You read a lot about how many litres of water you should be drinking each day, usually 2-3 litres depending on activity levels. Is this in ADDITION to any fluid you get from food, i.e. milk with cereal, water with oats, fruit/veg etc? I.e. should one be drinking these 2 litres PLUS the fluid they get from foods?
I’ve been making an effort to control my water drinking, as I already have a fair deal of fluid from breakfast cereals, porridge etc…
I drink water when I’m thirsty, I’m always thirsty. I down around a gallon and a half of water per day. When it’s hot and i’m doing a ton of cardio I’ll drink 2 gallons.
I guess the question really is why do you need to control your water drinking? If you’re really so concerned about drinking the minimum amount of water possible, that’s the part that I’m wondering about…
no brainer, pick up a gallon filled up and drink it, repeat daily.
AR
[quote]samdan wrote:
I guess the question really is why do you need to control your water drinking? If you’re really so concerned about drinking the minimum amount of water possible, that’s the part that I’m wondering about…[/quote]
I’ve had problems in the past with excessive need for toilet breaks affecting my sleep, i.e. I’d wake up 4-5 times a night with a full bladder.
Okay, that makes a little more sense to me.
You might have a physical condition that’s making you get up so much. 4-5 times in a night points to more than just water intake. My hangover cure is two full glasses of water after I stop drinking (within an hour of sleeping) and between the water and the booze, I’ve never had to get up more than once. Might be OAB, talk to your doctor.
I’d try drinking a lot of water during the day, and then stopping about 3 hours before you go to sleep. If you drink a lot of water, you won’t retain too much of it because you’ll get rid of it about an hour or so later. This idea assumes that you don’t have a medical problem, like OAB.
Last year I read some fairly mainstream articles indicating that folks get a lot of water from food (even bread has a lot of water in it, for instance). And that the old “8 glasses a day” recommendation wasn’t really based on anything. The general argument was to just drink when thirsty and don’t worry about it.
However, especially if you’re training hard, my personal hunch is I’d rather be over-hydrated rather than under.
And I’m always damn thirsty anyway.
Just drink enough to make sure you stay hydrated and make sure it does not hinder performance in the gym. Samdam’s suggestion is a good one, drink most of your water throughout the day, but cut down near night time as you don’t want interrupted sleep.
[quote]EasyRhino wrote:
Last year I read some fairly mainstream articles indicating that folks get a lot of water from food (even bread has a lot of water in it, for instance). And that the old “8 glasses a day” recommendation wasn’t really based on anything. The general argument was to just drink when thirsty and don’t worry about it.
However, especially if you’re training hard, my personal hunch is I’d rather be over-hydrated rather than under.
And I’m always damn thirsty anyway.[/quote]
By the time you’re thirsty, you’re already (at least a little) dehydrated.
If you piss too much you may not be absoprbing your water so add some celtic sea salt to it. Go on the colour of it aswell. Too yellow and you don’t have enough electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium etc). Too clear and too frequent, your drinking too much or not absorbing. Water consumption also depends on what type of diet your on and what your trying to achieve…
But the bottom line is this for weight training :
The more dehydrated you are the less power/strength you have…