Is 8 cups of water a day really needed?

ysfitness

Hello, I'm curious if 8 cups of water a day is really what body needs? I barely can drink 2 or 3 cups of water a day, but drinking a 4-5 cups of black tea per day. Should I cut on tea and drink more water? Any suggestions?

maaalloryy

Yes! Water is the most important thing! Tea is good too. But if you only have 2 cups of black tea per day, & 4-5 cups of water, you'll be in much better shape.

LWatson43

ysfitness if you increase your water intake you will notice more of a weight loss, you did not say if you were drinking sweet or unsweetened tea and if you are drinking sweeten you are drinking a lot of empty calories

maggieschuck

You do really need the water to help flush out the salt and other bad stuff. Your urine should be almost clear. For every caffeine drink you have you need to drink equal amounts of water to counter act it. Looks like you need to find a way to intake more water.
Get a water bottle that is around 32oz. just remember to fill it up twice in a day. Once you get used to drinking that much water you'll start to crave it. On another note you need to have plenty of water to make up for what you loose during your exercise routine. You do not want to get dehydrated. The water will help you so you don't get muscle craps or swelling.

HealthyishWithMaggieG

I don't know the science of it, but I know for my body to function at it's peak potential, I need more than 8 cups of water a day. But, water is usually the only thing I drink. Ten cups is my ideal amount. Sometimes, I will have a soda, juice or milk, but water's my go-to drink.

It's funny... before using MFP, I didn't keep track of how much water I was drinking in a day. Once I started using MFP, I tried to stick with the 8 cups. I found I was still thirsty and my hands were really dry. Once I upped my water consumption, I felt better. I think I was drinking more water before I started keeping track of it. Weird.

gtfosnorlax

I read somewhere that 8 cups actually isn't needed, but water really does do the body good. When I first started this thing I thought 8 cups would drown me, but now I drink about 2 liters a day, sometimes even more! I noticed my skin clearing up and feeling a lot softer, too. I use a 1L SmartWater bottle to keep track of how much I drink, maybe you could try that out if you want.
Also, I try to drink a cup about every hour, that seems to help a lot. Lol, and I know this is a little weird but I love drinking water while I take a shower. It feels really good for some reason. o_o Good luck!

fitzie63

Dieting is rough on some body systems. You can get dehydrated very quickly and that can become a medical emergency.

If you really LOVE YOUR KIDNEYS and you do not want to lose them forever (and end up on hemo-dialysis until you die a painful, needless, early death~~~drink the water.

If you dislike the taste, stock up on the various flavors of Crystal Light drink mixes.

Add me as a friend if you wish.

fitzie63

Additional note: caffeinated drinks increase the dehydration (so does beer of any kind). Tea (ice tea and ice coffee) contain caffeine. Those phoney-baloney "energy" drinks are often triple-loaded with caffeine. Caffeine causes the heart to over-tack itself...places too much of a workload.

Try going to your bathroom. Stand by the toilet and try to flush it 10 tens consecutively. You will easily see it does not function well because it had no time to refill itself. Simply put, that's what happens when the heart is forced to race caused by drugs, like a caffeine overdose.

HealthyishWithMaggieG

If you really LOVE YOUR KIDNEYS and you do not want to lose them forever (and end up on hemo-dialysis until you die a painful, needless, early death~~~drink the water.

Love it! :happy:

menchi

Depending on what else you eat, you do get some water from just food too and the 8 cups of water isn't an absolute rule. However, plenty of water isn't bad for you. True it is possible to drink too much water, but you have to try really really :huh: really hard to do it. That said, some things I do to get myself to drink the water. Put a little flavoring in the water such as lemon, juice, peppermint extract, light tea flavors (the kind you get by brewing the same teabag/leafs more than 4-5 times), or caffeine free herbal teas. Make my food such as oatmeal or pasta a little more watery. Sometimes I convert my pasta into tomato noodle soup by adding more tomatoes, milk and water, and having less pasta. Get myself a pretty water bottle that I want to use and show off :bigsmile: ... I sip more and it makes me want to walk to the water fountain to fill up the bottle. I keep one at the gym too so I go through the act of filling it up before my workout and make sure I drink it all before I leave b/c old water in my gym locker is :noway:. Mostly it's know yourself and knowing how to convince yourself to do things once you realize it is probably good for you. Hope the tips help and good luck!

fevre

I wrote an essay for a nutrition class about hydration recently, and my research showed a lot of articles saying that the 8 cups was an exaggerated number and you didn't NEED that much - however, my own personal experience shows that even if you don't NEED the 8 cups, it does a ton of good! I used to work at a drink stand and would keep a 32oz cup of water with me at all times and take a sip whenever I had nothing else to do - I easily got my 8 cups in every day and pretty soon it didn't feel like I was forcing myself, it just felt refreshing! The most obvious thing I noticed was that my skin cleared up COMPLETELY!

I find it easier to drink more water when it's ice cold, and I've heard it helps some people if they drink it through a straw. Also, make sure to drink it throughout the day instead of all at once, or it'll be harder on your kidneys (and you'll probably feel sick)

eggtart

ya, there is a must for you to drink more than 8 glassess of plain water per day...
maintain drink the plain water more than 2000cc if u can..i'm also trying to do tis target everyday, its also very hard for me to do it..
if i drink more than 2000cc i will run to toilet every 15minutes, it make me very frustrated...
avoid drink sweet drinks..if u dun like drink the plain water u can try add some lime in your plain water to make it more tasty..
water is important to flush out all the waste and extra cholesterol from our body, carry all the vitamin to our body cells, it can also prevent us from constipation,its also very important to maintain our skin turgor during slim down period...
maybe u can try drink 700cc before lunch, 00cc before dinner, 400cc after dinner...increasing it slowly..
do not drink too much water at night because it burden to our kidney..our kidney's function is slow down at night
do not drink too much of caffeine and tea per day coz it can cause calcium lost in our body but one day 1cup of tea and caffee is ok..

rebecky27

If you aren't getting enough water, your kidneys will turn to your liver for help. This then takes away from you fat-burning ability and slows your metabolism down. I know this, and I still struggle to get the water in, I often gag on it trying to force it down.

Tea and coffee (even decaffinated) have caffine, which will dehydrate you too. What I found helps me is the little flavor packets from Crystal light or even the Great Value brand (some flavors, I like better in GV).

The water consumption is harder for me than cutting back on calories and eating healthy!

maggieschuck

Its so true. Your kidneys need the water. When I was prego with my son I was really sick during the whole pregnancy. I know have 3 kidney stones on each side because I got dehydrated too may time. Plus my nutrition was poor during the pregnancy. Its not worth the pain. Kidney infections and kidney stones are the worst pain I have ever felt and I have had 2 c-sections. Find a way to drink the water.

ysfitness

Thank you very much for your comments and support. I will try to have only two cups a tea per day and 8 cups of water per day. Just finished second 16.9oz bottle ... 2 more to go...