# Finishing Up My 1st Month Of Drinking Only Water **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 27, 2012, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244 "2012-12-27T02:42:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/21 "2012-12-28T03:03:44Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > The simple answer to how much water to drink is to drink as much as needed to turn your urine pale yellow/nearly clear. If you have clear urine, you are drinking too much and you may be washing out electrolytes (see above linked story on water intoxication). Yellow/dark yellow urine and you are drinking too little and may be dehydrated. Since everyone is different and has differing needs depending on variables like exercising, this seems an easy rule of thumb. Sorry, no cite, but it is what my physician uncle once told me and it stuck, and seems to work fine. > > I cut out sodas many years ago and have not at all regretted it. Once you stop drinking the sugary, sweet stuff it is hard to go back - I can hardly stand them now, and when faced with the self-service soda machine at a restaurant I go with watered-down lemonade. I drink a lot of water, but also coffee in the AM sometimes, and fruit juices here and there, the odd beer and glass of wine during the week. Mainly water. > > Good for you in getting rid of sodas - they do you no good at all! It’s not so much the sugar as it is you’re dumping all that sodium into your acidic system. ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/22 "2012-12-28T03:34:12Z")
One thing I wonder, Quasi - and anyone else who cut back from drinking a lot of soda to drinking little or none - did it feel better? Different? Any observable changes in your health, mood, anything? Because it seems to me that drinking a daily shitload of soda containing excessive amounts of sugar, sodium, caffeine and other unecessary ingredients must surely make a person _feel_ different one way or another than not drinking it. I’ve never liked soda of any kind, even when I was a kid, although once in a while a Red Bull tastes good. But the few times in my life I’ve tried to drink a Coke or Pepsi or anything of that nature it literally makes me feel sick to my stomach. I drink a fair amount of water, coffee in the morning, sometimes fruit juice, or those woo-woo green or vegetable or berry juices, or a frou-frou coffee. A guy who works for me drinks a liter of Mountain Dew during the work-day, plus consumes Monster Energy drinks at a fairly alarming rate. (He is 32 and has no teeth left, mind you. As I understand, he was pretty much raised on soft drinks.) ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/23 "2012-12-28T04:23:43Z")
**chiroptera** , as far as mood goes, I have to admit that I’m on a shitload (well 4) of antidepressives along with my Aricept, so I wouldn’t be able to give you a good answer on that one. 🙂 Health? Yes. My blood pressure (generally borderline) is now normal and my doc says he believes that’s due to the non-consumption of soda. Water has one more property in consumption that we haven’t mentioned: it’s supposed to be a cleanser of toxins, but that one I don’t know much about either except to tell you that my pee is much less concentrated than before. A very pale yellow now. AFAIK, a gallon isn’t hurting me and it is what my body seems to need, but I did need y’all’s input, because… well … just _because_, dammit! :)🙂 Quasi ---
**Author:** ![chiroptera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@chiroptera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chiroptera)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/24 "2012-12-28T04:46:07Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > **chiroptera** , as far as mood goes, I have to admit that I’m on a shitload (well 4) of antidepressives along with my Aricept, so I wouldn’t be able to give you a good answer on that one. 🙂 > > Health? Yes. My blood pressure (generally borderline) is now normal and my doc says he believes that’s due to the non-consumption of soda. > > Water has one more property in consumption that we haven’t mentioned: it’s supposed to be a cleanser of toxins, but that one I don’t know much about either except to tell you that my pee is much less concentrated than before. A very pale yellow now. > > AFAIK, a gallon isn’t hurting me and it is what my body seems to need, but I did need y’all’s input, because… well … just _because_, dammit! :)🙂 > > Quasi Well, good for you! And for what it’s worth, my pee is always pale yellow too. 😛 Also FWIW, during days or times when I’m outdoors all day in the sun and/or exerting myself physically, especially whan I lived in the very arid high desert, I know I drank a gallon or more of water per day. So far I’m still healthy and kicking in my mid 50s. I realise the “eight glasses of water per day” is a silly myth generally, but it’s not necessarily harmful and may be necessary, depending on circumstances. ---
**Author:** ![Taomist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/53a042/32.png) [@Taomist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Taomist)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/25 "2012-12-28T06:05:32Z")
> [@shijinn](#): > > isn’t that like 4 litres? please be aware of [Water intoxication - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication), where it cites at least one case where a woman died from drinking that much within two hours. just drink comfortably and not to excess. Dang…the facts really come alive when you read the list of people and circumstances surrounding water intoxication deaths. It doesn’t seem that uncommon. Kinda scary. Not for ME, since I don’t drink water, ever. Pretty sure if I did, I would explode. 😛 I must drink too much diet soda, though, as my urine has been completely clear my entire adult life, unless I am sick. Clear enough that I usually have to take drug tests for jobs twice, as the first result gets thrown out for being ‘too clear’. Apparantly drinking a lot of water dilutes the results or somewhat. I wonder what happens when you’re short of electrolytes, hrm… ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/26 "2012-12-28T07:19:25Z")
A gallon of water over 24 hours isn’t all that much. I drink about that each day, varying depending on activity levels. When I worked in a kitchen I’d drink a gallon of water every day over the course of an 8-12 hour shift. Most cases of water intoxication are the result of drinking large amounts of water in very short periods of time. Your body knows what you need, and if you’re drinking a gallon a day without feeling like you’re _forcing yourself_ to drink that much, then you’ll be just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 7:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/27 "2012-12-28T07:31:56Z")
What kind of “toxins” are we talking about? Because I thought that whole thing about how we needed to “rid our bodies of toxins” was largely a bunch of bullshit. Seriously, **Quasi** , I’d talk to your doctor before doing something like this. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/28 "2012-12-28T11:51:39Z")
> [@Rebo](#): > > [From Livestrong.com:](http://www.livestrong.com/article/415692-what-is-the-recommended-daily-water-intake-from-the-surgeon-general/) > > 8 cups of water = 64 oz = 1 gallon. As pointed out, half a gallon, but from what I’ve read, 8 cups is roughly the amount of water you need, _including_ that contained within food and any other beverages. You’d be surprised how much water many foods contain. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/29 "2012-12-28T12:13:36Z")
Well, **Colophon** (et.al:))… I drink two of those big plastic jugs that say on the side they contain the 8 glasses needed daily, but I find myself drinking twice that much. I had my bloodwork checked last week, and everything looked fine. Maybe the next thing I need to look at is my meds? I haven’t done that yet. Should have been the FIRST thing I did, dumb ass me. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/30 "2012-12-28T18:11:24Z")
Dry mouth is a common side effect of antidepressants. Maybe that’s why you’re drinking so much water. ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/31 "2012-12-28T18:26:50Z")
> [@Sticks\_and\_Scones](#): > > On a typical day I have one can of Diet Coke in the morning and then drink approximately 8-10 glasses of water. That is, except for this week as there may be something wrong with the water softener and the taste is so disgusting that I can barely drink it. I may get some gallons in the meantime while I’m out. Beware of [drowned rodents](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=570008). Anyway, I’m no doc, but I did give up a fairly serious soda habit a few years back to get myself to lose some weight. Worked wonders, along with portion control and running. Ideally, I want my water to have lots of ice in it, of a size that you don’t need a straw to drink it. (This is one of the great things about water: Adding ice will never water it down!) Then I just keep it around and sip at it all day. ---
**Author:** ![gwendee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/35a633/32.png) [@gwendee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gwendee)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2012, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244/32 "2012-12-28T18:33:11Z")
In May of this year I decided to give up soda. I had been leaning on Coke Zero as a caffeine delivery method and decided I should probably regulate my sleep better instead. I did have some soda dining out over my Christmas visit home, and for the long drive but I’m back on no soda. I do have tea occasionally, but have never been a big juice or milk drinker. At work I keep a 32 oz. bottle and refill it. I’d estimate that 2/3 of the time I drink two full ones throughout the day. I always drink at least one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/finishing-up-my-1st-month-of-drinking-only-water/645244.md?page=1)