Water, Shouldn't We Be Consistant?
DittoDan
Posts: 1,850 Member
I was thinking, since one cup of water is 8 fluid ounces. A fluid ounce of water weighs 1.043 dry ounces. So one cup of water will move your scale: 8.344 ounces or a little over 1/2 pound. Or two cups is about 1 pound and 1 ounce.
So if a person drinks varying amounts of cups/water day-to-day, their weight may fluctuate day-to-day and possibly mask or enhance their weight loss.
That's IF they weigh every day. If you weigh once a week, and you fluctuate from day to day, that should average it out somewhat.
Now, I realize that you will pee more if you drink more. Or maybe not. What if you have a bad carb day and you drink more water that day? I'm thinking you may retain more of the water due to the carbs.
Then there is the timing of drinking water. I suspect if you drink 4 cups of water at bedtime, (2.2 lbs of water), you could have a bad weigh-in, in the morning (I assume that most people weigh in the morn). Or maybe you will piss it away...? Or you wake up early and drink water a couple hours before you weigh in, you wouldn't have time to pee it out. So, it would seem that in relation to when you weigh yourself, timing could make a difference.
Anyway, would you agree that a person should drink a consistent amount of cups everyday? And try not to drink too much before bedtime, especially if the next day is your weigh in?
I hope this helps,
Dan the Man from Michigan
So if a person drinks varying amounts of cups/water day-to-day, their weight may fluctuate day-to-day and possibly mask or enhance their weight loss.
That's IF they weigh every day. If you weigh once a week, and you fluctuate from day to day, that should average it out somewhat.
Now, I realize that you will pee more if you drink more. Or maybe not. What if you have a bad carb day and you drink more water that day? I'm thinking you may retain more of the water due to the carbs.
Then there is the timing of drinking water. I suspect if you drink 4 cups of water at bedtime, (2.2 lbs of water), you could have a bad weigh-in, in the morning (I assume that most people weigh in the morn). Or maybe you will piss it away...? Or you wake up early and drink water a couple hours before you weigh in, you wouldn't have time to pee it out. So, it would seem that in relation to when you weigh yourself, timing could make a difference.
Anyway, would you agree that a person should drink a consistent amount of cups everyday? And try not to drink too much before bedtime, especially if the next day is your weigh in?
I hope this helps,
Dan the Man from Michigan
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You do take this seriously! What you say makes sense and may, in fact, explain some fluctuations in weight that I could not explain but it's too much trouble to keep track of when I drink. IMO it's always better to drink more, even if it's going to mess the scale. It'll even out next day/week. As long as the numbers are going down from one month to the next, I'm happy.
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You can't really control the amount of water you retain or don't retain. Excess water will be removed as necessary (breathing, sweating, peeing, poop, tears, spit, etc.) and you can't really stop your body from maintaining a correct balance. The only thing you can do is deprive yourself of an adequate amount of water and force yourself into a dehydrated state.
If you eat carbs, (or other foods that cause you to retain some water) you will retain the same amount of water if you drink 5 cups of 10 cups. You'll just pee less, as you already know.
The best way to "control" for the water weight fluctuations is daily weighing and then using a moving average or a trend-line to see beyond the noise. It is impossible to control the variables to a fine-enough degree that they won't be the largest contributing factor to any daily weight.0 -
Just like everything else I've been doing lately, I try to listen to my body. If I'm thirsty, I drink. But if not, I'm not going to force it down.0
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I think the most likely instance of drinking affecting your weight directly is of you drink several glasses then get immediately on the scale. If you have a routine...get up, pee, weigh, in general what you drink is fairly irrelevant, IMO.0
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SteveKroll wrote: »Just like everything else I've been doing lately, I try to listen to my body. If I'm thirsty, I drink. But if not, I'm not going to force it down.
Agreed, although I'm a pretty thirsty person overall, which for me, I think has to do with my glucose fluctuations. I can tell when i'm dehydrated....its hard to get blood out of my fingers!0 -
You can't really control the amount of water you retain or don't retain. Excess water will be removed as necessary (breathing, sweating, peeing, poop, tears, spit, etc.) and you can't really stop your body from maintaining a correct balance. The only thing you can do is deprive yourself of an adequate amount of water and force yourself into a dehydrated state.
If you eat carbs, (or other foods that cause you to retain some water) you will retain the same amount of water if you drink 5 cups of 10 cups. You'll just pee less, as you already know.
The best way to "control" for the water weight fluctuations is daily weighing and then using a moving average or a trend-line to see beyond the noise. It is impossible to control the variables to a fine-enough degree that they won't be the largest contributing factor to any daily weight.
Hmmmm....let me try another angle. Lets say you were going to weigh yourself in the morning. I hand you a plastic baggie with 1 lbs of water before you step on the scale. Will you weigh 1 lb more than normal?
What would be the difference if you drank it? Your body won't have time to breath-it-out, sweat it out, pee it out, poop it out, cry it out, or spit it out. And you'll still weigh a pound more than if you didn't drink it before weigh-in.
Just curious....
Dan the Man from Michigan
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This is why I always weigh in the morning, after I pee, before I eat or drink -anything-, bare assed naked. If I'm lucky, I poop beforehand too, lol.0
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What about mineral water ? Anyone know the effects of ? I heard a tumour or perhaps it's an urban myth that mineral water will make u retain fluid . I drink it as a treat now n then . It's REALLY hot here at the moment , like as in " I want to pass out ! " kind of hot .0
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embersdream wrote: »What about mineral water ? Anyone know the effects of ? I heard a tumour or perhaps it's an urban myth that mineral water will make u retain fluid . I drink it as a treat now n then . It's REALLY hot here at the moment , like as in " I want to pass out ! " kind of hot .
Hi ember,
I was bouncing around one time months ago and found those conspiracy people too. It's the, "drink-only-distilled-water" crowd. LOL! Since I am 57 years old, I have seen/heard so many different studies that prove one food is bad/good for you. I usually don't put my trust in them because a lot of it funded by interested groups (that gain by the directed results) or I don't trust them because the human body was designed so well that it can adapt to what garbage we throw at it.
Dan the Man from Michigan0 -
Overthinking it man.
Drink lots of water. Weigh no more frequently than weekly, and do it at consistent times.
Watch for average trends over time.
You're not a fighter looking to cut weight for a bout.0 -
Totally agree with kirkor and sbom1 that as long as your (water) drinking habits remain consistent, your weight fluctuations cannot be chaulked up to when you drink it.
That being said, on the dates when I plan to weigh and record, I do cut back my water consumption the evening before (otherwise I drink several glasses before bed and also wake up in the middle of the night and drink another!).0 -
Totally agree with kirkor and sbom1 that as long as your (water) drinking habits remain consistent, your weight fluctuations cannot be chaulked up to when you drink it.
That being said, on the dates when I plan to weigh and record, I do cut back my water consumption the evening before (otherwise I drink several glasses before bed and also wake up in the middle of the night and drink another!).
Yup, you agree with me too. That's what the title of my post is, "Consistency". Thanks for the affirmation.
Dan the Man from Michigan
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You can't really control the amount of water you retain or don't retain. Excess water will be removed as necessary (breathing, sweating, peeing, poop, tears, spit, etc.) and you can't really stop your body from maintaining a correct balance. The only thing you can do is deprive yourself of an adequate amount of water and force yourself into a dehydrated state.
If you eat carbs, (or other foods that cause you to retain some water) you will retain the same amount of water if you drink 5 cups of 10 cups. You'll just pee less, as you already know.
The best way to "control" for the water weight fluctuations is daily weighing and then using a moving average or a trend-line to see beyond the noise. It is impossible to control the variables to a fine-enough degree that they won't be the largest contributing factor to any daily weight.
Hmmmm....let me try another angle. Lets say you were going to weigh yourself in the morning. I hand you a plastic baggie with 1 lbs of water before you step on the scale. Will you weigh 1 lb more than normal?
What would be the difference if you drank it? Your body won't have time to breath-it-out, sweat it out, pee it out, poop it out, cry it out, or spit it out. And you'll still weigh a pound more than if you didn't drink it before weigh-in.
Just curious....
Dan the Man from Michigan
But, I don't drink water before my weigh ins. That would make for a silly amount of variance. Not drinking before my weigh-ins does not remove the variance, but drinking right before them would just add extra weight. After my morning weigh in, I drink as much or as little fluids as I desire. I make no attempt to keep my intake consistent.0 -
nicsflyingcircus wrote: »This is why I always weigh in the morning, after I pee, before I eat or drink -anything-, bare assed naked. If I'm lucky, I poop beforehand too, lol.
lol Yeah basically this. I TRY not to overthink it.
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I weigh in every Sunday, as soon as I get up. Strip down naked, pee, weigh.
Unless there is a competition. A few weeks ago I drank a gallon of water before our initial weigh in for a work competition.0 -
Then there is the timing of drinking water. I suspect if you drink 4 cups of water at bedtime, (2.2 lbs of water), you could have a bad weigh-in, in the morning (I assume that most people weigh in the morn). Or maybe you will piss it away...? Or you wake up early and drink water a couple hours before you weigh in, you wouldn't have time to pee it out. So, it would seem that in relation to when you weigh yourself, timing could make a difference.
Anyway, would you agree that a person should drink a consistent amount of cups everyday? And try not to drink too much before bedtime, especially if the next day is your weigh in?
@DittoDan The only part that concerns me about this is something I've heard recently about stroke prevention. I don't know how much that applies in this particular group, but the articles showed that in more patients, knowingly at risk and otherwise, that most strokes happened overnight. So as such, they watch all patterns. Older or less healthy patients didn't want to have to get up at night to pee as much, so they stopped drinking water at night, heightening the risks and occurrences of stroke. So now, they recommend having one 8 oz cup/glass/bottle of water immediately prior to bed, and two upon waking "before doing anything else" as it is said to revitalize your organs and prompt them to start full function again with or without food. For those of us weighing in, that bottle of water would come after the wake, pee, poop if lucky, strip, weigh routine, but I find that I wake up more fully faster if I do this.
Otherwise I agree with the above consensus.0 -
KnitOrMiss wrote: »Then there is the timing of drinking water. I suspect if you drink 4 cups of water at bedtime, (2.2 lbs of water), you could have a bad weigh-in, in the morning (I assume that most people weigh in the morn). Or maybe you will piss it away...? Or you wake up early and drink water a couple hours before you weigh in, you wouldn't have time to pee it out. So, it would seem that in relation to when you weigh yourself, timing could make a difference.
Anyway, would you agree that a person should drink a consistent amount of cups everyday? And try not to drink too much before bedtime, especially if the next day is your weigh in?
@DittoDan The only part that concerns me about this is something I've heard recently about stroke prevention. I don't know how much that applies in this particular group, but the articles showed that in more patients, knowingly at risk and otherwise, that most strokes happened overnight. So as such, they watch all patterns. Older or less healthy patients didn't want to have to get up at night to pee as much, so they stopped drinking water at night, heightening the risks and occurrences of stroke. So now, they recommend having one 8 oz cup/glass/bottle of water immediately prior to bed, and two upon waking "before doing anything else" as it is said to revitalize your organs and prompt them to start full function again with or without food. For those of us weighing in, that bottle of water would come after the wake, pee, poop if lucky, strip, weigh routine, but I find that I wake up more fully faster if I do this.
Otherwise I agree with the above consensus.
I usually drink a minimum of one cup at bedtime. If I don't, I get really thirsty, especially in cold dry winter months like now.
Dan the Man from Michigan
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