stop drinking 8 cups of water (because it's "good"), and get

Options
13567…11

Replies

  • PaleoPath4Lyfe
    PaleoPath4Lyfe Posts: 3,161 Member
    Options
    I would also serious contest that drinking more water makes your skin, hair, mood or digestion noticeably better. You have to be pretty dehydrated for those things to be compromised.

    Actually it doesn't take much for these basic body functions to be compromised. The body has a delicate balance and when it gets out of balance things go ary very easily.
  • madtownjeremy
    madtownjeremy Posts: 249
    Options
    I feel WAY better after getting my water level up. I used to have trouble keeping with it...pretty much because I didn't want to go refill a cup 6 times a day...but then I got my 750ml Camelbak bottle and I haven't had any problems staying hydrated since, alongside the amount of tea I drink.

    Yeah, so anyone who tells you "I drank 12 Diet Cokes today...that counts!" is full of....well, Diet Coke.
  • Loseweight1980
    Loseweight1980 Posts: 94
    Options
    OP, what do you drink during the day?
  • Patty0147
    Patty0147 Posts: 10
    Options
    I don't remember where I read, or saw it, but no, you do not need 8 glasses, we don't all require the same amount. The article or show mentioned drinking half your body weight in ounces, meaning if you weigh 150 lbs, you drink 75 oz of water.

    I don't have a magic number, other than my morning coffee I drink water, and it makes me fee better.
  • JessG11
    JessG11 Posts: 345 Member
    Options
    I am constantly drinking something so it's not unheard of for me to drink 120 plus ounces of water a day. If I don't, I get thirsty. Plus, my skin looks healthier and so does my hair. And it keeps EVERYTHING flowing. I don't get the same results with anything other than water. So I drink it because of the benefits, not because I feel I have to. But I still drink my diet cokes and tea too!
  • KXanthos
    KXanthos Posts: 189 Member
    Options
    I don't drink neary that much because 1) I'm just not but a fan of plain water, 2) I forget, and 3) the closest bathroom at my office is almost a football field away and I just have way too much work to do to get up every hour to pee. I do drink about 4 cups of herbal tea every day though and I *think* that counts as water...
  • Gt3ch
    Gt3ch Posts: 212 Member
    Options
    Depends. If you are in a hot desert you may need 1gal+ water a day to stay hydrated. At the same time if the minimum you need in the winter happens to be say 6 cups and you drink an extra 1 or 2 nothing bad will happen.

    The important thing is to understand the signs and symptoms of dehydration and electrolyte imbalance. It's just a lot simpler to give the general population a safe number like 8 cups. Beyond that 8 cups is useful IMHO. Since that's generally "well-hydrated" and "normal" most of the time for most people you know something's wrong if you NEED 16-20 cups or you feel like crap and are only getting 2 cups, some coffee and eating dry cooked and processed foods.
  • fionarama
    fionarama Posts: 788 Member
    Options
    good post. listen to your body. drink when you are thirsty. all cups of liquid are fine, although coffee tea and diet sodas have diuretic properties (make you pee more and you don't absorb as much liquid).
  • fteale
    fteale Posts: 5,310 Member
    Options
    I would also serious contest that drinking more water makes your skin, hair, mood or digestion noticeably better. You have to be pretty dehydrated for those things to be compromised.

    Actually it doesn't take much for these basic body functions to be compromised. The body has a delicate balance and when it gets out of balance things go ary very easily.

    What I mean is, I don't think most people are walking around dehydrated. I'm certainly not, and I don't drink much water at all. I get my 10 cups of liquid a day from tea and peppermint. You will notice no difference in skin, hair, energy etc from drinking 8 cups of water vs 8 cups of tea.
  • JessG11
    JessG11 Posts: 345 Member
    Options
    I don't remember where I read, or saw it, but no, you do not need 8 glasses, we don't all require the same amount. The article or show mentioned drinking half your body weight in ounces, meaning if you weigh 150 lbs, you drink 75 oz of water.

    I don't have a magic number, other than my morning coffee I drink water, and it makes me fee better.

    I've read articles on this too. And it makes total sense. Why would someone who weighs 120 lbs drink the same amount as someone who weighs 220 lbs?
  • yesthistime
    yesthistime Posts: 2,051 Member
    Options
    perhaps i should have made the last line of my post the first: the point of this is not to get you to stop drinking if you're happy. it's to let you know you don't need to, if you don't want to or don't like water (like me).

    It's amazing how many people either didn't read that statement or chose to ignore it.
  • rebecca_chess
    rebecca_chess Posts: 101 Member
    Options
    I agree with NatureMade

    ^^^^ THIS.

    "Thanks to their caffeine content, both tea and coffee (and any other drink with caffeine) are diuretics - that is, they cause the body to lose water. And you do need the water - when you don't get enough, your cells start to draw water from the bloodstream. Blood gets sludgy, your heart must work harder, and your body starts to redirect blood away from less vital areas.

    To get two cups of water from coffee or tea, you would have to drink three cups. Considering that you should be getting eight cups of water per day, you would have to drink 12 cups of coffee or tea to get that much. (That is a LOT of caffeine!)

    If you really don't like drinking plain water, you can get the fluids you need from highly diluted fruit juice, herbal tea or a well-watered down sports drink. Avoid caffeine-containing colas - they have the same diuretic effect as coffee and tea."

    The above is quoted from a question/answer article written by Dr. Andrew Weil (Harvard Medical School). I have had many other doctors tell me the same thing. I firmly agree with the above statements made by Dr. Weil.
  • Lolli1986
    Lolli1986 Posts: 500 Member
    Options
    I'm a biologist and I can verify that yes, 2L of water includes water from food. However there are dehydrating components within teas and sodas (diuretics, caffeine), so you cannot count 1cup of soda as 1 cup of water.

    There are also other benefits to drinking 2L of water a day, for example, your saliva glands require for your body to have ingested 2L of water per day in order to maintain a healthy pH level. If the pH is too low (acidic) then your saliva itself no longer assists to protect teeth but in fact contributes to decay by softening the enamel. Cavities are caused by bacteria digesting food on your teeth and excreting acidic compounds as a by-product... saliva of a neutral or high pH can help to neutralise this acid, but if the saliva is acidic itself then.... well, expect to spend a LOT of money fixing your teeth.

    It is certainly cannot hurt to reach the 8 cups on the ticker.... it will also deter you from overeating, and from drinking sodas.
  • soonernick
    soonernick Posts: 63 Member
    Options
    All I know is when I had blood drawn the nurse said "you drink a lot of water", and I asked why and she said good veins. So I think it helps to drink water.
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
    Options
    I lean toward the OP's side (who stipulated, by the way, that this was not an attack on you hyper water-guzzlers). I hardly ever drink water. I drink water during and after workouts-- almost exclusively. It gives me heartburn quicker-- and worse-- than pizza. I drink a lot of coffee and tea, and a few Diet Cokes a week. I am never dehydrated (yes, my pee is always a very light yellow).

    Water is just another thing some people cling to as their weight loss miracle. There's nothing wrong with that. When it comes to weight loss and being healthy, at the end of the day what's right is what works for you. Let's all just chill out, maybe?
  • becoming_a_new_me
    becoming_a_new_me Posts: 1,860 Member
    Options
    No one will ever get me to believe that drinking plenty of plain water is not good for you. And in order to drink too much, you have to drink a LOT or drink quite a bit in a short amount of time.

    If we drank more than the kidneys can handle over a day's time then we wouldn't eat. There is nothing wrong with drinking 10 or 12 cups of water.

    I disagree with coffee, tea, soda, etc being counted as water also as it is not plain water.

    Most people that increase their water intake find they have more energy, better moods, clearer skin and better digestion and elimination.

    Water is important to the human body.

    this.

    I drink 10-20 cups of water a day and it does help with weight loss, helps keep my skin hydrated, makes me feel better, etc. why would anyone not want these benefits, from simply drinking water? You also will not convince me that drinking whatever you want, or relying on food for hydration is sufficient. Also, how can anything with caffeine count as 'water' when caffeine is a diuretic and can dehydrate you??

    ^^^this...Every day, I drink about 12-16 cups of water, a pot of coffee, a pot of tea, eat a ton of fruits and veggies, and I'm not dead or dehydrated. Of course it has been shown that those of us who are hard-core coffee and tea drinkers do not experience the diuretic effects of caffiene. I maintain consistient weight loss, glowing skin, nails, and hair, and feel great. I pee a lot, but it's a healthy color so I don't care.
  • BrianSharpe
    BrianSharpe Posts: 9,248 Member
    Options
    Do you need to drink 8 glasses of water a day? No, not really.

    Will 8 glasses of water a day hurt you? No, not in the least. The amount of water you need to drink to enter hyponatremia is absurdly high if you're not in a situation which would have you sweating nonstop (hence it happening to people using MDMA, or marathoners). If you're not in one of those situations, you'd most likely end up vomiting a few times before you got there which would clue in the average Joe that it was time to stop.


    ^^^^^ What he said!

    Much of the research into athletics and hydration has been sponsored by the makers of sports drinks, most notably the one starting with G. Personally I find it shocking that well-meaning parents will give junior a honking great bottle of sports drink thinking they're providing a healthy alternative to soda, by the time he has consumed the 691ml bottle he's taken in just about the same number of calories and several times the sodium. One soccer club my son belonged to had a policy specifically prohibiting the consumption of sports drinks except during tournaments when the kids may be play 2 or 3 matches in a day.
  • kantone999
    kantone999 Posts: 174
    Options
    Tea and coffee do NOT dehydrate you as so many posts claim. CAFFEINE dehydrates you. There's enough water in tea and coffee to more than offset the dehydrating effects of the caffeine. That's why some people count tea and coffee as part of their water intake and it's perfectly legit. I don't but I log all my drinks and try to make sure I'm getting at least 80-100 oz. of liquids every day.

    As to black tea containing more antioxidants that green--depends on the brand. For Lipton decaf, black tea has 105 and green tea has 130.
  • 10acity
    10acity Posts: 798 Member
    Options
    Also, for all of you in the Caffeine Dehydrates you and the Coffee/tea/etc. "Doesn't Count" camps, please read: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661
  • McMommyx3
    McMommyx3 Posts: 19
    Options
    I dont think the point of drinking water is to lose weight, but for your body's health. Our kidney's dont need the extra stress!
    If you drink 64oz of water vs anything else you will not need to add calories.
    If I dont drink 8+ cups of water a day I am super thirsty and I'd rather eat my calories, than drink em!
    No, you will not die if you dont drink water, there are plenty of people that have survived not drinking any water and have survived on just soda, juice, etc.. I just wouldnt recommend it.

Categories