Is there such thing as too much water?

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Brandie1988
Brandie1988 Posts: 30 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on daily water intake.. Water is basically the only thing and I have a 32 ounce water bottle I refill constantly throughout the day. I probably drink about 128-192 ounces of water a day, If not more. I just am not sure if its healthy to drink that much water, Or will it make me keep on water weight. Any thoughts/comments appreciated :)

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  • Chastityx
    Chastityx Posts: 192 Member
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    too much water depletes some nutrients like potassium, which may cause muscle cramps. Keep up your vitamins.
  • sweets2001
    sweets2001 Posts: 106
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    You need to drink at least 8 cups of water (64 oz) per day. Also I've read that you need at least 8 oz of water for every 30 minutes of exercise.
  • maab_connor
    maab_connor Posts: 3,927 Member
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    as far as i understand it, you can't really have too much water. it's the only thing to which that applies. LOL. the more you drink, the faster you are flushing your system. it will keep your kidneys healthy anyway.

    water weight is actually from too much salt and not enough water, or from natural hormonal fluctuations. the more water you drink, the more you flush, the less water weight you have.
  • lawtechie
    lawtechie Posts: 708 Member
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    200 ozs won't hurt you. 1000 ozs now is another thing... Your body will just get rid of the excess.
  • ACook42
    ACook42 Posts: 111 Member
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    YES....there actually is such a thing. Its called Water intoxication, look it up
  • vs_shine
    vs_shine Posts: 1,322 Member
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    not if you're in the desert ;-)
  • Jemmuno
    Jemmuno Posts: 413 Member
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    I've heard you should drink half your body weight in ounces. And yes there is such thing as drinking too much water. Your body is pretty good about evening out it's osmolarity over an extended period of time. If you feel the need to drink this much water I would incorporate fluids with electrolytes this is why gatorade is really big among sports people, if your worries about sugar buy zero cal drinks that promote electrolytes.
  • maab_connor
    maab_connor Posts: 3,927 Member
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    YES....there actually is such a thing. Its called Water intoxication, look it up

    huh. well there is the new thing that i learned today.
  • lovelyiskey
    lovelyiskey Posts: 44 Member
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    Yes, i've OD'd on water before. And there was a record of someone dying because they drank too much water and held their pee in for a radio contest.
    Basically, listen to your body, if you're full, there's a reason. if you're not, keep drinking.
  • teacherspet1
    teacherspet1 Posts: 142 Member
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    I read on MFP that we need water to cleanse the toxins from our bodies.Lots of processed foods and fizzy lo cal drinks need water to flush the additives through our systems so we should have pure water and not diet drinks as our 8 cups a day. After all we are about 75% water in our make-up !!
    Good luck in your journey !!
  • thirtyandthriving
    thirtyandthriving Posts: 613 Member
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    A person can develop water intoxication, where the amount of sodium needed for the body is diluted. It is difficult to achieve for an adult. It is more common in infants, which is why you have to be careful of diluting baby formula to the wrong strength or giving them much water. In adults, if you are dehydrated (from sweating due to physical activity or any other means) and only rehydrate with water and not with additional electrolytes. The kidneys of a healthy adult can process fifteen liters of water a day. You are unlikely to suffer from water intoxication, even if you drink a lot of water, as long as you drink over time as opposed to intaking an enormous volume at one time.
  • sdwelk11
    sdwelk11 Posts: 825
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    I heard you are suppose to drink a minimum of half your body weight in ounces. for example, if you weigh 100 lbs then you drink 50oz of water in a day
  • CarolynB38
    CarolynB38 Posts: 553 Member
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    You can drink too much water if you are not taking in enough sodium, potassium, calcium etc. If the levels of these electrolytes drop too low you can have problems with your heart rate and blood pressure as well as cramps. If you are going to have very large quantities of water it is a good idea to make sure you take in some sodium and potassium too, especially if you are exercising as you will lose some through sweat. Having said all that, I'm not sure what is considered too much water. You might want to google it.
  • Brandie1988
    Brandie1988 Posts: 30 Member
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    I definitely dont feel like Im taking in too much water. I am always thirsty for it. I have always been the type of person that goes through alot of liquids but since Ive changed my lifestyle a month ago Ive started drinking only water instead of sugary soda and drinks. Now I also have another question, Does anyone know any good multi vitamins that give me all of my needed vitamins but is inexpensive? Thanks guys!
  • ritajean3
    ritajean3 Posts: 306 Member
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    About the water, if your urine is yellow you still need water if it is clearer your generally fine. If it is hot, you eat a lot of salt or you exercise a lot you need to drink a lot.

    excessive thirst can be linked to diabetes so get checked.


    Cant help with the pills im Australian so we probably have different brands.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
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    I was just wondering what everyone's thoughts are on daily water intake.. Water is basically the only thing and I have a 32 ounce water bottle I refill constantly throughout the day. I probably drink about 128-192 ounces of water a day, If not more. I just am not sure if its healthy to drink that much water, Or will it make me keep on water weight. Any thoughts/comments appreciated :)
    It won't make you retain water — our bodies are homeostats which means they tend to bring things into balance. If you drink a lot of water that you don't need, your body will excrete it.

    It's doubtful that you could cause harm by drinking that much water. There have been deaths recorded by drinking a lot of water quickly. That has happened to runners who ran a marathon, which depleted their sodium and potassium, and who drank quite a bit of water. The sudden intake of water diluted their sodium and potassium levels and they died.

    Medical research tells us that there are limited reasons to consume more than 64 oz of water per day. Yes, that's medical research but that doesn't mean it's bad to drink more.

    Drinking water while dieting is a great way to curb the appetite because you are, literally, full. Other than that though, I've yet to find any medical document that backs up the need to drink so much water.* Of course, companies that sell water love it but it's quite possible that you are, literally, pissing money away.

    I refer to this document to back up my statement:

    http://ajpregu.physiology.org/content/283/5/R993.full

    Take a few moments to read the abstract — it was an eye opener for me.

    The author? No, he's not a celebrity nor does he have a blog. He's a medical doctor who's on the staff at Dartmouth and who has written a textbook on human kidneys. He and an assistant tried to find a medical reason to drink so much water and came up empty (pardon the pun).

    Again, it's not a problem with drinking the amounts of water you're drinking but, from a medical perspective, it appears that there is little reason to do so.

    Do I drink plain water? Rarely and I live in a warm, dry climate. I never had a compulsion to eat so, when I was losing weight, I didn't need to drink water to curb my appetite. I eat a lot of salads and vegetables, both of which contain significant percentage of water. When I'm not exercising, I drink coffee and tea and have recently started drinking Coke Zero again. I run 4 times per week since I'm training for a marathon. When I run short distances (4 miles or less) I run with 16 ounces of water but for longer distances, I use a homemade replenisher drink that uses Crystal Light, salt, potassium, and sugar.



    *A few months back I read an interesting article about drinking cold water vs warm water. The researchers (and I didn't keep the link) found that their subjects burned more calories drinking cold water. The answer goes back to the body being a homeostat - when the subjects drank cold water, the body "turned up the heat" because the body will act to "keep things in balance". The cold water dropped the body core temperature so the body burned more calories to stay warm! Sure, it was only something like 20 cals per day (or whatever) but, if you're going to drink water, may as well get some benefit out of it.
  • thirtyandthriving
    thirtyandthriving Posts: 613 Member
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    *A few months back I read an interesting article about drinking cold water vs warm water. The researchers (and I didn't keep the link) found that their subjects burned more calories drinking cold water. The answer goes back to the body being a homeostat - when the subjects drank cold water, the body "turned up the heat" because the body will act to "keep things in balance". The cold water dropped the body core temperature so the body burned more calories to stay warm! Sure, it was only something like 20 cals per day (or whatever) but, if you're going to drink water, may as well get some benefit out of it.

    I have read that too, but the problem with the is really cold water slows down your digestive track and can cause constipation.
  • gr82run
    gr82run Posts: 48 Member
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    What you want to google is: hypnoatremia. Too much water is bad. Witnessed this firsthand when a friend over-drank water during a marathon. (In a marathon you want some gatorade or equivalent to replace electrolytes). She was sick, vomiting and VERY out of it. Scary.

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