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Yes, drinking more water may help you lose weight
- yupper32 5y agoLosing weight is just consuming fewer calories than you burn. Any diet advice or strategies are just ways to achieve that. Keto, low carb, intermittent fasting, whatever. It's all just getting you to consume fewer calories than you burn. Often it gets you to feel full with fewer calories so you don't overeat. It's easy to see how drinking more water falls into all of this. However, anything claiming to switch around body chemistry or change your metabolism is either wrong or micro optimizing. Edit: People are getting very hyped up about my comment. To be clear: - I'm not hating on the article. I said in my post that it's easy to see how drinking water helps when you understand what causes weight changes. - I'm not hating on Keto and Intermittent fasting or whatever. They work, and they largely work because you end up consuming fewer calories than you burn. It's not largely because of some change in your body's chemistry. - It's harder to lose weight eating shittier food because it often doesn't make you full, causing you to eat more. Eating 1200 calories of chocolate bars a day will (often for most people) make you lose weight, it just won't feel very good doing it. That's why what you eat is just as important as how many calories you consume.
- amelius 5y ago> Losing weight is just consuming fewer calories than you burn. A lot of people consumed more calories in their 20s and 30s than later in life. Yet in their 40s and 50s they gain weight, with the same sedentary lifestyle or even after taking up a sport. Something is missing in your equation ...
- _se 5y agoNot really. They just burn fewer calories by sitting around when they get older. Calorie count remains constant, burn goes down, weight goes up.
- Romanulus 5y agoI would assume from the decline in muscle mass... but anything else lifestyle-related would be difficult to track in a big study, I bet.
- chrsig 5y agoIt seems like you're assuming that rate of burn is constant with respect to age. Perhaps I'm misunderstanding, though.
- blairbeckwith 5y agoI mean, not according to the laws of physics.
- jahnu 5y agoThe equation still stands. If they are gaining weight in their 40s onwards they are burning fewer calories than they are consuming for whatever reason. Metabolic changes perhaps.
- reverend_gonzo 5y agoThere’s nothing missing. People tend to overestimate their calorie expenditure and underestimate their calorie intake. Also, metabolic rate slows down with age. But the equation is the same: calories in - calories out = calories kept.
- yupper32 5y agoNothing is missing. They're just burning fewer calories as they age. I'm not saying that metabolism isn't a factor (and that changes with age), it's just not something that eating more x or less y is going to change in any meaningful way.
- zdragnar 5y agoExercise != burning calories. The efficiency of your metabolism isn't constant, and changes in response to both age and fitness. Calories in vs calories out is nothing more than the second law of thermodynamics.
- JohnWhigham 5y agoCalories aren't equal, otherwise you'd feel sated for the day with 2000 calories of sugar (spoilers: you don't). Every year, we're finding out how much we still don't know about the body regulates our fat stores via hormones. Dr. Jason Fung is a leading researcher on this (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKC3hiyLeRc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKC3hiyLeRc)
- zdragnar 5y agoA calorie is a unit of measure. Satiation is how you feel... It might change your ability to regulate how much you consume, but it doesn't change how much you gain or lose weight, because all calories are equal. 900 satiating calories add up just the same as 900 empty calories.
- stonemetal12 5y agoThe second law of thermodynamics is defined on closed systems, so unless you are the type of person who doesn't eat or breathe then it isn't really applicable. It is rather like saying E=MC^2 is good diet advice. That's not to say CICO isn't true, but trying to link it to base physics is a red herring.
- danobi 5y agoYour metabolism can change during your life. Different people can also have different metabolisms.
- handrous 5y agoCan confirm, regularly ate 4,000-5,000 calories/day from ages ~13-22. Did some weight lifting for part of that time, a little bike riding, but wasn't a serious athlete, certainly. Was slim, at my slimmest drew comments sometimes because my face was so gaunt people thought I might be sick. ... Then all changed very abruptly (there was little transition, on the order of weeks). Basically had to get used to being hungry most of the time, to keep from shooting toward obese territory. Sucks. I mean, the stuff I was eating as a teenager was going to kill me early in life anyway so it's good I don't do that anymore (so much pizza, snack food, fried food, and soda) but I'm not sure I appreciated, at the time, how special it was to be able to down a large pizza, a couple orders of fries, a couple liters of soda, a bag of chips [edit: and not a single-serve bag...], a snickers, plus a pile of toast or eggo waffles, day after day after day, and still look quite good at the swimming pool.
- nsxwolf 5y agoSome people's bodies at various times in their lives seem to either refuse to incorporate consumed calories or waste them by some mechanism that isn't well understood. Everyone has known someone who is slim and eats a lot and isn't especially active. But we apparently pretend this isn't true because it's unscientific, 3500 calories in a pound, and all that.
- handrous 5y agoYeah, I was consuming so much and was only moderately active, that I can't believe it was all going to growth. Much of that time I wasn't even getting taller, or gaining weight, just maintaining. All I can figure is my body was throwing away a lot of it, one way or another. Maybe I had very hungry gut bacteria, which I killed by accident, somehow. I dunno.
- dabbledash 5y agoWhat’s missing? People in their 40s and 50s have a lower basal metabolic rate.
- AnIdiotOnTheNet 5y agoNot really. Physics, biology, and nutrition science all agree pretty conclusively that eating fewer calories than you expend will lead to weight loss. There are a large number of factors that go into some people seeming to be able to eat large numbers of calories while others can't despite similar expenditures that we're still figuring out, but if you want a 100% guaranteed way to lose weight it is this: track your calories and make sure you eat fewer than you expend. If you want to keep it off, don't eat more than you expend. Source: lost >150lbs and kept it off until this pandemic fiasco where I put about 30 of it back on. As noted by others, this is simple. It is not necessarily easy. We're still working on figuring out why some people find it easy and others don't. Gut microbiome science seems promising.
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- xrisk 5y agoit’s not that simple. your diet can affect how many calories your body burns. in my case i dropped to eating ~800 calorie diets and i actually lost weight slower (presumably because my body went energy conservation mode?)
- zdragnar 5y agoIt really is that simple, as you said in your post. Your metabolism (rate of burning calories) is not constant. Your actual consumption of calories versus your actual burning of calories dictates weight gain or loss (barring degenerative diseases). If you are 800 calories, and burnt 1100, you would lose weight slower than if you ate 900 and burnt 1300.
- throwaway1777 5y agoThis is not entirely correct. Foods are not processed in the same way by the body. Imagine eating a diet of 2000 calories of chocolate bars and chips vs 2000 calories of steak. Do you really think these would have the same effect in terms of health or even weight loss?
- yupper32 5y agoOverall health, of course not. You'd probably feel like shit just eating chocolate bars (and also feel hungry all the time). Weight loss? Pretty much the same. You can look up stories of people losing weight by counting calories and eating nothing but candy bars.
- BoxOfRain 5y ago>and also feel hungry all the time That's basically how low-carb works for me, if I eat fewer carbs I'm less hungry and miserable all the time so I eat less calories too.
- watwut 5y agoWeight loss wont be the same. In one csse you will feel tired and passive most of day and wont be able to be active.
- yupper32 5y agoIt honestly feels like most of the people here are being purposely obtuse. Why in the world would you think you need to reply with this? I CLEARLY meant, all activities the same, 2000 calories is 2000 calories. I even mentioned that you'll feel like shit just eating chocolate. What more do you people want from me?
- passivate 5y agoHmm, I think what OP might be getting at is that there is a difference in digestive efficiency when breaking down different foods and converting them to energy. A calorie is a calorie, except when it isn't.
- zug_zug 5y agomeh, this is the kind of statement that sounds meaningful but isn't really useful at all. It's like saying "The only way to make money is to have more income than you spend." Like great, but mostly worthless advice, the really important advice IS the details (e.g. different investments, getting promoted, etc) or in the dieting case it's details like like drinking calories, many different medications cause weight gain, hormonal levels, etc.
- haltingproblem 5y agoTotally agree. I would further argue and diet is just a methodology on how to sustainably consume less calories than you spend. A successful diet is sustainable. An unsuccessful one is not. When I began Keto, several intelligent and well-meaning friend made that exact same comment. A year later they are asking me what is the best way to start and stay on keto ;)
- dabbledash 5y agoI think it would be a meaningful statement if 90% of advice about saving was some variation of “how to save money without making a budget!” People seem to desperately want some trick to losing weight that isn’t “eat less food.” It won’t be forthcoming. You can’t trick your body into losing weight. We are adapted to scarcity, but food is not scarce.
- zug_zug 5y agoLet's first define "bad advice" and "good advice." "good advice" - Advice that actually works, and makes the person like you more "bad advice" - Advice that doesn't help the person and makes the person like you less. "Eat less food" would fall in the latter category, pretty obviously. --- "Everybody should have infinite self control" is an obscenely naive starting point that erases the whole practical problem. The practical problem is "What habits require the minimum amount of self-control/unpleasantness to get the results I desire"?
- dabbledash 5y agoI think weight loss is an area where giving advice is a bad idea unless it’s specifically asked for. It’s not like it’s hard to figure out what to do, it’s just incredibly difficult to do it. If I were asked, i’d say that all diets that produce a calorie deficit are similarly effective and to try different things until you hit on the plan you can see yourself following for the rest of your life (at maintenance calories). Lots of people lose weight, maintaining is the biggest challenge.
- keymone 5y agoimportant to note that amount of calories you burn is heavily affected by chosen diet. as you start consuming less, your body responds by lowering temperature, reducing your willingness to move and think, etc, all of which reduce calorie burn, so you may think you're in deficit when you're not.
- ljm 5y agoIt's important to keep active, possibly more active than you normally are. Make it a lifestyle choice so you can replace old habits. Remaining fully sedentary and running a 1000 calorie deficit isn't maintaining a diet, it's starving yourself. You'll get the weight back as soon as you call the diet a success and go back to your 'default' lifestyle. (This of course doesn't apply to everyone: medical reasons, disability, etc.)
- hsbauauvhabzb 5y agoDrinking water makes you fill fuller which in turn reduces your calorie intake. Tfa states this.
- yupper32 5y agoThat's what I said: > It's easy to see how drinking more water falls into all of this.
- user3939382 5y agoLosing weight has as much to do with controlling hormones associated with fat storage.
- yupper32 5y agoNO. IT. DOESN'T. "As much"? Are you joking? This is why America is overly obese. So many people like you make weight loss seem so complicated when it's not. CICO is the vast vast vast vast vast majority of the situation. You can completely ignore hormones and such and JUST pay attention to CICO and you'll lose weight 99.9% of the time.
- user3939382 5y agoI’d refer you the research of Dr. Jason Fung or Dr. Robert Lustig, for example: https://youtu.be/ZKC3hiyLeRc https://youtu.be/ZKC3hiyLeRc Here’s an article on keto from a medical journal https://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150(19)31589-8/fulltext https://www.atherosclerosis-journal.com/article/S0021-9150(1... Even the experts debating here aren’t contesting the role of insulin in weight loss, but rather the secondary effects like those on LDL. Here in turn is a talk by a doctor from UC Berkeley explaining more about that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gZt9DQqtZI&t=217s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gZt9DQqtZI&t=217s From what I can tell, the sole focus on calories is the result of early misunderstandings and oversimplification of biochemistry in 1980s nutritional science. Anecdotally, I did a 3 month experiment where I increased my calories (lots of olive oil, avocado, nuts, butter, etc) but consuming almost no carbs (and mostly carbs from vegetables) and I lost 8 notches off my belt.
- yupper32 5y agoYou're mixing up general health/a good diet with what causes weight loss. I'm simply here trying to get people to understand that the vast vast majority of what causes weight changes is how many calories you're consume, and how many calories you're burning during the day. LDL cholesterol levels have nothing to do with weight loss. They have everything to do with how healthy you are. Separating the two is extremely important when educating the masses, and most people, like you, refuse to do so. That is why I used capital letters. Not because I'm close minded. When you separate the two, you are able to have people understand why certain diets work, and why they might not work. You can't just do Keto, for example, and expect to lose weight if you eat 3000 calories of chicken a day. (I'm just using Keto as an example, regardless of it's health benefits). Then diets are easily understood. You have two parts: Part 1: How do I lose weight? Consume fewer calories than I burn. Part 2: How do I be healthy while losing weight and beyond? [insert whatever research you have] Right now, people advocate mostly for Part 2. Then people trying to lose weight are confused when they don't and give up. > Anecdotally, I did a 3 month experiment where I increased my calories (lots of olive oil, avocado, nuts, butter, etc) but consuming almost no carbs (and mostly carbs from vegetables) and I lost 8 notches off my belt. Congrats, you consumed fewer calories than you burned.
- sethammons 5y ago> Losing weight is just consuming fewer calories than you burn. Of course. And your body is a dynamic system that changes how and where it uses and stores energy based on the source of the energy. Your body responds differently to 100 calories of table sugar compared to 100 calories of nuts. I _lost_ weight by increasing the amount of food I was eating. Obviously this means that I had to start burning or otherwise shedding more calories otherwise we broke physics. It is important to note that "losing weight is just consuming fewer calories than you burn" is not the same as "eat less and you'll lose weight" since eating less can cause your dynamic system to require less calories.
- MathYouF 5y agoA lot of social circles live flat out in denial of the simple truth of weight loss and perpetuate the idea that it's not this simple, but it really is. Genetics and medication might affect your appetite, metabolism, water retention levels, fat storage areas, ect., but at the end of the day one only needs to know one number and follow one rule to lose fat: Number: Daily caloric expenditure Rule: Consume items with fewer total calories than the above number Measure weekly for best results. Daily caloric expenditure can be approximated with heart rate data over a day and your height & weight. The exact weight lost if it's only fat will be 1lb per 3500 kcal deficit. You must consume 2g of protein daily per lb of muscle (approximating this requires calipers) to not lose muscle mass. Water weight will vary, but over a week the number ought to go down if you're eating at an actual deficit. You'll see the results in the mirror after a month if you actually do the above.
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- president 5y agoYou're getting downvoted but the basic premise is correct. Eat less, lose weight. The problem is that most people do not have the mental/physical fortitude to follow-through with it, and I don't blame them because it is hard to change your lifestyle. Most of these weight loss programs, if they aren't outright scams, are just essentially giving people a framework for their weight loss journey because forming a habit for lifestyle change is the most important thing to staving off weight gain in the long term.
- xsmasher 5y ago>Drinking water appears to stimulate thermogenesis, or heat production, in the body, particularly when it's chilled. The body has to expend energy to warm the fluid to body temperature, and the more energy expended by your body, the faster your metabolism We did the math on the "ice cube diet" in high school physics; the energy required to melt the ice was only a few calories. Not the Kilocalories listed on food labels- actual calories 1/1000th of that unit. If there's an effect here, it's not from heating the water.
- BB212 5y agoAgree. The article lists appetite repression and I think its 100% that. When I diet/track calories I def load up on water to help. And for me - it does work very well.
- TheFreim 5y agoYup, that's it. Every time you get hungry drink a tall (TALL!) glass of water and usually the hunger goes away and you end up being content with an appropriate amount of food.
- matwood 5y agoI wonder if light dehydration can mask itself as hunger? The body wants something, unsure what, many people eat.
- jsemrau 5y agoDehydration can cause sugar cravings.
- x3n0ph3n3 5y agoYou're not just melting ice, but actually bringing it up to body temperature. 1 cubic inch is 2.54 * 2.54 * 2.54 = 16.4 cc = 16.4 grams. 1 F = 5/9 C. The heat capacity of water is 1 cal/gm.C. So the number of calories is 16.4 * 5/9= 9.1 9.1 cal / F / cubic inch * ( 98 F - 34 F) = 582 cal / cubic inch Edit: Yes, I realize 1 Cal = 1000 cal, I just wanted to clarify the math.
- 123pie123 5y agototally agree with the article in addition I've found my body abilty to handle dehydration drops with age, this is magnified with the day after drinking alcohol - drink water for me, I go for a minimum of about 1 litre/ 1.75 uk pints/ 2 US pints first thing in the morning, then the same again around 2pm and then about a litre in the evening (soda based) I can only do this if the water is at room temperature (I'm UK based so not hot here) something the article does not say is that food has a lot of water in it as well - think soup or eating tomatoes etc.. also adds massively to your daily in take
- MeinBlutIstBlau 5y agoIf you want to stave off hunger or eat less, drink a glass of water before each meal. The water will make a lot of what you eat expand in your stomach on top of starting with a partially full stomach. The major click bait of the title is that water causes weight loss. It in fact does not. It just helps curb your appetite in ways that cause a caloric deficit.
- silicon2401 5y agoTake any reason to drink more water. Drinking more water is one of the best changes I've made for my health. Now I can feel the difference when I don't drink enough: headaches, tiredness, perceived hunger, etc. Most of us live in a place where drinking water is essentially free and infinite, and it's so important to take advantage of that.
- pydry 5y agoI noticed that on the days when I "overdrink" water I have much better focus than on the days when I just drink enough. I used to attribute my ability to focus clearly when flying to the lack of distractions but I think a large part is also the unfinished water bottles I inadvertently end up drinking before going through security.
- passivate 5y agoNot sure how if you've found the same for yourself, but for me, my body adapts quickly to certain items that I consume - such that any deviation from the schedule and I get minor/mild discomfort. e.g. Switching up meal timings after eating consistently for a while, or stopping my morning coffee, or a sudden reduction in water intake, etc. I think what works best (for me) is to have a varied approach where you don't stick to one schedule/program.
- silicon2401 5y agoI don't know that I feel a bodily difference, just annoyance. My approach is discipline and putting in effort to make sure I keep up with routines that I've noticed have a positive impact on me
- Etheryte 5y agoThis is borderline silly. Drinking water may help you lose weight because then you're not drinking soda? Sure, but that take is just absurd — most people don't spend their days going around drinking only soda. There are many things in this article that are correct, such as the brain mistaking thirst for hunger, but they're all wrapped in too much sensationalism.
- scotty79 5y ago- Oh wise man, I don't want to get pregnant. What do I do? - You should drink water. - Before or after? - Instead. Same goes for weight loss I presume. If you can fill your belly with water, you can delay your next meal more easily.
- ChrisArchitect 5y ago(2020)
- yupper32 5y agoHow to lose weight, by me, someone who has lost 30 pounds and kept it off: Step 1: Count every calorie you consume. If you don't know the exact amount of a dish, do your best. Apps like MyFitnessPal make this easier. Step 2: Limit that amount to 1500 calories per day. Step 3: Weigh yourself everyday first thing in the morning, and only look at rolling 7 day averages at least. Daily fluctuations don't matter. Step 4: After 2 weeks, see how much you've lost (if any). If you've lost more than 1% of your body weight per week, raise that 1500 number. If you've lost less than 1% per week, lower that 1500 number. Repeat until satisfied! How can you make this easier? 1. Eat things that are filling with fewer calories. Think vegetables and protein. Stay away from things that aren't filling and have a lot of calories. Think candy bars. Water helps too, as the article says. 2. Walk/run. This will burn calories efficiently and if you attach a fit bit to it, you can incorporate the calories burned into your 1500 number above. Weight lifting doesn't burn many calories, though it's nice for your overall health of course. This overall strategy lets you drink a beer if you want, or have that piece of cake. Just count every calorie and you're good to go. Even if you don't hit the number every day, log it anyway as a habit.
- edanm 5y agoI agree with most of this and did this all myself to also lose 30 lbs over the last half year. The only think I'd change is that starting with only 1500 calories a day might not make sense, it really depends on your starting weight / calorie consumption. Someone regularly consuming 3500 calories will have a really hard time going down to 1500, plus they'd lose way more muscle mass than they otherwise could. I'd advise tracking calories for a week, then just eating 500 calories lower for two weeks as a start.
- yupper32 5y agoYou're right. I thought to not include the 1500, but went with averages to keep it simple.
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- reilly3000 5y agoI’ve found that pseudo-dehydration leads to irritability in myself and family members. I can detect this with a few signals: - lips are chapped - skin feels especially warm to the touch - moreso if skin is reddish or clammy - droopy, tired eyes - sticky tongue, “clicky” speech - persistent sniffing, a dry nose - difficult defecation It’s amazing how quickly a large amount of water will make these conditions go away and boost mood and energy. If I find myself thinking particularly grouchy thoughts I feel my forehead, and if feels warm relative to my hand I know I need to hydrate. I try to go and get a big glass of water, drink it, then refill it and go back to my desk. Too many times I’ve got up and gotten water only to come back to my station with an already empty cup.
- tonystubblebine 5y agoPretty interesting that this ended up on HN given that it's content marketing for Weight Watchers. I'd bookmarked this to read because of the .edu, thinking there might be good studies. But it turns out it's a placed article by WW. Not quite sure who paid who. But it's definitely not JHU research like I thought from the URL.
- DataJunkie 5y agoYep! I have some evidence to back it up though there were perhaps more important mitigating factors. I used to never drink water. After having some health issues for about a week, I swore off sugary sodas (except for a few a week when eating out). I also started walking 4 miles every other day. I now drink about 50% diet soda and 50% water. I've lost 35 pounds in 3 months. I don't snore anymore, I don't get constant heartburn anymore, my skin in clear and I no longer take naps every afternoon. I think the water has enabled me to reduce my meals to one, maybe two a day, instead of 3, and I am never that hungry.