Water

carolsteele45

When it mentions that you should drink 8 cups of water per day, would this include beverages such as tea, coffee, the water that goes into a whey protein drink etc - or does it have to be pure water??

concordancia

All the water counts.

Rather than worrying about the generic number, though, pay attention to your body. As long as your urine is light yellow to clear, you are getting plenty of water. As a matter of fact, if it is always clear, you are probably drinking too much.

craigheon

I only count glasses of water. Nothing including tea, coffee, whey, etc. All of that is additional, and definitely water intake, but I don't personally count it. I try to get at least 8 strict glasses of water per day in me.

norcalskater

Yes. Tea and coffee are about 98% water so it's okay to count them. Same with the protein.

Natmarie73

I count herbal teas or decaffinated tea/coffee but not regular. Caffeine is a diuretic and dehydrates your muscles/tissues so in reality these should be subtracted from your water count if you are focussing on maintaining a certain level of hydration. If you are just counting glasses of water for the sake of it then by all means count them. The water that goes into whey protein shakes and any other drinks you have should be okay too unless there is caffeine in there as well.

Urine observation is probably the best way to tell if you are dehydrated and need to drink more or not. As previous poster said, aim to maintain clear to slightly yellow colour. FYI the body can process no more than 250ml of liquid per 15 minutes or approx 1litre per hour so drinking any more than that is pointless.

carolsteele45

Thank you, I thought they should, but thought I had better check to make sure that I was drinking enough.