Drinking more water to help you lose weight faster

No. Drinking more water than your body needs does nothing to speed up weight loss, aside from possibly helping you feel fuller and thus less likely to overeat. Water does not help cells get rid of fat. It does not speed up your metabolism (some people claim that if you drink cold water, your body has to heat it up, but that will really only work out to a few calories a day, so it doesn't really have any affect on weight loss). It may help you to retain less water, which can contribute to weight (but not fat) loss in the short term. I'm sorry, I don't have any studies to quote for you.

I'm guessing there is something else that is causing your weight loss to pick up a bit.

ETA: the "8 cups" rule is pretty arbitrary. Many people need more, especially if they are exercising. So it could be that you're now drinking "enough" and are losing water that you've been retaining. How long has this increased weight loss been happening?

in your example, it doesn't "help with weight loss" as much as it "helps with compliance" to your weight loss plan

ETA: the "8 cups" rule is pretty arbitrary. Many people need more, especially if they are exercising. So it could be that you're now drinking "enough" and are losing water that you've been retaining. How long has this increased weight loss been happening?

I'm going with this. When I drink 8-10 cups a day, my pee is still too dark. (yeah...that's what I go by...pee color. Haha).

A good water day for me is at least 12 cups. Either way...good luck. Sounds like something is working.

So you fill you stomach with water so you do not eat as much, what happens in between meal when you pee all that water out are you not hungry? I am a huge grazer snack in bewteen meals and I struggle to get my water in. So this question is just pure curiosity.

drinking too much water is called water intoxication and is extremely dangerous to your health. Now while drinking 12-16 8oz cups of water isn't going to cause any trouble, I can't see how you would need much mroe than that in a day unless you literally spend all day sweating due to a very humid climate. The kidneys are very adept at filtering your body out, so in order to basically drown from the inside in your own fluids from drinking too much water, you would have to chug a ton of water in one sitting which would be very hard to do.

Hyponatremia is another issue that can come about from drinking too much water - too little salt in the blood basically.

The best thing to do: drink when you are thirsty and stop when you are not. Don't force your body to drink too much because diluting your stomacha cid to a point where your body can't even properly digest your food to absorb nutrients won't do you any good. It sounds like what you are doing now is great. Don't fix something that isn't broken.

This may seem like a stupid question but i am new to this. When they ask for your water consumption are they considering it in 8 or 16 oz since most bottles are 16 oz. At least the ones i drink.

ETA: the "8 cups" rule is pretty arbitrary. Many people need more, especially if they are exercising. So it could be that you're now drinking "enough" and are losing water that you've been retaining. How long has this increased weight loss been happening?

I'm going with this. When I drink 8-10 cups a day, my pee is still too dark. (yeah...that's what I go by...pee color. Haha).

A good water day for me is at least 12 cups. Either way...good luck. Sounds like something is working.

Everybody should go by the color of their urine. It should be a light yellow unless you are taking vitamins (in which case it will be a more neon yellow). As another poster has mentioned, there is a way to drink too much water and it causes water intoxication, which is fatal. Although, I don't believe that most people could get that much water in a day.

drinking too much water is called water intoxication and is extremely dangerous to your health. Now while drinking 12-16 8oz cups of water isn't going to cause any trouble, I can't see how you would need much mroe than that in a day unless you literally spend all day sweating due to a very humid climate. The kidneys are very adept at filtering your body out, so in order to basically drown from the inside in your own fluids from drinking too much water, you would have to chug a ton of water in one sitting which would be very hard to do.

Hyponatremia is another issue that can come about from drinking too much water - too little salt in the blood basically.

The best thing to do: drink when you are thirsty and stop when you are not. Don't force your body to drink too much because diluting your stomacha cid to a point where your body can't even properly digest your food to absorb nutrients won't do you any good. It sounds like what you are doing now is great. Don't fix something that isn't broken.

I read some advice a few weeks ago about fluid consumption..it said you needed to take your weight and divide it by 2 and that is the amount of fluid you need in ounces. Plus you are to add another 8 ozs for every 20 mins of activity. So, being very overweight I am drinking around a gallon( 128 oz) a day of water. Thought it would be very hard in the beginning but I started putting my water into a gallon jug in the morning and drink on it all day..so, I always know how much more I need to drink that day.

Bump! Seems like water increase is working for me too:)

This doesn't exactly answer your question but it is about water intake.

Awhile back other members were having a discussion about water intake and someone mentioned a "water intake ratio." Which I had never heard of. So I looked into and apparently how much water you need is based on your weight and other factors. I found a "water intake calculator" that I thought was pretty interesting.

http://www.waterintakecalculator.com/

Drinking plenty water when trying to lose weight is important but a word of caution.....you have to really be careful not to over do it. Increasing water intake can also wash out sodium in your system which can lead to seizures. That happened to my sister-in-law a couple of years ago. Also, if you are a person who retains fluid, high fluid intake can cause cardiovascular problems.

Michael,

Here's an article I refer to alot. Hope it helps.

Eight glasses of water a day an urban myth'?

Water and a well-balanced diet 'do far more than water alone,' Australian researcher says

CBC News

Posted: Jun 10, 2012 12:51 AM ET

Last Updated: Jun 10, 2012 12:48 AM ET

The common advice to drink eight glasses of water a day doesn't hold water, say nutrition and kidney specialists who want to dispel the myth.

"What drove us to drink two litres of water a day?" asks an editorial in this week's issue of the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health.

The recommendation was driven by vested interests rather than health, suggests author Speros Tsindos of the department of dietetics and human nutrition at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia.
Other beverages also help us meet the body's fluid needs, say nutrition specialists. (Aaron Harris/Canadian Press)
"Humans need to maintain fluid balance and need to drink water when required, but should also consider fluid in unprocessed fruits and vegetables and juices. There is further evidence that water and a well-balanced diet does far more than water alone," Tsindos wrote.

"Water is important for health; however, the recommendation of eight glasses of pure water per day appears an overestimation of requirements."

Even a baked potato is 75 per cent water, said nutrition Prof. Susan Barr of the University of British Columbia, who sat on a Canadian-U.S. committee that looked at fluid intake.

"There's nothing magical about water from a glass of water as opposed to water from a food or any other beverage," Barr said.

Drinking caffeinated beverages such as tea and coffee do not lead to dehydration, said Dr. Stanley Goldfarb, a nephrologist at the University of Pennsylvania who reviewed research claims on drinking eight glasses of water and studied how the kidneys handle it.

Let thirst guide you

"Drinking the coffee will count towards your total water intake for the day," Goldfarb said.

Goldfarb said despite the common idea that it's important to "drink eight glasses of eight ounces of water" a day, "There’s no evidence that benefits health in any real way and it really represents an urban myth."

There's no evidence you need to drink more water than what thirst dictates, Goldfarb added.

Studies on desert nomads showed people can consume minimal amounts of water in harsh environments. The military has also looked at how much water soldiers need to take with them when patrolling in hot climates without harming their performance.

"If one is just playing a game of tennis in an indoor facility, for example, or having a short run on a treadmill in an air-conditioned gym, the need to maintain hydration during that is just non-existent," Goldfarb advised.

People have died of dehydration and from drinking too much water too quickly.

A good guide to tell if the body’s finely tuned fluid balance is to check the colour of your urine. If it's very dark, you're on the dry side; if it's very light or translucent, then you need to drink a bit less water, said Dr. David Price, head of family medicine at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont.