Thirsty?

People always ask me how I drink so much water, and well, I have no real reason, I think maybe I am part camel! I love water, and with the exception of some juice or milk here and there it is all I drink! But the amount of water someone should drink each day is always something I get asked about and a big topic of conversation. And what drinks count as water? Or is it just straight water? It is a simple question with a whole lot of answers.  It used to be a simple 8 cups of water, meaning 8 servings of 8oz per day, but they have recently decided that it really depends on a lot of different things such as weight, activity level, and where you live. With that being said, remember when reading this that there is no formula that fits everyone, and you need to listen to your body, if you feel thirty, chances are you are! Your body is made up primary of water, it needs water to function. It flushes out the toxins and chemicals in your body keeping your organs free and clear, helps keep your ears, nose and throat from dying out, and it is what helps carry nutrients to your cells. Lack of water can be fatal in the form of dehydration, and even mild dehydration can cause you to feel tired, and sick.

There are different ways to look at how you keep yourself hydrated and how to find out how much water you need to be drinking each day. The Institute of Medicine recommends men drink around 3 liters and women and around 2.2 liters of water a day as a general fall back but here are the most common ways of finding out how much to drink.

The “8x8” rule, the original Eight 8 ounce glasses of waster a day, which is a little under 2 liters of water a day. Now all fluids can count towards your daily total, there have been studies that show as long as it does not contain artificial sugars, which dehydrate you, you can count it. I count water and powerade zero as water intake only because powerade zero contains no sugar, carbohydrates, calories, caffeine or carbonation.  And of coarse I still count it if I use MIO or Crystal Light in my water.

The replacement approach. They say an average adult urinates 1.5 liters a day, and you lose an additional liter (a liter is 4 cups by the way) through breathing, sweating, and more. So assuming you lose 25 liters of fluid a day, and 20% of your total fluid income comes from food (about 2 liters) you typically replace all lost fluids, so no need to drink much extra unless you workout or do something to cause you to lose more fluid than normal. I do not preferably agree with this method, but it should at least make you feel better if you can not drink all the water you would like.

The weight rule. The weight rule is simple, You should drink around half of your body weight in ounces a day, so if you weigh 200 pounds, you should be drinking 100 ounces of water a day, about 3 liters.

Now TMI, but even apart from the idea above, if you rarely feel thirty and produce a colorless or slightly yellow urine each day then you are keeping yourself hydrated.

Side Notes:  1 liter = about 33 ounces = about 4 cups
http://www.unitconversion.org/ 

The daily water intake calculator makes use of scientific calculations and algorithms to accurately arrive at the recommended daily water intake keeping in mind your activity level and body weight.
http://www.calculatorslive.com/Daily-Water-Intake-Calculator.aspx