You're eating healthier, thats awesome!

jeccawest91

BUT, don't forget to drink water! Water is so essential and more and more I'm seeing people's diaries with 4, 2, and even 0 cups of water! Take your body weight and divide it in half. That number should be the amount of ounces that you should be drinking a day. At least 9 cups! And if you're exercising, you should drink more. This is so important to your body!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

_John_

I don't track my water.

Holly_Roman_Empire

^^^I don't either. I just drink when I'm thirsty.

thavoice

I don't track my water.

Neither do i.

BUt I dont have a problem with drinking enough.

It can be healthy for those out there who, for whatever reasons I cannot understand, just dont drink much water at all.

Francl27

Ain't nobody got time to track water! Seriously... I know I drink enough, no need to make life more complicated.

Ely82010

Ain't nobody got time to track water! Seriously... I know I drink enough, no need to make life more complicated.

Agree!

Muddy_Yogi

leefuuxx

I definitely track my water. I at least, at the minimum, try to drink two bottles a day, if not more. :C I don't enjoy drinking water all that much unless I'm thirsty, but I do it anyways, knowing it'll help my body. C:

ashleyisgreat

FYI, those guidelines include water in your food and other beverages.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/eight-glasses-water-per-day/

sullus

BUT, don't forget to drink water! Water is so essential and more and more I'm seeing people's diaries with 4, 2, and even 0 cups of water! Take your body weight and divide it in half. That number should be the amount of ounces that you should be drinking a day. At least 9 cups! And if you're exercising, you should drink more. This is so important to your body!

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256

Drinking 4 cups of water daily is more than sufficient.

Unknown

This content has been removed.

ashleyisgreat

I don't think water is that important.

that doesn't mean it's not important, I just don't think it's that big of a deal. Drink when thirsty. I go by my pee. If my pee is yellow, I drink. When it's white, I'm good. This generally works pretty well and seems to be a pretty well accepted way of determining thirst, as well as just feeling thirsty. But, people drink way too much water, IMO. Way, way, way too much. The 8 glasses a day thing is a joke. You know that some dude just made that up. There was no study or anything to back it up. He just said it, and then later admitted that it was just made up and is probably too high, but it wont hurt either, so it's stuck ever since.

Yep. And the new guidelines, which estimate that an average-sized woman needs 91 ounces and an average-sized man needs about 125 ounces, include all fluids--meaning, your water, coffee, food, etc. all count toward that total. The unrelenting emphasis on drinking a specific number of ounces of water per day is misinformed and annoying. Shows up almost every day on MFP.

k_nicole87

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/drinking-enough-water-topic-overview

I monitor my pee color.

sullus

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/drinking-enough-water-topic-overview

I monitor my pee color.

This isn't always accurate. You can be well hydrated and have fairly dark urine. For example if you are the type to take a megadose of vitamin c when you feel a cold coming on - you may be well-hydrated, but peeing technicolor.

ButYouGotMySoul

I drink tea, and log that. I don't log water, because if I were to log it each time, I'd never be off my phone!!

Unknown

This content has been removed.

zeal26

Meh. Sometimes I drink a LOT and can't get enough liquid into me (I don't count just plain water as hydration) and other days I get to the end of the day and realize I've only had a few glasses and didn't even realize it.

And often I completely forget to log my water intake in my diary.

gmallan

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/drinking-enough-water-topic-overview

I monitor my pee color.

This isn't always accurate. You can be well hydrated and have fairly dark urine. For example if you are the type to take a megadose of vitamin c when you feel a cold coming on - you may be well-hydrated, but peeing technicolor.

This is true. Nothing is 100%. But, for the most part, pee color is a good indicator. You should be smart enough to know when there are anomalies with it.

I agree that this approach is best and for the record pee should be light yellow (straw coloured NOT clear). If you drink too much water than you dilute the salts in the body (magnesium, sodium, potassium) that are essential for normal celluar functioning. Also, yes if you take certain vitimins it will cahnge the colour of your pee (I've noticed this personally with magnesium) so just get used to the amount that it takes to fully hydrate and don't panic if you observe this effect

jeccawest91

I disagree here, I feel like water is super essential. You can survive 2 weeks without food but you can only survive 3 DAYS without water. and besides, most of the time when you think you're hungry, really your body is just needing water. I think some of you are not giving good old H2O the proper credit it deserves. I have the Brita water bottle and it hold approx 22oz of water. The only thing I do is count how many times I fill it up and do some simple math. The I can log my water. And if you thinkw ater is not as important, why would MFP have it on there?? AND aiming towards 8/9 eight oz glasses a day?

JoRocka

http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/drinking-enough-water-topic-overview

I monitor my pee color.

This isn't always accurate. You can be well hydrated and have fairly dark urine. For example if you are the type to take a megadose of vitamin c when you feel a cold coming on - you may be well-hydrated, but peeing technicolor.

This is true. Nothing is 100%. But, for the most part, pee color is a good indicator. You should be smart enough to know when there are anomalies with it.

it's generally a better indicator than thirst.

Typically when you are legitimately thirsty- you're already dehydrated.

(which is a none linear- exponential bit- which is why it's so dangerous)

redversustheblue

I disagree here, I feel like water is super essential. You can survive 2 weeks without food but you can only survive 3 DAYS without water. and besides, most of the time when you think you're hungry, really your body is just needing water. I think some of you are not giving good old H2O the proper credit it deserves. I have the Brita water bottle and it hold approx 22oz of water. The only thing I do is count how many times I fill it up and do some simple math. The I can log my water. And if you thinkw ater is not as important, why would MFP have it on there?? AND aiming towards 8/9 eight oz glasses a day?

Yes, but you get water out of food and other types of drinks too, not just plain H20. The 8 glasses a day thing was just made up and it became a common misconception that everyone needs that. People should just go with how they feel.

Which is why, for me personally, I do drink a ton of water, I feel better. On days when I drink only water I probably drink a gallon. I even drink just water first thing in the morning and it wakes me up better than coffee ever has. However, this is what works for me, not everyone has or wants to drink that much.

snowbunnyA

And if you thinkw ater is not as important, why would MFP have it on there?? AND aiming towards 8/9 eight oz glasses a day?

Because, as useful a tool as MFP is, it's not exactly cutting-edge, is it? Just take the fact that you can't set the number of grams you want for your macros, simply a percentage. Outdated at best. Yes, I can do the maths, but when I change my goals, I have to do it all again. I should be able to set individual gram amounts for each. Additionally, a huge percentage of the data within MFP is incorrect. Don't take MFP as gospel.

Yes, I track my water, but more out of habit than anything else. I, also, go on the colour of my pee to let me know if things a tickety-boo.

paperpudding

I disagree here, I feel like water is super essential. You can survive 2 weeks without food but you can only survive 3 DAYS without water. and besides, most of the time when you think you're hungry, really your body is just needing water. I think some of you are not giving good old H2O the proper credit it deserves. I have the Brita water bottle and it hold approx 22oz of water. The only thing I do is count how many times I fill it up and do some simple math. The I can log my water. And if you thinkw ater is not as important, why would MFP have it on there?? AND aiming towards 8/9 eight oz glasses a day?

I don't track water. It makes no difference to my daily calorie total so cant see the point.

But ,sure,I try to drink a decent amount, just can't be bothered recording it.

MFP has many useful features but that doesn't mean everyone has to use all of them, just like some people might use the recipe builder and others don't.

The point about only being able to go 3 days without water is really irrelevant - by water they mean fluid, obviously many people survive years without drinking plain water at all. And anyway, nobody on MFP is going to die of dehydration, are they?

Ely82010

Some people posting on the various threads have said that uptaking H2O intake caused them to notice the pounds going down on the scale on a weekly basis. Before that, they weren't drinking much water, weren't tracking water and weren't seeing much weight loss.

Maybe it's an individual thing, but if it's helpful to anyone who isn't see the scale moving to their satisfaction, perhaps try more water, track it and see what happens.

Lately I've been drinking 6 to 8 glasses of H2O and tracking it. I just figure, better to be on the safe side and use all the suggested tools because I have more than 100 lbs. to lose. And I'm starting to like it too. Don't know why but it does feel good to drink all the water.

They lost weight because they ate less, not because they drank more water. They were probably confusing thirst with hunger. Just saying.

FlaxMilk

I don't think there's a reason to track liquids unless they have calories or you have a medical reason to do so (including dehydration indicators like fatigue.)

forkofpower

Most people (without medical condition) will get enough water just by drinking when they feel like it. I don't aim for a specific amount. I don't find it necessary to track water, and it's really difficult to do so anyway, because you don't know how much water you're getting from the foods you eat.

If you're really worried about water, just look at your urine. As long as it's clear and straw-colored, then you're getting enough water.

paperpudding

Some people posting on the various threads have said that uptaking H2O intake caused them to notice the pounds going down on the scale on a weekly basis. Before that, they weren't drinking much water, weren't tracking water and weren't seeing much weight loss.

Maybe it's an individual thing, but if it's helpful to anyone who isn't see the scale moving to their satisfaction, perhaps try more water, track it and see what happens.

Lately I've been drinking 6 to 8 glasses of H2O and tracking it. I just figure, better to be on the safe side and use all the suggested tools because I have more than 100 lbs. to lose. And I'm starting to like it too. Don't know why but it does feel good to drink all the water.

They lost weight because they ate less, not because they drank more water. They were probably confusing thirst with hunger. Just saying.

yes, or they started drinking water instead of other fluids with high calorie counts - by drinking water instead of, say, coke, one would reduce one's calorie intake without changing any food intake.

Ely82010

Some people posting on the various threads have said that uptaking H2O intake caused them to notice the pounds going down on the scale on a weekly basis. Before that, they weren't drinking much water, weren't tracking water and weren't seeing much weight loss.

Maybe it's an individual thing, but if it's helpful to anyone who isn't see the scale moving to their satisfaction, perhaps try more water, track it and see what happens.

Lately I've been drinking 6 to 8 glasses of H2O and tracking it. I just figure, better to be on the safe side and use all the suggested tools because I have more than 100 lbs. to lose. And I'm starting to like it too. Don't know why but it does feel good to drink all the water.

They lost weight because they ate less, not because they drank more water. They were probably confusing thirst with hunger. Just saying.

yes, or they started drinking water instead of other fluids with high calorie counts - by drinking water instead of, say, coke, one would reduce one's calorie intake without changing any food intake.

Right on!