Conference rocks::weight_control

    Had to reply to this one, as it just came up at the Weight Watchers
    meeting I attended last week.
    
    Our leader clearly stated that the recommended eight 8 oz. glasses of
    water should be just that -- water, not diet soda, coffee, or whatever.
    Just about all diet sodas contain some sodium, which retains water.
    Coffee tends to dehydrate the body, rather than maintaining fluid
    balance.  These other things are fine if you drink them in addition to
    the required amount of water, but are definitely not a substitute for
    water.
    
    Paul 

    
    My doctor says liquid is liquid. If you take in your daily two quarts
    as water or diet pepsi it is still the same. However, in that same
    breath he says that at least half of that intake should be real
    water.
    
    Confusing!
    
    						--- Neal

    The new diet sodas with nutrasweet are much lower in sodium than
    the saccharine ones were.  My diet cherry 7up says 35 mg per serving
    and there's 2 servings per can.
    
    --Louise

    Also, there is a soft drink out called "Diet Rite Cola" that contains
    NO sodium and NO caffein.  It's available in Massachusetts and southern
    New Hampshire; not sure about other parts of the country.  (DeMoulas
    usually has it for 88 cents for a 2-liter bottle.)
    
    Paul

According to the can in my hand, Diet Rite Cola is salt free, sodium
free, caffeine free, sugar free, and saccharin free.  (It also says
100% NutraSweet, but there is liquid and bubbles in there too.)  I
believe it is from the RC people - it's always the same price as the
other RC products.

Susan

    The following is an article from the July 1985 issue of Muscle and 
    fitness.  It is reproduced here (compliments of my fingers) 
    without permission from the magazine.   It deals with WATER 
    retention which seems to be a big topic for all of us.


    The magazine is dedicated to body building but it contains many 
    useful articles that deal with health issues that face all of us.  
    If you enjoy reading this let me know and I will try and add other 
    articles that I have enjoyed over the years.




                       Fighting Water Retention

                        By Howard E. Flaks, MD


    I'm going to make two statements you may find very surprising, 
    even shocking.  Then I'll explain why they're true - and why 
    they're very important to you in controlling your weight.

    	1) Most people in the world go through life in a somewhat 
    	dehydrated condition.

    	2) Whether you're a bodybuilder seeking to cut up before a 
    	contest, or a non bodybuilder who wants to combat water 
    	retention, the best way to do it is to drink more water.

    Have I got your attention?  I thought so.  The two sentences 
    you've just read probably seem astonishing, even self 
    contradictory.  But they're based on years of sound medical and 
    biochemical research.  I can vouch for the truth of both of them 
    because much of the pioneering research was conducted by my 
    father, Dr. Jack Flaks, who's been treating problems of obesity 
    for over 30 years at his clinic in Johannesburg in the republic of 
    South Africa.

    In my last column in the April Muscle & Fitness I discussed water 
    as the "magic elixir" of life, and told you without taking in a 
    sufficient quantity of it, you would never achieve control over 
    your weight.  That sufficient quantity is 96 ounces per day, or 12 
    eight ounce glasses, plus eight more ounces for every 25 pounds 
    you are overweight.  These 96 ounces are the bottom-line basic 
    requirement for healthy living.  But, unfortunately, most people 
    don't drink as much water as they need.

    I recently told this to a patient in my Beverly Hills office, only 
    to hear him protest, "But that can't be my problem, doctor, I take 
    in plenty of water - probably too much, in fact.  I start out in 
    the morning with orange juice and four or five cups of coffee, I 
    have another cup of coffee at work, I drink a glass of wine at 
    lunch, usually another cup of coffee or perhaps a soft drink in 
    the afternoon.  Then I go home, have a cocktail before dinner and 
    a couple of cups of coffee after dinner.  That must work out to 
    more that 96 ounces!"

    I asked him how often he drank water, plain, unadulterated water 
    from the tap, the water cooler or bottle.  "Oh, I don't know," he 
    answered.  "I'll probably hit the water cooler once or twice 
    during the day when I pass by it.  But I'm drinking all the time 
    aside from that.  Seems like I'm always thirsty."

    This overweight patients problem, aside from the wine and the 
    cocktail (nothing puts weight on you faster than alcohol) and his 
    caffeine intake (which doesn't make you fat but isn't good for you 
    for many other reasons), was that he was drinking everything but 
    water.  And, yes, he was drinking all the time because he was 
    thirsty.  His body was deprived of the water it needed to keep him 
    healthy, and replaced it by retaining almost every drop of the 
    niggling amount he allowed it.  As a result, he was puffy and 
    overweight.

    Wine, gin, coffee, tea, fruit juice and soft drinks are all 
    fluids.  That is they consists of mostly water, with various 
    substances suspended in solution.  And they don't have the same 
    chemical properties as ordinary water.  It's water you need to 
    drink in quantity.  Alcohol and soda pop contain too much sugar.  
    So, to a lesser extent, does fruit juice, which may also be full 
    of chemicals that promote fat-storage.  The caffeine in coffee and 
    tea is bad for your heart and blood pressure.  Even diet soda 
    doesn't do much for you, and contains sodium, which contributes to 
    water retention.  Coffee, tea and diet soft drinks don't make you 
    fat, but they don't count toward your daily water requirement, 
    either.  Drink coffee and tea if you must (cut down if you can), 
    drink sugarless soft drinks if you like them, but first and 
    foremost, drink at least 96 ounces of water a day.

    It may sound like allot, but it's easy to do.  An eight ounce 
    glass isn't very large.  Keep it on your desk at work and keep 
    refilling it.  Keep a glass of water on your night stand at night, 
    and drink water when you first get up.  Check off each glass of 
    water on a "water diary" to show how much you've drunk each day.

    It will only be a short time until you don't have to record your 
    drinks anymore.  Because, I promise you, as your body adjusts to 
    the proper water intake, you'll find yourself getting thirstier 
    but only for water.  You'll find yourself filling you glass 
    without having to remind yourself to do so.  Once you've achieved 
    water balance, your body will tell you when and how much you need 
    to drink.  You'll probably even wake up in the morning with a dry 
    feeling in your mouth.  There's nothing abnormal or unhealthy 
    about this dry feeling (as long as you haven't caused it by 
    drinking too much beer the night before!), and the remedy for it 
    is quick and inexpensive: drink a glass of water!

    Now, how can drinking lots of water work against your tendency to 
    retain fluids?  It's logical.  When you don't take in enough 
    water, your bogy retains the amount you do take in, just as a 
    camel stores water in his hump to enable him to survive long 
    journeys across the desert.  The bad news is, this old, stored 
    water becomes contaminated by waste chemicals from your body.  
    Your kidneys can't process this contaminated water the way they 
    would process clean, fresh water, so your liver has to detoxify it 
    by breaking down the contaminants.  That means your liver can't 
    perform it's main task, which is to break down fat.  Thus, as you 
    store water, the fat you eat is stored in your fat cells instead 
    of being broken down into its chemical components by your liver.  
    You become bloated, water logged and obese.

    The good news is that you don't die from dehydration.  Your body 
    keeps you alive - at the cost of mucking up your normal fat 
    metabolism.

    Trying to solve the problem of fluid retention by drinking less 
    water, the way many bodybuilders do, only aggravates matters.  
    Fluid retention occurs even when you drink no water.  In addition, 
    the less water you drink, the less your body will be able to flush 
    out sodium, which, as we all know is one of the major causes of 
    fluid retention.

    Sodium is a metal and like all metals, is poisonous to the human 
    body when it becomes too concentrated.  When your body's sodium 
    level rises - for example you eat something salty - you become 
    thirsty.  Your body releases antidiuretic hormone (ADH), which 
    makes you retain water in order to dilute the sodium you've just 
    ingested.

    If you don't drink more water after eating salty food, your body 
    pulls water from your intestines to dilute the extra sodium.  If 
    you do drink more water, you force more water through your kidneys 
    - more than they can reabsorb into your body.  You don't want that 
    sodium-contaminated water reabsorbed, of course.  What you want is 
    for the excess to enter your urine, where you can flush it out.  
    That's how water helps rid your body of harmful sodium.

    Without an adequate intake of water, this system can't operate 
    properly.  And don't worry about drinking too much water.  It's 
    impossible.  Any excess will be urinated and/or sweated out.  
    Nobody ever drowned from the inside out.

    What about diuretics?  They're another solution to the fluid 
    retention problem favored by many body builders.  But unless you 
    drink more water while you're taking them, there no good.

    Diuretics force stored water out of your body.  The problem with 
    their use is that, as you may now suspect, your body responds to 
    this process by "perceiving" a lack of necessary water and by 
    storing up what's available.  So unless your drinking enough 
    water, diuretics won't solve your retention problem.  The answer 
    isn't to take more or stronger diuretics either.  Your system can 
    become addicted to them, and you may find yourself unable to 
    function properly without them.

    Diuretics can also cause constipation.  When your not drinking 
    enough water, your body will drain water from your colon, your 
    stool can become hard and dry, and constipation can result.  It 
    often happens that constipated people begin having normal bowel 
    movements again once they start drinking enough water.

    By now you should understand that the traditional solution to 
    water retention, drinking less water, is no solution at all.  The 
    less you drink, the more you need, and the harder your body works 
    to retain what little it has.  Only with an adequate supply of 
    clean, fresh, life giving water can your body's systems function 
    in a way that keeps you healthy, lean, and strong.



    Editors note:

    Howard E. Flaks, MD, is a Beverly Hills physician with extensive 
    training in psychology.  His specialty is bariatic medicine - that 
    is the treatment of obesity.



    Personal note:

    I started taking the advise is this article and it managed to help 
    me drop more than 20 lbs!  I am not claiming that the whole 20 was 
    water (I bet at least 1/2 of it was), but the other benefits of 
    helping out your liver, etc... have helped me manage my weight 
    with a lot less effort.


    Good luck with all your weight loss efforts,


    Regards, 

    Chris. 

    The recommendation of note 65.6 seems sensible, but I found the
    explanation of the internal process a bit suspect.  The portion 
    that troubled me is extracted below: 


    << start of extraction >>
                                 The bad news is, this old, stored 
    water becomes contaminated by waste chemicals from your body.  
    Your kidneys can't process this contaminated water the way they 
    would process clean, fresh water, so your liver has to detoxify it 
    by breaking down the contaminants.  That means your liver can't 
    perform it's main task, which is to break down fat.  Thus, as you 
    store water, the fat you eat is stored in your fat cells instead 
    of being broken down into its chemical components by your liver.  
    You become bloated, water logged and obese.

    .
    .
    .
                                                                  If 
    you do drink more water, you force more water through your kidneys 
    - more than they can reabsorb into your body.  You don't want that 
    sodium-contaminated water reabsorbed, of course.  
    << end of extraction >>

    
    
>>  I will try and add other articles that I have enjoyed

Please do so.

    What is the equivalent in liters/deciliters of the amounts of water
    mentioned in the article, i.e. what's an ounce of water to an European
    (non-English, obviously!)
    
    Thanks for you help.
    
    Joana
    

    From the 1952 Handbook of Chemistry & Physics pg 2592:
    
    	Ounce [US fluid] = 29.57 ml.
    
    	Ounce [UK fluid] = 28.41 ml.
    
    	Ounce [avoirdupois] = 28.35 ml.
    
    I'd use a conversion factor of 30.  

    It took me 24 years to take the advise of our family Dr." drink at
    least 8 glasses of water a day."  I am overweight, had!!!! high blood
    pressure and belong to w.w.  When I am lazy and do not drink my
    water (12 to 15 8oz glasses a day) I lose about 1 to 1.5 for the
    week, if I drink my water daily my loss is from 2.5 to 5.5 for the
    week.  My blood pressure remains down, any salt I do use is quickly
    flushed out of my system (and I do mean quickly) by drinking the
    water.  I have found that if I do slide back on the diet and increase
    my water for the rest of the week, I still lose.  I started with
    8 glasses a day, the more water I drank the more thirsty I became.
    I never thought I would be able to drink the quantities of water
    a day that I do, but I do, and I enjoy it. 

    I've heard that you *CAN* drink too much water - some story about
    a guy who was drinking gallons per day and couldn't lower the
    amount because his body had become used to it.  Anyone heard
    the same story?  Apparently he got pretty sick from it.
    
    --Louise

    Re: .11
    
    Well, the 8 recommended glasses a day is only around 2 quarts--hardly
    multiple gallons!  My husband has drunk around a gallon a day in
    the summer when he's working in the yard and sweating like a horse.
    In that situation he needs it.  I don't think any of us are in the
    multi-gallon club yet, are we?
    
    Marcia

    RE: .11 
    
    I am drinking about one gallon a day, according to weight loss,
    my drop in blood pressure and my doctor, I am doing all the right
    things.  My dr. claims the water will never hurt me but, it will
    aid in keeping my system clean from salts and aid in the weight
    loss.  I do seem to take things to the extreme but I think a lot
    of over-weight people do.

    I have heard that a number of experts consider herbal teas to be
    in the same category as bottled and tap water, unlike soda, coffee
    and regular tea.
    
    I don't remember the source, though.
    
    Holly

    According to my weight watchers leader herbal tea is in the same
    category as water.
    Eileen

    Maybe herbal tea is the same as water because it doesn't contain
    caffeine like regular tea and coffee does.

    
    My W.W. lecturer told us that herbal tea and home made lemonade
    (without sugar) can be used instead of water.
    
    Fran
    
    
    

    ...and home made no sugar lemonade has nutrasweet in it, very
    likely, which gets us back to the no-caffeine diet sodas.
    
    I've heard you can get all the water you need from fruits
    and vegetables.
    
    Does anyone have any more info on the TOO MUCH WATER problem,
    aside from the folks who maintain that they aren't even
    close to that level of consumption and could not have problems?
    
    --Louise

JAWS::LRP                                             8 lines  10-AUG-1987 07:31
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    WATER
    
    WATER IS THE GREATEST WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT I STARTED TO DRINK 9 12
    OZ GLASS A DAY 2 WEEKS AGO AND LOST 10 POUNDS.  THIS WAS SUPPOSE
    TO BE THE HARDEST WEIGHT TO LOSE.  BECAUSE I WAS 120 LBS, 5'3",
    I'M NOW A COMPACT 110 LBS.  DRINK 8 GLASS OF WATER A DAY AND 1 GLASS
    FOR EACH 25 LBS YOU ARE OVERWEIGHT.  BELIEVE ME IT WORKS!!!!
    

    Re .18
    
    A recent radio news report told of a man who died from water
    toxification, in other words he poisoned himself with water! The story
    goes that he drank something like 7 liters in less than an hour in
    order to "Drive out the demons". The water built up in his blood
    stream and caused his brain to swell. He died from a cerebral
    hemorrhage. 
    
    The lesson here is to drink your 8-10 glasses a day, but do it
    SLOWLY. According to the report it was the speed with which he
    drank the water that killed him, not the quantity.
    
    Paul.

    
    He must have had bad kidneys. The human body will not drown itself
    unless both kidneys are either shut down or nearing failure. If
    a person has bad kidneys and drinks alot of water, then they may
    give out and Puff! instant drowning.
    
    						--- Neal

    The report said he died within one hour, which seems too short
    a time for kidney failure. It also seems too short a time for the
    kidneys to have done much anyway! Does anyone know any more about
    this? I only heard the one report on NPR, it was not in the local
    paper that day and I didn't see anything about it on the tube.
    
    Paul.

    If you heard it on NPR, sometimes your local public radio station
    can help you track it down.  They may need to know the date and
    time of the report, as well as the subject.
    
    --Louise

The previous article is something that I found in "The Mother Earth
News" a year or so ago.  I was so impressed that I cut it out and
saved it.  I thought it was good enough that I spent the time to type
it in and share it with you.

I've been a water drinker for about a year now.  Probably 80% of my
liquid intake is water, and I really can see the difference.  If I don't
have 3 cups of water before my 11:30 aerobics class, I drag through.
If I have the water, I've got much more energy.

Like I said, the article came from "The Mother Earth News".  This is
not a magazine about diet or nutrition.  Just about more natural
living styles.  The article is long, but I hope you enjoy it.  Let me 
know what you think.


One more thing about water...

I drink a lot of it.  I drink it with my meals.  I drink it when I
go out.  I drink it when I'm in a resturant.  Why is it that when
I say I'll just have water, people look at me like I'm strange?
I had to convince a friend the other day that I really wanted
water with my dinner, and that the reason wasn't that I didn't like
the other choices.  I just wanted WATER!  ("Are you SURE you don't 
want a coke or something?")  And how about going into some fast food 
place.  Can I ask for water there? Has anybody tried this?

So much for ranting...

					Maryann

    Unfortunately, at this piont in time, .24 is set hidden.  Any
    ideas why?  I read it before it was hidden, and was going to print
    it out for my own reference use.  I am on a weightloss program that
    advocates 8 glasses of water a day, and this helps explain why.
     I have drinking the eight glasses (or more) for about three weeks,
    and already I crave the water if I don't drink it.  I also drink
    water with meals, etc, and people I know have gotten used to it.
    Please "unhide" .24.
    
    Thanks for sharing the article with us.  I appreciated it.
    
    Val

    
    Note 65.24 was an unauthorized reproduction of a copywritten article,
    it had been set hidden to avoid having Digital held liable for a
    copyright infringement suit.
                                                               
    Sorry... :-(
    
    							--- Neal

	Ok, so I'm not allowed to post the entire article.  So, I'll 
summarize...(Can't tell that I'm a water fanatic, huh?)

	The article is not about weight loss or diet.  It is about proper
body hydration and how too little water affects your body.  Most people
don't even realize that they're not getting enough water because they never
seem thirsty.  But, thirst is not the best indication of proper hydration.
Other more accurate signs include dark yellow urine, constipation and dry
mouth.

	But, the part of the article that I found moust interesting was that
water plays a big part in how much energy a body can exert.  So, if you're
exercising, it's even more important to drink enough water to compensate
for that lost through perspiration.  Let me quote part of the article, because
I don't think I can do this part justice.

	"...  a Harvard psysiologist, G. C. Pitts, tested 
groups of male athletes by putting them on treadmills timed at 3-1/2 miles 
per hour.

	"The subjects in the first group were given no water at all and were 
asked to walk until they were so fatigued that they could go no farther.  These 
athletes lasted about 3-1/2 hours.  Their temperatures rose rapidly during the 
test period and, in the exhaustion phase, finally reached an average of 
above 102 degrees F.

	"The members of the second group were allowed to drink as much as they 
desired, and their temperatures didn't rise nearly as rapidly.  However, after 
approximately six hours of exercise on the treadmill, as the men reached 
exhaustion, their body heat zoomed up.

	"Finally, Dr. Pitts chose a third group and carefully calibrated their 
water losses, replacing the exact amount of water lost (about one cup every 15 
minutes) while the men were exercising.  As a result, though they stayed on the 
treadmill seven hours, the test subjects did NOT experience a drastic rise in 
temperature nor did they reach exhaustion.  In fact, when asked how they felt, 
they replied that they could go as long as the doctor wanted them to!

	"Several conclusions can be reached from these experiments.  The first 
is that thirst isn't necessarily a good indicator of the body's need for water.
You must, in general, drink more liquid that your thirst seems to call for.  
Second, there's a close relationship between water consumption and fatigue.  
Third, water appears to have a significant effect upon the regulation of body 
temperature.  And fourth, a more active person is in greater need of water 
because of the dehydrating effects of perspiration and rapid breathing."

	The article goes on to explain that some of the water that your body 
needs can be gotten from the food you eat.  But this only accounts for 3-1/2
cups.  The body's metabolism also produces about 1/2 cup a water per day.
But, your body loses about 10 cups of water per day.  This explains how:

	"Generally speaking, the average person loses at least two cups of water
daily through the respiratory process.  Another two cups are emitted through 
perspiration, even when no significant amount of physical work is carried on, 
and the intestines and kidneys together lose a total of about six cups during 
the day.  So if you add it all together, you come up with a total loss of ten 
cups (and that't not counting any excess lost through perspiration during 
exercise)."

	It then goes on to explain how you can roughly estimate how much
water you should drink per day:

	"...you can estimate your need for liquid by dividing your ideal 
weight by two, which will indicate the number of ounces of water you should 
be drinking.  To find out how many CUPS you need, divide this quotient by 
eight.  For example, a fit person weighing 150 pounds would come up with a 
calculation of 75 ounces, or 9 to 9-1/2 cups.  If, however, you weigh 160 
pounds but SHOULD be 30 pounds lighter, you'd compute your water needs using 
that "should be" figure."

	I'm not sure I agree with that last statement.  Especially for those
of us who could stand to lose 40 pounds or more.  It seems to me that if you
have a great deal of weight to lose, and you're olny drinking enough water to
properly sustain the weight you want to be, then your body will not have enough
water.  But, this is purely my opinion, and I'm not a doctor.

	The last part of the article tells about other alternatives to water
that people usually drink and why they're not as good as water.  Coffee, even
decaffeinated, contains caffeine and caffeols that irritate the stomach lining.
Soft drinks contain too much sugar, and sometimes caffeine.  Alcohol, even in
moderation, decreases the oxygen-carrying ability of the blood.  And fruit
juice contains too much sugar; you'd be better off eating the whole fruit.

	Well, that's the gist of it.  But I can't really do it justice.
If anybody is still interested, send me some mail at netrix::geiser, and
I'll send you the article.

					Maryann

    	
    re .28:
    
    I don't agree with the statement about calculating the amount of
    water one should drink by their "should be" weight either.  In fact,
    I once read an article which stated that a person should drink an extra
    *quart* of water a day for each 25 lbs. he/she is overweight!
                                   
    
    Paul_who's_also_a_water_fanatic 

re .25  (Maryann)

I have also been a water drinker for just over a year now, when I started
WW.  I don't usually drink soft drinks of any kind, unless I'm desperate and
there's no other choice.  I used to drink cans and cans of Mountain Dew.

>If I don't have 3 cups of water before my 11:30 aerobics class, I drag through.
>If I have the water, I've got much more energy.

This sounds really good to me in theory, but if I drank 3 cups of water before
aerobics I'd never make it through class!  Maybe I should try working up to it
in a safer environment.  I have taken to drinking a glass of water after the
aerobics portion of my aerobics class, and that has worked well (now I just
have to get back to aerobics--next week for sure!)

I have never gotten strange looks in restaurants when asking for water.  Or
maybe I'm just used to getting strange looks. :-)  Asking for no dressing on
my salad (not even on the side) gets strange looks!  Well, maybe I did get
strange looks during vacation when, at breakfast, the waitress would ask us
if we wanted coffee and we'd say no, and I'd ask for some water instead. :-)

I always ask for water at fast food restaurants.  I've never had any problems.

And, at home, we have one of those Poland Springs 2.5 gallon containers w/
the spigot in the fridge (filled with our well water now since it was proven
I can't tell the difference :-)), as well as several assorted flavored
sparking waters for a little variety.  I like the bubble-less water better
most of the time, though, I'm just not used to bubbles anymore!

Speaking of water, time for a refill.  I have a 12-ounce glass at work, and I
try to make frequent trips to the water fountain and ladies' room.  It feels
good to get up from my chair and take a little walk.  I usually try to drink
from the fountain first as much as I can, fill my glass, and then drink some
more for good measure. :-)

Jill

    what about 'naturally decaf' coffee (using the 'swiss water process...
    whatever that may be).  it also has no sodium, which is a plus.
    any ideas on this???
    i have just been poking around in this file, collecting some great
    tips (i DEFINITELY have to decrease my diet soda intake, and increase
    my water), and i could't find an appropriate note for this question,
    so i'll just stick it here.  does anyone know any details about
    'sugarless gum' ??  since i quit smoking 3.5 years ago, i have become
    a gum fiend (> a pack a day), and have just satrted wondering if
    there are calories there to worry about (not to mention what it
    does to my digestive system).
    thanks in advance for the info, and keep on losing everyone!!!!!
                                    sarah

    RE: Sugarless Gum
    
    I also take sugarless gum, the "SUPERPINK" kind, once in a while
    to assuage cravings for sugar. The brand I use is TRIDENT, and it
    states that it contains 4.9 calories per stick. A package contains
    5 sticks, so count on 25 calories a day if you eat a pack a day
    (mind you, I don't know the calorie count in other brands).
    
    What the chewing air does to your stomach is something else again...
    
    Never heard about "naturally decaf", so can't help you there.
    
    If you dring more water you'll also eat less gum, as they don'r
    really mix!
    
    Joana

	I just got into drinking lots of water (for me it is
	nine 8-oz glasses). However, my scale this morning
	indicated nearly a two-pound gain from 3 days ago.
	Should I expect this? The water has reduced my appetite
	so I expected a drop.

    If you just started drinking the water, you may show a temporary
    weight gain.  It may take 3-4 days for things to balance out.  On
    my program, if I don't drink all the water I should, I get dehydrated,
    then when I start up with the water again, I show a weight gain
    for a few days.  The gain is only water and temporary (provided
    you din't accompany it with extra servings of hot fudge sundaes!
     Cravings?  What cravings?   ;')  )  and you should see a return
    to normal and some weight loss soon. 

    The problem I have with drinking all that water is the tooo frequent
    trips to the restroom!  It's hard to work when you're popping up
    and down every 10 minutes or so.  I have to drink it earlier in
    the day, so I'm not up all night.  
    guess there's no solution here...
    
    theresa.

    RE .35
    
    Have you been drinking water for long? I had the same problem when
    I first started drinking water after long years drinking as little
    as possible. However now (after 12 weeks) I seem to be able to hold
    a little more water at a time and trips are consequently less frequent.
    However I do tend to get up at least once per night (I am so used
    to it, I do it in my sleep!)
    
    Regards,  Joana

    re. 36
    
    
    	Thanks Joana, for the hope.  Yes, I just started seriously
    drinking water.  This notesfile really got me going - didn't know
    all the good benefits before!  In the meantime, excuse me...
    
    Theresa.

I've started to lose weight via the subliminal tapes mentioned in another note.
I lost 9 pounds and then decided to start with the water program.  I gained 4
pounds back!  I've been drinking for a week.  I was going to stop but if there
is hope that it will drop again, I'll continue.

I also have trouble going to the ladies' room every 20 minutes.  It drives me
nuts.  I even got rebellious the other day and said, "That's it.  I'm just not
going anymore.  I'm tired of it."  No need to explain who won that one!

Ln (I feel water logged!)

I forogt to ask.  How do you handle your water program when you have to go on
long trips?

I went on a small trip Saturday that consisted of 4 hours of highway driving.
(very few rest stops, unless you want to get off the highway) 

So, I just stopped drinking on that day and then tried to start up again on
Sunday.  I find it much easier to do when I'm at work.

Ln

    I'm new to this topic.  Howdy!!
    
    I've been on a fitness program for six months now.  Lost 20 lbs,
    1 size, and in better shape than I have been for years.  Well, about
    water intake.  I read an article in a local Sunday publication that
    said you should drink .5 oz per 1 lb.  Our bodies require water to
    function.  So our organs work properly and we don't dehydrate. 
    Although you may disagree with the ratio above, as least drink you
    8 glasses of water every day.  Water also helps flush out the waste
    in your body.  No sense in carrying that excess weight around.
    
    trb
    

    
    Hi I'm new to this topic.  
    
    I'm one that has had medical problems due to drinking too much sodas,
    juices and whatever  else I could get my hands on.. So I've learned
    my lesson about subsituting other drinks for water. I had what they
    called an acid stomach (burns like ____). So to those of you out
    there subsituting your stomach says stop. Plus water has no calories
    and drinking 8 ozs every 2 to 3 hours really helps clean out your
    system.
    
    
    lecia
    

    Funny story:
    
    After touring the States for three weeks with a friend who is only that
    and drinking my gallon of water a day (most of it before 2pm)...I can
    tell you he got mighty sick of stopping every 30minutes (sometimes
    sooner) to find a restroom.  Not to mention the waiting on airlines!
    (^' (^'  Plus the wonderful fact that all restaurents in the States
    give you water on arrival.  I had it coming out of my ears at times (^'
    
    I think I've tried all the gas stations, hotels, restaurants, etc in
    New England, New York, Colorado, San Francisco and LA.
    
    I found it easier during that time to spread my drinks out, but it was
    harder overnight as I tended to get up a lot more after dark!  Now that
    I'm back in OZ, I am drinking 2 litres (1/2 gallon) before 11.00am and
    then the rest before 3.00pm, leaving one glass to have with dinner.
    
    I managed to buy a 32oz plastic bottle with straw to keep in the car
    filled at all times, instead of the plastic coffee cup that most New
    Englanders have on their dash.
    
    ...dale

    Regarding the earlier notes where the water wasn't spring water
    and therefore, not as palatable ... at work I squeeze a bit of lemon
    into my water ... at home, I can use the water that has been special
    filtered without the use of lemon. I have a friend who squeezes
    a bit of lime into it. Definetly makes it tastier.
    
    -sunny-

    The notes which talk about 'substitutions' for water are dated 1987. 
    Does anyone know if this theory still holds?  I am bored with water and
    find myself tending to not drink rather than have another glass of
    water.  How about seltzer water?  No caffine, no sugar, no salt.  Does
    the carbonation make it unacceptable for the 64 oz/day?
    Thanks.

    Weight Watcher's plan says you can count any caffeine free beverage as
    part of your daily water.  This includes the flavored seltzers,
    caffeine free soda, coffee or tea.  Even fruit juice (although on WW
    you have to count this as a fruit too).
    
    Chris
    

       For WW maybe diet soda is the same, but not for your body. I'm not
    trying to shoot down what you've just written Chris. Just Relaying
    what Iv'e read, and heard. As far as the body is concerned nothing
    is the the same as 100% H2O. Your body still has to filter the soda
    due to the added chemicals. As for selzer? 
       I think it's recomended that you get 96oz. of water a day. That's
    besides anything else you drink. Someone correct me if I'm misatken.
    
    John

    I've read all the notes on WATER and haven't seen this mentioned much:
    
    Is there a "preferred" way to drink the water?  An article I recently
    read suggested a quart in the morning, a quart around lunchtime, and a
    quart in the early eve.  Up 'til then, I just kept filling my water
    glass and drank my ~80 oz. slowly all day/eve.  Is it BETTER to drink
    it so spread-out as I do, versus the "1 qt in the am, 1 at lunch ..."
    method?  Does it make any difference in how your body handles the
    water?
    
    	-Jim

    Spread out is certainly easier!
    
    	- andy

       re .48:
       
       Standing straight up works reasonably well, too.

    Considering the size of the average stomache, how do you
    think you would feel if you drank a whole qt all at once????
    
    Val

    If you ever had an ultra-sound in early pregnancy, you know !

       Well seeing as I drink 1.25 to 1.5 gal. of water at work, plus
    what ever water a may drink later on at home. I've found that, for
    myself that is, any more then 20 to 25 onces an hour will be too much
    for my system to absorb. Any thing after that an hour seems to run 
    right through me, as it were.;^)
       I've also read that cold water is absorbed faster then warm water.
    I how ever don't know why. My guess is that the colder the H2O, the
    more dense is. There for the easier it is for your body to move to 
    where it needs it.(?)
       I do suggest to anyone looking to increase their water intake to
    say 96 onces(I think this is the qty. I've heard the most), to take
    it a day at a time, and work your way up. If you have to, do what I 
    did, and mark the amount's down you've drank for the day down. This
    way you know when to add on more onces a day. 
       If you do decide to just start drinking alot more water(96oz.?) 
    one day, and not do it slowly be prepared. Although you probably
    won't hurt yourself in any way, your trips to the bathroom will
    increase dramaticly. They will over time lessen, but you'll always
    be going more often if you keep drinking 96, or more onces a day.
    There's nothing wrong with it. It's just part of a good healthy diet.
    
    John