Does water intake affect weight loss?

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  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    Further, it increases metabolism in that your body must process water at zero calories, so that itself is a burn.
    I'd be interested to see a link to a peer reviewed study providing evidence for this apparently spurious claim.

    Basic thermodynamics says that you burn calories heating the water to body temperature.
    There was a fascinating paper, which I wish I'd bookmarked, which came to the conclusion that drinking the maximum recommended amount of water, if it was heavily chilled, can burn around 30 calories a day.

    Not enough to be significant, but drinking water at body temperature would have virtually zero effect.

    Yes water can stop you feeling hungry, yes being extremely dehydrated can affect the body's functioning, but there's no magical weight loss effect that can be gained by drinking more water than your body needs.
  • spicychick1987
    spicychick1987 Posts: 9
    well. actually lesser water you drink, more your body retains water....so be sure drink plently drnik to 'flush' out retain water out, one bad thing about it you will need drink it everyday no matter how you feel even feelnig yucky to drnik it. Yes it can sometimes cause you bloated but that is also normal, but over time as your body get used to it it will give u no problems at all.
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    There's this thing called osmosis.
    Exactly, water molecules will pass through a suitable membrane through osmosis even in the laboratory, without the membrane being part of a living begin to provide energy for the process.

    But I figured that would make people's heads explode. :bigsmile:

    Thank you for a useful reminder that there are educated people on here. :smile:
  • LabRat529
    LabRat529 Posts: 1,323 Member

    Basic thermodynamics says that you burn calories heating the water to body temperature. It takes 28 calories of energy to heat 64 ounces of water from 40°F to 98.6°F. I'm not sure what the efficiency of the human body is, but lets say it is 75% efficient at converting food energy to heat, it would then take 37.3 calories just to heat the water. A food calorie is actually the amount of energy required to heat 1 kg of water by 1°C.

    No offense... but this is just silly. Our bodies thermoregulate, but the amount of water you drink is not going to make much of a dent at all in how hard our bodies have to work to thermoregulate. We put out a lot of heat simply because we're somewhat inefficient at retaining heat- and that 'wasted heat' is plenty to warm up the water we drink. We're just NOT going to burn extra calories because we drink 8 glasses of water a day. It's just not gonna happen.

    But it doesn't matter, does it? I mean, we're not drinking water to burn calories, right?

    Could water effect our metabolism in other ways? Personally, I doubt it. It doesn't pass the common-sense test for me... but... I concede there might be some voodoo there that I just don't understand... or maybe there's something about human biology that I'm just not remembering... but I have a hard time believing water does anything to metabolism.

    Now are their other benefits to drinking water? Yes. I think staying hydrated is a good thing.
  • anewmeat50
    anewmeat50 Posts: 10
    I heard on the tv doctors show that if you add 2 tablespoons of sugar free crainberry juice to your bottle water that it will help keep you from retaining water. im going to try it
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    Could water effect our metabolism in other ways? Personally, I doubt it.
    A complete lack of water, coupled with a total lack of water content in any of our meals could have a permanent affect on our metabolism. :bigsmile:
    A food calorie is actually the amount of energy required to heat 1 kg of water by 1°C.
    With my "pedant of the month" hat on, actually a calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1 cubic centimetre of water by 1°C.

    A kilocalorie, kcal or Calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1 kg of water by 1°C.

    Not that any of that is relevant, drink enough water (which will vary wildly depending on the physical work your body does and the climate you do it in) but don't be fooled into thinking that drinking more than enough water will make you thin. If that was the case, don't you think Evian et al would be having massive marketing campaigns on the prospect?
  • LabRat529
    LabRat529 Posts: 1,323 Member
    Could water effect our metabolism in other ways? Personally, I doubt it.
    A complete lack of water, coupled with a total lack of water content in any of our meals could have a permanent affect on our metabolism. :bigsmile:

    Well yes... if you wanna get all technical on me :D
  • bpurc22
    bpurc22 Posts: 180 Member
    I seemed to lose more when I was drinking ice water, but I'm not really sure. Was your sleep any different? I know getting more sleep (at least 8 hours) helps with weight loss.

    This seems silly, but your body needs energy to heat up cold water, so this tip might help you lose an extra half pound, lol.
  • RainbootsToBikinis
    RainbootsToBikinis Posts: 465 Member
    I tend to drink a lot of water, but I get bored with plain water so I have 5 or 6 different flavors of crystal light with me and a couple different flavors of mio. That way I'm still drinking water but I get to enjoy the different flavors :)
  • My1985Freckles
    My1985Freckles Posts: 1,039 Member
    But it doesn't matter, does it? I mean, we're not drinking water to burn calories, right?

    Going to have to log my calories burned by drinking water now.... LOL
  • My1985Freckles
    My1985Freckles Posts: 1,039 Member
    But it doesn't matter, does it? I mean, we're not drinking water to burn calories, right?

    Going to have to log my calories burned by drinking water now.... LOL
  • TourThePast
    TourThePast Posts: 1,753 Member
    Could water effect our metabolism in other ways? Personally, I doubt it.
    A complete lack of water, coupled with a total lack of water content in any of our meals could have a permanent affect on our metabolism. :bigsmile:

    Well yes... if you wanna get all technical on me :D
    My bad, it's that time of night when I just can't resist... :D
  • osuzorba
    osuzorba Posts: 35 Member
    A food calorie is actually the amount of energy required to heat 1 kg of water by 1°C.
    With my "pedant of the month" hat on, actually a calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1 cubic centimetre of water by 1°C.

    A kilocalorie, kcal or Calorie is the amount of energy required to heat 1 kg of water by 1°C.

    Noticed I said "food calorie" didn't want to get into defining the kcal.
  • skinnyjess15
    skinnyjess15 Posts: 82
    Thank you all for the responses. Although the detailed explanations of how our bodies process water is a little over my head, I get that it's good for you. That being said....CHEERS!
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