How much water do you drink?

[Haze]

I was wandering how much water people drink each day.

I drink 5-6 litres everyday and I wanted to compare to see how much other fitbitters consume.

[Jeroen]

5-6 liters seems to bit high, my max is 3 and I am completely full after that.

[Haze]

Well I don't hold 6 litres, I do go to the toilet. And water Is all I drink anyway

[Stephen1227]

I aim for 8 to 10 glasses a day.  Some days I end up with less, some days up to 12.

[AAWarrior]

Hi Haze,

I saw your question asking how much water to drink. Trust me... you will hear and see many views on how much water to drink. The common reply will be eight 8 oz glasses per day. And yes, that is a good goal depending on the person.

5 liters (169 oz) is a lot. That's ten of the 16.9 oz bottles of water.  BUT... if your body can handle it congrats. For many people they will have to start slow and build up to what they should be drinking.

Lately, the most popular view is to divide your weigh by 2. That will tell you how many ounces you should be drinking. Dividing that number by 8 will tell you how many glasses per day.

So for me I weight 184 lbs. Dividing by 2 tells me I should be drinking 92 ounces per day or eleven 8 oz glasses.  I usually drink from a 16.9 oz bottle. With that in mind I drink 6 bottles. I try to drink one bottle every 2 hours starting at 7 am and finishing at 5 pm; that way I won't be up all night running to the bathroom.

Again, there is no concrete suggestion on how much water you should drink.

Haze, please let me how this works for you. Take care and have a healthy day.

[Jeroen]

I do not know what the rules are but too much water is dangerous: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

[Tcup]

Fitbit should calculate if for you based on your weight, height etc. But I drink between 2-3 liters per day and I can't imagine drinking anymore!

[Stephen1227]

Jeroen is right.  Water poisoning or hyponatremia is from too much water that can result in dangerously low sodium / salt levels, which can even be fatal.  As a former marathoner and coach, I will never forget how sad it was when a lovely young female medical student died from hyponatremia while running the Boston Marathon.  She was all smiles one minute and later in the race, she was gone.  So, please be careful.

[AAWarrior]

I agree... but again it depends on the person.

[gerrymcd]

Calculating how much water someone should drink is complex.  It depends on the water content of the food you eat (for example, dry toast vs soup) and other factors, such as the ambient humidity and temperature, how much you sweat, etc.  

[gerrymcd]

I'm not sure why being capable of drinking 10 bottles of water a day would be a reason for celebration.  Extreme overhydration is just as dangerous as dehydration, so I'm not sure pushing yourself to drink as  much water as possible is a sensible health goal.  

[missb726]

I am for 64oz of water/day. Usually I only make it to the most 56oz

[josephz2va]

Gym trainers told me to drink 1 Gallon. 128 Ounces.

That's four 1 Liter bottles if you're buying the big size deer parks or 6 refills of a 24 oz sport bottle.

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@Jeroen wrote:
I do not know what the rules are but too much water is dangerous: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_intoxication

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That's only if you're in the point of Water Contests and if you're gulping water down way too quickly. Marathon Runners practice Hyponatremia but that's because they're marathon runners. You shouldn't even practice that nor Hypohydration (not drinking anything at all during exercises).

Drinking water every few hours won't kill you. Nor drinking up to a gallon. 24 ounces by the hour won't hurt you.

[Stephen1227]

Hi Joseph.  That's a lot of water!  I would check with your doctor before accepting what the gym trainers say.  🙂

[AAWarrior]

94 ounces. I finish 4 of the 16.9 bottles by 2 pm before I do to work. I
try to have the other 2 done by 7 pm

[josephz2va]

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@Stephen1227 wrote:

Hi Joseph.  That's a lot of water!  I would check with your doctor before accepting what the gym trainers say.  🙂

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Generally the rule is 64 ounces. 8 glasses of water a day.

[josephz2va]

About.com has these instructions during fitness:

Water (Fluid) Intake Schedule

1. Before Exercise
   • Drink two to three cups of water within the two hours before your workout.
   • Weigh yourself immediately before you begin your workout.
2. During Exercise
   • Drink one cup of water every 15 minutes.
3. After Exercise
   • Weigh yourself immediately after you finish your workout.
   • Drink two to three Cups of water for each pound lost during exercise.

Though for after exercise, I weigh 3-4 pounds heavier from the time I stepped on the scale at 3:30 am to 6:30 am if I ate any breakfast and 4 cups of water.

I've never done what they suggested because if I drank a cup of water every 15 minutes, that would be 4 cups of water, plus 3 cups of water before and 3 cups after. That's 10 cups in 1.5 hours.

[gerrymcd]

Joseph, 

while there are a lot of very good, well-informed gym trainers..... there are also an equal number who got certified by taking a weekend-long course.  I've heard trainers give clients really bad advice, and/or make them do dangerous stuff.  

Drinking water in excess won't kill you -- unless you take it to extremes.  However, our kidneys are not like plastic plumbing pipes, where pouring more water at higher pressure flushes and cleans.  The kidneys contain specialized capillary beds called glomeruli that have to work to process all the excess water.  Over time drinking too much water can cause wear and tear and kidney damage.   Moreover, ingesting more water than you need increases your blood volume.  Since your blood supply occupies a fix volume this puts an unessesary burden on your heart and blood vessels.  

[SJSD18]

Having had a kidney transplant over 40 years ago, I was always concerned with water intake.  I was told by a top nephrologist that 8 glasses is fine.  5-6 liters seems excessive and can do the body damage, especially if you drink it in a short amount of time.  Water intoxication can kill you.  In fact, some fraternities were making pledges drink excessive amounts of water and some kids died from it.

Over the years I have lost 100 pounds without surgery and I have been told that drinking water while dieting fills you up, and makes you less hungry.  I have not found that to be true over the years.  

I figure that if my nephrologist tells me 8 glasses is enough, that's fine with me.

[Maxit]

How much water I drink on a given day depends on how hot it is and what I am doing, actually.  I don't drink soda or juice nor much iced tea - only other routine liquids are coffee in the morning and a glass of wine a couple of times a week.  So I guess my baseline of water intake is ~72 oz and if it is a very hot day (I don't use AC much) that might be increase by 50%, and if I am raising a sweat through activity I add more as well - because I am thirsty.