Water intake? Please read

There is no magic number when it comes to water intake. There are a lot of factors to consider including your environment. I've been in the tropics for a while...at times I get up to 3-4 Liters a day and still I don't pee.
Water is important...it keeps your body going. Your body is primarily made of water, and major organs like your lungs and brain rely on a high water content to keep functioning.
There are so many benefits to getting enough water every day. Your skin will look better, you'll be less likely to succumb to sicknesses like the cold, you won't be as hungry and your internal "thermostat" will be better regulated.
Sure you can get your water through other sources but why waste the calories?
As a doctor once told me if you feel thirsty it's already too late.

@Plaid405 - Please, for the love of everything good and holy, don't pay attention to everything your trainer says. Trainers aren't generally (in fact virtually never) medically trained in any way, shape, or form. There isn't even a standard certification or training standard for them. You could bill yourself as a trainer right now, and be as knowledgeable and well trained as the majority of trainers.

In reality, most trainers are more akin to salesmen than they are to medical professionals. Most clients looking for training (particularly those more interested in weight loss as opposed to true exercise/weight lifting advice) tend to be unknowledgeable and frankly, gullible, and trainers feed on that. Their job is to sell their services to you, so they tend towards dire warnings, oversimplifications, and blatant misrepresentations to emphasize why you need their services.

Yes, there are many good trainers. There are many more bad trainers. When I see statements like that, I lean more towards the latter. Please take everything that they say with a grain of salt. There are a great number of stories out there of people that have been injured by the negligence/incompetence of their trainer.

Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional either, nor do I have any medical training. I've read a lot and researched a great deal for my weight loss journey, which is where my knowledge comes from. Most of knowledge coming from reputable sources, so I obviously trust it (else I wouldn't be repeating it), but at the end of the day I have no more training than the average trainer that I'm ranting against.

i agree... i have seen advice in the posts from supposed fitness experts that is almost criminal (in my opinion) ... and..
advice that may benefit a young healthy (other than extra weight) person may prove fatal to an older person that has other health issues..

"experts": please keep this in mind when you give your extreme "one-size-fits-all" advice

Drink what you need to stay hydrated, some days you'll need to "drink" more than on others. Workout days I always end up drinking about 4 litres as I tend to lose at least 2 sweating (weight of clothes before and after is about 2 kg heavier when placed on scales!!!!) That and I tend to "lose" a few lbs just working out...i,.e water in sweat!

Some days you'll get a lot of the moisture you need from things like milk, fruit and vegetables, sauces etc so you need to look at the "8 cups" as that amountof moisture getting into your body somehow.

Hope that helps.

The best indicator is the colour of your pee (but careful cos some medications and vegetables such as beetroot! can change it too!) Pee should be very pale colour, and "clear" i.,e not cloudy. If it is entirely clear and has not even a hint of colour, you're probably over drinking and you'll know because you'll be peeing lots and often too! A light straw/pale yellow/pale yellowy-green coloue is what you're after.

You are pre-programmed to stay hydrated. Most of us get thirsty and we drink. Simple. In fact, to be dehydrated, you probably need to be down several pounds of water (about three for an average person) before you hit mild dehydration. By then most of us would have taken a moment to drink and fixed the deficet. This process gets a little out of whack when we're sick (ie. diarrhea or vomiting). Take home message: when you feel thirsty, you should drink. Water is better for you than sweetened beverages.

Your muscles need to be well hydrated to function at their best. Get even a little dehydrated and your endurance and strength will suffer. Further, when you work out you're breaking down muscle tissue. These breakdown products are excreted by your kidneys. If you're dehydrated those products can clog up your kidneys causing a true medical emergency (ie. kidney failure). During extended workouts and/or under extreme conditions (heat, humidity, etc) it's very important to drink extra water.

On a day to day basis the general teaching has been that an average person should have about 8 glasses of water. There isn't any hard science behind this. It probably came about because it's a lot easier to make a blanket statement rather than to explain the theories. Someone living in AZ who works outside needs a lot more water/day than those of us in the northeast working inside. You do get some water from the foods you eat. And you get water from other beverages such as milk.

To get adequate hydration:
1. Drink when you're thirsty.
2. Drink a glass of water with each meal/snack.
This works especially well if you're getting five or so small meals through the day.
3. Drink before and after exercise (including hard work, esp in the heat).

It is possible to drink too much water! If you outdrink your kidney's ability to safely excrete you could dilute your blood resulting in hyponatremia. This is where your salt is too low. Salt (sodium) is necessary for most bodily functions (brain, heart, etc). People die from hyponatremia. Admittedly, this is rather uncommon in young and healthy people, but can happen where someone is calorie restricting and flooding themselves with water.

Hope this helps!
John (HPYNH2O)

large amounts of Water has helped me with my weight loss. How you ask? Because Im constantly getting up to the bathroom every 30 mins. Thats a lot of walking

:drinker: :laugh:

@Plaid405 - Please, for the love of everything good and holy, don't pay attention to everything your trainer says. Trainers aren't generally (in fact virtually never) medically trained in any way, shape, or form. There isn't even a standard certification or training standard for them. You could bill yourself as a trainer right now, and be as knowledgeable and well trained as the majority of trainers.

In reality, most trainers are more akin to salesmen than they are to medical professionals. Most clients looking for training (particularly those more interested in weight loss as opposed to true exercise/weight lifting advice) tend to be unknowledgeable and frankly, gullible, and trainers feed on that. Their job is to sell their services to you, so they tend towards dire warnings, oversimplifications, and blatant misrepresentations to emphasize why you need their services.

Yes, there are many good trainers. There are many more bad trainers. When I see statements like that, I lean more towards the latter. Please take everything that they say with a grain of salt. There are a great number of stories out there of people that have been injured by the negligence/incompetence of their trainer.

Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional either, nor do I have any medical training. I've read a lot and researched a great deal for my weight loss journey, which is where my knowledge comes from. Most of knowledge coming from reputable sources, so I obviously trust it (else I wouldn't be repeating it), but at the end of the day I have no more training than the average trainer that I'm ranting against.

i agree... i have seen advice in the posts from supposed fitness experts that is almost criminal (in my opinion) ... and..
advice that may benefit a young healthy (other than extra weight) person may prove fatal to an older person that has other health issues..

"experts": please keep this in mind when you give your extreme "one-size-fits-all" advice

I understand and respect these posts but the comment I made about what my trainer said was simple biology certainly not a "one size fits all approach" just the mechanics of how the liver and kidneys work together.