Hi guys
I was wondering how much water you all drink every day? Are you supposed to drink more the bigger you are, and is there an optimum amount? Can you drink TOO much, such that it causes the body to “lose” anything it shouldn’t, IYKWIM?
I am drinking about 3 litres a day.
Cheers.

Not more than 4 I wouldn’t have thought, and make sure to replace electrolytes as well as the diet depletes them with the high water consumption and the lack of rubbish carbs and ready meals etc. I don’t think major problems start until you are well over 4 litres.

Thanks for your reply. How do we replace electrolytes?

Mrs Pink
Put salt on your food. Works for me!
Cheers
Linda

Mrs Pink you can buy Dioralyte from the chemist or a health food shop also some sport shops sell concentrated electrolytes to place in drinks. I take a magnesium tablet at night to prevent twitchy legs and cramp.

Mrs Pink asks can you drink too much water and the answer is yes, you can completely deplete the body of electrolytes is you take it too far. As a rule about 2 litres of actual drinks is about right and your body will absorb another litre or so from food. Your body naturally adjusts its electrolyte balance under normal circumstances and if you are drinking lots of water and peeing lots the only thing you need to think about is adding a little salt now and then. Unless you are losing gallons of liquid either by extensive exercise or severe diahorrea it is not necessary to take anything else although something like Diarolyte should only be used now and then or it will have the opposite effect of sending your electrolytes too high. Trust your bodies once it gets used to the increase in fluid it will adjust.

The amount of water you should drink a day depends upon your body weight, workout intensity and any medical conditions.

I am 24 having 120 pounds of body weight, do 1 hour exercise per day. I drink 8 glass of water every day. Minimum.

Drinking more water than you should to, will supresss your appetite and its not good for health.

You can Use this tool to calculate your daily water intake amount:
http://fitnessjockey.com/how-much-water-you-should-drink-a-day-to-lose-weight/

I used that link and it said that I should be drinking 85 ounces of water a day. That’s 2,400g and as water’s SG is 1.0, that means 2.4 litres, which seems an awful lot. I’m quite sure that I have never drunk anywhere near that amount in a normal day in my life – I’m 79 and never suffered from dehydration to date. Doing a rough count of cups of tea, glasses of water, etc., that I consume, I reckon my normal daily intake is only about half that recommendation.
Mike

Mine came out at 110 ounces, but I dont know what that means. Obviously that must be more than 3 litres but that is too much, I am only 4’11” I think I would float away.

sunshine-girl
That’s 3.1 litres – seems way too much to my mind. I’m 6’1″ and (at the moment!) 179 lbs. and as I said, I’m sure that I have never regularly drunk that much fluid as 2.4 litres.
Mike

I am 5’5″ and the tool calculates that I should be drinking approx. 90oz (including exercise) which equates to approx. 2.5litres. I drink WAY over this, and always have done – between 3.5 and 4 litres a day (sometimes a bit more), approx. 2/3 as water, with the rest consisting of black coffee or black tea.

By the time someone feels any thirst, they are already dehydrated! What you have to remember is that most people spend their entire lives under-hydrated without ever realising it, as it doesn’t tend to cause symptoms until it becomes really serious.

Please note that, even on 4 litres a day, I haven’t yet drowned! Or, indeed, floated away – though it would be nice to weigh little enough for that to be a danger! 😉 I think it’s all about how you drink it – if I was to drink that amount quickly, say within a couple of hours, it would certainly cause problems, but as it is spread evenly out over 24 hours, it is fine for me. 🙂 But, of course, everyone is different, and must do what suits them.

Theodora
I was interested to see your comment ‘most people spend their entire lives under-hydrated’. That is a claim that I have never hear made before – what is the evidence for it?
Mike

Oh, and I should have asked – how much exercise do you take? I spend 20 minutes, six days a week, on a manual treadmill – the equivalent of walking briskly (or as briskly as 79 year old legs allow!) up a 1 in 10 gradient. I also spend, on average, about 15 minutes a day on a variety of bending and stretching exercises to encourage the muscles that support the spine (I have had a bad back for over 60 years) plus lifting light weights (1,5kg)
Mike

Hi Mike

I am not a scientist, and I cannot refer you to any scientific papers on this, although I know there was a US study citing between 50% – 75% of US children were under-hydrated, and I have no reason to think it would be any different in the UK. But my claim is anecdotal – my mother was admitted to hospital last year with a suspected stroke. She underwent every test known to man (slight exaggeration, obviously) and the results were……………….dehydration. Upon hearing this, both she and I told her consultant that she drinks regularly throughout the day, but he said it just wasn’t enough and that he is forever having to advise his patients to drink more because most of them were under-hydrated – hence my claim. He told me that under-hydration is the cause of so many “symptoms”, such as fatigue, digestive disorders, over-eating, headaches, etc…. the list went on. The one other thing he cautioned us about was to up our salt intake slightly in line with our water intake.

My mother took his words to heart, increased her fluid (in particular water) intake and she has been as fit as a fiddle ever since. She is 93, and now she drinks enough, she has more energy, and walks 2 – 3 miles a day without fatigue.

As far as exercise is concerned, you do really well, particularly for a 79 year old. Well done – have you always exercised like that? I joined a gym a few years ago with the intention of taking my exercise there, but found it incredibly boring (although of course it is a means to an end). We also have a turbo cycling machine at home, which my O/H uses on the days he cannot get out on his bike (he is 72 and likes to cycle between 250 and 300 miles a week) and a rowing machine, but I find these machines awfully boring too. I prefer to incorporate exercise into my normal life out in the fresh air and it consists of a brisk 5 mile walk with my dogs, in hilly terrain, every morning (takes me approx. 90 mins, more if we stop for a game or swim – dogs not me – en route). On most days, we do a shorter version of this every afternoon – approx. 45 mins. Of course, I am retired, so I have the time to take my exercise in this wholly enjoyable and totally free way, I doubt I would have been able to fit it in whilst working full time, so a gym membership would be a useful way of exercising more quickly in that situation. Each to his own, is my motto – everyone must do what works best for them. 🙂

On the subject of under hydration, I have a medical background and can confirm that most people just dont drink enough water. Most people cannot even recognise what ‘thirst’ is and mistake it for other things, normally hunger or the need for a cigarette (if a smoker). When you think about it a lot of people have a cuppa a breakfast, a cuppa at mid morning, maybe one with lunch an afternoon cuppa and maybe even one with dinner. That is usually it, so you are looking at equivalent of 4 8oz glasses whereas we are supposed to try to get to 8 x 8 oz and if you are really good 12 to 16 x 8oz. Even people on diet plans who have been told to drink 8 x 8oz per day struggle to reach that number.

I have upped my exercise level over the last few years – my wife is disabled, and whereas in the ‘good old days’ we used to love hill walking, often covering 15 miles or so a day, now she can scarcely manage a 100 yards on average. Also her disability means that I can’t leave her alone for more than the minimum time needed for a basic shop and the like. To alleviate the boredom on the treadmill I listen to music on my MP3 player.
I’m not trying to knock the levels of water that folk are drinking – it’s just that it is so far removed from my own experience that I find it hard to understand. And, to be fair, I have never experineced the symptoms generally described as indicating dehydration.
Mike