who established water amount of 64oz? that seems high to me!

[bfa]

64 oz of water seems difficult to obtain.  Should I just adjust downward since I also drink a lot of coffee and tea?

[CaityT]

I'm a big diet coke drinker.  For some reason the carbonation quenches my thirst more than water....but everything I read says that diet soda isn't good for me.  I got a Soda Stream for Christmas and now I use it all the time, replacing a lot of my diet coke intake with plain water.  I don't care for any of the flavorings so I just make it plain, and maybe add lime or lemon.  I've probably cut my diet coke by half.  I still don't think I'm at 64oz though.....

C

[MA76]

This figure comes from within the medical establishment as an RDI. What they fail to tell you is this includes water in everything we eat and drink. (For instance, look at the content in your daily servings of fruit and veg.)

[carl669]

it's that high because apparently, before we were told we needed 8 cups of water (64 oz) a day, people were dropping like flies from dehydration.

oh wait...no they weren't. it always seemed like an arbitrary number to me.  i drink when i'm thirsty.  period.  i figure my body's smart enough to figure out when i need some liquid.

[Naomi94]

Eight Cups of Water Every Day - too much?

There are 8 fluid ounces in 1 cup of water. The picture posted is me, holding up a glass of water. I drink one of those with each of my main meals. 

One with breakfast, one with lunch, and one with dinner. That glass contains 2 (two) cups of water. By drinking one full glass with each meal, that means I am drinking a minimum of 6 cups of water. 

Then consider the water you drink while working out, walking, or just the water in the coffee you may drink every morning. Just drink the right amount of water with every meal, and it will add up at the end of the night. 

Remember: water plus food surpresses hunger. 

[gerrymcd]

The recomendation to drink 64oz is based on '8 x 8oz' being easy to remember, rather than some research that shows this is necessary.  The goal is to make sure you are getting enough water everyday, since a shortfall leads to headaches, feeling hungry when you are actually just thirsty, etc.    So its not a hard and fast number of oz of fluid you absolutely need to drink every day.  Remember we get a lot of our fluid from food - soup, fresh fruit and veg, etc. - and beverages.

[au4all]

As long as the liquid coming out of you is clear you're drinking enough water. If it isn't clear, then besides dehydration being bad for your health, kidney stones are one of the most painful things that a person can experience.

[danid512]

I probably use it a little differently than most people - and do realize that it is a suggestion not a hard rule, and also that there isn't much behind it.

But for me?

1. I sweat like a beast at the gym. Honestly, I am in decent shape these days (I do 60-90 minutes of cardio plus weights 6-7 days per week) and it doesn't matter, I still sweat horribly. So... I replace my fluids. I will often drink 1 bottle of water pre-gym (first thing in the morning), and then another 1.5-2 while there. So before 10am, I've had about 42oz of water.

2. I used to be a diehard soda-holic. Still kind of am. I cut it out for two years and for whatever reason let myself get back on the junk. ABout a year ago, I was drinking 2-3 sodas a day plus a sweet tea or lemonade or something else.

Now, I don't get any drinkable calories until I've hit that 64. That's not because i feel that I'm dehydrated. I'm not. It's because I like my brain to have a standard. If I hit 64oz of water and I'm still "thirsty" i will allow myself to have a sugared drink (be it sweet tea, vitamin water, soda). Guess what I figured out? 95% of the time, I have zero desire for it by the time I've shovelled that amount of water into my body.

Overall, I feel significantly better with my water intake as-is, and it does help with hunger for me. Do I hit 64 every day? No, but I'm never under 50ish and sometimes I'm higher than 64. All depends on the day, how much physical activity I've done, etc.

I think the whole point is that water is healthier for your body than anything else so that's what you should be striving for. Doesn't mean you should drink it if it doesn't fit. 😉

[Inga]

It is a completely arbitrary quantity. I don't so much find it hard to attain as I find it unecessary. I don't strive to drink nearly that amount because I eat mostly fruit and veg which all contains water. If you eat processed food or dry food, by all means drink more water. 

[Mary]

The old 8x8 recommendation is based on nothing.  Different people need different amounts and the vast majority of us have no reason to count it at all.  It's in the software here because people like it and it's a diehard myth.  

[abb123]

@Mary I don't know that it was based on "nothing", since it comes very close to being the recommended intake by the Mayo-Clinic.  Actually, I believe they recommend far more total water intake for the day.  I believe adequate intake for men is somewhere around 12 or 13 cups of water, and it would be difficult to obtain 13 cups of pure water from just food and soft drink sources.

http://www.iom.edu/Reports/2004/Dietary-Reference-Intakes-Water-Potassium-Sodium-Chloride-and-Sulfat...

[Mary]

The first sentence in that report you linked:

"The vast majority of healthy people adequately meet their daily hydration needs by letting thirst be their guide."

http://www.npr.org/2008/04/03/89323934/five-myths-about-drinking-water

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/drinking-8-glasses-of-wat_n_899276.html

Even Mayo Clinic says 8x8 is not supported by evidence and that all fluids count.  They don't mention that a significant portion of our water comes from foods, either.

http://www.mayoclinic.org/water/ART-20044256

There's a whole chapter in Super Freakonomics about the 8x8 myth.  

[Inga]

http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

[abb123]

@Mary The first sentence has nothing to do with the fact that you still need X amount of water.  I'm not making the claim that it has to come from pure water, it can come from any source, but I think there is little doubt that you do need to replenish the water in your body.  I made no claims that people in general do or do not get adequate hydration, only that the 64 ounces is close to what is recommended in the article I referenced.

I don't know what diet you are on, but I don't eat nearly enough to obtain anything close to 64 ounces of water in any form, so at least a couple of glasses get me above the 64 oz mark.

The same article you linked from Mayo Clinic sums up their piece by stating the following :

Just keep in mind that the rule should be reframed as: "Drink at least eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day," because all fluids count toward the daily total. 
So while it does say that 8x8 isn't supported, it is also saying that you should be consuming MORE than 8x8.

And they also reference the organization I linked to as a source of information, which suggests men should try and consume a total of 13 cups of water per day, from any source.  I certainly don't consume 104 oz of water from food sources.  

For my own purposes, I try to drink a couple of glasses of water a day and then whatever else I consume by way of food or other beverages.    If you eat a lot or drink a lot of other fluids, I suppose you could certainly do less.

[abb123]

@Inga I read the snopes page you sent me, and I do agree that most people are getting adequate water intake without focusing their efforts on drinking more water, but that doesn't mean they don't need the water, it just means they don't have to go to special efforts to get it.

Also, I don't like statements like "some nutritionists" say blah blah blah, because that means that "some nutritionists" are saying exactly the opposite.  My girlfriend is a nutritionists and she can tell you that if you go to 10 different nutritionists about almost any topic, you will get 4 or 5 different answers, because they all read different articles or are taught different ways.

I prefer to look at evidence from studies and make my decisions based on those results, and more often than not, increased water intake, even if not hugely significant, is associated with more weight loss or better overall health.

http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/early/2013/06/26/ajcn.112.055061

Why not just play it safe and drink the water? It seems to me there are pretty much no risks and "possibly" a lot of reward.

[Mary]

I'm not saying people shouldn't drink.  Just that nearly all of us do it just fine without counting glasses or ounces.  

If we have to count our intake, how does the animal world survive without succombing to dehydration?  How did humankind do it before the 8x8 platitude of the 20th century?  

[abb123]

Because, as the article states, most humans obtain their 8x8 by simply drinking water when they are thirsty.

I'm not suggesting everyone is walking around dehydrated. Clearly, that is not the case.  But I do believe we can agree there must be some minimum amount of water that the body needs on average, day to day, to continue functioning at peak performance, and who is to say it isn't 8x8?    I can point to a lot more studies that suggests drinking more water is beneficial than I can point to that say it doesn't matter how much you drink.

I was just doing some research since we are in such a hot topic and found the article below, which links to all kinds of studies and paper on the positive effects of increased water intake.    As I said before, there is no pretty much no risk in drinking more water, but the rewards could be quite beneficial if even one of the studies are accurate, so why not drink more?

http://authoritynutrition.com/how-much-water-should-you-drink-per-day/

[gerrymcd]

Like most things in life, too much of anything is as bad as not enough.   Drinking too much water results in hyponatremia - ie sodium concentration in the bloodstream gets  too low.  This is especially a problem in people who are cutting salt to lower their blood pressure, or are eating a calorie restricted diet consisting of low salt fruit and veggies.  The symptoms are similar to dehydration - headaches, dizzyness, etc.  Its a very common problem in marathons where there are no recorded deaths from dehydration, but "there are plenty of cases of people dying of hyponatremia."  - for example.... 

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/20/sports/othersports/20marathon.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

Its not that rare - 13% of Boston marathon finishers were ''over hydrated' and given this is a top class race, its safe to say these are probably experienced runners. 

So, one can't make definitive statements like 'no risk in drinking more water'......its all about the individual, their diet, weight, environment, activity level, etc.  What is good for me might be really bad for you, and vice versa.  

[Mary]

I think if you worry about your intake, using the 8x8 rule is fine.  I just don't think there is one number that applies to all.  It depends on so many things-- your climate, your activity level, your diet, your sweat, your medications, your kidney function, etc., etc.  

If you like counting glasses, you should do so.  If you drink tea all day and don't like forcing water in and counting it, I think there is no reason to bother with it.  If your urine is pale and not cloudy, you're sufficiently hydrated.  The odds of you hurting something by drinking more are slim but if you have enough to worry about in your life, you can probably scratch off worrying about your fluid intake.  

[Jackinga]

The whole of it is that eight 8 oz glasses of water a day is pure nonsense. 

Fitbit should drop this from both the dashboard and the log as it (in its unqualified form) casts grave doubt on the veracity of other Fitbit features by its presence.

That is, this tile makes them look uninformed, backward, and ignorant of both the claim and its usefulness.  And by inference, when you can't get this right, you probably do a poor job on other things as well.  Thus one wrong thing tends to drag down with it all that is right and good.

The majority of commenters on this issue in this forum have the right of it.  That includes the good summary link by Barbara Mikkelson as found in the Snopes reference in one of the comments, which anyone interested in this issue should read. http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp

Indeed all water in all forms that one takes in whether in solid food or in liquid form is indistinguishable from any water taken in as liquid water (whether or not in an 8 oz glass.)  The body neither knows nor cares in what form the water comes from just so long as there is enough of it. 

To be sure, one can adulterate water sufficiently as by adding salt and call that water bad,  Yet still it is not the water that is bad, but rather the salt within it.  Water is water.

Back in the early 1990s, before the age of the World Wide Web, when the Internet was but an infant, I spent a great deal of time trying to run down the 8x8 rule.  Not without resources (Ph.D. chemist), I dug into both the chemical and medical literature as well as phoned or wrote to many physiologists and other experts at the time seeking the origin of this rule.  I even contacted my contacts at the U.S. Army research labs in Massachusetts to see, if, perhaps, this was a recommendation for how much water a soldier in combat needed per day or some such. 

The rule is and was a one-size fits all.  It is ridiculuous to assume that a 5-ft tall sedentary woman needs the same 8x8 water as a 6-ft 6-in man, who is working in a hot climate.  Yet that is exactly the way that it is unthinkingly applied. 

I had one Weight Watcher instructor in 1991 assert this, which destroyed her credibility for me, as she would not back down from that claim.  She added insult to injury by claiming that neither coffee nor tea counted.  This is what set me off on the literature search.  She was a fool, and I seldom took her seriously after that.

For all of my efforts, I came up blank.  I thus concluded that this "rule" somehow got established and like other myths had become lore, unquestioned by most.  Barbara Mikkelson in the Snopes article may have found the origin of the myth in the National Research Council 1945 recommendation.  Yet even that reference does not provide the scientific basis for what has become the rule.

Fitbit, on the other hand, has no excuse as whomever put the dashboard and the log together does not seem to have researched the subject very well before deciding to offer it as a loggable measure.  Thus by inference they have put the Fitbit seal of approval on this feature.  Shame on them.

At the very least, the Log should credit obvious liquids such as coffee, tea, soft drinks, and the like as part of the loggable water, if one must have this log feature.  All sensible forms of water should be included if one is to log any water at all.  ("Sensible" here is used in the physiological sense, which includes water content of imbibed fluids as well as volume of urine lost; "insensible" water is water vapor exhaled as well as perspiration.) 

The water logged feature should have a disclaimer as to its validity such as (The 64-oz rule has no scientific validity.  Water in any form counts in a daily fluid balance. Use this tracker as a guideline. Log liquid drinks in addition to water, if you wish.)

If these folks are really interested in providing useful information, then a different fluid balance metric is in order.  Namely, "Thirst level."  and "Number of times urinated along with color of urine" (4x daily/lt yellow color is considered normal.)  This is not as socially acceptable, but is far more valid than the 8x8 rule applied without caveat.