hydrated. I mean I would drink coffee in the morning, maybe coffee in the afternoon, maybe one or two cups of water, and maybe some iced tea when I got home. So it's not that I wasn't drinking enough water...I wasn't drinking enough fluid period. I started developing pits in my nails (they were looking like golf balls). I went to my primary doctor and he said that the blood blow was good so he wasn't sure and told me to see a dermatologist. The derm. said in her experience it was one of two things-either psoriasis or some other disease that has a symptom of hair loss. I didn't have either so she shrugged her shoulders and said I don't know what it could be then.
I started drinking more water and now I get my 8 cups a day (sometimes more-on the weekends I might consume less) and over time I noticed my nails were looking better. Now I don't have a problem with them so the problem was dehydration.
So, drink water for other reasons than to lose weight. It does a world of good to your body in other ways too.0 -
I drink almost no water. I wish I could but I just can't seem to force myself to do it.
I have approx 5 hot drinks (normally tea, occasionally a coffee) per day, and a can of coke zero about once a week.
My skin etc is not dehydrated, and I rarely feel overly thirsty.
I have plateaued (weight-loss) for 3mths without changing my calorie intake, so yes sometimes I wonder if upping my water consumption would help, but I actually don't think it's likely. I just need to convince myself to give it a try & find out one way or the other, lol!
You get water from your tea and coffee. If you've been losing weight on the same calorie goal and have plateaued it might be time to raise or lower your goal maybe. By all means try getting more water in. It's easier for me if the water is ice cold and I can drink it very quickly or add a few drops of something like Mio or crystal light to flavour it.0 -
I tried the gallon-a-day gimmick for weeks... even over twice the recommended daily amount, I saw no significant change in my daily water fluctuation. What it did do was make my stomach hurt.... so even if I saw something I'd usually really like to eat, I didn't want it. Don't like throwing up. That is the biggest benefit to hitting your water mark... if you time it right, it kills your appetite.
If having a little taste keeps me out of a bag of cookies, a calorie free soda or a cup of plain coffee doesn't seem so bad either. In some places, even the water will give you cancer.
I found chugging near room-temp water, 1quart 4x a day, worked well to get the gallon down... instead of sipping it. I could usually put down a quart in under a minute so it really is a quick fix. If you're doing 8 cups, that's easy.
If this is all for losing weight, just eat one meal a day. Have some delicious water through the rest of the day. Fun.0 -
Drinking fluid will help you keep your body hydrated.
Whether it be diet drinks (ideally caffeine and sugar free)
Will it help you lose weight, probably if you acknowledge that you may be thirsty and not hungry?
Water is probably the best thing to drink as it has no (supposedly) additives.
Work out if you are drinking enough water by the colour of your urine.
If it is dark then you are dehydrated, if it is mainly light and clear then you are good to go.0 -
soda and diet soda does contain sodium, so it also makes u feel more thirsty and crave more soda.
drink water with lemon or lime0 -
Pure genius. Try thirty days no breathing and thirty days breathing, tell me which one helped you stay above ground....everything else being equal.try thirty days no water and thirty days water tell me which one helped u lose more weight..everything else being equal:)
How about a discussion of hydration that makes sense and is scientifically backed, rather than a bunch of myth and broscience?:
http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/821181-myths-and-facts-about-hydration-requirements0 -
No and no.
Water vs. zero calorie drinks will make no difference because they're both zero calories.
People go out of their way to complicate things, read silly pop culture pseudoscientific articles written by scaremongers, believe that garbage, and spin themselves into circles of panic. Then they start focusing on silly things like water intake rather than eating less and moving more, and fail.
Just my two cents.0 -
Word.No and no.
Water vs. zero calorie drinks will make no difference because they're both zero calories.
People go out of their way to complicate things, read silly pop culture pseudoscientific articles written by scaremongers, believe that garbage, and spin themselves into circles of panic. Then they start focusing on silly things like water intake rather than eating less and moving more, and fail.
Just my two cents.0 -
Source?Break up with the diet drinks! Seriously bad for you - way too many chemicals - I could elaborate, but just dont drink it.
Great way to get your water in every day....
Drinking water at a certain time maximizes its effectiveness on the body:
2 glasses of water after waking up - helps activate internal organs
1 glass of water 30 minutes before a meal- helps digestion
1 glass of water before taking a bath - helps lower blood pressure
1 glass of water before going to bed - avoids stroke or heart attack apparently drinking water at bed time helps prevent night time leg cramps. Your leg muscles are seeking hydration when they cramp and wake you up with a Charlie Horse.
Who knew?!
And I had no idea sleeping caused organs to deactivate. Do we die every night?
Also, um, drinking a glass of water right before bed will cause you to wake up multiple times in the middle of the night to pee, which will cause you to lose sleep, which CAN interfere with certain hormones and inhibit weight loss. If you stay hydrated all day, this should not be necessary.0 -
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water has helped me shed the pounds.0
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I drink one gallon of water each day. It has changed my weight loss significantly. Sometimes I do drink Crystal Light if I want a sweet taste, but other than that, it's either water or green tea. Just give it up completely. It takes your body about two weeks to detox from soda. It was hard for me at first because I used to be obsessed with Coke Zero, but after a while, your body starts to feel better. A diet soda every now and again isn't going to keep you off track. However, if you want to lose weight, just stick with water.0
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I don't know all the science behind it but I can say drinking all 8 glasses a day plus some did me a world of good. The weight is gone and has stayed gone for two years now.
If I find myself "starving" I drink a full glass of water and normally within 15 minutes the hunger pangs go away. If they stay around I will have a little something to eat.0 -
There are still additives in those diet drinks that are not very healthy, such as the fake sugar. People recommend water because it is usually the purest way to hydrate yourself. Make sure to get a water filter if you live in the city to filter out contaminants though. Fresh brewed tea (without sugar) is an alternative.0
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