Dehydration and weight loss

gin_fb33

Not sure if this is the right subforum to ask in, but it makes the most sense to me.

I've been curious about something and keep getting conflicting answers on google. Does dehydration cause dramatic weight loss? Say you only drink 4 cups of liquid/day for a week, would you lose weight because of that or would you gain because your body would be holding onto it? FYI, this isn't something I've been doing, just something I was curious about after a discussion about dehydration with a friend (apparently I've been over-hydrating because urine isn't supposed to be completely clear, who knew?)

elphie754

gin_fb33 wrote: »

Not sure if this is the right subforum to ask in, but it makes the most sense to me.

I've been curious about something and keep getting conflicting answers on google. Does dehydration cause dramatic weight loss? Say you only drink 4 cups of liquid/day for a week, would you lose weight because of that or would you gain because your body would be holding onto it? FYI, this isn't something I've been doing, just something I was curious about after a discussion about dehydration with a friend (apparently I've been over-hydrating because urine isn't supposed to be completely clear, who knew?)

Yes it can but only temporary. Think about it like this- when you are dehydrated you have less fluid in your body and thus a lower scale number. However once you rehydrate the temp weight loss will be undone.

Kalikel

Yes. It also causes mental confusion, physical problems and would eventually cause death.

You don't lose any fat and the scale jumps back up when you drink some water, but you could make the scale drop a couple digits for a short period of time.

Drink to your thirst. Unless you have some mental or physical issue, following your thirst will keep you adequately hydrated.

Geowmn52

8 cups of water per day equals more weight loss in the longrun......because you're not as hungry and your body needs it.

SergeantSausage

When I run a mid to long distance run (10 to 18 miles) I can leak out over 5 pounds of water as sweat. More on a hot July road run on black asphalt That ain't coming back until I drink it back and rehydrate.

Have I lost weight? Sure. I'm 5 pounds lighter on the scale ... but I've only lost 1/3 to 1/2 pound of actual FAT from the calories burned. I will regain the rest over the next day or two as I rehydrate.

ana3067

Well in my case when I'm dehydrated I become constipated and gassy and retain water. All of which make me bloated and heavier on the scale.

I have just gotten serious about my goal again of at minimum 16 8-oz glasses of water (not including exercise water). On like... Saturday, my pee was super yellow. Today it's almost clear, my lips are no longer re-chapping (had to exfoliate to remove dead skin, which would normally result in new chapped skin appearing the same day), I'm sure it was beneficial for me during my workout as well. Only downside is having to pee a lot. I was also getting headaches before from being dehydrated.

elphie754

Kalikel wrote: »

Yes. It also causes mental confusion, physical problems and would eventually cause death.

You don't lose any fat and the scale jumps back up when you drink some water, but you could make the scale drop a couple digits for a short period of time.

Drink to your thirst. Unless you have some mental or physical issue, following your thirst will keep you adequately hydrated.

Alarmist much? Do you know how dehydrated you would have to be to cause death?

LeslieB042812

You're likely not over-hydrating--nothing wrong with clear pee.

segacs

It does cause temporary water weight loss, like others have said. That's why models tend to use diuretics before a photo shoot, or some athletes use it before a weigh-in to make weight for their sport.

But the effects are temporary. And if you were over-hydrating, you wouldn't lose any weight by drinking less water. (By the way, unless you're drinking something crazy like 25 litres of water per day, or you have an underlying medical condition, it's highly unlikely that you're over-hydrating. Read more here.)