Water, water, water?!!!!

[Plumjuice]

How does everyont drink their water?!!
I really struggle with water, Im just not a water person at all. I very rarely have more than 2 ltrs per day and this is made up of sparkling water with some powder flavouring (just cannot drink plain water) tea with a splash of skimmed milk and 3 tablet sweetners and the occassional peppermint tea....wish I could just drink 3 ltrs of plain water, but I cant

 

[Bea]

It's definitely tougher on winter......the more you drink the quicker you loose....I keep a few glasses on the go around the house but I think most of us find it a struggle...

 

[Pheonix2010]

i really struggle with this too

can someone explain to me how drinking water makes you lose quicker I dont get the biology of it

 

[Bea]

I was advised this big time when on LT a few years back. Firstly your normal foods contains water naturally so you do get a quantity without drinking and you need to replace that when having packs. Also when you drinks lots it tricks your brain into thinking things are plentiful and you don't 'hang on' to fat which you can tend to if your brain's instincts thinks there is a drought and therefore famine..it's back to our basic instincts...I also found the weeks I drank the most were the weeks I lost the most.....it's still tough

 

[Pheonix2010]

hmmm you are starting to convince me i need to make more effort

 

[lastdiet4me]

if you look at my losses the weeks i lost 5lbs i religiously drank 3ltrs a day but omg it was tough going..lol i buy the 2lt bottles from the supermarkets with malic acid in it as i just cant stomach normal tap water, it makes me gag, i have to admit that it does get easier as time goes on, i have a bottle next to me now and im glugging away..lol apparently your supposed to just sip it but i dont know why xxx

 

[Cherry-Blossom]

Why water is so important (from a thread a page back)

How the hell does your body hold onto weight and still manage to get smaller while you are on your chosen low carb diet?!? Losing inches but not weight? You know the scenario: You are on Induction for two weeks, and you haven't cheated even once. You notice that your clothes fit better, that you are stepping a little livelier, and as far as you're concerned, all's right with the world.

But then you step on that evil construction of the Devil himself, the bathroom scale, and you instantly feel betrayed. The stupid thing insists that you have done nothing! Sometimes, it even states you have done less than nothing; it accuses you of cheating because it tells that you haven't lost any weight! Well, there area couple of simple explanations to help you get through this trying time.

First of all, if it is at all possible for you to do so, throw that insipid Monster Scale in the trash. Or at least put it up somewhere that it is really, REALLY inconvenient to get to so that you won't be tempted to ask it's opinion every single day of your life. Face it. If you are feeling better and your clothes are looser, do you really need the scale to tell you that you're on the right track? No! You don't! Why do you think you do it, then? I'll tell you why. The low fat diet demons have a tenacious hold on your brain. That's right, you've been brainwashed. All your life they have told you through doctors, dietitians, newspaper and magazine articles, surgeon generals and the like, that you give up X calories per day and you will lose a pound of fat. They even go on to tell you how much fat you should lose each week. In the process, they've made you dependent on the Monster Scale to gauge your progress!

What a big lie!

Even on the diets that "they" advocate, the Monster Scale does not often cooperate. You go back to the Diet Demons and demand to know why the scale does not reflect the torture you have put yourself through for a month. They immediately start backpedaling on the "give up X calories and lose a pound of fat" story, and start talking to you about water retention and muscle buildup. Sometimes, they even blame it on you with questions like, "Are you sure you counted the calories in everything you ate?" (This is delivered with a knowing little smile that makes you want to rip their knowing little face off.) Being the type that is given to blaming things on yourself, anyway, you cooperate with an answer like, "Well….." They pounce on this with "Ahhhh, well.." Then, they launch into one of their scoldings/lash/encouragement speeches.

So, get off their bandwagon, already!

Then, there's the competitive spirit. You hear about what other people have done on your chosen diet. Yes, Brian went on Atkins a year ago and lost over a hundred pounds. Yes, a hundred pounds in a year is over eight pounds a month, or 2 pounds a week, or .0119 pounds per hour….but, "Hello? You ain't Brian!" And, did Brian ever say that he lost .0119 pounds per hour? No! He said a hundred pounds in a year. This only proves he got on the scale twice; a year ago, and yesterday. Take a hint from Brian. Stay off the scale!

The second solution is to understand what is going on in your body in light of the current state of human affairs. Today, all a person has to have to eat every day is money and transportation to a grocery store or, better yet, a nice restaurant. However, your body's survival instincts have not matured in a million years. Your body still thinks you are a hunter-gatherer. Yes, in spite of a million years of evolution, your body still thinks you are going to have to go out and kill a mammoth to eat. The survival instincts with which you are going to have to come to terms are read-only memory. You can't overwrite them. Deal with it.

That said, let me tell you what happens when you lose a pound of fat. Your body has been saving this fat for that long hunting expedition you're going to have to go on to track, kill, dress and retrieve that huge animal. It keeps the fat in little pillows distributed throughout your body. When you start losing fat, it doesn't trust you to continue whatever insane path you have chosen that is causing the fat to dissipate. So, when the fat comes out of the pillow, it injects water as a "place holder." Sometimes that water actually replaces the weight of the fat it lost. Sometimes it replaces the volume.

Water weighs more than fat just like lead sinkers weigh more than feathers. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of feathers, you'll have a nice big pillow. If you stuff a pillow with a pound of lead sinkers, you'll have a nice (but rather hard and uncomfortable), small pillow. Now, let's say your body removes a pound of fat and replaces the weight with a pound of water. Your weight will stay the same, but you will be smaller. But, if your body decides to replace the lost fat by volume, that is a quite different story. Remember the great big feather pillow as compared to the tiny lead sinker pillow? Well, now think of a gallon of feathers and a gallon of lead sinkers. Try to pick up the gallon of feathers. Piece of (you'll pardon the expression) cake. Now, try to pick up the gallon of lead sinkers. Sucker's heavy, ain't it? So, you will be smaller, but you will have gained weight.

Eventually, your body makes the executive decision that you are not going to replace the fat you lost, and it lets go of the water. In the words of Danny Skaist: "When your body accepts the fact that they are no longer needed, the water will be expelled and the cells closed. This is known as the "whoosh."

What makes your body decide to replace by weight or replace by volume? I dunno. But I do know that it does not seem consistent to the casual observer. What makes your body decide that you are seriously not going to replace the fat you lost? I dunno. But now you know why it's so important to drink your water, huh? Loss of fat is inextricably related to water intake. It's more than a little foolish to go on a diet that facilitates the removal of fat and then refuse to give your body the tools it needs to do so.

Bottom Line: Stop getting on the scale and drink your water. If you stick to your plan and wait for the "whoosh," it will come.

 

[Pheonix2010]

thats great , thanks for finding that

so i now understand that the body will replace lost fat by putting water into the cells , but how does drinking more water make the cells let the water go ?

does the stomach full of water trick the body into thinking its full of food and that fat is on its way so it can let the water go

sorry , it goes some way to explaining it to me but not all , or I still have xmas brain and am being very thick

 

[Beautiful.XTC]

I try to drink water with meals, during exercise and before bed to keep me from snacking. I do however drink a lot of low calories squash which keeps me hydrated.

 

[Cherry-Blossom]

Not sure how it helps it let is go but from what I can gather the water will make the cells release their fat by replacing it with water and fat weighs less than water so I'd rather have a body full of water than full of fat!

 

[afrodizzia]

Cherry Blossom that explanation is spot on! I'm gonna put that scale away for a wee bit and just trust the plan.

 

[Cherry-Blossom]

Had a look and it was lastdiet4me that posted the article on here originally.

 

[lastdiet4me]

i read that and thought im sure ive seen that before ..lol xx

 

[Pheonix2010]

this explains the bit i didnt get

The liver converts your stored fat to energy , thats how you lose weight

The liver also helps the kidneys out when they are not functioning properly eg through dehydration

So if the kidneys are dehydrated , the liver picks up the slack and is then less effective at converting stored fat to energy because its busy helping the kidneys out

so keep your kidneys hydrated and your liver can concentrate on burning fat

complete explanation below





Drink Away the Weight
By Raphael Calzadilla, BA, CPT, ACE
eDiets Chief Fitness Pro


Everyone always says it’s good to drink a lot of water to help to lose fat. I hear people say it to each other every day like schizophrenic parrots.

“You should drink more water!” “You don’t drink enough water!” “You should drink more water, because it will help with your fat loss…” – blah, blah, blah.

Ever have someone explain to you how water helps you to lose fat? I bet no one can explain it to you. Most people tell you to drink more water to lose fat, but few know the reason why.

So, how does drinking more water help us to burn body fat?

Stay with me on this and read carefully. This will make you a star during the next water conversation you have.

From the standpoint of fat loss, you want to be in a position metabolically where the liver is converting stored fat to energy. The liver has other functions, but this is one of its main jobs.

Unfortunately, another of the liver’s responsibilities is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need a lot of water to work properly. Actually, your kidneys need a lot more water than most people realize.

If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has a double duty assignment. It has to do the work of the kidneys along with its own work. This double time assignment only serves to lower the actual productivity of the liver. It then can’t metabolize fat as quickly as it could when the kidneys do their job with efficiency.

If you allow this to happen, not only are you being unfair to your liver, but you’re also setting yourself up to store fat because you've made the liver less efficient at turning stored body fat into energy.

So, you’ve learned how vital the roles of the liver and kidneys are, but now the question becomes how much water?

When examining the research, there is a paper in the Journal of the American Dietetics Association (Volume 99, number 2, pages 200-206, 1999) that discusses water requirements:

“To be well hydrated, the average sedentary adult man must consume at least 2,900mL (12 cups) fluid per day, and the average sedentary adult woman at least 2,200mL (9 cups) fluid per day, in the form of non-caffeinated, nonalcoholic beverages, soups, and foods. Solid foods contribute approximately 1,000mL (4 cups) water, with an additional 250mL (1 cup) coming from the water of oxidation.”

The paper also states that "Dehydration of as little as 2-percent loss of body weight results in impaired physiological and performance responses."

To summarize, it appears that sedentary individuals require approximately 9-12 cups of water per day (4 cups come from food, 1 cup from metabolism and 4-7 cups from fluid intake). The lower numbers are for females and higher numbers for males. Personally, I like the higher numbers for both males and females alike.

Unfortunately there is very little research concerning how much fluid is actually needed for those who workout intensely. So, add more if you workout, but do so within reason. Now, with glasses held high, let’s toast to your new healthy body.