Importance of drinking water?

I'm not going to quote you the science ... I'm sure someone else will. However, I believe -without a doubt - that lots of water helps my weightloss. I see it on the scale. If I go 2-3 days without enough water (for me, "enough" is 80 oz), loss is sluggish, if not non-existant. I also feel it in my body when I don't have enough. I am for a min of 80 oz a day and often surpass 100 oz.

This is *on top of* 3-5 diet sodas a day.

Your body needs it to function.


Our body is mostly made up of water.
Protects Your Nervous System
Cushions Joints
Rids the Body of Waste
Keeps skin from drying out

well reading those comments has inspired me to drink more water thanks guys

Bottom line, you drink at least 64oz of water per day, your body is healthy and you lose more weight then if you don't drink enough. It's a secret of weight loss, now you know. Just do it.

The kidneys cannot function properly without enough water. When they do not work to capacity, some of their load is dumped on the liver. One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But if the liver has to do some of the kidney's work, it cannot work at full throttle.

As a result, it metabolizes less fat.

Have seen this quoted a lot of places...really doesn't make sense to me. (I teach anatomy & physiology.) These organs work in tandem; the kidney does not "shift" its load to the liver and the liver's role if fat metabolism is misquoted a lot on here. If anyone has medical references for this I'd love to see it.

Your body needs to maintain a critical balance of ions (sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride to name four) for normal function of the nervous system and muscular system. One of the kidney's primary jobs is to maintain the balance of these ions which is achieved through the regulation of both the ions themselves and through controlling water loss. Lack of sufficient water doesn't mean less removal of waste from the body; it means more concentrated urine (i.e. more concentrated waste) to retain an appropriate volume of water for normal neuromuscular function. Failure to take in adequate water leads the body to actively retain more water which raises body weight. (Note that the kidney will increase sodium retention to promote water retention when the body is dehydrated...taking in too much sodium thus has the same effect as taking in too little water; together they are a double whammy!) Taking in adequate amounts of water allows the body to release more water (ridding itself of metabolic waste more easily), and less retained water means less fluctuation in body weight tied to water.

In addition to what occurs in the kidney (and keep in mind I've simplified this for the sake of a post), many of the chemical reactions that occur in our cells require water as a component of the reaction. This is particularly true of certain reactions that occur during the processing of sugars and fats to produce the chemical energy (called ATP) that cells rely on for survival.

There are two big bottom lines here (and these are not the only two, but I would argue the scientifically most important): (1) good water intake with low sodium intake will minimize water-based fluctuations and maximize your ability to see real weight loss and (2) water is a crucial component of metabolic reactions at the cellular level, so efficient cellular metabolism requires adequate water.

Again, anyone with primary source medical references on the liver "taking over for the kidneys and not burning fat" is welcome to message me...that gets spouted by a lot of fitness folks trying to sell a diet...but it does not jibe with physiological reality...kidna like saying insulin is a "fat storage hormone"...another inaccurate oversimplification I see on here a lot.

You get water from lots of sources - the food you eat contains quite a bit, especially if you are eating lots of fresh veg and fruit. If you drink other beverages other than water, you are still hydrating your body. Coffee, tea, even a Coke will add water to your system. The dehydrating effects of the caffeine are not a factor until you drink a lot of caffeinated beverages in a day.

Thank you! Someone else gets it! You do not need to drink 4376453474 oz of WATER a day. You need roughly 8 cups of FLUID. How you GET that fluid, is up to you!

LOL *downs a glass of water immediately*

Have you ever tried flushing poop down a toilet without water? Imagine that with your body. Totally gross.

Even though i know it is important to drink lots of water, I cant stand drinking it. Does it count if you drink sugar free concentrate fruit juice diluted with lots of water???

The kidneys cannot function properly without enough water. When they do not work to capacity, some of their load is dumped on the liver. One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But if the liver has to do some of the kidney's work, it cannot work at full throttle.

As a result, it metabolizes less fat.

Have seen this quoted a lot of places...really doesn't make sense to me. (I teach anatomy & physiology.) These organs work in tandem; the kidney does not "shift" its load to the liver and the liver's role if fat metabolism is misquoted a lot on here. If anyone has medical references for this I'd love to see it.

Your body needs to maintain a critical balance of ions (sodium, potassium, calcium, chloride to name four) for normal function of the nervous system and muscular system. One of the kidney's primary jobs is to maintain the balance of these ions which is achieved through the regulation of both the ions themselves and through controlling water loss. Lack of sufficient water doesn't mean less removal of waste from the body; it means more concentrated urine (i.e. more concentrated waste) to retain an appropriate volume of water for normal neuromuscular function. Failure to take in adequate water leads the body to actively retain more water which raises body weight. (Note that the kidney will increase sodium retention to promote water retention when the body is dehydrated...taking in too much sodium thus has the same effect as taking in too little water; together they are a double whammy!) Taking in adequate amounts of water allows the body to release more water (ridding itself of metabolic waste more easily), and less retained water means less fluctuation in body weight tied to water.

In addition to what occurs in the kidney (and keep in mind I've simplified this for the sake of a post), many of the chemical reactions that occur in our cells require water as a component of the reaction. This is particularly true of certain reactions that occur during the processing of sugars and fats to produce the chemical energy (called ATP) that cells rely on for survival.

There are two big bottom lines here (and these are not the only two, but I would argue the scientifically most important): (1) good water intake with low sodium intake will minimize water-based fluctuations and maximize your ability to see real weight loss and (2) water is a crucial component of metabolic reactions at the cellular level, so efficient cellular metabolism requires adequate water.

Again, anyone with primary source medical references on the liver "taking over for the kidneys and not burning fat" is welcome to message me...that gets spouted by a lot of fitness folks trying to sell a diet...but it does not jibe with physiological reality...kidna like saying insulin is a "fat storage hormone"...another inaccurate oversimplification I see on here a lot.

Best explanation I've read on this forum, a lot of people here should read this and understand it.

Your body is mostly water. Think about how gross water gets when it's stagnant. And think about how beautiful a stream is when it's free flowing - where fresh water is moving through and keeping things clean.

if that doesn't get you drinking water - nothing will!

I don't have a problem with consuming enough water, but that is a very great way of putting it! I love it!

Ive always had a hard time drinking water too. But lately I have been drinking anywhere from 2-4 bottles a day (2-servings per bottle) which is still lower than the recommended amount, but I have seen the difference on the scale! Enough proof for me. After I starting drinking water I went down almost 7lbs!