Water intake calcalator

shorerider

I stumbled upon this site just now that has a bunch of calculators, including a water intake calculator. It takes your age, and activity level, weight, etc. and tells you how much water you should drink every day.

According to this calculator, I need to drink 205 ounces of water a day!!!!!! That's about 30-50 ounces more than I currently drink.

SBS--wanna weigh in (LOl, get it "weigh in" :laugh: ) on this one??

http://www.calculatorslive.com/Daily-Water-Intake-Calculator.aspx

shorerider

I stumbled upon this site just now that has a bunch of calculators, including a water intake calculator. It takes your age, and activity level, weight, etc. and tells you how much water you should drink every day.

According to this calculator, I need to drink 205 ounces of water a day!!!!!! That's about 30-50 ounces more than I currently drink.

SBS--wanna weigh in (LOl, get it "weigh in" :laugh: ) on this one??

http://www.calculatorslive.com/Daily-Water-Intake-Calculator.aspx

songbyrdsweet

Well Shore, no one really knows who came up with the 8 glasses/day rule, so I wouldn't presume to tell you what's right or wrong about that calculator LOL. :laugh: I would add that it's more important to monitor our electrolyte levels along with hydration rather than just drinking water all day. I found a couple other calculators just by googling. My favorite is still the hydration articles on runnersworld as they offer recommendations for sports drinks based on exercise duration and intensity. You're looking at about 1.5 gallons of water...when in reality it needs to be part water, part sports drink or electrolyte tablets, stuff you already know to take.

Our kidneys really do a good job of maintaining the proper concentration of 'stuff' in our blood, so there's no reason to overhydrate. If we're running to the bathroom every 30 minutes, obviously there's too little solute in our blood, so we can drink less.

shorerider

Let me tell you, the thought of drinking an ADDITIONAL 50 ounces of water a day, plus with the diuretics I'm on--LOL. Yeah, that ain't happening!

songbyrdsweet

Let me tell you, the thought of drinking an ADDITIONAL 50 ounces of water a day, plus with the diuretics I'm on--LOL. Yeah, that ain't happening!

Hahah, yea, I wouldn't bother with that. I think it's easiest to monitor urine frequency and color, and just plain old 'how do I feel?'. I can tell when I'm getting dehydrated, look at my pee randomly during the day, and drink regularly while I work out, supplementing with sports drinks. I don't actually count out my glasses of water, I just keep a big16 ouncer on hand full of water.

shorerider

Well, it interested me because of that one day last week when I apparently had gotten dehydrated but didn't feel like it.

One thing I haven't been doing, and I just realized it yesterday, is drinking some electrolyte stuff when working out in the gym. I hadn't thought about it since I put the cycle up for the winter but I'm still working out hard at the gym and need that stuff. So today, I added it to the bottle I took into spin class.

mbb8682

So if your pee is clear you have done a good job of drinking water?
If it is still yellow then I need to drink up.

Mishy

Interesting, I had to go and check it out.

Accordingly, I need 144 ounces per day or 18 cups per day. OH MY! :drinker:

dlouderb

I am a little concerned about this site ... it says that I need to drink 23 cups of water a day ... my concern is that I would look like a water balloon by the end of the day.

Also, I checked out the calorie counter there ... it says that I could consume up to 3569 calories. It was that type of eating, in the first place, that got me to where I was 8 months ago. I will stick my 1930 calorie goal per day.

This site seems a little unreliable .. just my opinion.

songbyrdsweet

Well, it interested me because of that one day last week when I apparently had gotten dehydrated but didn't feel like it.

One thing I haven't been doing, and I just realized it yesterday, is drinking some electrolyte stuff when working out in the gym. I hadn't thought about it since I put the cycle up for the winter but I'm still working out hard at the gym and need that stuff. So today, I added it to the bottle I took into spin class.

As a rule, if I'm going for 45-60 min, I'll have a light electrolyte beverage, like G2. If I'm going for 60-90, I'll have a tbsp of gatorade, and if I'm going for 90+ I'll have a couple tbsp of Gatorade. I sip it slowly so I don't overload my GI tract with sugar and get gassy :blushing: . Yesterday I lifted 45min, ran 2 mi, and did a spinning class for 45 min, so I bought a Powerade at the gym and drank about 10 oz of it. It was really gross though. :sick:

Dehydration can sneak up on you, but generally urine color is a good indication, keeping in mind that multivitamins will turn your urine neon yellow whether you're hydrated or not. Whether thirst is an indication of severe dehydration is still undecided, but it's good to drink if you feel it.

Crystal_Cherry

thx 4 sharing:flowerforyou:

Chellekk

And...to make it more interesting. I was watching Oprah and Dr OZ said if you eat a well balanced diet, you actually get most of your water needs from the foods you eat and don't need to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Is that true?? I thought a bit odd, so I stick to the "pee" test as well. It needs to be pail "hay/straw" color. If not...drink more.

pettmybunny

I'll add in what the doctor told me, after I went last week. If you all remember, I was guzzling 2 gallons a day, and still feeling thirsty. (All the tests came back normal by the way-- I'm low on iron is all--not that that has anything to do with my thirst).

I normally drink about a gallon of water in 24 hours (25% of that is during the night, 30% while working out, and rest is throughout the day). The doctor told me that is way too much, and that I should cut my water intake by half. I struggled with that over the weekend, and admitted to him that I was going over, and drinking about 3/4 of a gallon. Even though all my tests were normal, he still wants me to cut my water back to 1/2 gallon.

I tried G2 today, because he said I should be drinking something with sodium while working out. It's nasty tasting stuff! But then again, I didn't go over my water allotment yet today, so maybe nasty taste is the way to go, lol.

renae5

OK you girls have me worried! I GUZZLE water ALL DAY. I love the stuff and can't seem to get enough most of the time. I've all every test run imaginable since I have endured 3 surgeries in 9 mos so I know there is nothing like diabetes or anything like that to make me extra thirsty. Here's my question.... What harm could I be doing by drinking too much water during the day???????

pettmybunny

I don't fully get it, SBS will be better able to explain it to you, but it's got something to do with sodium levels and electrolytes. If the levels are off, then your cells can't pass stuff, and they swell and die... at least that was what I was getting from what I read.

I know the doctor ordered an osmatic (sp?) test on me for this (I think it was for this), and it came back normal, so I don't really know why he told me to stay cut back on my water.

Biggestloserfan

You also get your water from the foods you eat and from tea and coffee that you drink. So it isn't just straight water that it is calculating. I have heard that half of your body weight in oz is a good estimate of what you should intake with food and water drinking. Veggies have a lot of water in them as do soups and other foods that are healthy for us so it is all included in that as well.