does coffee count as water?

[gettinghealthy]

Do I count coffee as water, or do I need to drink more water for each cup of coffee? 

[Jim_M]

What my doc said to me, was only count water as water.  Things like coffee and soda (even diet soda) have additional effects on the body.

[slysam]

Advice on this varies even sometimes from doctors. I was told we did get hydration from everything we drink and many things we eat. Saying that, though we get some hydration from coffee, I do not count any beverages that contain alcohol or caffeine as "water". The alcohol and caffeine both have dehydrating effects so I am not sure how it balances out to know how much actual hydration I am getting. I also think even if we are absorbing water from it, it is good to drink more water to help flush the caffeine and alcohol from the body. I do count non-caffeinated beverages sometimes, sometimes I just count water, usually I don't use the water tracker--it depends what I am working on. If you are tracking calories, but sure an log any beverage that contains calories as food. I often log coffee in my food log sometimes, because I like to see a reminder of how much I am drinking as I use to drink too much caffeine and had weaned myself off it completely but restarted drinking it. So I periodically check myself to make sure my "habit" is not exceeding a cup or two a day at most.

[kdennis250]

concur with Jim, only water should count as water.

[Cybertekkno]

I count tea as water, because it does not contain calories, and I log any sugar I put in the tea in my food log.  I do not drink coffee, but I would log it the same way I log tea.

[Canuckles]

Caffeine works as a diuretic by causing sodium to return the the blood at an increased rate. This causes an increase in the speed at which your kidneys filter the blood. Subsequently, urine production is increased to compensate for the filtering.

Personally, for every cup of coffee I drink, I remove one cup from my daily progress.