Drink half your weight in water? Tell me my maths is wrong!

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iwillsoonbeslim
iwillsoonbeslim Posts: 283
in Health and Weight Loss
Here's a thing. I'm SURE that drinking TONS of water has helped me lose weight. Convinced. And last night I saw a thing suggesting we should drink half our body weight in water each day. But that seems like an enormous amount - a dangerous amount even? Help me with my maths here folks, please? I'm just under 190lbs, so half would be 85lbs. A litre of water weighs a kilo. There's about 38 kilos in 85lbs.....so I should drink 38 litres a day?! I MUST be miscalculating something here - HELP ME FIND MY MISTAKE, PLEASE!? I've been drinking around 10-12 litres a day, which I thought was pretty darned good going, but there's no way I could do 38? That's like, 19 x 2 litre bottles :-o

I am NOT planning upping my intake, just curious - SURELY I've made a mistake, and no one would suggest I drank 38 litres a day?!?!?!

Replies

  • kr3851
    kr3851 Posts: 994 Member
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    Haha you have to drink half your weight in OUNCES. So get your pounds, divide by two and that's the number of ounces you have to drink.

    But that calculation sucks for me! Too much water...
  • _Jessica_
    _Jessica_ Posts: 216 Member
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    In ounces....
  • Joanna_1111
    Joanna_1111 Posts: 3
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    I believe they meant it in ounces. You would drink 85 ounces.
  • psychocrusher
    psychocrusher Posts: 14 Member
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    it does seem a little excessive that figure :-) . The NHS recommends that we drink about 1.2 litres (around six to eight glasses) a day to keep our bodies hydrated. This figure is therefore to be increased based on your exercise regime. I believe it is somewhere along the lines of 1ml of fluid per kcal burnt.
  • VolatileChocolate
    VolatileChocolate Posts: 116
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    Unfortunately I don't have it to hand but our gym have a formula to calculate how much water you should drink depending on your weight. For me at 248lbs it was 3.8 ltrs - which even they admitted was far too much and to try and drink 2 to 2.5ltrs and more if exercising.
  • VolatileChocolate
    VolatileChocolate Posts: 116
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    You can do search on websites where they have calculators to work out how much you should drink
  • iwillsoonbeslim
    iwillsoonbeslim Posts: 283
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    aaahhhhh, so how many US ounces in a UK litre?
    I did have a look online before posting, but didn't see any calculators.
    SOoooooOOOo glad it WAS my poop maths!
  • helenium
    helenium Posts: 546 Member
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    aaahhhhh, so how many US ounces in a UK litre?
    I did have a look online before posting, but didn't see any calculators.
    SOoooooOOOo glad it WAS my poop maths!

    One ounce is 28 ml.
  • iwillsoonbeslim
    iwillsoonbeslim Posts: 283
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    .....hahahahaha - 2.2 litres. THAT'S a bit more like it!
    And I drink WAY more than that, so I'm sorted!

    Thanks guys x
  • iwillsoonbeslim
    iwillsoonbeslim Posts: 283
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    Ach, I wish I could 'like' or 'thank' you guys :o)
  • asia_hanebach
    asia_hanebach Posts: 275 Member
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    *sigh* why can't we all just use metric...
  • CoryIda
    CoryIda Posts: 7,887 Member
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    Half your body weight in ounces, not pounds or kilos.

    If you weigh 200 pounds, aim for 100 oz (12.5 cups).

    It's a good goal to shoot for, although it's not an exact science.
  • kolkol
    kolkol Posts: 300 Member
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    My exercise instructor told me to drink a gallon of water a day. That is 128oz. I do not always drink all but I am very close! This came from a certified personal trainer so it should be right. But I have also heard the drink half your weight in oz too!
  • engineman312
    engineman312 Posts: 3,450 Member
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    *sigh* why can't we all just use metric...

    *sigh* why can't we look at the date of a thread before posting?
  • imanisworld
    imanisworld Posts: 1
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    The formula for that is not half your weight in water. What you do is if you weigh 208 lbs you would divide that by 2, you get 104. Then that is what you drink. So you would drink 104 OUNCES of water. Very effective and very easy formula to follow.
  • dwh77tx
    dwh77tx Posts: 513 Member
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    The funny thing is, I KNOW I don't drink enough water. However, I eat a TON of veggies and high water content foods. My urine is always very light, which is a very good indicator. I eat almost a whole head of iceberg lettuce a day.
  • thisismeraw
    thisismeraw Posts: 1,264 Member
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    Don't go by any "rules". Drink enough water so that you are not thirsty and your urine is light to clear.

    Your body doesn't just get it's hydration from water so drink what you can but don't obsess .

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