Water

richardallen04
richardallen04 Posts: 2 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
Hi am new to this so got a few questions! How much water do I need to drink a day ? And why is it so important ? Are sugar free fizzy drinks ok ?

Replies

  • Lietchi
    Lietchi Posts: 6,845 Member
    You drink enough for your pee to be a pale straw color. How much that water that requires precisely will depend on how much you sweat, the weather, air humidity, etc.

    It's important for hydration, but not really important otherwise. Some people seem to think it will magically lead to weight loss. It doesn't.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,253 Member
    Lietchi wrote: »
    You drink enough for your pee to be a pale straw color. How much that water that requires precisely will depend on how much you sweat, the weather, air humidity, etc.

    It's important for hydration, but not really important otherwise. Some people seem to think it will magically lead to weight loss. It doesn't.

    ^^ This.

    Also, any fluids (other than alcohol) are hydrating, so fizzy drinks count (with or without sugar - I assume you're thinking of sugar free as a better choice for weight loss, which is reasonable).

    The medical folks used to think that things like coffee and tea didn't count, but recent research is indicating that for most people, those stay in the body long enough to do the job, despite being mildly diuretic. The water in juicy types of fruits/veggies, soups, etc., is also hydrating.
  • sijomial
    sijomial Posts: 19,809 Member
    edited May 2022
    How much water do I need to drink a day ?
    Massively variable.
    I cycled 100 miles in warm weather on Saturday - funny enough I needed to drink a hell of a lot of fluids to stay hydrated. Today I drank far less because I needed less without six hours of exercise.

    And why is it so important ?
    It's important for general health to be adequately hydrated.
    It's not important for weight loss to drink more than you need.

    Are sugar free fizzy drinks ok ?
    Yes they are mostly water. Just like milk, tea and most coffees are mainly water.
    Even if they have have sugar they are still hydrating just like all the sports drinks I had on Saturday when I needed the calories as well as the hydration and electrolytes.

  • gpanda103
    gpanda103 Posts: 189 Member
    Drink whenever you are thirsty. If your pee is really yellow, you should drink more. But yes, zero sugar sodas are fine. The only issue is the fact that they are slightly acidic, so it could be rough on your enamel
  • shockbishop
    shockbishop Posts: 38 Member
    Your body is mostly water. Go a few days without and everything shuts down. Basically for cell function and your body to do it’s processes it needs water. I feel it’s even more important if your pushing your body like in dieting and exercise.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    richardallen04 wrote: »
    Hi am new to this so got a few questions! How much water do I need to drink a day ? And why is it so important ? Are sugar free fizzy drinks ok ?

    The important thing is to keep hydrated. Water and other beverages contribute to hydration. A general rule of thumb is 8 x 8 oz of fluids daily, but hydration needs are variable. Someone like myself who is active and living in a hot desert climate at over a mile high in elevation will have greater hydration needs than someone who is sedentary living in a temperate climate at sea level for example.
  • amoangelus
    amoangelus Posts: 22 Member
    Water is vital for your body to function. You get water in various foods and drinks, but plain water is purest and so gives you the most hydration with the least "other"

    Water from Coffee is the same as plain water for example. But coffee water also has the coffee while plain water is just water. Sometimes the additional stuff in the drink stops the water being absorbed so effectively by the body.

    It's not that gaining water from various sources is bad, it's that there's other things in the other sources which can be bad.
  • Xellercin
    Xellercin Posts: 924 Member
    You need both water and electrolytes to be "hydrated."

    If you are getting enough electrolytes from your food, then drink water whenever you feel thirsty and watch your pee to make sure it stays pale.

    For some people, just water won't hydrate them, like active people who sweat out too much electrolytes, or people with medical conditions who need more than average.

    Also, many people are terrible at detecting their thirst signals and mistake them for hunger. So some people need to kind of rehab their ability to detect thirst.

    Sugar free sodas are mostly water, so they will give your body the water it needs. That's not a question. But they are quite acidic, and do tend to contain caffeine and artificial sweeteners, and the research is ambiguous as to whether or not you want to be consuming a lot of those. I personally wouldn't, because the research seems to suggest that sweeteners are addictive, and we know caffeine is, and I don't like being addicted to anything I don't need to be addicted to.

    Also, whenever someone tells me they don't like drinking water, that to me as a medical professional sets off alarm bells. It's a fundamental human drive to crave water, so if someone has modified their diet in a way that makes them lose this natural inclination towards water, I find that troubling.

    I would personally work on my diet until my normal taste for water returned. For me, the first step I would take would be to cut out non-water beverages for a few months to see if my taste for plain water returns.

    That's just my opinion and not medical advice.

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