Water - How important to weight loss...REALLY?

MrCourter

I am fairly new to posting on message boards so I don't really know how to direct this reply to a specific person. However, I want to thank everyone for all of the quick and detailed responses. As far as water and weight-loss correlations, many seem to believe there is a definite case to be made. Others have provided some good scientific data and advice. As for my problem not knowing when to take a drink...there is actually many apps for that. The one I use is for iPhone called "waterlogged" and it has an alarm that goes off and tells me when to stop and take a drink.

jetlag

The "you need 64oz of water a day" idea is allegedly accurate, based on what we lose with perspiraiton, urination and condensation (breathing) but you get most of it from food.

If you are restricting how much you eat, then you need to drink more to compensate. Thirst and hunger are only "confused" because when you are hungry, you are usually thirsty as well.

You DO NOT NEED TO DRINK 5 LITRES OF WATER A DAY. No one does. All that drastically upping your water consumption does is make you feel full temporarily (hunger is hunger. Water will not satisfy that) and dilute, or worse, wash out, any nutrients in your body. There is no scientific evidence to the contrary that I know of. It's just yet another BS chinese whispers dieting rumour. If you need 4 pints of water, then 4 litres must be better! Seriously, think about it; what could the evolutionary advantage possibly be of requiring that much water to be healthy?

Drinking more aids weight loss only because it stops you from eating.

Just drink when you're thirsty.

SyntonicGarden

I am fairly new to posting on message boards so I don't really know how to direct this reply to a specific person. However, I want to thank everyone for all of the quick and detailed responses. As far as water and weight-loss correlations, many seem to believe there is a definite case to be made. Others have provided some good scientific data and advice. As for my problem not knowing when to take a drink...there is actually many apps for that. The one I use is for iPhone called "waterlogged" and it has an alarm that goes off and tells me when to stop and take a drink.

The application sounds like a nice find, especially if you don't get thirsty and are prone to the type of issue you stated in your initial post.

As far as directing responses, if you click "Quote" at the bottom of someone else's response, it'll bring up what they typed followed by [ /quote ] Anything before the brackets is their text and will show up in the lil grey box. You can delete some of it if it's a really lengthy post and you just want to quote a small part. You just need to keep anything in brackets [ ] ro preserve the code.

jamuk2012

Heres an article from www.fitnessfilter.co.uk:

You may be thinking… “Of course water is important” but we want you to understand how important. We understand we may be teaching you to suck eggs, but we are firm believers in the power of knowledge. If you know what something does inside you, then you will understand the importance of it to your goals. Especially concerning WEIGHT LOSS!

Water is the most important aspect for losing weight and this is why:

Drinking water with a meal may make you feel full sooner and therefore satisfied eating less.
Water helps maintain muscle tone by assisting in their ability to contract. It also lubricates your joints. Proper hydration can help to reduce muscle and joint soreness when exercising.
A healthy (weight loss) contains fibre. While fibre is normally helpful to your digestive system, without adequate fluids it can cause constipation instead of helping to eliminate it.
Burning calories creates toxins (think of a car exhaust). Water plays a vital role in flushing them out of your body.
Initial weight loss is largely due to loss of water. You need to drink enough water to avoid dehydration.
The process of burning calories requires an adequate supply of water in order to function efficiently as dehydration slows down the fat-burning process. Just because you do not „feel‟ dehydrated doesn‟t mean your drinking enough.
Dehydration causes a reduction in blood volume, this causes a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles, making you feel tired.
Your liver uses water to metabolise fat cells. If you are not consuming enough water, you can‟t burn fat.Surely it‟s easy? Just drink water. This is about you and will power. If you look at the supermarket shelves there are lots of diet drinks and alternatives. Your initial thoughts may be hmmm, I can have this. 0 sugar, 0 Calories, 0 Fat, 0 salt and „the same great taste…‟ Fizzy drinks are ACIDIC. Your body has to use water to neutralise the acid level in your stomach caused by the fizzy drink. This process takes the water from your body. If it is not replaced you become dehydrated. If you become dehydrated, you won‟t lose fat, gain muscle or feel good!
So it‟s simple. Drink water all day. At least 8 glasses every day and have a large bottle for when you exercise, drinking small sips throughout. Have a can of fizzy pop as a treat once a week. This isn‟t not about taking all your treats away; it‟s about having the will power to say “this is not good for me‟ and enjoying it more when you give yourself a treat!

donnat238

My experience - A few years ago I passed out and fell down the stairs, because I was so dehydrated and my BP dropped (according to the docs @ the ER). We had spent the weekend @ the beach and I might have had about 16 ozs of water each day, plus a grande mocha from Starbucks. Later the same year I had kidney stones and the urologist said I needed a minimum of 8 glasses a day or more. He said you need more if you live in hot climates (like Florida) because of perspiration. I do find I lose more weight when I am adequately hydrated and I feel a lot better too!

PDarrall

Not at all important, there are other sources of water other than water. That doesn't mean there are not benefits (thought the science does not support it), it is just you can lose weight quite happily without ever touching a single drop of water.

mel090170

Before giving my two cents I read what some other folks thought.
I use to HATE water. It would acutely upset my stomach. (sloshing around)
Now I love it VERY cold. Very pure. I drink it filtered through my frig and then bottles and refrigerated.
I have noticed that when I think I want something sweet, drinking water often gets rid of that craving. So I agree with the person who said instead of feeling thirsty you fee "hungry". After the scare you had I really wish you would drink at least 10 glasses of water a day. Also, the person who suggested your body may be retaining it….have you ever upped your water intake for a few days to see if it increased your need to eliminate? Regardless of weight loss, water is IMPERATIVE for good health, which I think is a big reason most of us are looking to lose the weight.
Best of luck, and bottoms up!

PDarrall

The 8 glasses of water a day myth was created by the bottled water industry. Thanks for that Danone.

NuggetLovesEdie

Just a comment about the "more must be better" thing...

Too much water can cause a condition called hyponatremia, where you have diluted the minerals in your body with so much water you don't have a high enough concentration for your nerves to conduct properly (among other things). It can be fatal if untreated.

As with everything, moderation seems to be the key. Too little water = dehydration. Too much water = hyponatremia.

iAmStarStuff27

I shoot for 1oz/lb. That's 190oz a day. I backed off a few times and the weight loss slowed. Can't say why that is but seems to be pretty important. Defiantly helps with meeting my calorie goals too cuz I don't feel so hungry,

Downside - peeing like every hour.

I find it's easy to meet that goal if I just fill a 59oz Pure Leaf tea bottle with water and tell myself "drink 3 of these today".

AwesomeGuy37

I'd like to see a proper study done on it . I've not seen, but heard there was a study that found an increase of calorie burn of the body heating down the cold water... Doesn't make sense does it? I mean, I can just drink ice tea.

jmv7117

Water is definitely needed by your body but I've never seen anyone provide scientific evidence that a certain amount of daily water intake is necessary for weight loss. I think it's a pretty well known fact that a normal, healthy person should be getting 64 ounces of water each day but a good part of the that need comes in the form of the food you eat and the other beverages you drink. Do not let anyone tell you that you MUST drink 64 ounces of plain water each day. I see that a lot in these forums but you do not.

MFP actually encourages you to drink 8 glasses of water daily with the water consumption tool on the food diary. Most folks will take this to mean plain water which they are bringing to the forums.

QuietBloom

There are actually people who never feel thirst, for whatever reason. My mother was one of them. My suggestions would be to keep water with you and track carefully how much you drink. Your body is obviously not going a very good job of keeping you hydrated, since you nearly died of heat stroke. This is going to have to be a brain thing. You know you need to drink water, so make sure you do it.

Curlysasha

Please don't regard this as an ignorant question...

I understand that water is important to health. I also understand that hydration is very important.

For years I have noticed that I am a person who never truly gets thirsty. It doesn't matter how hot it is, what the level of my activity may be, or how long it has been since I last had a drink...I NEVER get thirsty. I have spoken to doctors about this time and time again and there is no true answer to my questions.

A few years ago I suffered from heat-stroke and almost died from Rhabdomyolysis (the clogging of the kidney's filter system by break down of muscle tissues). Luckily, there was no permanent damage. Once again, I NEVER got thirsty.

The odd thing about all this is that when I do drink...I can drink and drink and drink and never need to relieve myself. Which, in turn, makes me think that I was severely dehydrated and didn't even know it. It is typical for me to drink 6 or 7 glasses of water...and never need trip to the bathroom! My wife on the other hand, makes 2 trips every meal.

The Question:

So, a friend of mine told me that if I do not drink MORE water than is needed by my body, I will NEVER be able to lose any weight. He is under the impression that the only way for the body to excrete fat cells is if there is ample water in the body. He feels that the reason that it is so hard for me to lose any weight is because I am constantly dehydrated.

I am curious if anyone has found that increasing water intake has any sort of direct correlation to weight loss?

Christopher

OK, well I don't know know the answer to this or why it happened to me but I will share my little story with you.

12 years ago I lost 89 lbs and to start with I was drinking 8 glasses of water a day, every day.

I was hungry all the time but I never cheated and I stayed on my low calorie plan to the T.

The coldness of the water sloshing about in my empty tummy often made have such pain of hunger I could honestly say they were actual 'pains' of hunger and not just thinking I was hungry, but I persevered and lost around 1 - 2 pounds a week, which as you know is the correct amount.

However, the other ladies who were doing the same diet as me (weight watchers) were similar weight to me were losing 3 - 4 pounds a week and were not drinking the water I was but were replacing it with tea coffee sugar free squash and diet coke.

I carried on with my water and still it was making me hungry and I would go to bed with the loudest grumbling in my tummy that even my husband could hear.

The next day I had had enough and said sod it I am going to drink what I want (hate water anyway) and started out my day with a nice coffee and semi skimmed milk, followed by 4 cans of diet coke throughout the day (wouldn't drink it now as I know what it contains) and numerous amounts of diet orange squash.

I was sleeping better as the groaning of my tummy wasn't keeping me awake and I generally felt better. I know that sounds crazy as water is pure for your body, but I really did feel better and my skin and hair and everything were exactly the same as when I was drinking the water.

The biggest shock was when I went for my weekly weigh in at Weight watchers, I had lost 9 pound in a week!

This followed by an average of 4 lbs a week right down until I had got to my goal weight and had lost a total of 89 lbs in just a little over 7 months.

I know there will be some out there that will be raising an eyebrow and saying either I am making it up or was starving myself and let me tell you this, if I could find my log book of my food and weight I would happily upload it here because I was on a 1400 calorie a day diet and logged everything (like I am doing now here, not a day missed) and I felt fantastic.

Unfortunately I then broke my back and had other health issues like pcos and regained it all, but I did it and did it far better and easier when I omitted the water drinking and replaced it with low calorie drinks I actually liked.

Psychological maybe , but it worked for me and I was not going to complain when I felt so well and slim.

I know this is not the answer to the question but thought I would share with you how I felt and how I still all these years later avoid plain water.

Nimroth

From a personal, anecdotal point of view I've only ever been successful in losing weight when prioritising water and drinking at the very least 1.5 litres a day.


From a scientific point of view, there have been limited studies done, and the main hypothesis seems simply to be that drinking water reduces appetite

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19661958


And that although there is some calorie burn from drinking very cold water, this is minimal

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16822824

Jennilyn79

As adults our bodies are ~70% water, so you definitely need the water. Without it, your kidneys and other organs don't function as well. What concerns me is your history of rhabdo, I think that would make it more necessary for you to drink an adequate amount of water everyday. I know it may be alarming that you aren't thirsting for water, but as long as you've been checked out by a doctor for renal, pituitary, neuro, etc problems, you should drink at least 8 cups of water a day. You may eventually notice a difference in your urine and/or stool. If you start to retain water through edema in your extremities then see a doctor. I have noticed a difference in my hunger and how my skin looks, in addition to weight loss when I drink an adequate amount.

stephyy4632

great question and love some of the information given (mostly posting so I can keep fallowing this) personally I drink 8-10cups per day if for some reason I`m under 8 I don`t feel right so I try to get at least the 8cups in

glassyo

I don't know about anyone else and I'm not saying don't drink water because it *is* good for you but when I was losing weight on Weight Watchers I never drank water. Seriously. I had one or two diet sodas a day for liquids and that was it. I was also eating fast food (not salads but sandwiches) and frozen dinners both in the same day so my sodium probably averaged around 3000-4000 a day.

Which I guess is probably why I didn't retain water.

MarleyExodus

Bump.

Would be curious to see more responses. I drink about a gallon of water a day.

I pee at least once an hour.

hiyomi

I have no clue, but I looooooove drinking water. I'm far from any health freak, 266 pounds with exercise and "dieting", but I love having ice cold water with meals....and with anything really.......I'm not on topic lol.....sorry