I have read many times about drinking lots of water (and I do) but I'm not really sure why I am..any thoughts
I still have about 20-25 pds to lose ,,so how much should I drink per day, I don't think I am coming close to what I should be drinking even though to me it is alot

The reason we need water is to maintain our body functions. We can survive much longer without food than we can water. If we dont drink enough water then our kidneys arent working right which means our liver has to pick up the slack which is taking away from metabolizing our fat---whew..lol ok hope I explained that right. U need to drink at least 64 oz a day plus another 8 oz for every 25 pounds U want to lose. I would reccommend tho the more U drink a day the better. If U can try to get at least 100 oz a day.

Water keeps you hydrated. Most who come to this WOE are completely dehydrated and water is something entirely new and difficult to drink at first.

If your body has a steady supply, it will not hold on to it's water stores. Water keeps the ketone levels in your blood diluted, so theoretically your body will keep burning fat when it percieves fewer ketones.

It also helps with keto-breath and other keto-odors.

The rule of thumb is at least 64 oz. plus 8 oz. for every 25 lbs. you want to lose.

Karen

Do you all filter your tap water? Reason why i ask is that i know that flouride and chlorine is added to our tap water, and i like to filter that crud out. I cant imagine that im filtering anything out thats imparitive to my well-being and overall way of life.

hi Smiley and others,
This post makes me thirsty!!! I know I had read that before, but it wasn't til I heard it on this forum, did I really up my water intake. I feel like it has been key to my weight loss. And also to just staying healthy with this way of eating. I appreciate both Karen's input as well as gwilson. I don't filter my water, I have a Britta water filter thingy, but I'm too cheap to buy the filters. I buy bottled water when the chlorine is really noticable in the tap water. But that's maybe 3 or 4 times a year. I think it's a personal preference. Victoria

As I understand it as a lay person.

First off, water is extremely vital to just about every body process that you want to avoid getting dehydrated. A high-protein low-carb diet is a natural diuretic that will tend to dehydrate you. This will, among many other things, throw your electrolyte balance off - which can be serious, even fatal. Fortunately, this condition is normally preceded by severe headaches (not associated with the normal Induction-related headaches) that are sending you a really loud message. If that happens, you are going to be miserable for quite a while but you have plenty of margin to get yourself hydrated.

Second, as your body metabolizes fat, a lot of waste products are dumped into your system. You don't want the concentration of those to build up otherwise various parts of your body will react badly to the high concentrations.

Third, on a high protein diet you kidneys are required to work harder. To avoid stressing them too much, they need plenty of water to function properly and, again, to keep the resulting waste concentrations low enough.

Fourth, one possible outcome of heavy ketosis is ketoacidosis - the blood pH becoming too acidic. This is a coma-inducing and potentially life-threatening condition. This is pretty uncommon in non-diabetics and by keeping hydrated you largely eliminate it as a possibility.

Again, these things are my present understanding. I welcome any corrections.

Yep! that's pretty spot on. Fat also stores toxins which is released when fat is burned.

Here is a bit more info on ketoacidosis and kidney function.

Wise words from Doreen on ketoacidosis:

"Ketoacidosis is a dangerous condition that happens in uncontrolled diabetes, and the main element is ACID not ketones. The blood pH becomes dangerously acidic because of an extremely high blood SUGAR level (the diabetic has no insulin, or doesn't respond to insulin .... so blood sugar rises ... ketones are produced by the body to provide the fuel necessary for life, since the cells can't use the sugar). It's the high blood sugar, and the acid condition that is so dangerous. Ketones just happen to be a part of the picture, and are a RESULT of the condition, not the CAUSE.

Being in ketosis by following a low carbohydrate diet is NOT dangerous. The human body was designed to use ketones very efficiently as fuel in the absence of glucose. Ketogenic diets have been used very successfully to treat epilepsy in small children, even as young as one year old ... these kids stay on the low-carb, moderate protein, high-fat diet often for years at a time .. with no adverse effect on growth, development or intelligence. And their seizures are controlled ... where toxic drugs failed."

And on kidney damage from atkinscenter.com

"Studies show that the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) goes up with a high protein intake. The GFR is a measure of how efficiently the kidneys are filtering protein and other byproducts of metabolism from the blood. A high GFR may seem bad to some dietitians but, in fact, it is actually a sign of excellent kidney function. It simply means the kidneys are capable of doing a job beyond their usual requirements. Think of this analogy: Aerobic exercise raises your heart rate, yet everyone acknowledges that, because aerobic exercise raises the heart rate, it strengthens the heart. In our clinical practice, we have seen thousands of patients over three decades, and we have never seen a single case of a high-protein eating program causing kidney damage."

Karen

Since chlorine and fluorine are soluble in water (they dissolve), I am pretty sure that filtering will not get rid of them. However, you can let the chlorine evaporate. Leave a pitcher of water uncovered for an hour - if the water is warm, the evaporation is more complete and quicker. Stir at the beginning and a few times during the hour.

Filtering will only get rid of the solid particles that may be in the water.

BarB

One thing not to forget is that the chlorine is there for a reason - and that there is not much of it left when it leaves the treatment plant.

Where you can get in trouble is if you leave water standing for an extended period of time - like few days - (especially at room temperature). Then things start to grow in it (because the chlorine has evaporated out of it). Some of these bacteria leave really nasty toxins in their wake.

Where most people get into trouble is the open pitcher of water in the refrigerator or the water bottles on their bikes.