Can someone tell me why... a water question!

Kkmama

I have increased my water intake to see if that will help me get off my plateau I seem to be living on... and now I am constantly thirsty. I am drinking at least 3 litres of water a day now and am still thirsty. I am feeling bloated but I heard that drinking water should help in with bloating. And to top it off my scale which also does body fat too, which I am not trusting at the moment has jumped my body fat% from 40% up to 50 and even higher. What in the world is happening?!

Confused and feeling like a fish!

mjbrenner

Body fat scales are really, really bad at measuring body fat. They are, however, decent at measuring hydration. Your body fat is not skyrocketing, but the amount of water in your body is - this will look like a body fat increase on your scale.

An "average" woman needs about 2.2 liters (9 cups) of water per day, and an average man needs about 3 liters (13 cups). Any beverage, and many foods, can help you get to this total, since they all contain water. If you exercise, live in a dry climate (including many heated homes in the winter), live in a hot climate, live at a high altitude, or are pregnant or breastfeeding, you will need more water.

A good gauge of your hydration is to look at your urine. If it is clear or very lightly colored, you should be adequately hydrated. If it is coming out medium to dark colored, you need more water.

Maybe you are over hydrated, and you could cut back to two liters per day. Maybe you need more water, and you are feeling bloated because you have more water in your system than you used to, but not enough to get everything flushing out like it should. Experiment will provide the answer here.

Helpful link: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283

leeanndelcourt

If you are truly drinking that much a day and still feeling thirsty I would go talk to your Dr about this. It's better to be safe and make sure there's no medical issue going on here that would cause excessive thirst.

stayxtrue

I drink close to 6+ litres a day hahaha and I am always thirsty

mamitosami

I was drinking a lot of water for a while, about 16 cups, and was always feeling bloated, I guess my body just couldn't get rid of it fast enough. I wasn't always thirsty though, but I have cut down my water consumption to see if it cuts down on the bloating, and voila! I'm not bloated anymore. I probably don't drink enough water (about 8ish cups now), but I do feel a lot better. Maybe just cut down to the recommendation and then you can slowly up it again...

jrobs3

I used to be thirsty all the time too. In fact, I would get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom and chug a glass of water each time. Well who knew....in April I was diagnosed with Diabetes. That's why I was always thirsty....I agree, DEFINITELY talk to your Doc about this.

rustyrn

I agree with the posts above about getting checked out, you can also drink too much water and wash out the electrolytes in your body. That can cause bad things to happen. the guide line posted above and good to follow, some time when some is good more is not better. Thirst ca also be a symptom of some diseases so you should talk to your doctor about it.

xsmilexforxmex

The body fat scale is probably adding the water weight to your %, they are known for that so don't panic, just given yourself some time to balance out.
If you are thirsty then drink but if you're drinking that much daily, don't force it when you aren't. As for the bloated feeling it's probably how much water youve been drinking, since it is new, give your body a few weeks to regulate it's self, if it doesn't cut back on your water intake some, you might be drinking more than your body knows what to do with.

And like other people said, see a doctor if it becomes concerning to you and make sure something else isn't going on..

Kichelchen

I wouldn't worry, it's as simple as that: the more you drink, the thirstier you are. Way to get your water in. Your body is used to getting a lot of water now and it just wants to make sure that you get enough of it. Once it knows that it actually gets enough water regularly, you'll have a day of running to the bathroom every 10 minutes and after that you should be bloating-free (at least from too much water, if you go crazy on sodium, that's a different story...)

trout78

Don't let the comments about Diabetes freak you out...although it is a good precaution to be checked, I too have the same prob. with water intake and thirst. I started drinking more water after the new year and have def. notice that my body wants more fluid, maybe it is normal when your body is not used to so much water? But again, if you are concerned getting it check out and asking a doc. a few questions never hurt.

thankyou4thevenom

If you're drinking more water and still constantly thirsty this is something you ought to see the doctor about. It could be signs of certain illnesses including diabetes.

BigGail

I agree with the posts above about getting checked out, you can also drink too much water and wash out the electrolytes in your body. That can cause bad things to happen. the guide line posted above and good to follow, some time when some is good more is not better. Thirst ca also be a symptom of some diseases so you should talk to your doctor about it.

I totally agree with the above - get your sodium checked too! Good luck x

Buttondownlip

Maybe you were not drinking enough before and now your thirst mechanism is back on track? That happened to me...if I ignore my thirst long enough it goes away and I jsut get by, but if I drink what I am supposed to...I can tell when I am below like instantly.

BerryH

First up, fat does not contain any water, but muscle and other body tissue does. Retaining water should make your body fat percentage look lower on the scales, not higher. But those scales are rubbish.

The thirst is just a habit that's grown from drinking more, like the way you get your hunger system back on track when you start eating properly.

Check your food to deal with the bloating, it might be a higher fibre diet, more pulses or IBS-type symptoms rather than just retained water.

trout78

First up, fat does not contain any water, but muscle and other body tissue does. Retaining water should make your body fat percentage look lower on the scales, not higher. But those scales are rubbish.

The thirst is just a habit that's grown from drinking more, like the way you get your hunger system back on track when you start eating properly.

Check your food to deal with the bloating, it might be a higher fibre diet, more pulses or IBS-type symptoms rather than just retained water.

Ok, I understand the concern about Diabetes, I live with two Diabetics! But, please remember when you are talking about Diabetes, increased thirst is just one sign of Diabetes...and if you have not had the issue you are having now before you started drinking more water, then you prob. don't have to worry as much! Again though, if you are really concerned it never hurts to check with you doctor!

Quasita

First up, fat does not contain any water, but muscle and other body tissue does. Retaining water should make your body fat percentage look lower on the scales, not higher. But those scales are rubbish.

The thirst is just a habit that's grown from drinking more, like the way you get your hunger system back on track when you start eating properly.

Check your food to deal with the bloating, it might be a higher fibre diet, more pulses or IBS-type symptoms rather than just retained water.

Ok, I understand the concern about Diabetes, I live with two Diabetics! But, please remember when you are talking about Diabetes, increased thirst is just one sign of Diabetes...and if you have not had the issue you are having now before you started drinking more water, then you prob. don't have to worry as much! Again though, if you are really concerned it never hurts to check with you doctor!

I wouldn't say that if you haven't had the issue before, it's probably just the water is a good rule of thumb. My ex boyfriend discovered he had diabetes when he was 24 (he was type 1) after he suddenly started waking up in the middle of the night thirsty as can be. He had no other signs or symptoms... No frequent urination, no weightloss, nothing, just an incredible urge to drink fluids. His then wife finally made him go to the doctor because he would drink a gallon of milk almost every night and they'd end up not having enough at breakfast... Milk, juice, anything he could get his hands on. He went in, and his blood sugar was about 4x normal levels, and was started on insulin immediately.
The same thing happened to a friend of mine when she got pregnant... obviously gestational diabetes, but she was a heavy girl too. She woke up thirsty as hell, and began to drink and drink and drink water. Her body retained so much water her pregnancy became high risk, her belly distended over the pregnancy. She finally went to the doctor, and was immediately hospitalized.

I'm not trying to scare you... I'm just saying that you can't say new thirst is no biggie. Here's the question though:

Is it a desperate need to drink? Are you gulping the water down, chugging it, finishing a glass and rushing to get another? Drinking back to back bottles? Or are we talking about getting thirsty every 5-10 minutes when you're used to a habit of drinking if you feel like it?

Thirst is much like hunger in this sense. If we convince our bodies that they are not getting any fluids anytime soon, they eventually stop asking... aka, stop being thirsty. It happens with food too; ignore hunger long enough, it will indeed go away... It's not because you are not hungry or thirsty anymore, but rather your body opting to put effort in fulfilling other needs since those ones are obviously not getting met.

The Mayo Clinic actually does not recommend you drink so much water that your urine is clear. If your urine is clear, you are drinking too much. The purpose of drinking water is to aid in metabolism and filtration of waste product from your body. The yellow in our urine is the waste product. If urine is clear, it means you drank water, and it just basically ran straight through you. Doing this constantly is like running your washing mashine without clothes in it. You might do it to flush out any little dirt from the last load, but doing it all the time creates unnecessary wear and tear. Your kidneys are working overtime if your urine is clear.

Anyway, if the thirst is not desperate I'm going to die thirst, I'm pretty sure you're going to be okay... If you find that you are urinating more than (at most) once an hour, cut it back and add some electrolytes. If your urination is still normal for you, then I would fathom a guess that you were previously dehydrated, and now your body is like, OH YAY WE GET WATER! and is asking for it normally.

fushigi1988

I drink close to 6+ litres a day hahaha and I am always thirsty

That can be one of the symptoms of diabetes I think, please check with your doctor.

eldazzio

Original post is over 2 years old.... They've probably figured it out by now. :laugh: