DRINKING water only- thoughts, results, recommendations

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  • MommysLittleMeatball
    MommysLittleMeatball Posts: 2,064 Member
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    Before I decided to track calories I didn't pay attention to my water intake. I knew I didn't drink anything near what the "recommended" amount was, but I just didn't care. I drank at least 1 cup of coffee a day and maybe some (sips) water or sweet tea with meals. I just liked to eat and eat a lot, so I didn't pay attention to what I was drinking.

    Now I have 1 cup of coffee (most of the time in form of a latte) a day and the rest of the day I drink water only. I try to drink the recommended amount. I have not cut off anything completely, but I prefer to eat my calories. If I want to drink alcohol I fit it into my calories. I still drink a cup of sweet tea from time to time because it's delicious and I'll never give it up. :)

    Obviously, if you are drinking more water you're going to pee more.

    I've noticed my skin seems to be in better shape. I used to get headaches some what frequently and that has stopped, I think I was often dehydrated.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,576 Member
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    If drinking only water helps you create a calorie deficit then it will help you lose weight. I can't see how unflavored water would have any greater affect on weight than any other calorie free beverage, though.
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    BFDeal wrote: »
    I love how the idea of drinking only water is somehow controversial or needs to be ran by the collective for approval. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's necessary at all to drink only water or implying that other drinks are unhealthy, etc. Simply that it's funny that it's so ingrained in our minds that things like milk, soda, coffee, tea, juices, etc are de facto requirements in our lives.

    I'm afraid that you misunderstood my post. I am someone who regularly consumes beverages that is not just water, i.e.- tea, coffee, diet soda, ALCOHOL on the weekends, as mentioned. I was simply asking if anyone has cut down to just water to aim towards a healthier lifestyle and what their results and opinions were. I apologize if you misunderstood that as promoting the idea of "water being controversial." What a boring controversy. As for running it by the collective, isn't that what we are all here for? To support (not challenge) someone’s question or inquiry when they want help?
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    moyer566 wrote: »
    you can grab a drink, it will just be water :smile:

    I'm a no water sorta girl so I commend you on this effort to drink the recommended amount of water in the form of water.

    Thank you! It will be tough! :)
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    Why is it bad that people enjoy things like milk, soda, coffee, etc.? How is it surprising that people want to know whether they HAVE to cut out these enjoyable things from their diet to be healthy/lose weight?

    OP - if you want to drink water only, then go for it! Just know that you don't have to, if you enjoy other things.

    I don't really like to drink my calories, so I drink mostly water. However, I do drink about 4 cups of coffee a day (with skim milk and Equal, so calories are minimal), the occasional diet soda (maybe one a day if I'm on a kick or have them in the house, but usually just when I'm out to eat), and unsweetened tea. I drink beer on the weekends, but I log it and keep it within my daily calorie goal.[/quote]

    I agree, it is something that I am unsure if I will even see a difference since I drank a lot of it before. I was wondering also if people have experienced some of the other benefits that I've read, clear skin, more energy etc. Thank you for your response! :)

  • saptamani
    saptamani Posts: 14 Member
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    I keep a Maßkrug from Oktoberfest at my desk at work. It holds 1 liter. I drink about 4 of them throughout the workday. It definitely helps ensure that I consume enough.

    A trick I learned on a blog is to do 10 pushups in your office every time you have to get up to go use the restroom. Since I started doing that, and with the amount of water I consume, I've been feeling much stronger in my upper body.
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    WranglerMichelle wrote: »
    I think you'll like the way you feel! Water is so essential for all of your body's functions, and it will work so much better when it's well-hydrated. I second working your way up slowly. I started out at 4 cups, and now I'm drinking somewhere in the range of 3 liters to a gallon every day, mostly based on my activity level for the day. My body craves it and I feel like garbage if I don't get enough! It also helps keep water retention down, which is a big plus, since water weight is singularly the most frustrating thing about weight loss. I'll still drink tea with a little bit of honey in it almost every day, though. And peeing a lot isn't necessarily a bad thing. Gives me a good reason to get away from my desk and stretch my legs more throughout the day.

    I still work in a treat occasionally. I don't particularly enjoy the taste of alcohol, but my husband and I still pretend with sparkling juice. And I really don't care if that makes me sound like an 8-year-old! But anyways, I'll work a serving of that into my calories/macros, or I'll get something sweet from Starbucks. Whatever I do, I always make sure I have enough room in my macros for it.

    Maybe tell your friends you're trying to replace all fluids with water, and suggest social activities that don't revolve around getting a drink? And also, one thing that helped me get my water intake up was to drink from a container that had a straw. Not sure why this helped - maybe drinking from a straw is just so much easier than constantly taking a cap off and putting it back on - but it made a big difference.

    Haha, I LOVE sparkling juice so no judgments here! Thank you for your response. I've read up on so many of the other benefits that I'm looking forward to noticing a difference. More energy will definitely help with my new weightloss endeavor. I will post about it after the 30 days! :)
  • TaurianDoll
    TaurianDoll Posts: 111 Member
    edited June 2015
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    Typically, I drink one cup of coffee or a latte with skim milk (I'm not giving these up no matter what) and then I drink 80 oz of water a day. A few days a week, I drink a glass of red wine. The bulk of what I drink is water and it's helps with digestion, my skin, and the overall function of my body.

    I try not to drink my calories. Last weekend I was sick (I had a cold) and I drank a couple of glasses of orange juice and actually hated it. I think that I will pick up some Vitamin C next time and just take that instead.

    I sometimes flavor my water with strawberries and lime, or lemon. So good! Especially when it's cold.
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    enterdanger wrote: »
    I drink 2 cups of coffee each morning and I do like my ocassional beer and wine but keep that to like one a day and mostly only on weekends. I drink about 120 oz of water a day. At first I hated it and was always looking for "flavors" to add to my water. Now it's just what I drink. I've been doing this for a year and I feel really good and my skin has never looked better.

    Thank you for your response! Thats what I was looking to hear!! I'm looking forward to seeing and feeling the results :)
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    Lounmoun wrote: »
    davert123 wrote: »
    We made it for 2.5 million years on just water so you should be ok :-)

    Just drinking water is fine but as a species we have not made it on just water for quite a long time.
    Homo sapiens have been around about 200,000 years and have been drinking beer, wine, chocolate, coffee and tea for thousands of years. Historically, there have been times and places where people did not drink water much at all.
    news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/10/1003_051003_six_drinks.html
    localhistories.org/drink.html

    :smiley:
  • Ithinkicanwinwinsulin
    Ithinkicanwinwinsulin Posts: 4 Member
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    i had to get off diet cola it gave me kidney stones, i buy cases of water, the tea isle is your best friend you can grab a clean glass jar drop in any flavor tea bagin warm water and drink away over ice after it seeps, i replaced blueberry muffins with blueberry tea, orange spice tea, ect be careful teas are diuretics , you can also put a slice of lemon or lime in your ice water too, if little kids can have sippy mugs then so can adults LOL i drag my funky summer plastic mugs with crazy straws everywhere, the cleaner your pee the happier your kidneys are
  • abanay1984
    abanay1984 Posts: 15 Member
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    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    There is no "recommended" amount of water to drink per day. Drink when you get thirsty. There are no demonstrated health benefits to drinking eight glasses of water per day.

    Typically, DevilsFan... when I was thristy, I would have gone for a tea or a diet soda... if I want to switch this to water and don't particularly like water... this might increase my urge to not drink anything and run the risk of dyhydration. Are you with me? So there is a "recommended" amount of water. In addition, I have read that drinking water improves skin, improves kidney function (I am a social drinker), gives you more energy and energizes the muscles. This is why I wanted to seek other peoples opinions, if you didn't have anything positive to add, why waste your time?
  • christiannewood0215
    christiannewood0215 Posts: 3 Member
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    I drink mostly water as well. Sometimes I add a slice of lemon or do the fresh fruit infused for extra flavor :-) soda slows me down and makes me feel kinda icky song only have one occasionally. I recommend drinking mostly water as it is what occurs naturally. Good luck!!
  • forwardmoving
    forwardmoving Posts: 96 Member
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    abanay1984 wrote: »
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    There is no "recommended" amount of water to drink per day. Drink when you get thirsty. There are no demonstrated health benefits to drinking eight glasses of water per day.

    Typically, DevilsFan... when I was thristy, I would have gone for a tea or a diet soda... if I want to switch this to water and don't particularly like water... this might increase my urge to not drink anything and run the risk of dyhydration. Are you with me? So there is a "recommended" amount of water. In addition, I have read that drinking water improves skin, improves kidney function (I am a social drinker), gives you more energy and energizes the muscles. This is why I wanted to seek other peoples opinions, if you didn't have anything positive to add, why waste your time?

    I think what he may have been trying to say is that plain water has no added hydration benefits over most other liquids such as coffee, tea, juice, soup, pop etc. Your body is capable of extracting the water you ingest no matter what comes with it.

    So basically drink what you want (within caloric goal of course).No need to make yourself drink 8 cups of plain water a day if you don't like it.
  • DevilsFan1
    DevilsFan1 Posts: 342 Member
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    abanay1984 wrote: »
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    There is no "recommended" amount of water to drink per day. Drink when you get thirsty. There are no demonstrated health benefits to drinking eight glasses of water per day.

    Typically, DevilsFan... when I was thristy, I would have gone for a tea or a diet soda... if I want to switch this to water and don't particularly like water... this might increase my urge to not drink anything and run the risk of dyhydration. Are you with me? So there is a "recommended" amount of water. In addition, I have read that drinking water improves skin, improves kidney function (I am a social drinker), gives you more energy and energizes the muscles. This is why I wanted to seek other peoples opinions, if you didn't have anything positive to add, why waste your time?

    You said you were trying to drink the recommended amount of water. My point is that there is no recommended amount. Drinking water in place of things like soda is definitely a good thing, but there is little point to trying to hit some number of glasses because someone said that was what you should do. There is no scientific data demonstrating that more water equals better kidney function so long as you are not dehydrated. Dirnk when you're thirsty and you'll be fine.
  • esaucier17
    esaucier17 Posts: 694 Member
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    I only drink water. I actually like it! Never really craved soda or juices.
  • Coolhandkid
    Coolhandkid Posts: 84 Member
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    I had a nasty Diet Coke habit and have been water only for over a month. To be honest, I thought it would make me feel better than it has. But after going through caffeine withdrawal I think I'm good not doing that any more and it has helped curb some of the carb cravings. In my experience outside of avoiding sugary drinks I don't think its all that beneficial.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
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    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    There is no "recommended" amount of water to drink per day. Drink when you get thirsty. There are no demonstrated health benefits to drinking eight glasses of water per day.


    Yes! I rarely drink plain water and have read the scientific research. I think that "recommended 8 glasses" is a bottling company myth. Drink when you are thirsty. People have been doing it that way since the beginning of time.

  • Hornsby
    Hornsby Posts: 10,322 Member
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    abanay1984 wrote: »
    DevilsFan1 wrote: »
    There is no "recommended" amount of water to drink per day. Drink when you get thirsty. There are no demonstrated health benefits to drinking eight glasses of water per day.

    Typically, DevilsFan... when I was thristy, I would have gone for a tea or a diet soda... if I want to switch this to water and don't particularly like water... this might increase my urge to not drink anything and run the risk of dyhydration. Are you with me? So there is a "recommended" amount of water. In addition, I have read that drinking water improves skin, improves kidney function (I am a social drinker), gives you more energy and energizes the muscles. This is why I wanted to seek other peoples opinions, if you didn't have anything positive to add, why waste your time?

    What's negative about his post? Just curious. What he stated is fact. Stay hydrated. That's it. You can drink 0 water and be just as healthy as someone who drinks a gallon a day.
  • senecarr
    senecarr Posts: 5,377 Member
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    If you drink coffee without adding calories to it, I'd continue doing that. The newer guidelines coming out are recommending Americans drink more coffee, as surprising as it may sound. Coffee without added calories seems to have positive health outcomes, and for most people, no negative ones for up to 3 cups.

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