Why SO MUCH WATER!

Hi

short story. when you burn calories is like when you burned wood. There are "ashes" leftover. You need water to flush the "ashes"

I hope it helps

Drinking more water does not make you "gain" weight. Not drinking enough can cause water retention which will show as a gain, but it's not a fat gain, so not a big deal. Weighing yourself before and after workouts will show a difference of course - on a good run on a hot day I can come home several pounds lighter, but it is right back as soon as I rehydrate. Not a big deal.

Don't let the scale mess with your head. Daily fluctuations of a few pounds are completely normal and can be from various causes. If these fluctuations bug ya, don't weigh daily, but once a week or ever other week, and watch the overall trend. And get a good tape measure - much better way to see your progress anyway - measurements and photos will show progress while the scale is busy messing with your head.

As for why so much water - 8 cups a day is a general guideline. Drink when you're thirsty, and pay attention to pee color - if it's dark yellow, you need more water. Pale yellow, you're fine.

The reason that you'll want to hear is that drinking lots of water increases your metabolic rate and consequently the number of calories you'll burn in a day.

short story. when you burn calories is like when you burned wood. There are "ashes" leftover. You need water to flush the "ashes"

Two of many good reasons. Love the "ashes" analogy! :flowerforyou:

Hello All,

I just wanted to know the reasoning behind 8 cups of water a day. I don't like to drink water but I've been trying to make myself drink it. Yesterday morning I worked out and was happy with my weighin of 244.4 (first time in weeks I broke 245) Then I calculated my calories and made sure to drink 8 glasses of water. When I woke up this morning and weighed myself I was pissed off when I weighed 247.4! I was really discouraged. I ended up completing another cardio work out about 2 hours later and when I weighed myself after I was 245.2. I think drinking all that water inflated my weight and after going hard in the gym I lost most of it. My question is this, why force myself to drink 8 cups of water? Based on the math I found 8 cups of water is approx 4 pounds. I wasn't hungry when I drunk the water, I was just doing it because I thought it is what I'm suppose to do to lose weight but I don't want to keep adding water weight just to sweat it out.

I hate to burst your bubble, but 64oz ( 8 glasses) of water is not a lot. For a man of your size, you actually need closer to 122oz a day to be properly hydrated. A good rule of thumb is to take your weight, divide by two, and that is the number of ounces you need to drink per day.

I had kidney stones a few years ago, and I was not much lighter than you are now. I was 228lbs when I checked into the hospital for my surgeries. As part of my treatment, my urologist did many tests, including a 48 hour urine test. He discovered that I needed a GALLON of water a day to be properly hydrated.

Since my kidney stones, I have lost almost 40lbs...but I still aim for a gallon of water a day. Today I have had a quart of water, 2 quarts of gatorade G2, and 18oz of coffee. Before I go to bed, I am going to try to finish another quart.

Hydration when working out and sweating. Flushing the toxins out. Helps when I eat too much sodium and am retaining water. I'm weird and like to weigh myself everyday in the morning and at night just to see how much it changes. I fluctuate 3 to 4 lbs during the day. Sometimes I dont like drinking straight water so I get the flavor packets and that makes it easier to meet my water intake goal.

There's a lot of mythology around water intake but basically, it fills you up and it's better for you than beer or a soda. A lot of Eastern diets involve drinking thin soups before meals and it has much the same effect.

Wow, that was a lot of crap science all in one thread.

You need to drink enough water for your urine to be pale yellow. You get a lot of fluids from the food you eat (an apple is 85% water) so depending on your diet you may get quite a bit there. All fluids help hydrate you, soups, coffee, tea, juice, milk, etc. It doesn't have to be guzzling water.

Water doesn't flush out fat or toxins. Your liver and kidneys filter the "toxins" and they are excreted. Doesn't matter if you are peeing orange pee or you've had so much to drink it looks like straight water coming back out. If you exercise and sweat a lot you probably need to rehydrate but the urine color test is your best way to check if you are hydrated enough not some broscience on half your body weight in water or any of the other silliness.

If your urine is dark that means you're not getting enough water in you, so I guess it varies from person to person depending on mass/height.

I go by the above wisdom, as told by my spousal unit's urologist. "If you're peeing light yellow or clear, you're good; if you're peeing dark yellow, drink water."
If your diet contains a lot of sodium (as most American diets do), the water retention factor will happen to you. And high sodium diets need lots of water to help your body flush all that excess sodium. If your diet is more in the 1000-700mg (or less) of sodium, you don't need as much water. If your diet includes lots of green vegetables and whole fruit, you will get quite a bit of water in the food.
I personally only drink as much as I need to keep a light yellow to clear urine stream. That's a lot easier than forcing way more fluid than I need.

... I think I read on here that you ideally want to net 0 for your calorie deficit or your body will not lose weight. Is this true?

Eat when you're hungry but no need to force-feed yourself to get to a certain number. If you're not hungry, don't eat. If you maintain this activity, you will naturally eat more; just make it nutritious food and you'll be good. Don't focus so much on the numbers. You don't sound like you're having much fun.

because we need water to function and survive. I do not understand people who complain about drinking water.

If you're thirsty, drink. If you're hungry but don't think you should be, drink. Thirst sometimes masks as hunger. If your pee is orange, drink more. I couldn't tell you how much I drink during the day. It's not a gallon, I can guarantee you that.

Hello All,

I just wanted to know the reasoning behind 8 cups of water a day. I don't like to drink water but I've been trying to make myself drink it. Yesterday morning I worked out and was happy with my weighin of 244.4 (first time in weeks I broke 245) Then I calculated my calories and made sure to drink 8 glasses of water. When I woke up this morning and weighed myself I was pissed off when I weighed 247.4! I was really discouraged. I ended up completing another cardio work out about 2 hours later and when I weighed myself after I was 245.2. I think drinking all that water inflated my weight and after going hard in the gym I lost most of it. My question is this, why force myself to drink 8 cups of water? Based on the math I found 8 cups of water is approx 4 pounds. I wasn't hungry when I drunk the water, I was just doing it because I thought it is what I'm suppose to do to lose weight but I don't want to keep adding water weight just to sweat it out.

You don't always need to drink that much water no. In fact several recent studies show no benefits at all of drinking that much water, one was a nice study where all stationary bike riders got fluids through IV so nobody could tell how much water they were getting, and no performance differences were noted in the "adequately hydrated" group. Really, if you take some sips of water while exercising, drink whenever you are thirsty, drink water instead of soda, and your urine isn't darkened, that's all you really need to do. Too much water actually can reduce performance, and if its enough in one sitting (before your body can eliminate it) its actually detrimental, so definitely don't sit around and force yourself to drink the water just because you "drank 2 cups today and I have 6 cups left" or something.

The issue of your weight above though after a workout you should expect, and is not really a problem because your muscles will always absorb some water weight after a workout (depending on the amount of inflammation due to your workout intensity) and then reduce later. And you will always weigh less after you sweat like crazy in a workout, and regain some when you rehydrate. I wouldn't weigh yourself so often either, it will just frustrate you, I'm right around where you are and know from experience Once/wk is enough, same day, same time in relation to your workouts and same time in the morning is best, just after you get up. I can fluctuate several pounds easily throughout the day.

I don't like to drink water but I've been trying to make myself drink it.

I think drinking all that water inflated my weight and after going hard in the gym I lost most of it.

Hey,

Depends on the glass size - I have 2 or 3 litres a day if that's any help. You don't have to drink it plain. Add tea & coffee (no extra cals), or concentrated fruit juice, sugar and additives (soda), fat and protein (milk) - or have it sparkling. Just log the extra cals.

Your body will always keep roughly the same percentage of water in it so don't worry. It's not fat and you won't 'hold on' to it.

and what do you think carries the toxins out? The water ( and other fluids) dilute and "flush" the toxins out.

In my case, the amount of water is NOT broscience. My doctor spent several months doing 24 and 48 hour urine tests to determine the correct amount of water for me. I thought it was rather interesting that it happened to be 1/2 my body weight in ounces. At 64oz, I was still dehydrated according to my urine tests.

Ok, so you are a special snowflake that needs a set amount of water. Maybe you only eat a lot of dry foods or you sweat excessively. Anyway, if you drank less of water your body would still carry out the horrid toxins (still not sure where people are ingesting all these toxins) , your urine would just be more concentrated.

and what do you think carries the toxins out? The water ( and other fluids) dilute and "flush" the toxins out.

In my case, the amount of water is NOT broscience. My doctor spent several months doing 24 and 48 hour urine tests to determine the correct amount of water for me. I thought it was rather interesting that it happened to be 1/2 my body weight in ounces. At 64oz, I was still dehydrated according to my urine tests.

Ok, so you are a special snowflake that needs a set amount of water. Maybe you only eat a lot of dry foods or you sweat excessively. Anyway, if you drank less of water your body would still carry out the horrid toxins (still not sure where people are ingesting all these toxins) , your urine would just be more concentrated.

Never said I was a special snowflake...but I did have medical testing done every 3-6 months for 2 years. When I drank 64oz, my urine was pale, yet my urine output was too low. The mineral concentration was high enough to promote stone formation.

The reason I told my story is that at that time in my life, I was only about 15lbs lighter than OP.