Can drinking too much water slow weight loss?
CatholicCurtis
Posts: 22 Member
I drink a lot of water even though I have a very sedentary lifestyle. Just recording it today in my diary because I usually don't count it and drank around 186 oz. Could drinking a lot of water stop weight loss due to water weight or does drinking a lot of water contribute more to weight loss? Thank you in advance for your responses.
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Replies
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Drinking more or less water will make NO difference at all to your fat loss. As far as scale weight, it may cause fluctuations from day to day, but that's just water retention, which is irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.
Water weight can be counterintuitive at times, and drinking lots of water can have the opposite effect of what you'd expect.
For instance, I've had indulgent, binge-y days where I ate tons of salty carbs, leading to substantial weight increases the next day up to 12-13 pounds. But then what, over the next 3-4 days? I've found that drinking a lot of water the next day leads to a flushing out of sorts, getting me more or less "back to even" within another 24-48 hours, but if I don't drink a lot of water, my weight can remain elevated for 4 or 5 days. So, at least in my experience, sometimes drinking a lot of water can actually lead to a quick return to your non-bloated weight.
But the only thing you really need to know is that water has no impact at all on your fat loss or rate of fat loss. It only impacts scale weight, and only very temporarily.12 -
I can definitely see how water can clear out your system especially after those bad days when you give in to old, bad habits. I just never realized how much water I drank on a given day even though Thursdays are usually bad due to my flextime schedule that day and I end up drinking a bit more due to just trying to stay awake as I drink the water with that great value strawberry energy drink mix.
I'm just trying to make sure there is nothing I'm doing to sabotage my weight loss. I've lost about 36 lbs since October and just got to keep on chugging along. Hopefully will get back down to my weight goal of 180 by the end of 2021.
Thank you for the information. It is very much appreciated.3 -
I'm sure you are aware that some of those drink mixes have calories...you're probably using a sugar-free one.
I would just caution against trying to manipulate the scale with fluids. Your body does a pretty good job of letting you know when it needs liquid.
Are you drinking that energy mix because it has caffeine or something? I've never heard of it...caffeine has its own set of problems for me. Careful with that. I'd say if you are using caffeine in large quantities there's something else going on.5 -
5 litres of liquid is excessive and can lead to depletion of important minerals like potassium sodium, calcium and magnesium leading to electrolyte imbalances.5
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23 cups of water a day seems excessive to me. You might want to check with your doctor if you are that thirsty as excessive thirst can sometimes be a symptom of other things.5
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Uhhh??? No.....😐5
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Energy drink mix calories and "caffeine" content1
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It looks like that mix has ten calories per packet. If you're using a packet per eight ounces of water (which I believe is the recommended serving size), that's about 232 calories per day for your drink mix. If you're not accounting for that in your daily intake, that's absolutely enough to make a dent in the deficit you're creating for weight loss. You'd want to make sure you were logging that like you'd log any caloric beverage. While the average drinker of low calorie beverages doesn't have to account for it, super-users do need to consider it.
But to answer your actual question: No. Water will not slow down your weight loss, but if you drink a bunch of water it will impact your WEIGHT until your body is done processing it. But if you're drinking a lot of water each day, it just becomes part of your ordinary scale weight and you wouldn't have to worry about fluctuations.
If this level of thirst is new to you, you may want to get it checked out. Although it isn't going to slow down your weight loss, that's a lot of water unless there are lifestyle factors that contribute to making you that thirsty.5 -
cmriverside wrote: »I'm sure you are aware that some of those drink mixes have calories...you're probably using a sugar-free one.
I would just caution against trying to manipulate the scale with fluids. Your body does a pretty good job of letting you know when it needs liquid.
Are you drinking that energy mix because it has caffeine or something? I've never heard of it...caffeine has its own set of problems for me. Careful with that. I'd say if you are using caffeine in large quantities there's something else going on.
I drink it just because it gives the water some flavor. Sometimes I use it, sometimes not. I list it on my diary every time I use it though.
I think I drink so much water because I usually have small snacks throughout the day with cereal bars, dried apricots, etc. and have a water every time so it adds up. I've always been that way for years now. It isn't a new habit or feeling thirsty per se.
I know there's no way I need to drink that much water. Wasnt even aware how much I was drinking until I started tracking it with other foods yesterday. Time to slow down a bit. Thanks for the reply and for everybody else that has chimed in too. It is very much appreciated.4 -
Omg you must be in the bathroom all the time.
I feel healthiest when I drink a lot of water. I find keeping it ice cold makes it more refreshing and delicious and then you don't need to add any flavours to it
That's all I really have to add. I don't think it adds to weight gain because you're usually clearing it out in the bathroom.3 -
Alinouveau2 wrote: »Omg you must be in the bathroom all the time.
I feel healthiest when I drink a lot of water. I find keeping it ice cold makes it more refreshing and delicious and then you don't need to add any flavours to it
That's all I really have to add. I don't think it adds to weight gain because you're usually clearing it out in the bathroom.
Not really all the time. Just a few times a day without getting into too much unneeded detail haha I love water cold but not ice cold. Thats how my wife likes it. I don't need ice chips in my bottled water. Going to try to lessen up on the water a bit. Maybe get down to about six bottles in a 24 hour period and see how it goes.
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I definitely drink as much as you do, and no, for me it has only helped my weight loss. I started drinking a minimum of 120oz while I was pregnant and I’ve just gotten used to it and I’m always thirsty when I drink less.1
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For perspective, you are drinking 12 lbs of water weight a day (186 fluid oz).
Obviously this can cause big swings in your scale weight depending on when you drank or flushed.
I found that consistently weighing first thing in the morning helped minimize the swing1 -
It is recommended to drink half your body weight in oz.0
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I just found out that's over 5 litres or 25 cups.
Diabeetus. Diabeetus, diabeetus, diabeetus. She says, fondly. I sure can drink that much if I don't take my diabetes meds, and eat things like fruit or drink too much milk (I love milk).
My suggestion is go to the doctor and get yourself tested for diabetes mellitis. If you have the diabeetus you will dehydrate even drinking that much.
And you run the risk of losing things like eyesight, toes, fingers, penises, kidneys.2 -
I just found out that's over 5 litres or 25 cups.
Diabeetus. Diabeetus, diabeetus, diabeetus. She says, fondly. I sure can drink that much if I don't take my diabetes meds, and eat things like fruit or drink too much milk (I love milk).
My suggestion is go to the doctor and get yourself tested for diabetes mellitis. If you have the diabeetus you will dehydrate even drinking that much.
And you run the risk of losing things like eyesight, toes, fingers, penises, kidneys.
I know you are getting disagrees, but I 100% agree with you that OP should mention this to their doctor.
There are numerous illnesses that can cause this type of excessive water drinking.
Someone who feel comfortable drinking that much water every day and who isn't forcing themselves to drink that much should DEFINITELY be checked out. No question.0 -
OP posted this question a year ago and last logged in on March 21st 2021.
While it might still be an interesting discussion topic, any advice specifically for her probably won't be seen now.1 -
paperpudding wrote: »OP posted this question a year ago and last logged in on March 21st 2021.
While it might still be an interesting discussion topic, any advice specifically for her probably won't be seen now.
ugh, I missed that0
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