What's the deal with water??

I know that drinking 100-120 ounces of water a day is a important key to weight loss, but why?  What exactly is this doing?  Someone explained the water flushes out the toxins that come from the breaking down of our fat cells but is that the only reason? Does anyone know more about this seemingly magical, simple substance? Man, I gotta go pee again!! Argh! 

The whole "flushing" angle is utter BS! In fact, there is a fair amount of research that drinking too much water is harmful - it dilutes potassium in your system.  This angle states that there is water in much of the foods we are supposed to eating:  veggies, fruits, etc. And, despite what you read, diet drinks, coffee still contain water. It all counts toward hydration of the body. As you may have picked up in researching wls, water with meals is a no-no.  It takes up space in your belly where the lean proteins, veggies need to be.  The idea is that you feel satisfied longer. I've been trying that - not drinking anything with my meals, without wls, mind you and it kind of does work.  I say, drink water in place of many other things:  soda, juice, simply to help reduce calories. Your muscles need a good amount for their function. And we see our pee, if it's like yellow syrup, then ya need more water.  Conversely, if it is nearly clear, to me, you are over doing it.

Is it valid to say that if you have a tendency to overeat you should consume a lot of water during the meal so that your body doesn't absorb all the food?  I can understand not drinking water with WLS but without WLS it doesn't seem like it would make much difference. When I restarted my journey I stopped everything but coffee and drank water only. I was only drinking about a liter today and I hadn't changed my eating habits. I lost 10lbs in the first week and a half. It wasn't until the 2nd week that I started changing my eating habits where I truely started eating less.  I quit drinking coffee this week. I replaced the caffeine with Zantrex, I don't miss the coffee now.  I haven't lost any weight in at least 5 days so I may be at the point where I've lost all the initial weight I'm going to and from here on out it's the hard part. Fine with me, just gotta keep my big butt off the scale monster.  I may have overdone the water today though.. I'm at 106 ounces so far at it's only 1:30pm. How much water should one drink a day?  Is 120oz too much?

if you are trying to lose weight without WLS, you should definitely drink water. the more, the better. especially when eating. a huge problem with overeaters is eating too fast. one method to combat this is by putting your fork down between each bite and taking a sip of water. it definitely helps deal with hunger and fill you up.  very often when we feel hungry, we are actually just thirsty. so its always good to drink some non-caloric beverage when you're feeling hungry (not to say you shouldn't eat if you are hungry, but we have become very separated from our bodily signals and cannot often read what our bodies are telling us. good to make sure you REALLY are hungry before wasting the calories.) the reason why WLS people don't drink while eating is because it fills their pouch and they don't have room for the protein etc that they really need to get in. also because it speeds the food through their system so they don't feel as satisfied.

I completely agree with you. What you say makes perfect sense and I think it's the answer I was looking for. I hope that someone else finds this discussion as helpful as I have. Since I have started drinking so much water I have found I eat tremendously less.  I don't know about anyone else but LOVE, LOVE hot wings.  I used to be able to eat 30-40 in one sitting. Tonight, I was feeling quite full at 6 wings.  I managed to eat 9 wings.  Had I actually eaten the first 6 more slowly I am positive I would have been stuffed at 6.  At the 9th one I felt overstuffed. Despite this, I'm very proud of myself. Normally I would have eaten myself into a stupor and been sick the rest of the night.  Today for lunch I had a single grilled chicken sandwich.. One!.. WOW!  I also find that chugging 10oz of water before the meal and sipping during helps a lot too.  All in all I drank about 125oz of water today.  We'll see how the weekend goes! Thank you all for your help and support!

Did you know that drinking water to flush out fat cells is a myth?  It truly is.  Only thing drinking water does is keep you hydrated which helps your body work out the fat.  If you're dehydrated, your body is not hitting it's full potential of fat-burning.  That's honestly all it does.  Sucks, huh?

I've heard that drinking too much water isn't good for you as well.. There was no way in heck I could ever drink the recommended 8 - 8oz glasses per day, plus at one point in the past, I had read that for every 25 lbs you are overweight, you need to drink an additional 8 oz!!!! That's crazy! I'd be floating away!  Now, I just drink it when I feel thirsty and I've given up on soda altogether... and now just drinking the Propel fitness water. When you are trying to wean off soda, it's great and hardly any sugar. I'm drinking that for the next week or so before I convert to plain water. (Propel is great... it's not overbearing... my fave is the Raspberry Lemonade flavor)

When I quit smoking I did it cold turkey. Same thing with sodas. I just quit and switched to water. Coffee was another thing. I used it for the caffeine.  Even then I only drank about 2 cups in the morning so it wasnt' hard to let go of either.. I may drink it again. I don't feel coffee's a bad thing unless you put sugar in it..which i don't. I'm lucky in that aspect, I hate the taste of sugar drinks.

How does hydration help your body work out the fat?  I mean, fat is already slimey, should work it's way out easily!    I'm going to believe it does more.. lol

Chris...sit down...it doesn't help you work out fat. Sorry. That is a myth. Furthermore, once a fat cell is created it never goes away.  It shrinks, but it does not ever go away.  Which is another powerful reason to seek wls/plastic surgery - you are fighting every one of those things crying our for food & reinstatement.

I would say definitely, being better hydrated is best, rather than less hydrated for your body functions. Your cells need a certain amount of water, of course so do organs and muscles.  The mroe efficient these things run, the better equipped your body is to fight fat.

 

Being hydrated is important for body function, it's not a friggin magician act. LOL