The importance of water

Ok everyone knows you're supposed to drink loads of water every day, but can someone spell out to me, like I'm a 4 year old, why? Cos I'm forcing it down but not seeing any benefits.

Sorry for the dumbass question!

I'm not much on water myself, but I drink iced tea and can see it helping.  My hydration lvl according to my scale has gone from 39 adv to 50 adv.  Also, my weight goes down a lot faster when I'm drinking more tea.  It helps flush the fat out of your system.  It also gives you softer skin and hair.  If you drink tap water, you get a little extra iron there.  Tea has lots of potassium, so the water and the potassium really help flush sodium out of you.  Both potassium and water help prevent  muscle cramps.  Drinking lots of water can even help prevent headaches.  If you have the right amount of water in your blood, it makes things a lot easier on your heart.  And drinking water helps keep your breath from getting nasty b/c it keeps the bacteria in your mouth flushed out (like saliva does).  And, the last thing I can think of, it helps with digestion (esp important if you get a good amount of fiber).

Water doesn't have calories so if your replacing juice or sodas it can help your diet.  Otherwise if you're drink water whenever your thirsty then you should be getting enough.  There's no reason that I know of to force it.

From a scientific standpoint, you actually need about 30-35ml per kg of body weight.

Beyond that, drinking alot of water can help to fill you up and keep you from overeating at meals (for some people). Some people mistake thirst for hunger.

There is no actual current scientific research to prove that old theory that you "need at least 8 cups of water per day". That is an old recommendation which was never really substantiated with scientific evidence.

Bottom line- You should get the needed 30-35ml per kg daily, but there is no need to force-feed yourself water to meet some random goal.

even mild dehydration will slow the metabolism by as much as 3%

Drinking water can help stop hunger pangs for many dieters

Lack of water is the number one cause of day time fatigue

a 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short term memory and trouble with basic math and can cause difficulty focusing on a computer screen or printed page.

it is estimated that 75% of Americans are chronically dehydrated. big numbers in a country with such a great clean supply.

for maximum physical health:

take your body weight and divide by 2. divide this number by 8.. The resulting number approximates how many 8oz glasses of water you should drink ever day. If you perform intense physical activity you should ass an extra or two glasses.

Water composes 50%-70% of the body's weight. It is essential to the health of the skin and body because it sustains the health of the cells, aids in proper digestion, helps regulate the body's temperature, and aids in the elimination of toxins and waste. So drink up! =D

I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but I don't want these nutrition myths perpetuated on this site and I don't think others do either. 

99% of the above posters information is not based on proven science. That method of calculating water needs is not correct. The correct method for estimating water needs is as I stated in my post. 75% of Americans are not clinically dehydrated.

It is true that actual dehydration can cause a feeling of fatigue and possibly short term memory loss, but you will not get clinically dehydrated simply from consuming less than 8 glasses of water per day.

those are facts, got them out of my text book.

The thirst center and hunger center in the brain (in they hypocampus) controls several things, thirst, hunger, sex drive .... but it's not always great at discerning so if you body is actually dehydrated and thirsty then the hypocampus sends out a signal, but the signal can easily be mistaken for a hunger signal and so you eat when what your body is actually asking for is water (or any fluid). It really doesn't matter if you drink water, tea, diet soda, etc ... it's all liquid that your body absorbs. The only reason to choose water over diet soda or the like is the chemicals, there's no difference in terms of your body's hydration.

I think drinking "more than you think you want" is a good policy if you want to lose weight.  It does supress hunger, and thirst is often mistaken for hunger.

Science or not if you want to lose weight, eat fewer calories, exercise, and drink plenty of water.

For me and many others, it works every time it's tried.

Original Post by sashi83:

those are facts, got them out of my text book.

 Don't believe everything you read.

My unscientific response is that your body is made up of cells (remember our body actually needs food and water to survive). If you deplete the water (or food) from the cells they can't do the work they need to do to keep you healthy.