Is drinking a gallon of water a day healthy?

I drink a gallon daily and I can easily guzzle it, especially after a workout. I find that it keeps me satisfied throughout the day. I never mind the bathroom breaks; that expected. Personally, I feel as though my body needs that quantity - but that's my body. I still include salt in my diet and get electrolytes from sports drink as necessary.

I drink at least a gallon of water daily. On a heavy lifting day, I can easily drink 40 oz. of water in an hour. The place I train at has no air conditioning and even in the winter, it can get hot in there. I ONLY drink water, no tea, no coffee, no milk, juice, etc. It's really only dangerous to drink lots of water if you don't consume a lot of sodium.

COGypsy wrote: »

I typically drink about a gallon most days--a liter or so at the gym, another liter or so through the day at the office and a couple at night. I couldn't chug it all at once, but it doesn't seem like a particularly excessive amount for me. I rarely even wake up in the night to use the restroom.

Ditto, as long as you're spreading it out, and you're not restricting dietary salts/electrolytes, you should be ok.

It is not hard to get enough sodium in your diet. Hell, a lot of people do extended water fasts with no salt and are actually healthier in the long run.

You should drink when you are thirsty and as you get older, keep track because elder people get dehydrated faster than younger people. You can actually hurt yourself by drinking to much water. Water intoxication is no joke!
Personally, I work in a REALLY dry office, and I drink about 8 cups in the 8 hours I am there.

I typically drink a gallon a day, not all at one time but over the course of the 9/10 hour work day. I have a 32 ounce bottle that I fill usually twice before noon and then another 2/3 times by the time I leave work. I also drink 16.9oz on my drive into work. At first drinking 8 glasses of water was hard but over time my body began to crave it and now I drink it without a thought. I don't drink much else besides water other than a green tea in the afternoon and seltzer with my Tito's when I am out.

Thanks; I now have another thing to add to my hell-no-never-going-to-do-that list. I get up in the night enough already.

There is no inherent value or universal rule to drinking a certain amount of water per day. It depends on the individual -- their health, their body chemistry, the medications they are on if any, etc. I am a caregiver for my wife's 94 year old father and I recently took him to an appointment with his primary care physician and this very question came up -- how much water should I be drinking. His answer was pretty straight-forward: "Unless a physician tells you that you need a certain amount of water each day for a specific medical reason, you should drink water when you are thirsty. It really is that simple."

I drink a minimum of 64 ounces (half gallon) a day. I drink more as I am thirsty. I seldom get a gallon of just water. But, I also drink other things throughout the day. As long as you are getting what your body needs daily, that's the important thing.