Wednesday, November 18, 2009

What if I Can't Drink Eight Glasses of Water?

I have a question about drinking water.  It seems like the healthy people I see are carrying around water bottles, or drinking lots of water with lemon.  I tried to drink 8 glasses a day a few years back, but it makes me feel bloated and of course I have to run to the rest room every hour!  I want to lose weight and be healthy, but I am mostly a coffee drinker and I'm afraid drinking more water will just make me uncomfortable.  Tim Y.

Dear Tim,

If you drink mostly coffee and hardly any water, there's a good chance you are walking around in a consistent state of dehydration.  Coffee (with caffeine) tends to increase urination and you aren't replacing the water lost from your body.  You may feel a bit sluggish or get slight headaches as an indication you need to drink more fluid.  By the time your mouth is dry from thirst, you've really gone over the edge into dehydration, so don't use "I'm not thirsty" as a judge of when it's time for you to drink.

People who drink lots of water may be a more appropriate weight because they may tend to eat and drink fewer calories than other people do.  Often we look for something to eat between meals when what we actually need is something to drink.  Our brain can send confusing signals which cause us to look for food.
Water is also a calorie-free source of hydration, whereas drinking soda, sweetened tea, lemonade, etc can really pile on the calories.

My advice to you would be trying to drink three or four glasses of water a day.  You don't need to get in eight glasses a day to be in better shape than you are now!  If you can sip at a bottle of water in between each meal you'll be getting a lot more in without feeling like you have to chug it all at once (making you feel bloated) or having you running to the restroom so often.  Remember that most water bottles contain 16 ounces which is two glasses.  If you can try drinking two bottles a day, I'll bet you notice that you start feeling a little bit better and eating a little bit less.

2 comments:

  1. Water is very essential to life so do in our body. It is the best therapy in such diseases, it even makes your skin looks beautiful. Drink plenty of water a day and make it a habit. Thanks for posting!

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  2. Water is very important and we can't find a good alternative aside it so as much as possible we should drink a lot of water everyday. It helps prevent a lot of diseases and even makes us look better.

    ReplyDelete