drinking tea and retaining water weight

hello i am new here. I am 5'11, weigh about 216.0. I am 31 years old. My goal is to get down to about 185lbs. I don't look bad at all, but my weight is all around my middle, and I know that is really bad health-wise. My question is how much water should I be drinking per day, it seems I am retaining water because some days I gain weight. Thanks all.

Well I am new here also but try to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day or more. How much sodium do you take in? Maybe that could be why you are retaining water. To much sodium can make you feel bloated. I hope this helps.

3000-5000mg a day.

Whooooa there.  You should be consuming no more than approx. 2400mg of sodium a day.  That could be your water retention right there!

hmm really? What are examples of some low sodium foods besides veggies and fruits? Thanks...

 Brad

All unprocessed meats, fish, poultry, Eggs, Peanut butter, Tuna in a can in water, mozzarella cheese, and cottage cheese. You can also buy Mrs. Dash seasonings cause there is no salt. Also lowering your sodium intake can help lower blood pressure.

Well, basically your best bet is too avoid high sodium things.  That would include:

Any frozen dinner type things
Soups pack a whallop of salt
packaged meals (the type you add water to and cook for example)
Packaged meats

basically, if you eat a lot of packaged/processed foods, you'll be in over your head in sodium!

Eat things as fresh as you can afford/find, and look for things labeled 'low sodium' (though, as you'll find, some low sodium foods just plain taste bad haha, test around).  As someone else mentioned too, Mrs. Dash seasonings are awesome, I love them!  Give 'em a try if a lot of your sodium comes simply from you dousing foods with salt :P

hey brada, eating a lot of salt makes you retain water, but it doesn't make you gain weight.  what i mean is, if your scale says 215 and you eat a lot of salt every day, it'll say 215 every day (when you really might weigh 211 once some of that water weight is normalized).  but you won't gain a pound a day from eating a lot of salt.  if you cut the salt out of your diet, your scale will just say 211 every day.

it's a good idea to drink lots of liquids, bec they keep you full, they keep your body hydrated and functioning optimally.  any liquids that aren't dehydrating (coffee, tea, alcohol, soda) are hydrating.  but if you're watching your calories, you may want to water down juices/gatorades.

3000 sodium really isn't super bad if you sweat a lot (if you're physically active).  when you cut calories, salt helps a lot (put a little in your oatmeal, in your tomato sauce, on your fish, on roasted squash/potatoes/zucchini).  i'm not a proponent of salt certainly, but the only reason to stay away from sodium is high blood pressure.  so if you have medical reasons to steer clear of salt, that's important.