Coffee as water?
phoebe2488
Posts: 106 Member
I have not been counting the coffee I drink in the morning as part of my daily intake. Should I and if so, do I count it all? I usually drink 2 cups a day. Should I count 2 cups as 2 cups of water? Thanks!
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Replies
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No... coffee is coffee. water is water...
Plus coffee dehydrates you (I have heard) . so it definately cant count.0 -
No. I wouldn't count it. Coffee is a diuretic, so it causes to you to flush fluid out of your system because of the caffeine. So continue not to count it.0
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you count it as coffee well i do anyway. i log every drink i have tea juice coffee i find it helps x0
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Do you drink it black?0
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Don't count it as water. It's a diuretic. Search Coffee and it will bring up a coffee entry for you. It's not terrible significant, but if you want to count it than do so. The only thing I could imagine it affecting is your calories if you put cream and sugar in it.0
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From what I understand, anything with caffeine in it doesn't count as water.0
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Coffee has calories. What I've done for myself is created a separate category of "beverages" to account for everything I drink during the day that is *not* water.0
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No- count it as coffee. I've been told only count water as water. No juice, no tea, etc.0
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I wouldn't count it as water... but I would definetly count it for calorie intake (plus the calories from any creamer or sugar added). I think that the only fluid that should be counted as water is H2O.
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I have a special container for my water to count and dont count any other drinks as my water. Maybe I could but I choose not to.0
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Definitely put it in your log, but not as water. Like the other people said, caffeine is a natural diuretic (it's actually the main ingredient in some OTC water-weight loss pills such as Diurex). Plus 8 oz. of BLACK coffee has about 2.2 calories. If you drank more than you do, this could really add up. If you put cream and/or sugar in it, you absolutely should put it in your log.
Every little morsel counts!
Good luck!
-Victoria0 -
No, don't count it as water. Log it in your diary though, black coffee has 2.5 calories per cup.0
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I don't count mine as water either but if your drinking it black and decaffeinated you can.0
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My doctor and my nutritionist both say it counts toward my daily fluid intake. As long as you do not add sugar and very little creamer, they say artifical sweetener is okay. I trust them completely because everything they have told me has proven to be true.
But, they did tell me to limit it to no more than 2-8 oz cups a day and try to cut back to one because caffeine suppresses the adrenal glands. Basically, caffeine is fake adrenaline and stops the natural production. Adrenaline is something we need to give us that get up and go feeling.0 -
I don't count coffee as water intake and have also made a separate column for beverages with calories etc. I do know however that Weight Watchers allows you to count it as water/fluid intake. What is the logic behind that?0
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I actually read that for every oz of coffee you drink you have to drink the same amount of water on top of the 32oz. you are suppose to drink each day!0
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I add anything that is liquid as my base "water" intake... milk, soup, coffee, tea, and so on. I used the water consumption as a tracker for how much liquid my body is getting for the day. What I don't add, but probably could, are high liquid fruit and melons. But regardless of what I log in, I'm focused less on reaching a number for water and base everything on my overall thirst. If at the end of the day I still feel thirsty, I chug 8 oz or so before bedtime.0
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Yes, you can count black coffee, unsweetened tea, and other similar beverages as "water." It doesn't matter at all that it has calories. My nutritionist and doctor both told me you can count any liquid that hasn't been significantly altered, and the only difference between black coffee and water is that it the water is heated and strained through ground coffee beans first.0
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Do a search for coffee and log it with the closest meal (its about 5 cal per cup- black). I add sugar free creamer so its calories I like to keep track of. Just keep in mind to counter act your coffee with equal amounts of water. If you drink 2 cups of coffee then drink 2 extra cups of water. All milk, juice, soda and alcohol gets added to your meals.0
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i wouldn't count it.
caffeine can dehydrate you0 -
No... coffee is coffee. water is water...
^^^^^^^^Exactly0 -
Not water, but is countable as daily fluid intake. Water is still the best, but not the only.
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN016610 -
Regarding the whole "Caffeine is a diuretic" thing - while this is true to a certain extent, it's not like one cup of coffee causes you to lose more water than what you just drank in the coffee. In reality, caffeine only has a diuretic effect if you drink more than 500-600 mg of it in a day. This is more than just a few cups of coffee. (It's about 4-7 cups, depending on the type of coffee.) Tea has even less caffeine than coffee and you'd have to drink quite a bit of tea to hit that threshhold. While I wholeheartedly agree that drinking adequate water is important (I've been known to drink 20 cups in a day), the fact is that water does *not* have to come just from plain water. You get water from almost any beverage you drink, from fruits and vegetables and foods like yogurt. Assuming you keep caffeine at reasonable levels, there's no reason to not count caffeinated beverages as water - just make sure you log the calories if they've got calories!
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN016610 -
I count my coffee as water. Tea as well.I have not been counting the coffee I drink in the morning as part of my daily intake. Should I and if so, do I count it all? I usually drink 2 cups a day. Should I count 2 cups as 2 cups of water? Thanks!
Though I have a variety of reasons for this, the main driver was this article (and others that I can't cite at the moment)
http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/283/5/R993.full
From the Abstract:
"Despite the seemingly ubiquitous admonition to “drink at least eight 8-oz glasses of water a day” (with an accompanying reminder that beverages containing caffeine and alcohol do not count), rigorous proof for this counsel appears to be lacking."
and
"This review sought to find the origin of this advice (called “8 × 8” for short) and to examine the scientific evidence, if any, that might support it. The search included not only electronic modes but also a cursory examination of the older literature that is not covered in electronic databases and, most importantly and fruitfully, extensive consultation with several nutritionists who specialize in the field of thirst and drinking fluids. No scientific studies were found in support of 8 × 8. "
The author concludes:
"Having found no evidence in support of 8 × 8 has placed me in the awkward position of having to prove a negative. It is conceivable that a further search will unearth work that disproves my conclusion, in support of which I have cited peer-reviewed publications. I hope, therefore, that anyone who knows of contrary scientific evidence will bring it to my attention. "
The author is on the staff at Dartmouth and, IIRC, has written a book on "nehprology" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrology)
It's a thoughtful, carefully written, dogma-free article that includes 100 footnotes as well as links to other articles.
I don't know if he touches on the issue of caffeine being a diuretic (i haven't read the article in some time). If not, I'll share my understanding from doing some research. The amount of coffee that one ingests from coffee (a few cups a day) has a slight diuretic effect. After consuming coffee for about a week, there is no significant diuretic effect. That comports with the idea of the body working to bring about "stasis" - keeping things in balance.
My diet is unusual - I eat a lot of salad so my body gets a lot of water there but I pretty much only drink water in the evening or when I'm thirsty.
And do I drink "enough" water? There's no indication that I don't. I've been losing weight very quickly and regularly, and I void regularly and in sufficient volume to lose, at times, two pounds between pre- and post-voiding weigh-ins.0 -
I was curious so had to find out. I am sure other would like to know.
BTW, I drink my coffee black, so that why I wanted to be sure.
Lee0 -
This was something I wanted to ask.... I guess next step is google...0
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Good lord... of course it counts as fluids for the day -- so does milk, juice, soda, crystal light. The difference is, if it has calories you have to track it there too.
Read the link in my signature. MFP needs to change the flipping thing to say FLUIDS instead of water and this stupid argument might end someday.
Coffee is coffee but it's also about 99.9% water --- *pulls out hair*0 -
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Definitely put it in your log, but not as water. Like the other people said, caffeine is a natural diuretic (it's actually the main ingredient in some OTC water-weight loss pills such as Diurex). Plus 8 oz. of BLACK coffee has about 2.2 calories. If you drank more than you do, this could really add up. If you put cream and/or sugar in it, you absolutely should put it in your log.
Every little morsel counts!
Good luck!
-Victoria
OMG the amount of caffeine is so minute -- this is another myth that just own't die.
It should be in your LOG and also counts as fluids/water.0 -
From the link that tapaul50 just shared:
"Your body needs a certain amount of fluid a day to replenish water lost through normal body function. While some beverage choices are healthier than others, your body uses the fluid to meet its needs, regardless of the source. Up to 20 percent of the liquid your body uses comes from food sources, such as fruits and vegetables. However, beverages such as water, milk, coffee and tea provide the other 80 percent."0
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