Are You Drinking Too Much Water?

IsabeausRose
IsabeausRose Posts: 129 Member
edited November 21 in Food and Nutrition
As a dieter I naturally increased my water intake when I decided to change to a healthier lifestyle. I drank to rehydrate after working out, I drank to stay full between meals, and I just love my coffee so I drank that in addition to my water too. Before I knew it I was drinking water all the time and visiting the restroom about every 15 to 20 minutes. To this point I have maxed out on drinking a gallon of water and a pot of coffee on top of it a day. When I mentioned to my Dad as a side comment about my water intake he told me about hyponatremia/water intoxication which comes from drinking too much water. He told me to look it up and read about it. So I followed his advice (I wish I could post some links but I am on my phone) and what I found out frightened me enough that I am now going to be cutting back on my water consumption. If your urine is clear you are drinking too much. I just had to put an alert out there because I know there are many that are drinking water in overdrive like I have done.

Replies

  • fr33sia12
    fr33sia12 Posts: 1,258 Member
    Remember if you eat a lot of fruit and veg they contain a lot of water too. I drink about a litre a day, then add coffee & fruit & veg to that so I feel that's fine for me. I very rarely feel thirsty so often have to force myself to drink more too.
  • IsabeausRose
    IsabeausRose Posts: 129 Member
    Oh sure I calculated that and that number sounds really reasonable thank you!
  • ninerbuff
    ninerbuff Posts: 48,992 Member
    The diet and fitness industry perpetuates drinking water in large amounts all the time. You see "bros" carrying around gallon jugs in the gym.
    The reality is that the body is good at absorbing water from everything we consume. Personally, I think that drinking 50 ounces of plain water a day, should be enough for most people in the general population.

    A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
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    Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition
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  • CMNVA
    CMNVA Posts: 733 Member
    Agree. There is some bad info out there about fluid intake. Coffee and tea and all foods count toward your fluid intake. Used to be people thought coffee and tea did not count as the caffeine has a slight diuretic effect; however, I have read many things that state while they do have a slight diuretic effect it is not an ounce-for-ounce loss of fluid. So 8 ounces of coffee might equate to 7 ounces of water.

    The only thing that does not count are alcoholic beverages. Their diuretic effect combined with the alcohol, do not contribute to your fluid levels.

    I drink 3 20 oz. mugs of tea per day and maybe another 16 ounces of water. I'm sure I could do a little better but I'm not a fan of spending my day in the ladies room at work.
  • earlnabby
    earlnabby Posts: 8,171 Member
    It is really hard to drink too much water unless you sweat a lot and don't replace the electrolytes. The average person really doesn't have to worry. If you are concerned, check out the symptoms and be aware of them.

    On the other hand, drinking a lot more than your body needs does not help. They always say to watch your urine color and if it is colorless, you might want to consider scaling back on the water.

    There is a huge middle ground between not drinking enough and drinking too much. Find your happy place and hang out there. Mine is two 1 liter bottles of seltzer (I use a home Sodastream) plus whatever coffee, fruit, etc. I have during the day.
  • GottaBurnEmAll
    GottaBurnEmAll Posts: 7,722 Member
    I have low level hyponatremia from a medication, and the same medication also gives me dry mouth/thirst. It's a balancing act.

    It takes a lot to get to the point where hyponatremia is an emergency, there are people on medications who live with it.

    Just wanted to put that out there.

    That being said, I do drink when I'm thirsty, use salt freely (with my doctor's blessing) and go by the color of my urine.

    Things seem to be just fine.
  • xvolution
    xvolution Posts: 721 Member
    Patsycervantes wrote: »
    They say drink half your body weight in ounces. So if you weigh 100lbs drink 50ounces of water.

    That's the rule I stick to and my doctor gave it a happy thumbs up

    I'd say it would be closer to half your ideal body weight, cause that would be making some of the heavier people out there drink close to a gallon and a half of water per day. I usually just follow the "drink when you're thirsty" rule, which puts my daily fluid intake around 48 oz (around 1oz for every 6 pounds of body weight). Seems to be working just fine for me.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,250 Member
    edited August 2017
    melissa4music wrote: »
    I dont think ther3 is such thing as drinking TO MUCH water is there? Lol

    Um, yes? That's the whole point of this thread. Overhydration is potentially deadly.


    Having said that, I drink 5-6 litres a day, plus herbal tea.
  • ktekc
    ktekc Posts: 879 Member
    melissa4music wrote: »
    I dont think ther3 is such thing as drinking TO MUCH water is there? Lol

    yep. . people have died from water poisoning. .ie. hyponatremia.
  • MeanderingMammal
    MeanderingMammal Posts: 7,866 Member
    melissa4music wrote: »
    I dont think ther3 is such thing as drinking TO MUCH water is there? Lol

    It is possible, essentially the condition that the originator talks about is where an excess of water starts to flush essential minerals out of the system.

    That said, 4 liters of water per day isn't enough to create a risk, unless there is something else like medication mentioned above.

    It's a condition that endurance athletes are more at risk of, as loss of minerals in sweat tends to exacerbate it. So running a 50K and drinking perhaps 8 litres might increase risk. It's one of the reasons that many endurance athletes consume salt tablets or mineral enhanced drinks. Personally for a marathon I'll plan on 1litre of enhanced and 1 litre of plain water, for a 50k add another 500ml of water on top of that.
  • crackpotbaby
    crackpotbaby Posts: 1,297 Member
    Chronic hyponatremia is different from acute hyponatremia.

    A person may have chronic low sodium secondary to things like certain medications or kidney dysfunction. They could sit with a sodium level of say, 115 (a *critical* lab value) and be 'okay'. They may be largely asymptomatic and easy to treat to a more acceptable but offen still low sodium level, of maybe 125ish.

    ............

    A person who has acute hyponatremia from maybe taking ecstasy and then drinking 5-7 litres of water over an hour or two might also have a sodium level of 115 due to the dilutant effect of the excessive water intake.

    As water follows salt and the salt concentration is greater now on the brain side of the blood brain barrier than the blood side.

    Water filtrates via osmosis to the brain. Swelling ensues.

    The progression, without treatment is generally nausea, seizure, coma, death.

    ..............

    For MOST people drinking about 2-3 litres a day is suitable. Others may require more or less depending on medical requirements and level of activity, climate etc.
  • OliveGirl128
    OliveGirl128 Posts: 801 Member
    melissa4music wrote: »
    I dont think ther3 is such thing as drinking TO MUCH water is there? Lol

    People have died from it.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    If you're going every 20 minutes all day, you're likely getting way more than 1 gallon a day+1 pot of coffee. Over 16 hours of daylight, I normally get about 6 liters, and don't have to go to the "dehydration station" more than about hourly.
  • MoveitlikeManda
    MoveitlikeManda Posts: 846 Member
    I drink around a 2lt bottle of water a day ( I say around because some days I will finish it some day there will be a bit left), plus coffees which come out to anything between 1.5lts - 3lts depending on how many I have that day.

    I drink to thirst, and have never really thought about drinking too much or too little tbh, I never let my self get over thirsty and dont drink extra for the sake of getting more water.

  • DX2JX2
    DX2JX2 Posts: 1,921 Member
    It's less about total volume of water and more about how quickly you drink that water. General conventional wisdom seems to say to limit your water drinking to no more than 30 ounces per hour on average. That's quite a bit.
  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    DX2JX2 wrote: »
    It's less about total volume of water and more about how quickly you drink that water. General conventional wisdom seems to say to limit your water drinking to no more than 30 ounces per hour on average. That's quite a bit.

    1. That's really high.
    2. That's absolutely correct.
    3. Setting the goal(plan) at 8-15 with a hard limit of 30 is optimal.


    Going over 30 for consecutive hours(3-5) without exertion and supplementation of electrolytes begins to put you at risk..
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