Myth...drink 8 glasses of water a day to lose weight.

99% of the time, my total liquid intake per day is only 5 cups. I let my body do it's job and tell me when to drink. Sometimes more, sometimes less, but most average days, I end up with "5" logged on MFP.

The thought that you need extra water for proper digestion is a myth - your digestive fluids are already in the proper ratios to digest your foods, excess water actually makes them LESS effective, they are literally WATERED down.

Do the water fanatics actually believe early man walked his *kitten* the couple miles to the aquifer before he ate each meal to make sure he was "properly hydrated?" Did he "know" he was supposed to have "half his bodyweight" in water? Did he even know WTF "bodyweight" meant?? He relied on HIS OWN BODY'S MECHANISM, ie: THIRST, to dictate his need to drink. Our bodies are amazing machines, and man has been thriving for a long time - something he probably wouldn't do if his "thirst mechanism was broken" and he couldn't trust it to tell him when to drink. He didn't have a convenient tap in the rock wall near him. He had to seek out water. There is ample evidence for peoples living in arid environments, and it's safe to say getting water was a daily task (or more) but it's fairly reasonable to accept that man wasn't schlepping down to the old watering hole 8-10 (or more) times PER DAY. The "need" for water is greatly over stated.

BUT, if you ENJOY it, and you feel it HELPS you, then stick with it. Just don't take it as gospel that you HAVE TO drink that much.

8 glasses of water a day makes me go to the bathroom about every 10 minutes. Even after doing so for months and months. No, my bladder has not "gotten used to it." I'm not thirsty, I'm not dehydrated. I'm just a slave to the toilet. And no, it has not helped me to lose weight or make my skin any brighter.

I'll drink water when and if I want to drink water.

Yeah, I'm in a mood.

My bladder never got used to it either.
I just drink enough to keep my liquid waste a pale color.

We talk about water conservation and pollution but no one seems to be concerned that drinking gallons of water is also wasting many gallons of water flushing toilets every 30 minutes while you pee out all that unnecessary water that you drank!

Which brings to mind the old sign they kept on the wall up to camp: "If it's yellow, let it mellow..."

I hate to do this. I should never contradict a scientist, and I wouldn't if I was advising someone else. But, I had a kidney stone a couple of years back. My family has no history of kidney stones. I exercise in the heat a lot ! I never drank water, until after I was through. People I exercised with drank much more than I did. I gotta think these two things might be related.
I am much better about drinking water now. Can't help it. Those kidney stones? They make you fearful !

I have a mind blowing thought be prepared to lose your socks...

Fact as we age our thirst mechanism becomes blunted and many times you see elderly with diagnosis of UTI and dehydration.

Fact as we age our lean body mass decreases and our body fat increases.

Coincidence? I think not.

Mind blowing isnt it I'll give you a moment to recover.

Hehe, I love the humor... that's been the best part of this thread by far! Thanks for the laugh... I hate water, but I'm trying to incorporate more in but won't kill myself or beat myself up over the fact that I'll probably never reach the "recommended" requirement... I love my sodas, but at least they're diet and I've bought carbonated water (no sugars or sweeteners added), plus my silly mind is content on unsweetened tea as part of my water intake, pppfffft

I don't drink water, I drink low sugar squash/ high juice/ cordial. I don't care what anyone says, water does have a flavor, and it makes me gag.

I think you can lose weight drinking water because it does burn calories to heat the water to body temperature.

One calorie of food is the amount of energy to raise the temperature of 1 liter of water 1 degree celcius. We are supposed to drink 2 liters of water a day (which is a little less than 8 cups).

If you drink 2 liters of water at room temp (72F = 22.2 C) your body must warm the water up to body temp (98 F = 36.7 C), which is 14.5 degrees x 2 (liters) for 29 calories. However, if you drink cold water (40F = 4.4 C), the body must raise the temp by 32.3 degrees x 2 (liters) for 64.6 calories.

Over 1 year - 2 liters of water a day at room temp = 10,585 calories or 3 pounds of fat (3500 calories).

Over 1 year- 2 liters of ice water (40C) = 23,579 calories or 6.7 pounds of fat.

I guess the point the study is making is a technical one: 8 glasses of water is not the magic number, there are other sources of water such as hot beverages, fruit etc. That is great but water has zero calories, is good for you and if drinking more water means eating less food = one of your goals then isn't that the point that the 'myth makers' were getting at?

I can see the point the scientist is making. He is just saying you don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day so long as you're getting the total amount of water intake required from some means.

Personally, I used to drink massive amounts of soda. I probably took in the required water with that. Was it healthy, no. I have slowly gotten to the point where I almost exclusively drink water. I do believe this will help me loose weight as I am no longer taking in unnecessary calories and not replacing them with calories elsewhere. I've also saved some money to boot.

In regards to how much water one needs, I feel it is a very personal item. We all have different bodies, as well as possibly medication intakes which could require us to need more water intake than others. Myself, I take Levothyroxin which has an affect on this. I normally need to drink at least 10-12 cups of water a day to not feel thirsty (Even with that, my urine is sometimes is darker in color.).

I drink it because I take a multivitamin and don't want my Kidneys to take a beating. Anyone that takes any kind of vitamin should be drinking tons of water....I know I'm close to flushing my Kidneys when the neon begins to "shall we say, not glow in the dark".

"Drink your water people!" -Tony Horton
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