Please help me understand how much water I should drink.

[Exotic Kitten]

I have lost over 30 pounds so farwith alot to go but I know I will get there but I was hopeing someone could let me know if I am drinking enough water.
I drink 72oz a day
I wiegh 230 and would love to wiegh 140.
I appreciate your help. :wave

[Moochiecat]

Way to go on the 30 pounds!!!! :icondance

The general rule is to drink 64 ounces a day, plus 8 ounces per each 25 pounds of weight you want to lose.

So, you start with 64.
You want to lose 90 pounds, right? So divide 90 by 25 and for the sake of simplifying things, we'll say it's 4. So 4 times 8 is 32.
64 plus 32 is 96.

So for you, it's a little under 96 ounces of water a day.

If you get yourself a 32 ounce bottle, you'll want to drain it 3 times a day. I find it's easier to think of it in terms of '3 bottles' rather than in terms of glasses of water (96 ounces = 12 8 ounce glasses....3 sounds better than 12 to me...lol)

Does that help?

[Exotic Kitten]

I appreciate it...
I will look at it in terms of bottles of water instead of glasses because thats a whole lot of glasses of water!!!
I love water so its cool with me.
Your pictures are very inspirational , You have come a long way ..I hope to be there one day too.
Thanks again.
One day when I figure it out I will post a pic.

[bearfoot]

I'd like to give my opinion on the amount of water to drink...
Last week I was at the cardiologist with my mother and he noted that drinking a lot water is no matter what extra hard on the heart. It's the heart pump that has to make sure all of the excesive water gets out of the system. When you are (still) overweight the heart is already working harder to pump the blood around the (bigger) body.
He said no more than 8 glasses when you're dieting. When you're not dieting this is the amount of fluid you need per day, but you have to count all of your food and other drinks. For that you don't even have to drink anything 'extra'.

Last year I had bloated ankles for a couple of days, and this a few times over a period of time. I know I had a lot of water before that. (more than the 8 glasses). So from my own experience I'm all for the cardiologists theory!

I hope you guys understand my bad english. It's nog my native language! Hope this info helps.

[Perry]

Drinking Plenty of Water Can Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease

By Donald R. Hall, DrPH, CHES

Getting adequate water intake daily may be protective to your heart a new study in the American Journal of Epidemiology reports. People who have low intakes of water tend to be dehydrated or marginally so. This can effect the blood's viscosity (thickness), hematocrit, and fibrinogen levels, all of which can increase the risk of a heart attack.

This study looked at water and other fluid intake in 8,280 men and 12,017 women in the Adventist Health Study, a large prospective study in California. Over the six years of study, 246 fatal heart attacks occurred. These deaths from heart attacks were then correlated with water intake.


Results of the Study
Men who had a high intake of water (five or more glasses per day) had less than half as many heart attacks (relative risk of 0.46) as men who had low intakes (two glasses per day or less). Women had similar findings, a 41 percent lower risk of heart deaths in those women drinking more water. This relationship held even after adjusting for common risk factors such as age, smoking, high blood pressure, obesity, diet, and education level.

Drinking more water reduced the risk of heart disease by:

54 percent in men


41 percent in women

When researchers looked at other fluids such as coffee and soda pop they found no protective effects of higher fluid intake. In fact, those who had the highest fluid intake from other beverages (in place of water) had higher mortality rates, especially in women.

http://vanderbiltowc.wellsource.com/...ent.asp?ID=773

There are studies indicating a risk of heart problems with chlorinated and hard water but I've never come across anyone (or any doctor) saying too much water is bad for my heart. Not even the American Heart Association mentions drinking too much water as a precursor to heart problems.

Now, is more than 8 glasses of water considered too much? I'd be willing to listen - if a study is quoted and not just the word of one cardiologist.

ha

[Becky Sue]

This is my experience in my own family.

My father died of a heart attack at age 65. He had diabetes diagnosed for 25 years before his death. He had had 4 bypasses 12 years before he died.

My dad wouldn't do what the Doctors suggested. He continued to smoke and had smoked for over half of his life. He continued to eat whatever he wanted, this included sweets . HE TOLD US, if I can't eat just whatever I want and live like I want I might as well be dead!!. And he did just that!

With all these health problems above, he then developed kidney failure, caused by his diabetes being out of control for so many years.

I can now tell you he was told to restrict his water intake and this came from his cardiologist. A diseased and damaged heart , and damaged kidneys cannot handle an excessive amount of fluids. He took diuretic daily and he also took massive amounts of medication, plus 2 shots of insulin daily.

He was slowly killing himself with the smoking, eating wrong, no exercise, diabetes and this all ended in a massive heart attack. He was in the hospital( cardiac floor) and there was no way of saving him. They tried.

Now you can see why I am sticking to my WOE. Low carbing is helping me to live a healthier life. I don't want to die young like my dad did.
It is working for me as you can see I have lost 94 pounds so far.

My blood profile is in the normal range and I get healthier everyday. I exercise daily and I drink water at least 80 oz daily. In the beginning I would drink a gallon of water daily. Now I am getting close to my goal(less than 20lbs. to go), so I have cut back a bit.

Thank you Dr. atkins for showing me the light. I will eat this way the rest of my life. I have no signs of diabetes or heart disease.

I wish I had understood how the good Dr. Atkins way of eating worked back when my dad was alive. I have wondered if my dad would have eaten this way if I could have shown him How good I am doing. Something I will never know. I would like to think he would have.

This is just my 2 cents!

Becky Sue

[not2late]

Just adding to what Becky Sue wrote....

IF you have a condition called "congestive heart failure" or any other similar condition that has weakened your heart, excessive water intake will be bad for you. That's because your heart is damaged and cannot pump as strongly as it should. As a result, water will begin to collect in the tissues of your body (legs, stomach area, etc.). Doctors call this fluid collection "edema". Persistent edema is not a normal condition and should be evaluated by a physician.

To help this damaged heart, doctors will give diuretics to reduce the amount of water in the body.

Likewise, if you have kidney disease, you might need to restrict your water intake because your kidneys aren't functioning at 100%.

Again, for people with pre-exisiting heart or kidney disease, strict fluid monitoring is vital because their hearts/kidneys are damaged and are not functioning efficiently.


Now, if your heart is healthy and if your kidneys are healthy, your body will be able to process about 15 liters of fluid daily. Again, this is why it's VERY important to see your physician before beginning any weight loss diet or exercise program.

The 64 ounces thing is calculated using the "ideal man" standard. The "ideal man" weighs 70 kilograms or 154 pounds. The ideal man is also a healthy individual without any heart or kidney problems.

There are many mathematical formulas for figuring out daily fluid requirement. These formulas take all the water into account, not just water you drink, but the water in the foods you eat too.

One of them uses the "body surface area" measurement. The formula is 1500 ml water multiplied by the body surface area. Click here to figure out your body surface area.

I'm 5'4" and I weigh 190 pounds. My body surface area is 1.97.

1500 X 1.97 = 2955 ml or 2.9 liters or 98.5 ounces.

I require 98.5 ounces of fluid daily.

Using the 64 ounces +8 ounces for every 25 pounds you are overweight rule, I am currently 60 pounds overweight, so I should be drinking the 64 ounces plus about 20 ounces more, which is 84 ounces. With water in the veggies, fruits and meats I eat and the water I drink, I'm pretty sure I come close to the 2.9 liters of fluid the formula says I should be getting daily.

Again, my heart and kidneys are healthy. So my body can take this amount of fluid daily.

I hope this clears things up.

[bearfoot]

Thank you all for your reactions! It sure helps me out. Of course I understand a cardiologist says (especially to my mom with severe heart problems and diabetis) to keep the fluid intake at lowest possible measure. But I was a bit surprised when he said it's nog good for anyone to have a fluid intake of more than 2 liters a day.

[Helena_HastingsUK]

OK so I need 96 oz of water a day. But all I have here are pint glasses for tap water and litre bottles of fizzy water. How many pints of water or litres of water is 96oz please? I've sat here staring at my glass and I cannot work it out!

Sorry for bein' stoopid!

Helena

[Elizellen]

No probs, Helena :hug
Someone here gave me the url for a commprehensive conversion programme.
http://www.joshmadison.com/software/

Your total daily water goal is approx 3 litres or 5 UK pints.

BTW Congratulations on your 5 pounds kicked to the curb :joy