Can you drink too much water??

J

just_me

New member
This may be a weird question but I am courious. Everything you read about a healthy diets and weight loss includes drinking plenty of water. But can you drink too much water? I typically drink a little over 2 litres (8+ cups) of water a day and occasionally a glass of ice tea in addition to the water. I can't remember the last time I had a diet coke and I really dont miss it. I enjoy the water and today I finished 3 liters of water. It got me thinking,should I limit my water intake to eight 8 oz glasses per day?? I would hate to sabotage my weight/fat loss efforts by drinking too much water. I would be interested in your thoughts on this. Thanks :)
 
 
Uhm, I think that answer was slightly over the top, and not quite relating to the question.

Water intoxication is possible under certain circumstances, yes. One of them being that you overload your body with fluid, and keep adding fluids, without releasing what is already there. In other words, if you don't pee.

It also required extreme amounts of water (I think the lowest amount I ever read about was about 9 litres), in a very short amount of time.

So to answer the question in a less panic-inducing way, no, you're not sabotaging your weight loss efforts or your health by drinking water. If you go to the bathroom regularly (which I assume you do) and don't suffer from kidney problems or anything similar, you are fine to drink 3 - 4 litres of water per day if you so desire. Drinking that amount of water spread over the day (even with other drinks thrown into the mix) won't do you any harm whatsoever.
 
Water has no calories. It will not cause you to gain fat. It can definately make you weigh-in higher if you drink before you get on the scale but it is not related to gaining fat. It will pass through you. Remember that a pint of water weighs a pound.
 
Just look at your urine. If it is pale straw yellow to clear, then you are hydrated and doing just fine. If it is darker then you still need to drink more. This is simply about hydration. Don't use 8x8 because that has been shown to be inaccurate.
 
San said:
Uhm, I think that answer was slightly over the top, and not quite relating to the question.

Water intoxication is possible under certain circumstances, yes. One of them being that you overload your body with fluid, and keep adding fluids, without releasing what is already there. In other words, if you don't pee.

It also required extreme amounts of water (I think the lowest amount I ever read about was about 9 litres), in a very short amount of time.

So to answer the question in a less panic-inducing way, no, you're not sabotaging your weight loss efforts or your health by drinking water. If you go to the bathroom regularly (which I assume you do) and don't suffer from kidney problems or anything similar, you are fine to drink 3 - 4 litres of water per day if you so desire. Drinking that amount of water spread over the day (even with other drinks thrown into the mix) won't do you any harm whatsoever.
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I gave him 2 stories where people drank to much water and something to read about drinking to much water so he could come up with his on conclusion on if he is drinking to much water.. whats wrong with that?
 
Primevci said:
I gave him 2 stories where people drank to much water and something to read about drinking to much water so he could come up with his on conclusion on if he is drinking to much water.. whats wrong with that?
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Both stories had next to no factual information (how much water did they drink, in what time span, did they have any other medical problems etc.), and the wikipedia link was talking about water intoxication, which is caused by extreme intake of water, coupled with other factors.

The OP was talking about three litres, not 10. The answer seemed rather drastic considered what the question was, that's all.
 
fragile said:
Water has no calories. It will not cause you to gain fat. It can definately make you weigh-in higher if you drink before you get on the scale but it is not related to gaining fat. It will pass through you. Remember that a pint of water weighs a pound.
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maybe you should try to read what the OP was actually asking.
 
San said:
Both stories had next to no factual information (how much water did they drink, in what time span, did they have any other medical problems etc.), and the wikipedia link was talking about water intoxication, which is caused by extreme intake of water, coupled with other factors.

The OP was talking about three litres, not 10. The answer seemed rather drastic considered what the question was, that's all.
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ah your right ill just leave it to the pros from now on...
 
Jericho said:
Just look at your urine. If it is pale straw yellow to clear, then you are hydrated and doing just fine. If it is darker then you still need to drink more. This is simply about hydration. Don't use 8x8 because that has been shown to be inaccurate.
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Thank you all for your replies. I think Jericho's short and to the point response summed it up simply. It was exactly what I was looking for. My urine is very light to clear, so I guess I am on the right track with 2-3 litres a day.
Keeping an eye on the color of my urine will tell me if I need more or less water to myself properly hydrated. That sounds simple enough. Thanks so much Jericho!

Primvci, I had heard of a few of those extreme cases where death occured, but I knew I was not even coming close to injesting that much water. My question was prompted because I was wondering that if I were to drink too much water, might it flush or dilute some of the needed nutrients i get from my food thru my body too fast and in someway slow the progress of weight/fat loss down.
I hope that doesnt sound crazy. I assure you I am not trying to do my self in with excessive water intake :) Anyway, now I know how to tell when I am properly hydrated. Thank you again guys!
 
just_me said:
This may be a weird question but I am courious. Everything you read about a healthy diets and weight loss includes drinking plenty of water. But can you drink too much water? I typically drink a little over 2 litres (8+ cups) of water a day and occasionally a glass of ice tea in addition to the water. I can't remember the last time I had a diet coke and I really dont miss it. I enjoy the water and today I finished 3 liters of water. It got me thinking,should I limit my water intake to eight 8 oz glasses per day?? I would hate to sabotage my weight/fat loss efforts by drinking too much water. I would be interested in your thoughts on this. Thanks :)
Click to expand...

yes you can drink too much water, you should drink 8 cups of water a day or 4 liters a day.
 
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The amount you are drinking is fine and I assume you drink it throughout the day instead of all at once. I wouldn't worry about drinking too much water. It won't do anything at all to sabotage your weight loss. The water intoxication is extreme cases.
 
Water intake varies, for me I am a very active person on an avg my bottled water holds like 1 pint from morning till after work I refilled it 5-7 times then again I would lose all the water after going to the gym and do the same thing the next day. I had a sports massage like 3 days ago and the therapist was like "your muscle are very hydrated and well conditioned, I envy you" :)
 
Okay, first of all there is no "right" amount of water. While back in the dark ages (90's) there were horrible people saying "everyone needs X litres of water", us modern people should all know that the most basic rule to stay hydrated, if you don't have some weird hypothalamus defect, is "drink when you're thirsty and you're golden".

Now this will probably vary on a day to day basis. Some days I drink 4 liters, some days I drink 2, its all good.

And yes, you can drink too much water. Taken to the extreme you will die, drinking just.. too much will probably make you a bit off but with the amount of salt and sugar in most peoples diet it shouldn't really make you do anything besides pee a lot.

BTW the story about the woman dying should be spread EVERYWHERE because there are still tons of people recommending way too much water drinking to detox and cleanse yourself and whatnot bullshit. I wholeheartedly support the linking to of that story everywhere. (And this thread needed some reverse PC policing)

Short story: yes you can and you should drink water when you are thirsty.
 
Ando3242 said:
The amount you are drinking is fine and I assume you drink it throughout the day instead of all at once. I wouldn't worry about drinking too much water. It won't do anything at all to sabotage your weight loss. The water intoxication is extreme cases.
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^ agrees.
Can't you tell when you've had too much? 3 or 4 cups of water fills my stomach up pretty quickly.
 
I think you should not worry about drinking too much water. The amount of water to drink everyday depends upon everyone's needs. It's a simple question with no easy answers. your water needs depend on many factors, including your health, how active you are and where you live.
Every system in your body depends on water & even water makes up about 60 percent of your body weight. So drink water as per your needs.
 
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