water intake?

alligatorrawr

I've been doing research and apparently I should be drinking 18 cups of water a day!! I know you get a lot of water from food, but seriously how can I drink that much water without having to pee every 10 minutes! right now I am drinking 10 cups and I have to pee every hour or more. it's getting so annoying!! what rule do you follow?

zyxst

I drink when I'm thirsty. I don't feel you should force yourself to drink if you don't want to or you don't have medical issues (chronic dehydration). Then again, I'm use to peeing every 30 minutes.

Shropshire1959

I've been doing research and apparently I should be drinking 18 cups of water a day!! I

Old wives tale I'm afraid .. just drink when you are thirsty

jnord8729

That's such a hard one. Really the answer is what works for you. Personally, I feel all sorts of dehydrated if I don't have over 20 a day. I know some that feel bloated at 10. So it depends on the person.

Do you feel thirsty? Do you cramp up when working out? Do you feel feverish? Does your pee smell like a dirty cat box? If the answer is "no" to any of those, you're PROBABLY doing ok.

But honestly, yes there is water in your food. It's hard to count how much. Also, remember 8 oz of coffee (or tea or juice or soda or whatever) has about 8 oz of water in it. You know what? It counts.

alligatorrawr

I've been doing research and apparently I should be drinking 18 cups of water a day!! I

Old wives tale I'm afraid .. just drink when you are thirsty

well I used to NEVER drink any water, just coffee and wine. I've gotten a lot better about it but I am still training by body to recognize thirst from wanting coffee hahaha. I was looking the ideal number but that's just outrageous!

anna_jewel

That seems pretty excessive- 18 cups is a lot of water. From what i learned in nutrition class, the norm is 8 cups. Just drink when ur thirsty

mizzbugsy

I've been told 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water daily...Or a gallon a day. That's a full time job! It really doesn't take long for my body to acclimate to that amount of water tho. Soon enough it becomes easy. I am at 9 consistently. This month I'll try for that gallon!! My new October goal!

aneary1980

I've been doing research and apparently I should be drinking 18 cups of water a day!! I

Old wives tale I'm afraid .. just drink when you are thirsty

most people mistake thirst signals for hungar signals. In addition you will only feel thirsty when you are already dehydrated.

Edit - NHS recommend at least 1.2 litres in addition too food but this can also be from tea or any water based drinks.

alligatorrawr

That's such a hard one. Really the answer is what works for you. Personally, I feel all sorts of dehydrated if I don't have over 20 a day. I know some that feel bloated at 10. So it depends on the person.

Do you feel thirsty? Do you cramp up when working out? Do you feel feverish? Does your pee smell like a dirty cat box? If the answer is "no" to any of those, you're PROBABLY doing ok.

But honestly, yes there is water in your food. It's hard to count how much. Also, remember 8 oz of coffee (or tea or juice or soda or whatever) has about 8 oz of water in it. You know what? It counts.

I thought caffiene or alcohol actually "dehydrates you"? I usually count my coffee intake as water (but not my wine!) That's a good call tho, going by the good ol pee chart haha

jonlfischer

I drink around 16-20 glasses a day..but thats just me.

I have heard to take your body weight and divide it in half and thats how many ounces you need.

ascrit

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/topics/show/1462409-you-don-t-need-8-glasses-of-water-a-day

SherryTeach

You need to be more discriminating in determining what really is "research." Just because it is posted on the Internet doesn't make it scientifically true.

lisaabenjamin

Caffeinated drinks do dehydrate you - if you drank a litre of coffee, you would pee out more than a litre of urine. I wouldn't count coffee or tea as 'water'. I only count water as water and log other drinks in the 'food' section.

It's generally recommended to drink around 8 x 250ml glasses of water a day, but in truth you just need to be drinking enough to ensure that your pee is 'straw-coloured' - not completely colourless and not too orange/yellow.

BrianSharpe

That's such a hard one. Really the answer is what works for you. Personally, I feel all sorts of dehydrated if I don't have over 20 a day. I know some that feel bloated at 10. So it depends on the person.

Do you feel thirsty? Do you cramp up when working out? Do you feel feverish? Does your pee smell like a dirty cat box? If the answer is "no" to any of those, you're PROBABLY doing ok.

But honestly, yes there is water in your food. It's hard to count how much. Also, remember 8 oz of coffee (or tea or juice or soda or whatever) has about 8 oz of water in it. You know what? It counts.

I thought caffiene or alcohol actually "dehydrates you"? I usually count my coffee intake as water (but not my wine!) That's a good call tho, going by the good ol pee chart haha

Both coffee and tea provide you with a net increase in fluids (caffeine is mildly diuretic but they're still mostly water).

Being adequately hydrated is important is terms of sports performance but you need to keep in mind that much of the so-called hydration "research" is being sponsored by companies that want to sell you sports drinks.

Judging your state of hydration by the colour of your urine can be misleading, you can consume a large quantity of water and be peeing clear shortly thereafter without your tissues being hydrated.

Drink small quantities of fluids throughout the day and obey your thirst.

sm1zzle

Do they make beer flavored water ?

alligatorrawr

I think I am just going to go by the half my body weight, that's 14 cups (or 3 of my water bottles which is doable). I don't drink sports drinks unless I know I am dehydrated (hiking and long bike rides) and thanks for the insult but I know what research is.

LivingtheLeanDream

18 cups!
most people aim for 8.
I have days when I easily drink that, and others when I'm lucky to get 4 down me!
but I do drink a lot of tea which is still liquid.
I have found drinking water to have no impact at all on my weight loss.

aneary1980

Caffeinated drinks do dehydrate you - if you drank a litre of coffee, you would pee out more than a litre of urine. I wouldn't count coffee or tea as 'water'. I only count water as water and log other drinks in the 'food' section.

It's generally recommended to drink around 8 x 250ml glasses of water a day, but in truth you just need to be drinking enough to ensure that your pee is 'straw-coloured' - not completely colourless and not too orange/yellow.

You aren't quite right please see the below extract from the NHS

'We need to drink about 1.2 litres of fluid every day to stop us getting dehydrated. This is in addition to the fluid we get from the food we eat. All non-alcoholic drinks count, but water and milk are the most healthy.

Try to avoid sugary soft and fizzy drinks that are high in added sugars and can be high in calories and bad for teeth. Even unsweetened fruit juice is sugary, so try to drink no more than one glass (about 150ml) of fruit juice each day.

When the weather is warm, or when we get active, we may need more fluids. Learn more in Drinks.'

jordanwalker1531

Take half of your body weight - that number is how many ounces of water you should drink a day. Example: 200lb person should drink 100 ounces of water a day...8 ounces in a cup so about 12 cups a day.

agal129

To echo some other posts on here, I have heard that you should drink half your weight (pounds) in ounces. So if you weight 200 pounds, you should be drinking 100 oz of water a day (12-13 cups water). But of course, I don't believe you will not lose weight or be less healthy if you don't drink that much. Personally, for me it is better for my body and my mind to follow this rule.

Sweetvirgo63

I drink enough to keep myself hydrated and to make it easier on my kidneys to do their job. They were permanently damaged in a car wreck back in 2001 so they have a harder time at processing excess whatever than kidneys that are healthy. Other than that, I don't fret over it.