Can someone explain how water works?

Ann_72

Yes, I know drinking lots of water is healthy. I have probably walked around in a chronic state of dehydration because of soda and alcohol most of my life. But how does water technically affect the weightloss?

xraychick77

technically..it doesnt.

its just healthy. it helps us feel fuller so we dont eat as much. it helps with cellular functions. hence helping to regulate our bodies. most of our body is made of water. through daily functions, sweat etc. we lose water and it needs to be replaced.

Ann_72

Thanks! No complicated mystery then...I'm glad

Momkat65

H2O

brain made up of lots of water, brain not work so good when dried up

b6bloke

Copied this off another site.
Does drinking more water really help dieting? A small study says it may help you burn a few more calories each day. How many? About 50 calories per liter or quart of water. About 25 calories per water bottle-full of water. Mind you, that's only 5 M&Ms - plain, not peanut.
Why Drink More When Dieting?
•Drinking a big glass of water whenever you feel hungry and before a meal or snack fills the stomach briefly and makes you feel fuller and stop eating sooner.
•Breaking down body fat and body muscle during weight loss produces wastes that must be eliminated through the kidneys. Drinking enough water is important to keep the kidneys functioning to remove these wastes.
•Popular high-protein diets produce more waste products from digestion, let alone from breaking down stored fat. Kidney function is even more important when on a high-protein diet.
•Drinking more water does not "flush fat."
•If the dieter is drinking plain water, he/she is less likely to be drinking something with calories in it.
Drinking Water Briefly Increases Metabolism
Drinking 500 mL of water (a half-liter or about a pint) increased the study participants' metabolism briefly - for about a half hour. In that time they burned an extra 25 calories. That's about a quarter of a piece of sliced bread, or 5 M&Ms. The researchers theorized that most of the effect comes from warming the water in the stomach. In the male participants the calories came mostly from stored fat, in the women it came from stored carbohydrates. The paper was published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, December, 2003. It was conducted by researchers in Berlin.
Eight Glasses of Water a Day?
The study provides some support for the general recommendation to drink eight glasses of water a day while dieting. For most people that would add a liter or two to their regular water intake. The extra calorie-burn would be about 100 calories a day if drinking 2 liters (2 quarts or 4 water-bottles full) more than usual.
Dangers of Too Much Water
Don't start drinking an extra gallon of water a day - that can kill you, especially if you are fasting or eating very little. Water taken in must be in balance with body salt - electrolytes. The body needs to maintain salt balance or risk hyponatremia with heart attack and even death. Drinking too much water dilutes the salt in your blood and tissues - and can kill you. Healthy athletes have died from drinking too much plain water and not replacing salt. Dieters should not plunge into drinking gallons of water a day in hopes of burning a few more calories. Drink an extra few glasses, yes. But a gallon is too much.
Drinking and Walking
Exercise such as walking causes the metabolism to rise and body water to be lost through increased respiration and sweat. Walkers should drink a large glass of water an hour before walking, then drink about a cup of water every mile. When you finish walking, drink a glass of water. Guidelines for the marathon and half-marathon now say to "drink when thirsty" rather than pushing water, in order to prevent hyponatremia - drinking too much with replacing electrolytes.

( moderator comment - better to cite your source when using copy and paste from other sites

Lorleee

It doesn't impact weight loss. I know lots of people will say you need to guzzle 4-6 litres a day, but really you just need to hydrate like anyone else. The Mayo Clinic suggests 9 cups of fluid a day for women, 13 for men.

WifeMomDVM

Think of your body as a giant toilet - needing to flush out waste. It's much harder to do if you don't have enough water. :flowerforyou:

donnalord

Drinking ice cold water burns more calories, due to your body having to warm itself up again, think its someting like 10 calories burned if u eat/suck an ice cube?!

Aperture_Science

H2O

brain made up of lots of water, brain not work so good when dried up

Yes, dehydrated brain, the cause of many a work place accident, not to mention domestic deaths.

paulslimjonesbryant

i used too drink alcohol and soda now i only drink water it flushes out the system and really helps with weight loss any feel free add me lets motivate and support each other too reach our goals

Juliebean_1027

H2O

brain made up of lots of water, brain not work so good when dried up

So what you're saying is...all the stupid people in the world are really just dehydrated?! Good to know! I'll offer them a water bottle from now on!

ScatteredThoughts

It doesn't impact weight loss. I know lots of people will say you need to guzzle 4-6 litres a day, but really you just need to hydrate like anyone else. The Mayo Clinic suggests 9 cups of fluid a day for women, 13 for men.

Source?

There is nothing definitive stating that we actually need that much water.

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

Cathnger

Yes, I know drinking lots of water is healthy. I have probably walked around in a chronic state of dehydration because of soda and alcohol most of my life. But how does water technically affect the weightloss?

There are NO calorie's in Water - but every thing else you put in your body does have calorie's - so if you switched from soda/alcohol to only water (like I have done), yes it will help you lose weight as your consuming less calorie's!

fatty_to_fitty

your P** dries up and your w** goes a funny colour

So please drink lots of water

MaximalLife

I credit water as a huge reason I lost so much weight.

Health benefits of drinking water include:
regulate appetite
increase metabolism
boost energy levels
less water retention
alleviate some headaches
help reduce blood pressure
help reduce high cholesterol
ease joint pain
decrease in risk of some cancers
less chance developing kidney stones
release toxic waste products
improves skin

http://www.weightlossforall.com/benefits-wate r-drinking.htm

And the water we eat has an effect on weight loss as well.
The water we eat is the water in foods, such as fruits and vegetables. and the water used to cook, such as in soups, stews, and in cooked cereals. Be sure to get lots of fruits and veggies and other water-dense foods in your diet.

Bronx_Montgomery

Water is the chemical substance with chemical formula H2O: one molecule of water has two hydrogen atoms covalently bonded to a single oxygen atom.

Water appears in nature in all three common states of matter and may take many different forms on Earth: water vapor and clouds in the sky; seawater and icebergs in the polar oceans; glaciers and rivers in the mountains; and the liquid in aquifers in the ground.

Is this what you are looking for? kind of an odd request

mzjessicab

I try to drink enough water daily to help flush out toxins....

mallory3411

I fully believe that in a way water can affect weight loss. Many times when we feel hungry it's actually because we are thirsty.

Water flushes out toxins, helps cells, helps digestion, etc etc. It may not get you to lose much quicker but it's definately healthy for you. If you usually drink pop and alcohol, drinking water instead will help you since you are replacing bad with good.

Drink as much as you feel you need. Try to get as much in as possible. When we feel thirst we are already dehydrated.

msarro

Normal water helps keep your system moving.
Ice water actually can burn calories, but not very many (the definition of a calorie - not a kilocalorie - is the amount of energy required to heat 1cc of water by 1 degree celsius). Since ice water is cold, your body has to warm it, which takes energy. So if you drink a gallon of ice water every day, you could burn over 100 calories just from drinking water.

Lorleee

It doesn't impact weight loss. I know lots of people will say you need to guzzle 4-6 litres a day, but really you just need to hydrate like anyone else. The Mayo Clinic suggests 9 cups of fluid a day for women, 13 for men.

Source?

There is nothing definitive stating that we actually need that much water.

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

I was about to post the link but you already did. It states that the Institute of Medicine has deemed the above to be an adequate intake of water. This recommendation is also supported by several Registered Dieticians. Personally, I don't think it's the end of the world if people drink less than that. It's when people force down several litres a day thinking it's going to speed their weight loss that it makes me raise an eyebrow. I think all that water is doing is distracting you from eating food - so I suppose in a way, it works, lol.

KimbersNewLife

Normal water helps keep your system moving.
Ice water actually can burn calories, but not very many (the definition of a calorie - not a kilocalorie - is the amount of energy required to heat 1cc of water by 1 degree celsius). Since ice water is cold, your body has to warm it, which takes energy. So if you drink a gallon of ice water every day, you could burn over 100 calories just from drinking water.

AWESOME!!