Do you count coffee as water?

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Replies

  • Shanzstar
    Shanzstar Posts: 197
    I used to see a registered dietitian weekly for several years. She always said that anything non-caffeinated (milk, broth, Crystal Light, etc.) counted as a water serving, but that caffeinated sodas and coffee did not because of the diuretic effect.

    This! :happy:
    I am a dietetic student, and recent studies show up to 3 cups of coffee a day count towards your water intake.
  • Gwen_B
    Gwen_B Posts: 1,018 Member
    Count water only!
  • lilRicki
    lilRicki Posts: 4,555 Member
    If a fish can't swim in it, don't log it!

    My saltwater fish can't swim in my tap water.


    To slow to get the metaphor eh?
  • jaygreen55
    jaygreen55 Posts: 315 Member
    COFFEE HAS TWO CALORIES
    WATER HAS NONE

    If you drank 50 cups of coffee a day you would add 100 calories. The truth is that any fluid you consume hydrates your body and the notion that coffee dehydrates you is a myth



    From the Huffington Post:
    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/monica-reinagel-ms-ldn-cns/dehydration-myth_b_1080956.html

    A Drop of Truth in a Sea of Misunderstanding

    So what is the basis for the idea that nothing less than two liters of water a day will keep us from multiple-organ failure? Like most urban legends, this one does contain a drop of truth. The average person needs about two liters, or approximately eight glasses, of water a day to replace what is lost through normal biological functions like breathing, sweating and urinating.

    But that doesn't mean that you need to drink two liters of water. In fact, hypothetically, you don't have to drink any water at all. For one thing, you can easily get a liter or liter and a half of water just from the food that you eat, especially if you eat lots of fruits and vegetables, which are up to 97 percent water.

    Surprise! Drinking Caffeinated Beverages Won't Dehydrate You

    Secondly, contrary to another widely held nutritional myth, coffee, tea, sodas and other caffeinated drinks are not dehydrating. Caffeine can act as a diuretic, increasing urine output, but you still end up taking in more fluids than you lose. If you don't drink caffeinated beverages regularly, drinking a cup of coffee ends up being the equivalent of drinking about 2/3 of a cup of water. In other words, drinking coffee will hydrate you -- just not quite as efficiently as water will.

    If you regularly drink caffeinated beverages, however, the diuretic effects of the caffeine are almost negligible. In other words, if you drink coffee every day, your body retains the same amount of fluid from a cup of coffee as it does from a cup of water.
  • Sparlingo
    Sparlingo Posts: 938 Member
    Just to add, I don't understand why people are assuming that if you count coffee, tea, etc. toward your total fluid intake for the day that they are also neglecting to count that same fluid toward their calorie count.

    If I have a cup of coffee in the morning with two tablespoons of 18% coffee cream (delicious, by the way, I fully recommend it!), I will log it with my breakfast and increase my water count for the day by one.

    It's not that hard, and no one is "cheating".

    Also, I agree with the poster that had mentioned that it doesn't really matter, in the end, what *we* count as hydration -- the body is perfectly capable of extracting the water from our coffee and tea whether we recognize that ability or not :smile:.

    Of course, it doesn't bother me that others will only count pure water as water, it's just not how I roll. Counting my morning coffee toward my daily fluid goals has neither lead to my dehydration, nor stalled my weight loss. To each their own!
  • MelsAuntie
    MelsAuntie Posts: 2,833 Member
    I log coffee as coffee. I drink water but don't bother to count it or log it. That said, I fail to see how water ceases to be water if you filter it through coffee grounds and add creamer...under the added calories from the creamer, chemically it's still mostly water.
  • ElizabethLovesFood
    ElizabethLovesFood Posts: 54 Member
    My instant coffee has loads of sodium and think water should be logged as water and coffee as coffee
  • almc170
    almc170 Posts: 1,093 Member
    COFFEE HAS TWO CALORIES
    WATER HAS NONE
    AND EVEN WITH MY INSANE AMOUNT OF COFFEE CONSUMPTION, THAT'S MAYBE AN EXTRA 20 CALORIES. WHO CARES???

    Honestly, liquid is liquid. No point in over-complicating things :drinker:
  • Vonwarr
    Vonwarr Posts: 390 Member
    According to many of the sadly misinformed posters in this thread, my coffee drinking habit should have me a dessicated dry corpse by now.
  • Binkie1955
    Binkie1955 Posts: 329 Member
    water is water
    coffee and tea are not. they are diuretics.
  • KindleKate
    KindleKate Posts: 24 Member
    No - I drink my coffee black and unsweetened, but I still count only water as water. I am a purist! Lol!
  • elenathegreat
    elenathegreat Posts: 3,988 Member
    Some days, I even count slighty melted ice cream as water:)
  • Kxgz
    Kxgz Posts: 198 Member
    Coffee is coffee, water is water.
  • meeper123
    meeper123 Posts: 3,347 Member
    I only count water as water
  • greeneroom
    greeneroom Posts: 1
    NO! Water is water. H2O. Its the only fluid our body requires and our bodies are around 60% water. Our kidneys and liver in particular need pure water for healthy function. Enjoy other drinks sure, but dont count them as your 'water' intake. :)
  • Cameron_1969
    Cameron_1969 Posts: 2,855 Member
    If its not straight water, I don't log it.

    Ok. .so unless I collect rain water in a bucket outside . .or make a solar-still. . I'm screwed.
  • 122ish
    122ish Posts: 339 Member
    I remember learning something about how your body has to break down your drinks to extract the water so drinking plain water was the most beneficial thing to do. Don't know if it was bull but it stuck with me for the last 16 years so only plain water is logged as water for me. That is not a big deal for me cause I'd rather have plain water than a flavored drink.
  • MommaChocoLatte
    MommaChocoLatte Posts: 389 Member
    I dont count caffeinated drinks as water and I only really drink the occasional cup of coffee, diet pepsi, and water. So no.
  • KAS0917
    KAS0917 Posts: 172 Member
    How many times are we going to have the same question asked, Water is water pure and simple. Just because one uses water to make coffee, tea, add to juice, soup etc, does not make it water. I have never seen coffee, tea etc comes out of the water faucet.

    If one wants to use tea, coffee etc as their water thats between them and the scale which does not lie. I log water as water and my scale does not lie.

    Maybe that's plain and simple FOR YOU. As a long term Weight Watchers member, they advocate 6, 8-ounce glasses of liquids a day, and say that water is the best choice. But water, tea, coffee, etc. all count as a liquid, so that's how I track it. I don't add diet sodas but that's personal choice - it's still a liquid and I won't dehydrate drinking it. If it doesn't have calories, I count it as a liquid. That's what works FOR ME. (I drink a minimum of 2 liters of plain water a day, so it doesn't really matter on my liquid intake, but it still counts in my world).
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,966 Member
    I don't really see the point in keeping track of how much water I drink. I know I drink enough... I am one of those people who carries water around with me everywhere I go. I drink at least 2 cups/glasses of coffee a day along with that. (I have been drinking it iced lately)
  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
    All liquids count, assuming they are water based. LOL
  • Trechechus
    Trechechus Posts: 2,819 Member
    Do I count a diuretic as water?

    Sheldon-No.gif
  • aloranger7708
    aloranger7708 Posts: 422 Member
    No, I log coffee and water completely separate. They are NOT the same thing, although coffee IS water-based.

    Coffee dehydrates you. Water is a diuretic. They have exact opposite effects on your body.
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    Hi there!

    First of all, people should feel comfortable asking whatever questions they want, new or repeated as they might be. This journey is hard enough as it is. I believe that if the question is annoying to you, skip and move on to a question you haven't read over and over.

    Secondly, coffee is not counted as water. Only count water as water (including flavour infusions such as MiO and Crystal Light).

    Because coffee will actually dehydrate you, it has the opposite effect of water.

    Hope this helps!

    Hi!! :):):)

    so we can't comment on dead horse threads anymore..?
  • ndj1979
    ndj1979 Posts: 29,136 Member
    i count vodka as water....
  • Peejer2001
    Peejer2001 Posts: 18 Member
    Agreed the caffeine in coffee negates the liquid benefit of being able to count as water!
  • ajbltn
    ajbltn Posts: 57
    For me, ONLY water is water. Everything else isn't water lol
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
    Agreed the caffeine in coffee negates the liquid benefit of being able to count as water!

    No. I really don't understand why people still believe this stupid myth.

    You would need to drink 5-7 cups of coffee for the caffeine to start dehydrating you. Even than it's a VERY small amount that it dehydrates you.
  • fatboy235
    fatboy235 Posts: 147 Member
    I log coffee seperate normally in my note section at the bottom of the food diary page. Normally for me it's 24-32 oz plain black cofee. Then I drink water the rest of the day.
  • Talaysen
    Talaysen Posts: 4 Member
    water is water
    coffee and tea are not. they are diuretics.

    Right bro, right? You drinkin' that protein bro? Gotta feed the body, bro. Gotta feed the mind, bro.

    Anyways. Misinformation = 'Bro Science'. It's frowned upon.

    "It is commonly believed that both tea and coffee are diuretics, because of their caffeine content. However, recent studies show that caffeine is no more diuretic than water when consumed in moderation. The exact amount needed to act as a mild diuretic varies, but would be some around 5-7 cups of coffee - with regular drinkers developing a higher tolerance."

    The water in coffee is still chemically water (it hasn't changed, I assure you).
    The water in tea is still chemically water (it also hasn't changed), despite there being additional elements there.

    You log the coffee to account for the calories and negligible amount of sodium, and log the water separately.
    8 oz. of coffee should equal ~7.99998 oz. of water, unless you need a knife and fork for yours, which seems odd.
    Same goes for tea, log the tea bag, bump your water up by one.

    Everything should be accounted for, if you want to add it to your hydration, that's fine.
    That hydration doesn't affect your daily goals, it's really just there to remind you to drink more water if you aren't drinking enough, you don't have to fret about it in the long run.

    I can't comment on soda, as I don't drink it. I do rarely drink beer, which I log and don't consider to be 'water'.
    Use your common sense and do what works for you, try to avoid the inane responses on here, many of them are well-intentioned but full of misinformation.

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