Are you drinking enough water? Not likely...
 

I've been doing a lot of research lately on what amount of water you should actually be consuming per day and the result was a lot higher than I originally though; I figure I'll share what I've worked out to be a pretty good formula.

- Body Weight * 0.50 = Base number of ounces to drink daily
- Add 10oz per 20 minutes of exercise
- Add 10oz per 500mg sodium consumed above 1000mg
- Add 15oz if living in hot, humid climate
- Add equal amount of water to alcohol drank

I used to think drinking 2L - 3L a day was very good, but following the above, on a non-alcoholic, average day I drink around 5L - 6L now. It's true food also contains some water, but I ignore that, preferring to have a little extra buffer.

So, forget the old "8 glasses a day" (unless that's what it actually comes out to based on the above for you) and follow the above; you'll drop fat, feel better and have better blood flow (:winkwink:) - you'll know you are on the right track if your urine is almost crystal clear color.

nice calculator, thx! i'm on track now that i'm at ~1 gallon/day.

I have consumed at least a gallon of water everyday for the last 2 decades.


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I drink I ton of water and you are correct my piss is crysal clear LOL

Don't really do the calculator stuff, I just drink a gallon a day, it makes you look "cleaner".

i barely drink any water

I can't drink a lot of water or I get hyponatremic... I do drink a lot of liquids though...

Before I went into the USMC I used to get a lot of headaches (I lived in FL)... I quickly learned that most of my headaches were probably due to dehydration. You learn REAL fast what dehydration can do to someone in the Marines ;)

Well, work on changing that :)

I thought pouring buckets of water down your throat to be healthy had been found to be bollocks?

This thread made me thirsty.

Yeah, when I play hockey and don't have at least a good 8-9L of water that day, I get MASSIVE headaches.

Of course, it doesn't help we also are playing 3 hours in the blistering sun down here.

My piss is so clear you could bathe in it.

I personal disagree with that much water, true 90% of people don't drink enough water but I thing 6L per day is to much. To much water can flush the sodium from your body and make it hard for your system to retain the water you are drinking. I find 3L to 4L is enough for me when I am training but everyone is different.

I find the greater amount of water to be working for me....wouldn't surprise me if such studies against water were sponsored by the beverage industry though :)

Hardly ever drink water. Makes me wanna piss all the time when i do. Which is annoying.



Yes my piss is yellow...

I get my water via beer

i drink about 2gal/day and i piss excellence

Cheers:drinkup:drinkup

I heard you're supposed to drink 1 oz of water per pound that you weigh.

This would mean 1 gallon a day if you weigh 128 pounds - 2 gallons a day if you weigh 256 pounds, etc...

Who knows...

I usually drink 2l of water a day on top of anything else I drink or eat.

I drink about 180 oz of water every day! :thumbsup

My piss is almost solid. I need to drink a lot more water.

My piss is so crystal clear that i drink it again. Why waste resources?


BTW i agree with OP, we need only water and breathing to feel well, everything else is optional.

Nutritionist says 2L of water a day is enough.
For a person who weighs 160lbs, eat 1500 calories/day with 150 grams/day protein.
Cardio and exercise intensely every day for 30 - 60 minutes or so.

crystal clear streams here too LOL

I like how so many people nowadays seem to be obsessed with eating natural and organic, like their ancestors did. But when it comes to water, somehow they believe their ancestors had a gallon of water at their disposal to drink on a daily basis.

I don't think looking at our ancestors is the healthiest diet...they mostly got sick and died quite young and were in shape due to all the physical activity more than due to their diets.

i don't drink water, fish fuck in there...

that's an interesting angle, do we know how much h20 our ancestors drank throughout history? i would think it varied quite a bit as we evolved through all the diets.

Same here :1orglaugh

Drinking too much water (over 2-3 litre per day) will lower salt in your body and can result in sudden cramps. In worst case the heart.
The best way to lose weight is to eat less per meal but more often and with no fat. 6-7 times per day. Drinking water can't compensate for that.

just got up and grabbed a glass lol thanks

The opposite is true too, too much sodium and too little water will lead to water retention and weight gain.

Speaking of sodium, I just gave away every canned product in my household. The amounts of sodium in them are ridiculous.

I feel like I have way too much unnecessary pee knowledge of the folks on this board now.

That being said, about 15 years ago I went on the Cybergenics Quicktrim diet and it said to drink at least 1 - 2 gallons of water a day. I have been trying to maintain a gallon a day since then.

Thanks for the info...

water consumption is woefully overanalyzed. Drink if you are thirsty. If you are peeing water you are drinking too much. Thats all you need to know.

humans have conditioned themselves to think when they are actually thirsty that they are hungry.

chug a glass of water if you think you're hungry.... if you're hungry in 15 mins, eat.

I've always wondered what that "8 glasses a day" equated to and had to google it:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=&oq=&gs_rfai=

Thanks for the thread. I really need to increase water intake it seems.

I drink 6l of piss a day.

I seldom drink water...I drink coffee...milk...colas...and juice all day. I probably do not drink four glasses of water per month...I don't even like the taste of water.

Drink when your thirst mechanism says to drink, No need to force yourself to drink liquids when you don't need it, You are just over working your kidneys.

We have the same radical saying here in hungary :D
But besides kidding, I recently started to change my eating/drinking habits and drink mostly water, and i feel much better.
:):pimp

Shit, who'd ever thought we should be drinking water?

i prefer coffee ...

A while back I had a kidney stone. When I asked how to prevent them moving forward, I was told drinking more water, especially with lemon, was best for flushing your kidneys, and preventing stones from forming.

At the same time I was also told that pee should be virtually clear. If it is not, then you are not drinking enough water.

I do not believe water will "over work" your kidneys at all. Just the opposite in fact. :2 cents:

I used that calculator too. Recently I haven't been drinking enough water, need to get back to it. Since Feb this year till early June I was drinking 4-5 litres per day tho. Now I'm down to maybe 2. Time to step it up again.

How much would that be on beer?

i though i did D:

I try to drink around 10-11 cups of water a day, but I agree that drinking too much isn't helpful for your body, and your body can get the water it needs from other beverages and foods.

completely untrue unless your drinking 3+ gallons a day and not sweating or doing any physical activity. Also you want foods with some fats, preferably 3-6-9 omega fats, like those found in fish. Natural PB and extra virgin olive oil is also a great source of good fat.