# Water and Weight

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-and-weight/191032>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 26, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-and-weight/191032 "2003-07-26T05:11:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Gillianssj2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/87869e/32.png) [@Gillianssj2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gillianssj2)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-and-weight/191032/1 "2003-07-26T05:11:10Z")

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In a column done by Cecil (sorry, I dont have a link) he said that if you drink ice cold water it will burn calories because well… your body has to warm it up. But! Isnt it also true that liquids account for quite a bit of weight in the human body?

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        Basically my question is that if you drink cold water are you gaining... or losing weight?
```

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [July 26, 2003, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/water-and-weight/191032/2 "2003-07-26T05:24:36Z")

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Drinking cold water is not going to amount to any statistically significant calorie loss.

To answer the questoions, though:  
_Isnt it also true that liquids account for quite a bit of weight in the human body?_  
Yes

_Basically my question is that if you drink cold water are you gaining… or losing weight?_

If you drink a pound of water (about a pint), you will definitely gain a pound immediately. You may not keep all of it, though, unless you are seriously dehydrated.