Drinking 8 cups of water on this diet helps with what?

24

Replies

  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    Mostly in mistaking thirst for hunger. And the Mayo Clinic says it's more like 9 cups for women and 13 for men, but all water counts--water in your food and water in juice, milk, coffee, tea, soda, etc, etc. Plain water from the tap or the store is in no way "pure" water. In fact, water is such a good solvent pure water is almost impossible to achieve, so it doesn't matter what is disolved in it. And BTW, it is possible (though VERY difficult) to drink too much water.

    For "actual fact" from real scientists, see: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/water/NU00283
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    Just wish the urge to pee would lessen. :)

    But think of all the extra bathroom running calories you're burning. :-)

    You know, I'm a bladder cancer patient who, thanks to treatment, is often unable to make to the bathroom in time. (You haven't lived until you've had to cross the entire supermarket and parking lot in jeans soaked all the way from crotch to hem with pee in your socks and shoes to get to your car. That is the day I started wearing diapers.) You can keep the calories burned in "running" to the bathroom if I can just quit needing so many diaper changes per day. 'kay?
  • lilu0629
    lilu0629 Posts: 1
    I found this from a 2009 CNN health article: "Research does suggest that drinking plenty of water may help you lose weight. An abstract by Dr. Brenda Davy, associate professor of human nutrition, foods and exercise at Virginia Tech, presented at last year's obesity conference in Phoenix, Arizona, showed that people who drank two glasses of water 20 to 30 minutes before every meal lost weight more quickly initially and lost significantly more weight than those who didn't. In another study by Davy and her group, published last year in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association, she found that people who drank water before meals ate an average of 75 fewer calories at that meal. This may not seem like much, but if you ate 75 fewer calories at lunch and dinner for the next year, you could lose about 14½ pounds! In addition, being even 1 percent dehydrated can cause a significant drop in metabolism, which can also interfere with weight loss."
  • ushkii
    ushkii Posts: 472 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm
    OUCH by that math I should be drinking 20 8oz cups of water! I shoot for 8 and have almost a pot of coffee too. I always see the suggestion to drink a cup of water before eating it help you fill up and triggers the sensation of fullness sooner, thus you might stop eating sooner. I have tried this and it works. When you first start drinking you are always up to the bathroom but it gets a little better. I have a desk job so it is good for me to move around .
  • tinalatina
    tinalatina Posts: 499 Member
    does tea count??? I struggle to drink one glass let alone 8!!! But tea.....now I can drink loads of that and it's decaf....it's liquid so it must count...surely!!
    Decaf Tea does count, as do most water based drinks. Anything with caffeine in it should not, since caffeine is a diuretic.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    Nope...Tea is a Dioretic and pushes water out of system
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    Hey Raven.

    I have been pondering this and a related matter.

    When you 'lose' weight, where does the weight go? It can only leave the body in a few ways - bodily functions (No. 1 and No. 2s) and sweat. However much you sweat during the day or during even an intense workout, that will not be alot. So most must be the former.

    So when you metabolise fat, from your body burning the energy stored in fat because of your calorie deficit, it is a chemical reaction with fat or glycogen reserves as the input. The output? Energy, heat and probably water and a few other chemicals (like an efficient combustion engine is water and CO2 or something) - it must be this water and chemical that leave the body. This goes through the body stream, is filtered by the kidneys and leaves the body through you urine.

    Is that right?

    Therefore, you need to keep water flushing through the body to efficiently wash out all whatever the byproduct of fat burning is.??

    Just something I have been pondering....

    [I did once study science to a high level but I can't remember what exactly happens - the fat must go somewhere! You can't just lose matter/energy - Laws of Thermodynamics!]

    No, you can't lose matter/energy, but you CAN and do convert matter INTO energy. THAT's where the fat goes. It gets used as fuel, and is converted into energy. The by-products are filtered (liver and kidneys) and excreted, as you say. Water doesn't, and can't, "wash it away."
  • Jules5112
    Jules5112 Posts: 1 Member
    Yes it helps hydrate, it also helps flush out the fat, but it helps with constipation and basically in general we ALL should drink plenty water every day, just be glad we live in places where we have a plentiful supply of fresk drinking water :o)
  • tinalatina
    tinalatina Posts: 499 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm
    OUCH by that math I should be drinking 20 8oz cups of water! I shoot for 8 and have almost a pot of coffee too. I always see the suggestion to drink a cup of water before eating it help you fill up and triggers the sensation of fullness sooner, thus you might stop eating sooner. I have tried this and it works. When you first start drinking you are always up to the bathroom but it gets a little better. I have a desk job so it is good for me to move around .

    I know! When I hear from Jillian Michaels that she recommends 80 ounces a day I almost DIED! It was so hard at first....and bathroom runs were a nightmare! But Now....its not so bad. I have 2 glasses in the am, 2 at lunch, 2 during snack and 2 by dinner. Make it a routine....

    One good thing I've noticed is my skin! I feel like my skin on my face looks healither and I look less tired!
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?
  • timadotcom
    timadotcom Posts: 653 Member
    Helps me lose weight..Duh!!:bigsmile: My first week of drinking massive amounts of water I dropped 3lbs and I think I made a post about it too:)
  • tinalatina
    tinalatina Posts: 499 Member
    Hey Raven.

    I have been pondering this and a related matter.

    When you 'lose' weight, where does the weight go? It can only leave the body in a few ways - bodily functions (No. 1 and No. 2s) and sweat. However much you sweat during the day or during even an intense workout, that will not be alot. So most must be the former.

    So when you metabolise fat, from your body burning the energy stored in fat because of your calorie deficit, it is a chemical reaction with fat or glycogen reserves as the input. The output? Energy, heat and probably water and a few other chemicals (like an efficient combustion engine is water and CO2 or something) - it must be this water and chemical that leave the body. This goes through the body stream, is filtered by the kidneys and leaves the body through you urine.

    Is that right?

    Therefore, you need to keep water flushing through the body to efficiently wash out all whatever the byproduct of fat burning is.??

    Just something I have been pondering....

    [I did once study science to a high level but I can't remember what exactly happens - the fat must go somewhere! You can't just lose matter/energy - Laws of Thermodynamics!]

    No, you can't lose matter/energy, but you CAN and do convert matter INTO energy. THAT's where the fat goes. It gets used as fuel, and is converted into energy. The by-products are filtered (liver and kidneys) and excreted, as you say. Water doesn't, and can't, "wash it away."

    Bumpity Bump!!! Definately pondering after this!!
  • tinalatina
    tinalatina Posts: 499 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    OMG! How did you get 9 gallons from 75 ounces? 1 gallon = 128 Fluid ounces for 150lb = 75 ounces = 9 cups give or take!

    You scared me for a second! I had to do the math again....haha I have heard of water toxication but only in mass amounts.
  • Angie_Van
    Angie_Van Posts: 8 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    That is not correct. It is Half your body weight in ounces.

    150lb person would drink 75 ounces which is approx 9 eight ounce glasses a day.
  • loombeav
    loombeav Posts: 391 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?
    It's not half your body weight the way your figuring it, take your weight and divid it in half, that is how many ounces you should drink a day. So for a 150 pound person they should drink 75 oz which is a little over 9 cups a day.
  • My1985Freckles
    My1985Freckles Posts: 1,039 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    Half your body weight in ounces, not glasses.... 150 pound person should have 75 ounces which is just over 9 8oz. cups. :-)
  • ludaban
    ludaban Posts: 3 Member
    Hey tanksquire,

    You are on the right track--fat is basically stored energy that our body has metabolized from food but not needed to use. When you burn more energy than you consume, your body begins to tap into the fuel reserve stored in your fat cells (oxidative pathways, i.e. aerobic exercise is the best way to use fat-burning pathways). The big contributor that you kind of glazed over in your synopsis of the laws of thermodynamics is heat. Heat from our metabolism is the main form of energy that is lost from our bodies to the environment. Of course, some other byproducts of metabolism need to be flushed out digestively (#1 & #2, sweat), so some is lost there as well.

    Hope this helps!
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    OMG! How did you get 9 gallons from 75 ounces? 1 gallon = 128 Fluid ounces for 150lb = 75 ounces = 9 cups give or take!

    You scared me for a second! I had to do the math again....haha I have heard of water toxication but only in mass amounts.

    How I get nine gallons is by doing the math--correctly. Half of 150 pounds is 75 pounds. Water weights about 8 pounds per gallon. 75 divided by 8 is ~9.4, so 75 pounds of water is 9.4 gallons. Since you can only excrete about 5 to 6 gallons per day (and that's under ideal conditions), 9 gallons is more than enough to kill you. How is drinking "half of your body weight" in water not unhealthy?

    My math is fine. It is you who have assumed (wrongly) that an ounce of water weighs a pound.
  • loombeav
    loombeav Posts: 391 Member
    does tea count??? I struggle to drink one glass let alone 8!!! But tea.....now I can drink loads of that and it's decaf....it's liquid so it must count...surely!!
    Decaf Tea does count, as do most water based drinks. Anything with caffeine in it should not, since caffeine is a diuretic.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    Nope...Tea is a Dioretic and pushes water out of system
    Decaf tea, or decaf coffee for that matter, does not have enough caffeine in them to be considered a diuretic. Caffeine is what acts as a diuretic, remove it and the drink itself no longer does.
  • MichelleB82
    MichelleB82 Posts: 20
    Im really trying my best with the water i cant drink cthe 8 glasses though, im struggling cause all this water is making me want to use the bathroom more than normal and working at a reception desk is a nightmare as i cant leave my desk :( I need to get a bucket i think hahaha
  • ludaban
    ludaban Posts: 3 Member
    Another thought about the water--one of the symptoms of dehydration is craving solid foods, so being properly hydrated can help curb these cravings. And if you drank 9 gallons of water in a day you would definitely die.
  • loombeav
    loombeav Posts: 391 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    OMG! How did you get 9 gallons from 75 ounces? 1 gallon = 128 Fluid ounces for 150lb = 75 ounces = 9 cups give or take!

    You scared me for a second! I had to do the math again....haha I have heard of water toxication but only in mass amounts.

    How I get nine gallons is by doing the math--correctly. Half of 150 pounds is 75 pounds. Water weights about 8 pounds per gallon. 75 divided by 8 is ~9.4, so 75 pounds of water is 9.4 gallons. Since you can only excrete about 5 to 6 gallons per day (and that's under ideal conditions), 9 gallons is more than enough to kill you. How is drinking "half of your body weight" in water not unhealthy?
    It is not suggested you drink half your body weight in pounds. The suggestion is that your divide your weight in half and drink that amount in ounces.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    We need about 8 cups of water a day, on average*, for the body to run. If we are low on water, our body signals us to drink liquid via the thirst mechanism.

    Drinking water is helpful when trying to control hunger pangs. Plop in a glass or two of water before you eat a meal and you will tend to eat less. When you get hungry, toss in a glass or two and you will delay hunger pangs for a while. Some sites that recommend drinking 8 glasses of water explain why (I think I found a site a few months ago but I don't have the link) but most don't. One reason could be that sites firmly stand behind the statement, rightfully so, that they're not offering medical advice etc., etc. because they don't want to be sued.

    I have yet to find a site offers any justification for drinking water.

    Many folks believe that drinking 8 cups a day "helps flush toxins". Well, of course it helps flush toxins but there's no need to drink 8 cups of water a day to do that.

    Many folks believe that it makes your skin look better and I would bet that it does, for a while. Our body is a homeostat - it constantly seeks "balance". After a few million years of evolution, our body has a pretty good idea of how much water it needs. That's not going to change because an individual pours lots of water in it. The body will absorb the extra water, keep what it needs, and excrete the rest. I have no doubt that on a temporary basis, extra water can remove wrinkles. I would be quite surprised if that condition lasted over the long term simply because that's not the way the body works (it's a homeostat, right?).

    And the idea that you have to drink "plain water" for the water to "count"? Well, think about that for a second. Let's argue that iced tea doesn't count because it's not "pure". Hmm, what's "pure water"? Very few places have H2O. Yes, there's glacier water and spring water, etc., etc. but that's not H2O. Drinking water contains H2O as well as a huge number of other chemicals, albeit in very minor amounts. But, no it's not "pure water" — it contains chemicals so if you don't want arsenic, gallium, sodium, etc., etc. stick with distilled water.

    What about tea, for example, not "counting". The argument is that because tea is a diuretic, you shouldn't count it at all. At the core of the issue is not that tea is a diuretic because that's easily established. The core of the issue is how much of a diuretic effect does tea, coffee, etc. have? That is rarely discussed, for a variety of reasons. Undoubtedly one reason is that folks simply don't know and don't even know to ask. When "someone" says X is a diuretic, that's assumed to be bad. The other question is that folks do know but don't bring that up 'cause it doesn't fit the narrative.

    How much diuretic impact does moderate consumption of tea or coffee have? For regular users of caffeine, there is no measurable difference in urine output (the body adapts, right?). For people who are not regular users of caffeine, the diuretic effect is measurable and insignificant. (I use the word "moderate" simply to put some bounds around the problem.)

    There's nothing wrong with drinking plain water, even when you're not thirsty. Our body will tolerate quite a lot of abuse (most of us have put our body through lots of that!) so drinking water we don't need just means we spend money on something useless to our body and we spend time urinating. And, if you need help controlling your hunger, there is no doubt that water is a good temporary substitute until you get control of you urge to eat.

    I don't have the links handy about the diuretic effect but a few minutes on the Web will provide that information or perhaps someone could post them.

    I've spent much of my 55 years thinking that you should drink "lots of water". Most of that belief came about when I was in the Army, especially I was in the desert or high humidity climates. We had to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. And we had to constantly remind our troops to do so. And, looking back, I believe it was more CYA than for the good of the troops (heaven help the commander who had a soldier with a heat casualty!)

    This articles are important:

    http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

    http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2002/aug/080802.html

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

    I've been using the Internet since well before the world wide web was invented. I started using the Internet when I was working for DARPA (anyone ever hear of DARPANET?) so I learned long ago to be skeptical about anything that you read on the internet (there's also zero privacy on the internet, too — anyone who knows their way 'round the web can find my home address, based on my postings on this site, in about 60 seconds, for example). What I like about the article by Dr. Valetin (spelling?) is that his document is a research document and it has 100 footnotes. This is not a "I heard…" or "I read on Yahoo", this is a medical doctor who wrote a textbook on the human kidney who could find no basis to support the idea that we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day.




    *"average" - what's that?
  • WhiteRaven
    WhiteRaven Posts: 138 Member
    Kind of off topic, yet still related.

    If you find it difficult to drink all that water in a day and you don't want to add flavor crystals, I totally recommend slicing up some cucumbers and adding that to a jug of water for the day.

    It surprisingly adds a nice flavor to the water.

    Make sure you use the Long English cucumbers (Not the slicer Cukes) One of my favorite restaurants does this and it's fabulous.
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    OMG! How did you get 9 gallons from 75 ounces? 1 gallon = 128 Fluid ounces for 150lb = 75 ounces = 9 cups give or take!

    You scared me for a second! I had to do the math again....haha I have heard of water toxication but only in mass amounts.

    How I get nine gallons is by doing the math--correctly. Half of 150 pounds is 75 pounds. Water weights about 8 pounds per gallon. 75 divided by 8 is ~9.4, so 75 pounds of water is 9.4 gallons. Since you can only excrete about 5 to 6 gallons per day (and that's under ideal conditions), 9 gallons is more than enough to kill you. How is drinking "half of your body weight" in water not unhealthy?
    It is not suggested you drink half your body weight in pounds. The suggestion is that your divide your weight in half and drink that amount in ounces.

    Please reread. It says "It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. " What you are now saying is that what was meant was that you drink one ounce for every two pounds of your weight, and an easy way to get that is to divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces. It's not what was actually said. What was actually said was to "drink as much as half your body weight." These are VERY different things, and one is VERY dangerous. People every day follow some really dangerous diets to lose weight, and being careful what you recommend really does matter.
  • ludaban
    ludaban Posts: 3 Member
    Another really good tip that I've found helpful, especially if you live in a dry climate like I do, is to drink 1-2 liters of water first thing in the morning right when you wake up. You lose a lot of water overnight, so the water in the morning can help wake you up and jumpstart your metabolism.
  • loombeav
    loombeav Posts: 391 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    OMG! How did you get 9 gallons from 75 ounces? 1 gallon = 128 Fluid ounces for 150lb = 75 ounces = 9 cups give or take!

    You scared me for a second! I had to do the math again....haha I have heard of water toxication but only in mass amounts.

    How I get nine gallons is by doing the math--correctly. Half of 150 pounds is 75 pounds. Water weights about 8 pounds per gallon. 75 divided by 8 is ~9.4, so 75 pounds of water is 9.4 gallons. Since you can only excrete about 5 to 6 gallons per day (and that's under ideal conditions), 9 gallons is more than enough to kill you. How is drinking "half of your body weight" in water not unhealthy?
    It is not suggested you drink half your body weight in pounds. The suggestion is that your divide your weight in half and drink that amount in ounces.

    Please reread. It says "It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. " What you are now saying is that what was meant was that you drink one ounce for every two pounds of your weight, and an easy way to get that is to divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces. It's not what was actually said. What was actually said was to "drink as much as half your body weight." These are VERY different things, and one is VERY dangerous. People every day follow some really dangerous diets to lose weight, and being careful what you recommend really does matter.
    The OP of that particular post obviously mistyped, but in her example it clearly states that it is ounces not pounds. As most people don't walk around talking about how many pounds of water they drank for they day, I'd say it's a no brainer. I realize you are trying to make a point, I just think it's an asinine one. As it seems your arguing it just for the sake of arguing.
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    We need about 8 cups of water a day, on average*, for the body to run. If we are low on water, our body signals us to drink liquid via the thirst mechanism.

    Drinking water is helpful when trying to control hunger pangs. Plop in a glass or two of water before you eat a meal and you will tend to eat less. When you get hungry, toss in a glass or two and you will delay hunger pangs for a while. Some sites that recommend drinking 8 glasses of water explain why (I think I found a site a few months ago but I don't have the link) but most don't. One reason could be that sites firmly stand behind the statement, rightfully so, that they're not offering medical advice etc., etc. because they don't want to be sued.

    I have yet to find a site offers any justification for drinking water.

    Many folks believe that drinking 8 cups a day "helps flush toxins". Well, of course it helps flush toxins but there's no need to drink 8 cups of water a day to do that.

    Many folks believe that it makes your skin look better and I would bet that it does, for a while. Our body is a homeostat - it constantly seeks "balance". After a few million years of evolution, our body has a pretty good idea of how much water it needs. That's not going to change because an individual pours lots of water in it. The body will absorb the extra water, keep what it needs, and excrete the rest. I have no doubt that on a temporary basis, extra water can remove wrinkles. I would be quite surprised if that condition lasted over the long term simply because that's not the way the body works (it's a homeostat, right?).

    And the idea that you have to drink "plain water" for the water to "count"? Well, think about that for a second. Let's argue that iced tea doesn't count because it's not "pure". Hmm, what's "pure water"? Very few places have H2O. Yes, there's glacier water and spring water, etc., etc. but that's not H2O. Drinking water contains H2O as well as a huge number of other chemicals, albeit in very minor amounts. But, no it's not "pure water" — it contains chemicals so if you don't want arsenic, gallium, sodium, etc., etc. stick with distilled water.

    What about tea, for example, not "counting". The argument is that because tea is a diuretic, you shouldn't count it at all. At the core of the issue is not that tea is a diuretic because that's easily established. The core of the issue is how much of a diuretic effect does tea, coffee, etc. have? That is rarely discussed, for a variety of reasons. Undoubtedly one reason is that folks simply don't know and don't even know to ask. When "someone" says X is a diuretic, that's assumed to be bad. The other question is that folks do know but don't bring that up 'cause it doesn't fit the narrative.

    How much diuretic impact does moderate consumption of tea or coffee have? For regular users of caffeine, there is no measurable difference in urine output (the body adapts, right?). For people who are not regular users of caffeine, the diuretic effect is measurable and insignificant. (I use the word "moderate" simply to put some bounds around the problem.)

    There's nothing wrong with drinking plain water, even when you're not thirsty. Our body will tolerate quite a lot of abuse (most of us have put our body through lots of that!) so drinking water we don't need just means we spend money on something useless to our body and we spend time urinating. And, if you need help controlling your hunger, there is no doubt that water is a good temporary substitute until you get control of you urge to eat.

    I don't have the links handy about the diuretic effect but a few minutes on the Web will provide that information or perhaps someone could post them.

    I've spent much of my 55 years thinking that you should drink "lots of water". Most of that belief came about when I was in the Army, especially I was in the desert or high humidity climates. We had to drink a lot of water to stay hydrated. And we had to constantly remind our troops to do so. And, looking back, I believe it was more CYA than for the good of the troops (heaven help the commander who had a soldier with a heat casualty!)

    This articles are important:

    http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

    http://www.dartmouth.edu/~news/releases/2002/aug/080802.html

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

    I've been using the Internet since well before the world wide web was invented. I started using the Internet when I was working for DARPA (anyone ever hear of DARPANET?) so I learned long ago to be skeptical about anything that you read on the internet (there's also zero privacy on the internet, too — anyone who knows their way 'round the web can find my home address, based on my postings on this site, in about 60 seconds, for example). What I like about the article by Dr. Valetin (spelling?) is that his document is a research document and it has 100 footnotes. This is not a "I heard…" or "I read on Yahoo", this is a medical doctor who wrote a textbook on the human kidney who could find no basis to support the idea that we need to drink 8 glasses of water a day.




    *"average" - what's that?

    THANK YOU! I work with a chemist all day, my boss and another coworker are chemical engineers. They all tell me "pure" water is VERY VERY rare because water is the closest thing to a "universal solvent" we have found, so it's virtually never "pure."
  • FitLink
    FitLink Posts: 1,317 Member
    What does drinking all that water ultimately help with? Is it more with curbing your appetite so you don’t eat more or does it actually help with more internal stuff.

    I’ve heard multiple things but what does it really do.. in your opinion or of actual fact

    It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. Ie: If you weight 150 divided by 2 = 75 ounces of water. Water is not only a good way to help curb the appetite but....it is essential for your body to stay hydrated.

    Here is a helpful link on why its important to drink water.

    http://www.thedietchannel.com/Top-4-Benefits-of-Drinking-Water.htm

    HALF your body weight? That would mean a 150 pound person would need to drink more than NINE GALLONS of water a DAY! That's not just insane, it's dangerous! Have you heard of water intoxication?

    OMG! How did you get 9 gallons from 75 ounces? 1 gallon = 128 Fluid ounces for 150lb = 75 ounces = 9 cups give or take!

    You scared me for a second! I had to do the math again....haha I have heard of water toxication but only in mass amounts.

    How I get nine gallons is by doing the math--correctly. Half of 150 pounds is 75 pounds. Water weights about 8 pounds per gallon. 75 divided by 8 is ~9.4, so 75 pounds of water is 9.4 gallons. Since you can only excrete about 5 to 6 gallons per day (and that's under ideal conditions), 9 gallons is more than enough to kill you. How is drinking "half of your body weight" in water not unhealthy?
    It is not suggested you drink half your body weight in pounds. The suggestion is that your divide your weight in half and drink that amount in ounces.

    Please reread. It says "It is recommend that your drink as much as half of your body weight. " What you are now saying is that what was meant was that you drink one ounce for every two pounds of your weight, and an easy way to get that is to divide your weight in half and drink that many ounces. It's not what was actually said. What was actually said was to "drink as much as half your body weight." These are VERY different things, and one is VERY dangerous. People every day follow some really dangerous diets to lose weight, and being careful what you recommend really does matter.
    The OP of that particular post obviously mistyped, but in her example it clearly states that it is ounces not pounds. As most people don't walk around talking about how many pounds of water they drank for they day, I'd say it's a no brainer. I realize you are trying to make a point, I just think it's an asinine one. As it seems your arguing it just for the sake of arguing.

    What is asinine is the idea that you need to drink 8 cups, or 9-1/3 cups--which is 75 ounces--of water in a day when there is no medical evidence of this what-so-ever. To then further confuse it by mixing the units just makes the post asinine. Perhaps if there were any actual scientific evidence that any part of this was actually true, mixing the units up wouldn't be a big deal, but mixing the units such that you make an irresponsibly dangerous claim DOES matter.

    You are correct that I am trying to make a point. What you have missed is what point. The idea that you need to drink 75 ounces of plain water is just as silly as the idea that you need 9 gallons--just less dangerous.
  • l3ugjuice
    l3ugjuice Posts: 233
    Decaf tea, or decaf coffee for that matter, does not have enough caffeine in them to be considered a diuretic. Caffeine is what acts as a diuretic, remove it and the drink itself no longer does.

    This. Besides, the diuretic effects of tea are overstated anyway. The water in the tea compensates for any diuretic effect, I dont think it's possible to brew tea with enough caffeine for it not to do so (and if you did it would be absolutely disgusting). It's a good idea to limit your caffeine intake, sure...but you dont have to be crazy about it. Drink an extra cup of water or two and you are good.

    To sum up, if ya are not losing weight...it's not the tea.

    Losing weight isnt rocket science. It's really not, at least not for most of us. It's more like simple math, you don't have to overthink it.
  • NYChick84
    NYChick84 Posts: 331 Member
    drink drink drink!!!!!!! water is definitely key to surviving and keeping hydrated!!! whether or not you're on a diet, it's always good to drink a half gallon (at least!) of water a day!
This discussion has been closed.

Categories