How Much Water Is Too Much?

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victoire713
victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I drink a lot of water. usually up to 15-18 8oz cups a day. Some days it's 21 8oz glasses a day. When is it just too much?
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  • Of_Monsters_and_Meat
    Of_Monsters_and_Meat Posts: 1,022 Member
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    That does seem like a lot of water. being that thirsty all the time is a sign of some medical conditions. You should really get some blood work done. Like soon.. real soon.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    It's Not How Much You Drink, It's How Fast You Drink It!

    The kidneys of a healthy adult can process fifteen liters of water a day! You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication, even if you drink a lot of water, as long as you drink over time as opposed to intaking an enormous volume at one time. As a general guideline, most adults need about three quarts of fluid each day. Much of that water comes from food, so 8-12 eight ounce glasses a day is a common recommended intake. You may need more water if the weather is very warm or very dry, if you are exercising, or if you are taking certain medications. The bottom line is this: it's possible to drink too much water, but unless you are running a marathon or an infant, water intoxication is a very uncommon condition.

    ETA: Agreed with the previous poster. If you are drinking that much water because you are truly thirsty, you should visit a doctor.
  • heatherlynneee
    heatherlynneee Posts: 2 Member
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    You are supposed to drink half of your body weight in ounces throughout the day. For example, I weigh around 160lbs so I drink 80 ounces of water a day. I drink 20 oz when I wakeup, 20 oz before I leave for work, 20 oz while at work, and 20 oz when I come home. You don't have to follow this, but drinking TOO much water is just going to become a nuisance because you will be using the bathroom every 10 minutes! Hope this helps :)
  • myplacetohide
    myplacetohide Posts: 25 Member
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    Reality: There is NO scientific data that shows you actually need a specific amount of water daily. In fact, there IS scientific data correlating our heavy water intakes with kidney overloads however.

    Research people!!!

    ***The Mayo Clinic's recommendation is "If you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or light yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate."
  • LuvlyBayGirl
    LuvlyBayGirl Posts: 7 Member
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    If you are drinking that much water because you are thirsty, I would talk to a Dr. Excessive thirst can be a sign of Diabetes. Not trying to scare you. That is one of the reasons I talked to my dr who ordered a blood test. I was drinking soooo much water.
  • timrpm
    timrpm Posts: 57 Member
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    You are supposed to drink half of your body weight in ounces throughout the day. For example, I weigh around 160lbs so I drink 80 ounces of water a day. I drink 20 oz when I wakeup, 20 oz before I leave for work, 20 oz while at work, and 20 oz when I come home. You don't have to follow this, but drinking TOO much water is just going to become a nuisance because you will be using the bathroom every 10 minutes! Hope this helps :)

    As someone else has pointed out, this is mythology. http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg21929310.700-health-myths-drink-eight-glasses-of-water-per-day.html
  • victoire713
    victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
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    So basically there is no wrong or right amount of water to intake a day? I usually get these amounts from 20oz Gatorade g2 bottles. I recycle. I live in Colorado, and it's been pretty dry up here(even when it snows it seems dry). But I'm always still thirsty.
  • ronellevan
    ronellevan Posts: 44
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    The amount of water you should drink also depends on your salt (and other minerals) intake.
    Your body needs to be isotonic-balanced and will do what it can to stay that way. What you eat and drink impacts that.

    I eat a lot of salt, so I drink a lot of water to counter it.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    There is no real scientific proof that drinking 8 glasses of water a day is a key to weight loss or health, in fact I remember reading that it may have been something Evian actually invented when they started bottling water. You can however, as others have pointed out, cause Kidney failure by drinking way too much and I think there's been a few marathon runners who have died from over hydration and getting their sodium levels dangerously low but not a single case of dying from dehydration in a race (correct me if I'm wrong)

    However if you drink excessive amounts of fluids because you're always thirsty you may need to see a doctor to be safe, I'm not sure what Gatorade is (I'm British) but if it's a type of pop (sugary or artificially sweetened) I would seriously consider cutting that down (or even out) and replacing with water.

    EDIT . Okay I just looked up Gatorade which seems to be marketed as a sports drink like Lucozade in the UK, and G2 is the lower cal version? However you're still consuming 400 cals a day alone with this, and believe me if it's similar to Lucozade this stuff is less healthy than it purports. Please try to cut this drastically down or out hun xxxx
  • bobbijodmb
    bobbijodmb Posts: 463 Member
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    I read that you are supposed to drink half your weight in oz of water. So if you weighed 100 lbs, 50 oz~ 200 lbs, 100 oz.

    I try to follow that rule.

    And then I add more in with running
  • emmaelisenl
    emmaelisenl Posts: 39 Member
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    However if you drink excessive amounts of fluids because you're always thirsty you may need to see a doctor to be safe, I'm not sure what Gatorade is (I'm British) but if it's a type of pop (sugary or artificially sweetened) I would seriously consider cutting that down (or even out) and replacing with water.

    EDIT . Okay I just looked up Gatorade which seems to be marketed as a sports drink like Lucozade in the UK, and G2 is the lower cal version? However you're still consuming 400 cals a day alone with this, and believe me if it's similar to Lucozade this stuff is less healthy than it purports. Please try to cut this drastically down or out hun xxxx

    Didn't she say she recycled the bottles, so she's just filling up the empty bottles with water? That's what I thought she said :)

    I drink 8-10 glasses of water and have stopped drinking soda etc. I now have 1 coke at parties etc so I've had about 1 coke a week the last month but this month I don't have any parties so no coke for me. It feels great to have finally stopped drinking calories.
  • animatorswearbras
    animatorswearbras Posts: 1,001 Member
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    However if you drink excessive amounts of fluids because you're always thirsty you may need to see a doctor to be safe, I'm not sure what Gatorade is (I'm British) but if it's a type of pop (sugary or artificially sweetened) I would seriously consider cutting that down (or even out) and replacing with water.

    EDIT . Okay I just looked up Gatorade which seems to be marketed as a sports drink like Lucozade in the UK, and G2 is the lower cal version? However you're still consuming 400 cals a day alone with this, and believe me if it's similar to Lucozade this stuff is less healthy than it purports. Please try to cut this drastically down or out hun xxxx

    Didn't she say she recycled the bottles, so she's just filling up the empty bottles with water? That's what I thought she said :)

    I drink 8-10 glasses of water and have stopped drinking soda etc. I now have 1 coke at parties etc so I've had about 1 coke a week the last month but this month I don't have any parties so no coke for me. It feels great to have finally stopped drinking calories.

    Sorry OP I must have misread :P
  • _Zardoz_
    _Zardoz_ Posts: 3,987 Member
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    Your body has a perfectly good method of telling you if you need water. It's called thirst. Drink if your thirsty. Around 75% of our food is actually consists of water. if your going to the toilet a lot you're drinking too much. The idea of drinking before your thirsty has actually been thrown out. In the 80s this was the advice from various sports bodies they have now reversed this advice due to the increase of hyponatremia specifically in endurance athletes. The 8 glasses of water a day idea is actually a myth (pushed by a mineral water company) and just a number plucked out of thin air. Think about how can a 300 pound man need the same amount of water as a 110 pound woman? it makes no sense.

    Unless it's hot (which it really insn't now I'll happily run 90 minutes to 2 hours without water with no adverse effects. As long as you hydrate at the end these sort of times should cause no problems. I frequently hear of people drinking loads just to run a 5k this water thing just seems to have gone totally out of control

    I remember reading a post a few months back with someone trying to drink silly amounts of water and they then wondered why when they ran 3 miles they needed to stop 3 times to go to the toilet!! The one main thing that people need to do which seriously seems to be lacking around the water issue is use some Common sense.
  • nomeejerome
    nomeejerome Posts: 2,616 Member
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    OP:
    Did you ever go to the doctor to get this resolved?

    http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/999884-how-do-i-lose-excess-water-weight
  • victoire713
    victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
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    No I haven't. I figure if they(the place where I go to the doctor) don't give appointments within the month for stuff that seems unurgent(like the excess water weight, extreme thirst thing), but they let others unlike myself(those who are extremely ill or pregnant) have appointments ahead of me, then what's the point of getting a doctors' appointment? Esp if all I'm going to be doing is waiting around for the appointment date to roll around.
  • craftywitch_63
    craftywitch_63 Posts: 829 Member
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    Reality: There is NO scientific data that shows you actually need a specific amount of water daily. In fact, there IS scientific data correlating our heavy water intakes with kidney overloads however.

    Research people!!!

    ***The Mayo Clinic's recommendation is "If you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or light yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate."

    Excessive water intake also leads to hyponatremia (low salt) which can cause confusion, irritability, coma, etc. Diabetes can ccause excessive thirst, for instance. You should probably have it checked.
  • Dewymorning
    Dewymorning Posts: 762 Member
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    No I haven't. I figure if they(the place where I go to the doctor) don't give appointments within the month for stuff that seems unurgent(like the excess water weight, extreme thirst thing), but they let others unlike myself(those who are extremely ill or pregnant) have appointments ahead of me, then what's the point of getting a doctors' appointment? Esp if all I'm going to be doing is waiting around for the appointment date to roll around.

    I hope you haven't cancelled your appointment and are just waiting for it to happen.

    Sorry, it can be annoying, but those darn babies will insist on coming early sometimes.
  • victoire713
    victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
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    I never made the appointment. They make me wait 2 months out just to get in, even if I say it's urgent. They just tell me to get in back of the line like every other "non-urgent" visit. Crazy people. Say they want to help u and they turn around and don't. It's dumb.
  • serindipte
    serindipte Posts: 1,557 Member
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    I never made the appointment. They make me wait 2 months out just to get in, even if I say it's urgent. They just tell me to get in back of the line like every other "non-urgent" visit. Crazy people. Say they want to help u and they turn around and don't. It's dumb.

    Is there only one doctor's office in your town? No walk in clinics? Even assuming these thing are true and that office is your only option, if you'd just made the appointment then you'd have already been seen given the time that's passed since your original posting about excessive water weight.
  • victoire713
    victoire713 Posts: 720 Member
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    It's the only place in my town that takes my insurance. So yea they would still make me wait instead of taking me in right away or giving me an appointment that was more appropriately made to the point of it being closer to the day that I had it scheduled. If that makes any sense.

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