!!!Gallon of Water a Day for Two Weeks, GAINED weight !!!
Replies
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I realize why people think that calorie counting isn't sustainable, but this is true only if you believe that eating at maintenance is intuitive, which is an outright fallacy.
I'm not sure why the resistance to tracking, especially with the advent of smartphone and apps ala MFP. It takes minutes a day to log this.
...and I get the IF guys - at least those it works for, but overall it seems a great deal of risk and uncertainty. This would be akin to managing finances, but never tracking expenses and not spending any money over certain days/times. Further complicated by not tracking income and expecting the balance to remain stable or increase.
I also note that those successful with IF spend a greater amount of time exercising, risk mitigation to ensure a caloric deficit due to uncertainty.
Erm...
Disagree with the sweeping statements presented. Careful with using the word "only" as it excludes any other possible solutions!!
I don't track my food and can maintain my weight or lose weight just fine - but I can't do that and eat intuitively.
My intuitive eating level is a surplus and has been just about the whole of my adult life.
But I can and do eat mindfully and keep my overall calorie balance in mind. I found food tracking during the period of my main weight loss educational and useful but at maintenance or when correcting a weight drift for me it's just not necessary. People can be calorie aware without counting.
Logging food for me is unsustainable as it provides no benefit to me. That it provides a benefit to many others is clearly obvious but irrelevant to my personal choices.
It's not as black and white as you suggest of tracking calories OR intuitive eating, there are other options which work for some people, not just mindful eating either. But I must say the OP is picking some very strange and not at all surprisingly ineffective other options! Picking options which actually influence calorie intake would be better choices.14 -
Focus less on the weight and do body measurements. They are more accurate. Still weigh sometimes but don’t rely on the scale.
You should stick to 64 to 100oz of water and don’t go any higher. You don’t need any more than that. Whether or not a gallon is good varies from person to person. From what I’ve read it might be too much for you.
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girlwithcurls2 wrote: »I stopped reading at “water challenge.” 🙄
Straight up, that's rude. Instead of offering up something you've learned on your journey to someone who is clearly new to all of this, your 1st goto response is to be sarcastic?
The responses to this post are why I rarely offer up anying in the forums. The lack of consideration for meeting people where they're at is disappointing to say the least. Folks seem more interested in "disagreeing with each other, and showing how much they know than being understanding and sensitive towards one another.
At the risk of being that guy: ----> I see more ppl disagreed with my post than any other which I find interesting. I have competed at the National level in 2 sports, was a University Champion Wrestler, Coach a Provincial team (10 years now), and have worked with nutritionists, sport Psychologists, and the best of coaches and Drs for literally 2/3 of my life. Hence, not my 1st rodeo...
If you have something to offer the OP, by all means do so, but please be considerate to one another. If you have issues, with what I posted, buy all means correct me in a DM so that I might learn from your experience, or call your concerns out publicly if you have that need.18 -
unstableunicorn wrote: »Reading through, I have a couple thoughts.
1) Water retention is definitely at play. If you feel uncomfortable from the amount you’re drinking, pull back a little & do some trial-and-error until you find a comfortable intake.
2) 6lbs, especially in a short amount of time, can be a sign of food still digesting or constipation. Are either of these a possibiltiy in this case?
3) High levels of sodium and over exertion result in water retention. Ease up a little on both.
4) You may just be building muscle mass. When I was swimming & jogging miltiple times a day a few years ago I developed crazy muscle mass in my legs. That’ll bump up the scale pretty quickly.
5) If you believe fat stores are at play, start measuring calorie-dense foods such as dairy & meat. It means a little extra effort, but not as much as logging every little thing. If you’re still gaining, log fully. More often than not people *think* they know how many calories they’re consuming, only to discover they’ve been eating substantially more.
TL;DR: Use common sense. If it isn’t working, adjust until it does.unstableunicorn wrote: »Reading through, I have a couple thoughts.
1) Water retention is definitely at play. If you feel uncomfortable from the amount you’re drinking, pull back a little & do some trial-and-error until you find a comfortable intake.
2) 6lbs, especially in a short amount of time, can be a sign of food still digesting or constipation. Are either of these a possibiltiy in this case?
3) High levels of sodium and over exertion result in water retention. Ease up a little on both.
4) You may just be building muscle mass. When I was swimming & jogging miltiple times a day a few years ago I developed crazy muscle mass in my legs. That’ll bump up the scale pretty quickly.
5) If you believe fat stores are at play, start measuring calorie-dense foods such as dairy & meat. It means a little extra effort, but not as much as logging every little thing. If you’re still gaining, log fully. More often than not people *think* they know how many calories they’re consuming, only to discover they’ve been eating substantially more.
TL;DR: Use common sense. If it isn’t working, adjust until it does.
I had to give you a hug for this one! Multiple solutions that I can see myself taking advantage of.
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11Templars wrote: »girlwithcurls2 wrote: »I stopped reading at “water challenge.” 🙄
Straight up, that's rude. Instead of offering up something you've learned on your journey to someone who is clearly new to all of this, your 1st goto response is to be sarcastic?
The responses to this post are why I rarely offer up anying in the forums. The lack of consideration for meeting people where they're at is disappointing to say the least. Folks seem more interested in "disagreeing with each other, and showing how much they know than being understanding and sensitive towards one another.
At the risk of being that guy: ----> I see more ppl disagreed with my post than any other which I find interesting. I have competed at the National level in 2 sports, was a University Champion Wrestler, Coach a Provincial team (10 years now), and have worked with nutritionists, sport Psychologists, and the best of coaches and Drs for literally 2/3 of my life. Hence, not my 1st rodeo...
If you have something to offer the OP, by all means do so, but please be considerate to one another. If you have issues, with what I posted, buy all means correct me in a DM so that I might learn from your experience, or call your concerns out publicly if you have that need.
You are awesome. I love the way you gracefully put them in their place. I simply came here for advice, not scorn, and most certainly not to be made to feel like I am the only one who is looking for different options to adopt to suit their weight management journey. If you have something of value to offer up, by all means, but have some respect because MFP is a supportive community. I am not new to weight loss or MFP. Just trying to find a way of life I can adhere to for the long term.
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Remember, the part of the body that retains water is fat. Adipose tissue is what stores water, and for those of us that have a bit extra of fat, it will store water. But, if you eat a keto based diet, continue doing the IF, and do some light resistance (dumbbells, kettlebells, barbells) with light weight and high rep, you will burn off the fat. Mostly from the diet, but also exercise. The key is to engage more muscle tissue because that will require a lot more energy (stored bodyfat) than steady state cardio. If you also do HIIT twice per week, you can eliminate the steady state cardio completely and use the other three or four days for lifting. I use the Body Beast routine with light weights and that works well for me. Every time I combine the keto based diet, HIIT 2x week, and lifting with light weights the other days with one rest day I lose a couple pounds per week. My problem is after about a month I get complacent and then I lose my discipline. Give it a try for a month or two. You might like it.2
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First and foremost this is a forum linked to a calorie counting website and app. If you want to find alternatives to calorie counting may I respectfully suggest you look elsewhere.9
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First and foremost this is a forum linked to a calorie counting website and app. If you want to find alternatives to calorie counting may I respectfully suggest you look elsewhere.
I was about to post exactly this - you came to a site based primarily around calorie counting. maybe you need to go on a water challenge site where you will find more support?
I'm as confused as others as to why you won't return to the one thing that you said has worked in the past (and works in general) - calorie counting. it may not be "fun," but sometimes as adults we do things that are not "fun." is going to work "fun" for you everyday? do you find it "fun" to brush your teeth everyday? do you do it anyway??10 -
What does "Gallon of Water a Day for Two Weeks" have to do with "GAINED weight" ... outside of the facts that:
a) Water has weight.
b) People can and will retain water at times.
Drinking more water won't help you lose weight unless you are replacing beverages that contain calories with water.15 -
unstableunicorn wrote: »Reading through, I have a couple thoughts.
1) Water retention is definitely at play. If you feel uncomfortable from the amount you’re drinking, pull back a little & do some trial-and-error until you find a comfortable intake.
2) 6lbs, especially in a short amount of time, can be a sign of food still digesting or constipation. Are either of these a possibiltiy in this case?
3) High levels of sodium and over exertion result in water retention. Ease up a little on both.
4) You may just be building muscle mass. When I was swimming & jogging miltiple times a day a few years ago I developed crazy muscle mass in my legs. That’ll bump up the scale pretty quickly.
5) If you believe fat stores are at play, start measuring calorie-dense foods such as dairy & meat. It means a little extra effort, but not as much as logging every little thing. If you’re still gaining, log fully. More often than not people *think* they know how many calories they’re consuming, only to discover they’ve been eating substantially more.
TL;DR: Use common sense. If it isn’t working, adjust until it does.
I think this is mostly really good advice, but I gotta say: It's not muscle mass.
No one suddenly adds 6 pounds of muscle in 2 weeks doing daily cardio (walks or elliptical) plus "a few weight machines". I wish that were possible, but it's not. Even a pound of muscle in 2 weeks would be astonishing under these conditions, sadly.
In the absence of significant excess calories, 6 pounds in 2 weeks is food in digestive transit, or water weight.21 -
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Indeed they can, and they can continue to drink a gallon of water every day and they can continue to wonder why they are not losing weight.19 -
Indeed they can, and they can continue to drink a gallon of water every day and they can continue to wonder why they are not losing weight.
Guess what? You do not get to make up the rules of what topics MFP is all about. Many different topics are all over MFP daily. It is not just about CICO. Gosh even the blog, and info that MFP puts out touches on other topics.
While I most certainly can wonder why someone decided to drink a gallon of water a day, it was their choice to do so. But the impression I had from reading the original OP post was they were looking for advice, opposed to what they received for the most part.7 -
domineer4life wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »To lose weight, you need to eat less calories than your body burns. Are you weighing and measuring and logging everything you eat and drink, accurately? Are you eating at a calorie deficit?
Exercise is great for overall health, but won’t affect weight loss unless it puts you in a calorie deficit.
Why so much water?
Given my body weight, drinking a gallon a day is on par with what many health articles online have said is ideal. I do not count calories like I used to but I generalize portion sizes fairly well from the years I consistently did it. I find that counting calories to the T is not fun for me. I fast a few days out of the week and I move my body a lot. I have decreased the amount of food I consume so I should be seeing decreases in weight.
Having read all of the posts on this strand so far. Here is the one question I have. You state that you generalize portion sizes. What exactly do you mean by that? Because that may be part of the overall issue. Say you are estimating a piece of meat to be 112 grams, and it really is 196 grams. Plus you put some type of marinade on it. So this could end up being off around 335 calories not counting the marinade. Things like this could potentially really decrease the calorie deficit, which in turn will impact amount of weight you are losing.10 -
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/drinking-water-helps-with-weight-loss
There is a pluthora of evidence out there to support the concept that drinking lots of water supports weight loss..
This has been a well known fact in high end athletics for decades..3 -
11Templars wrote: »https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/drinking-water-helps-with-weight-loss
There is a pluthora of evidence out there to support the concept that drinking lots of water supports weight loss..
This has been a well known fact in high end athletics for decades..
This is exactly why I went down the path of drinking more water. It is a supplementary habit that promotes weight loss but people keep mistaking that I’m doing this as the only means to manage weight. Drinking half my body weight in water is healthy according to many studies and it boosts energy, cleans out toxins, it’s effective at eliminating waste, and it keeps your skin clear. Not to mention I curbs the craving for sugary drinks. I’m with you bro
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unstableunicorn wrote: »Reading through, I have a couple thoughts.
1) Water retention is definitely at play. If you feel uncomfortable from the amount you’re drinking, pull back a little & do some trial-and-error until you find a comfortable intake.
2) 6lbs, especially in a short amount of time, can be a sign of food still digesting or constipation. Are either of these a possibiltiy in this case?
3) High levels of sodium and over exertion result in water retention. Ease up a little on both.
4) You may just be building muscle mass. When I was swimming & jogging miltiple times a day a few years ago I developed crazy muscle mass in my legs. That’ll bump up the scale pretty quickly.
5) If you believe fat stores are at play, start measuring calorie-dense foods such as dairy & meat. It means a little extra effort, but not as much as logging every little thing. If you’re still gaining, log fully. More often than not people *think* they know how many calories they’re consuming, only to discover they’ve been eating substantially more.
TL;DR: Use common sense. If it isn’t working, adjust until it does.
I think this is mostly really good advice, but I gotta say: It's not muscle mass.
No one suddenly adds 6 pounds of muscle in 2 weeks doing daily cardio (walks or elliptical) plus "a few weight machines". I wish that were possible, but it's not. Even a pound of muscle in 2 weeks would be astonishing under these conditions, sadly.
In the absence of significant excess calories, 6 pounds in 2 weeks is food in digestive transit, or water weight.
Oh, geez, excuse me and my absentmindedness! You’re absolutely right! My brain was hopping around so much that I must have completely blanked on the timeframe during that paragraph. Thank you for pointing out that error Ann!9 -
Sure. These forums are for everyone. Plenty of people here are not calorie counters. But likewise, one shouldn't be surprised if they don't find a very receptive audience for bashing calorie counting on a website that is primarily used for calorie counting.19 -
Sure. These forums are for everyone. Plenty of people here are not calorie counters. But likewise, one shouldn't be surprised if they don't find a very receptive audience for bashing calorie counting on a website that is primarily used for calorie counting.
OP simply said that calorie counting doesn’t work for them, and stated why when asked. I don’t see OP disrespecting or talking *kitten* to those who do calorie count, where’s the bashing?7 -
Sure. These forums are for everyone. Plenty of people here are not calorie counters. But likewise, one shouldn't be surprised if they don't find a very receptive audience for bashing calorie counting on a website that is primarily used for calorie counting.
Never bashed calorie counting. Simply said it is not sustainable for me. Key part: “for me”. And I also recall saying that it does work so if that is what you call bashing then maybe you can rewrite the Merriam Webster’s dictionary definition for it.
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domineer4life wrote: »missysippy930 wrote: »
Given my body weight, drinking a gallon a day is on par with what many health articles online have said is ideal. I do not count calories like I used to but I generalize portion sizes fairly well from the years I consistently did it. I find that counting calories to the T is not fun for me. I fast a few days out of the week and I move my body a lot. I have decreased the amount of food I consume so I should be seeing decreases in weight.
Bingo. You're eating more than you think. That's why you're not losing weight20 -
I realize why people think that calorie counting isn't sustainable, but this is true only if you believe that eating at maintenance is intuitive, which is an outright fallacy.
I'm not sure why the resistance to tracking, especially with the advent of smartphone and apps ala MFP. It takes minutes a day to log this.
...and I get the IF guys - at least those it works for, but overall it seems a great deal of risk and uncertainty. This would be akin to managing finances, but never tracking expenses and not spending any money over certain days/times. Further complicated by not tracking income and expecting the balance to remain stable or increase.
I also note that those successful with IF spend a greater amount of time exercising, risk mitigation to ensure a caloric deficit due to uncertainty.
Erm...
Disagree with the sweeping statements presented. Careful with using the word "only" as it excludes any other possible solutions!!
I don't track my food and can maintain my weight or lose weight just fine - but I can't do that and eat intuitively.
My intuitive eating level is a surplus and has been just about the whole of my adult life.
But I can and do eat mindfully and keep my overall calorie balance in mind. I found food tracking during the period of my main weight loss educational and useful but at maintenance or when correcting a weight drift for me it's just not necessary. People can be calorie aware without counting.
Logging food for me is unsustainable as it provides no benefit to me. That it provides a benefit to many others is clearly obvious but irrelevant to my personal choices.
It's not as black and white as you suggest of tracking calories OR intuitive eating, there are other options which work for some people, not just mindful eating either. But I must say the OP is picking some very strange and not at all surprisingly ineffective other options! Picking options which actually influence calorie intake would be better choices.
The ONLY was in reference to the sustainability of counting and in the context of inviting risk, specifically a rationale not to log. Not in reference to weight management.
Never stated that those are the only two options to manage weight, but that you implement a greater degree of inaccuracy when you don't log and track and need to account for this somehow.
Nothing is black and white and I did not suggest as much - everything is a shade of grey.
I rarely log accurately unless I'm in a cut or bulk, but likely similar in your case I work out a lot, so my physical activity ensures a deficit. The other issue is one of discipline, so giving advice to someone new and starting out is going to be considerably different compared to someone experienced.
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Why drink that much water? Just curious as to your reasoning.
How much water you drink will have basically zero influence on your percentage bodyfat which I assume is what you care about. Drinking a lot of water can make your body shed weight in terms of water weight as you dilute out and deplete your bodies electrolyes and in an attempt to compensate to maintain your health your body will shed as much water as it can to keep the concentrations at the appropriate levels. This isn't actually healthy at all though....quite the opposite actually.13 -
I myself drink a gallon of water a day, as do most of the folks I train with. Now, that being said, I'm very active, and in the gym 6 days a week.
Outside of the obvious of water intoxication, and at the risk of being a broken record, there is plenty of research to support the concept of drinking a gallon of water a day, assuming you're active.
Drinking a Gallon of Water
I've seen many folks on here disagreeing with this concept, but offering up little to know evidence to support their claim. I appreciate it does initially seem counter intuitive, but as I said, and again, this isn't my "opinion", there is plenty of research to support his idea.
Obviously, a little common sense is needed here as well. Doing this a Weight Loss method, isn't going to achieve the goals some might be looking for.
Blessings,2 -
11Templars wrote: »I myself drink a gallon of water a day, as do most of the folks I train with. Now, that being said, I'm very active, and in the gym 6 days a week.
Outside of the obvious of water intoxication, and at the risk of being a broken record, there is plenty of research to support the concept of drinking a gallon of water a day, assuming you're active.
Drinking a Gallon of Water
I've seen many folks on here disagreeing with this concept, but offering up little to know evidence to support their claim. I appreciate it does initially seem counter intuitive, but as I said, and again, this isn't my "opinion", there is plenty of research to support his idea.
Obviously, a little common sense is needed here as well. Doing this a Weight Loss method, isn't going to achieve the goals some might be looking for.
Blessings,
I only disagreed with the OP over a gallon of water a day because of his own words.
To quote him (his opening post), "Physically I feel heavier and I feel like my body still has a ton of water to dispel from my body but just hasn’t yet..... so I know my body is holding on to serious water weight. I just feel bloated with water and my body is reluctant in releasing it."
He was saying he not only had a weight gain issue, but didn't feel well. He felt "bloated wth water" (again, his words). To me, that said he had a problem with drinking that much H2O.
It's simple to me. If I felt bad consuming anything, from water to peanuts to chewing gum, I would stop consuming that much.10 -
11Templars wrote: »
how is your quoted article supporting anything other than what most other people are saying, which is that there is no need to force down ADDITIONAL water just in order to meet an arbitrary requirement, or as anything but a far adjunct to an individualized system of weight control where this makes you feel full? <and what's wrong with coffee, or diet coke, or, what's it's name, some la cross thing that intended Peloton ad audience type people consume?
>
You're an athlete and so are your friends and you sweat a lot, so by definition you require more water.
You will note that the article you quote mentions that most items you eat also contain water that forms part of your water balance.
In fact the first two sentences of your article say:
"most adults sufficiently meet their fluid needs by letting thirst be their guide".
AND
"While there are no specific recommendations on how many glasses of water most adults should drink per day, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) sets recommendations for total water intake. The IOM suggests that most women meet their hydration needs when consuming 78 ounces (2.3 liters) of total water per day — from both beverages and food — while most men meet their hydration needs when consuming 112 ounces (3.3 liters) per day"
Shaking my head in bafflement as to where it supports guzzling additional water by the gallon!?!?!?
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11Templars wrote: »https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/drinking-water-helps-with-weight-loss
There is a pluthora of evidence out there to support the concept that drinking lots of water supports weight loss..
This has been a well known fact in high end athletics for decades..
Healthline is a hype site. They love to talk about how everything is a "superfood" or how a million different things will help you lose weight. They take the grain of truth and expand it exponentially. It's possible that drinking water *might* burn a few extra calories through digestion. But lots of things burn a few extra calories. Twiddling your thumbs. Arguing with your drunk uncle about politics at thanksgiving. Angrily typing long posts on MFP message boards. Tons of things we do slightly influence the number of calories our body burns from daily activity. But because water may be one of those things, it is certainly not a weight loss strategy.
Additionally, there appears to be some benefit to being properly hydrated in terms of appetite control. Sometimes thirst can masquerade itself as hunger. So proper hydration level can assist with appetite control. But that doesn't mean drinking more water than someone's body needs.
And no amount of water is going to help someone lose weight if they are in a calorie surplus.
Nobody is arguing against proper hydration. For some people, especially larger males who are active and/or live in a hot climate, a gallon may be proper. But not for everyone. And excessive hydration is not necessary, and possibly harmful.17 -
11Templars wrote: »I myself drink a gallon of water a day, as do most of the folks I train with. Now, that being said, I'm very active, and in the gym 6 days a week.
Outside of the obvious of water intoxication, and at the risk of being a broken record, there is plenty of research to support the concept of drinking a gallon of water a day, assuming you're active.
Drinking a Gallon of Water
I've seen many folks on here disagreeing with this concept, but offering up little to know evidence to support their claim. I appreciate it does initially seem counter intuitive, but as I said, and again, this isn't my "opinion", there is plenty of research to support his idea.
Obviously, a little common sense is needed here as well. Doing this a Weight Loss method, isn't going to achieve the goals some might be looking for.
Blessings,
There is a difference between drinking a gallon of water a day because you are extremely active and therefore require that amount and just deciding from a website that drinking a gallon exactly is what you should do every day and forcing yourself to do so whether it improves your performance or not.19 -
THE AVERAGE PERSON DOES NOT NEED TO DRINK A GALLON OF WATER A DAY.
Watch this segment from "Adam Ruins Everything" which explains why 8 GLASSES of water a day aren't really necessary, much less a gallon:
https://www.google.com/searchq=adam+ruins+everything+water&rlz=1CAWDAV_enUS864&oq=adam+ruins+everything+water&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.5717j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
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