Why drink 8 cups of water to lose weight?

I have written two posts on this very subject on my blog. Please read and enjoy!

http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/2011/01/lets-be-clear-or-at-least-light-yellow.html

and

http://fitnesswithnatalie.blogspot.com/p/fitness-by-numbers.html

The magic number 8 was discredited a few months ago. It stemmed from a study from the 50s, I believe (I could be wrong on the decade!).

Thanks!

I've always heard that you need to drink more than 8 glasses, actually. It's half of your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 150 you should be drinking 75 ounces, and so on. But water has so many great benefits! If you don't believe it, just try drinking your 8+ glasses for one week and see the difference in the way that you feel, and the way that your skin looks.

The main reason water helps with losing weight is because the more water you drink the less hungry you feel, therefore the less you eat.

If you drink a full glass of water at a meal you will not eat as much as the water give you that full feeling. The good thing about it is the water contains no carbs, fat, sodium, calories and etc. So you are getting full on essentially nothing. Also yes it is good for your kidneys, for flushing out your system and so on.

The more water you drink the less you eat and that equals less weight for you.

I think you are supposed to drink one ounce for every two pounds of body weight. So...if you weigh 200 pounds, drink 100 ounces of water. So, according to this you may need to drink even more than the 8 8 oz. glasses. Here is a web page that talks about the benefits of water.

http://www.weightlossforall.com/benefits-water-drinking.htm#b

The body is one big compensatory machine.
It is constantly trying to maintain homeostasis to keep itself in balance.
So, if it is dehydrated, it will hold onto water.
Therefore, the more you drink, the more it will "feel free" to excrete the extra fliuds.
The exceptions to this are chronic diseases like congestive heart failure, kindey failure etc...

sometimes when i drink a lot of water it makes me even more thirsty. What up with that?

Diabetes?

sometimes when i drink a lot of water it makes me even more thirsty. What up with that?

I am the same way. It is like the more I drink, the more I crave. By the way, I am definitely NOT diabetic.

way to scare the %#*@ out of me! Its more like my mouth gets dryer anyways. I would assume because im constantly flushing the saliva out.

Sorry.
No, drinking more should produce more saliva not less.
I agree somewhat with the spicy/salty food theory.
I could post links about dry mouth but you can look them up yourself if you're really curious.

- drinking Cold water actually uses more calories because your body try to match up with the water temperature

I agree with the 8 cups a day thing is an old study they've backed away from. I also read in the same article that this quote above isn't true. Not sure who to believe, just wanted to bring it to everyone's attention. I think the overall benefit to water is flushing your cells & keeping you hydrated. Dehydration causes a lot of problems in the cardiovascular & neurological systems; it affects your skin, vital organs, eyes...every part of your body. Water is one of the most important things necessary for survival. How much you drink depends upon level of activity, air temperature & your own body. Drink enough that you don't feel thirsty and know that sometimes when you think you are hungry, your body is really requesting water.

My source for this information. I say it's valid:

For a higher metabolism Throughout the day (8 ounces each time) A German study found that drinking 50 ounces of cold water can help you burn up to an extra 50 calories per day--that's 5 pounds per year--without exercising. Experts think the metabolism boost is due to the extra effort needed to raise the water's temperature to 98.6°F.

from WATER: The best times to drink. By: McVeigh, Gloria, Prevention, 00328006, May2007, Vol. 59, Issue 5

In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, scientists reported that drinking just over two cups (not glasses) of cold water on an empty stomach boosted metabolism by 30%, an effect that peaked 30-40 minutes after consumption and lasted more than an hour. That may not sound so impressive until you consider that, if you drank half a liter (about two cups) of cold water before breakfast, lunch and dinner every day for a year, you'd burn (according to the researchers' estimate) 17,400 extra calories, which translates into a little more than five pounds of fat. Just by drinking cold water.

from WATERED DOWN. By: Brown, Jordana, Flex, 87508915, May2007, Vol. 25, Issue 3