How much water should you be drinking?

VertigoDeath83
VertigoDeath83 Posts: 24
in Health and Weight Loss
Found this little calculator online because I've been wondering how much water I should actually be drinking every day. Hope it is useful to you guys! :)

http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm

Replies

  • PhillyTD
    PhillyTD Posts: 375 Member
    Mine came out to 20 glasses! I need a bathroom next to my desk, LOL!
  • therealangd
    therealangd Posts: 1,861 Member
    If your urine is light yellow or clear, you are hydrated enough.
  • PhillyTD
    PhillyTD Posts: 375 Member
    If your urine is light yellow or clear, you are hydrated enough.

    That's what I've always heard. I drink 10-14 glasses (8oz) per day. Usually. If I drink Coors Light does that count as water too?
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
    If your urine is light yellow or clear, you are hydrated enough.

    strangely enough, not true for me. I had clear urine for a 48 hour urine test I did for my urologist, and the test results came back that I was chronically dehydrated ( and that is why I was forming huge kidney stones). I need easily 4 liters a day to be hydrated.
  • smilingchica
    smilingchica Posts: 279 Member
    Found this little calculator online because I've been wondering how much water I should actually be drinking every day. Hope it is useful to you guys! :)

    http://nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercalculator.htm


    When I was working at Kansas University, our sport nutritionist told me that you need to drink half your body weight in ounces daily, more if you're being active. Ex. you weight 100lbs, you drink 50oz.
  • Katrina1223
    Katrina1223 Posts: 10 Member
    My doctor recommended to drink half of your body weight in ounces.

    So, I would need to drink around 70 ounces of water... just under 9 glasses of water.

    I am usually not that thirsty, but I noticed that I'm not as hungry, either, when I keep up with the drinking. Who'd a thought your body can imitate hunger when it's actually thirsty?
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    . Who'd a thought your body can imitate hunger when it's actually thirsty?

    This is the origin of the myth that "if you eat Chinese food you'll be hungry an hour or two later." You're not actually hungry - the sodium in all the MSG you just snarfed down is dehydrating you and your body is actually thirsty.
  • marcia724
    marcia724 Posts: 180 Member
    I told my dr I was drinking between 12 and 15 8oz glasses a day, and they yelled at me! LOL. She said I was drinking too much and needed to cut back to maybe 10. She said I was probably washing out things my body needs. I have never had anyone tell me that before. It's REALLY hard for me to do...because I'm so used to drinking a lot!
  • guardian419
    guardian419 Posts: 391 Member
    That's what I've always heard. I drink 10-14 glasses (8oz) per day. Usually. If I drink Coors Light does that count as water too?

    Yes... coors light is just beer flavored water :)
  • Amber50lbsDown
    Amber50lbsDown Posts: 255 Member
    I drink way too much, its the only thing I drink other than coffee, green tea or beer on the weekend. I hate juice and pop and find myself drinking water all day.
    I average 160oz a day (not including coffee or tea) and according to that I should be only drinking 74-80oz.
  • dirtchick97
    dirtchick97 Posts: 58
    Wow, I usually have already drank 72 ounces of water before lunch. I like water, and it keeps me from eating. By the end of the day I have usually had about 150-160 ounces of water
  • myfitnessnmhoy
    myfitnessnmhoy Posts: 2,105 Member
    For those of you worried that you are drinking "too much" water, you really only need to be concerned if you are either drinking water at a pace of more than a half gallon at a go, or drinking more than about 400 ounces a day. At those levels, you can actually flush the electrolytes out of your system and get water intoxication or hyponatremia. It's something that is brought up in training sessions for athletic events - if you're sweating a lot and losing electrolytes (particularly sodium) and replacing it with only water for extended periods of time (or sudden intakes of large amounts of straight water), you'll deplete your electrolytes to a point where it can get potentially dangerous.

    Even that can be easily avoided by adding electrolytes to your water, but if you're at a point where you are approaching 400 ounces of water a day you really need to see someone because there's probably some underlying problem there. (is it possible to have a "drinking disorder"? - grin)

    So if you drink a lot of water at once, cut the water with a bit of Gatorade or eat something, especially if you've been sweating a lot. Better safe than sorry.

    You may be drinking more water than is necessary for healthy body function, but you probably aren't drinking "too much" in any sort of clinical sense. It won't make you any healthier than drinking "just enough", but it also is unlikely to make you any less healthy.
  • CMorning99
    CMorning99 Posts: 924 Member
    I read an interesting article about how pre-occupied Americans are with drinking water. Everyone is carrying around some sort of water bottle these days and it almost has become a fad.

    I was reading the article b/c it was regarding the increasing number of deaths in marathons due to hyponatremia. EMTs know exactly where to position themselves on the course b/c the science behind it is so well known and they know exactly where people are most likely to develop an electrolite imbalance.

    I think the answer is personal to each person based on a countless number of factors: how much do you exercise (some suggest no more than 13oz of water per hour of hard exercise), do you sweat a lot, what is your sodium intake. I can't really go off of urine color b/c I take B vitamins which turn things yellow(er). I drink when I am thirsty and I know when I haven't had enough to drink b/c I feel miserable. My grandmother never drank more than 8oz of water a day and a tea cup of coffee in the morning...she lived to 93 w/o any kidney, liver, etc issues. My husband on the other hand drinks 100+ oz of water and still forms kidney stones...

    I guess the bottom line is you need to know your body and lifestyle...I think sometimes science becomes too cookie cutter.
  • sarahrbraun
    sarahrbraun Posts: 2,261 Member
    I told my dr I was drinking between 12 and 15 8oz glasses a day, and they yelled at me! LOL. She said I was drinking too much and needed to cut back to maybe 10. She said I was probably washing out things my body needs. I have never had anyone tell me that before. It's REALLY hard for me to do...because I'm so used to drinking a lot!

    I fix that by trying to add gatorade mix to at least one bottle (3-4 glasses) a day. Gatorade is meant to replace the electrolytes you would lose by sweating or drinking a lot.

Categories