How Much Water Should I Be Drinking?

Fun fact: our muscles are 75% water, and our brain is 80%. So, it’s no surprise that staying hydrated offers your body more benefits than simply quenching your thirst.

‘Standard’ water consumption recommendations say that ‘8 glasses of water a day’ is enough for everyone to keep their body properly hydrated. Yet, if you consider what we put our bodies through on a regular basis (ie: eating habits + food choices, stress + other day to day life factors), and how different each of our bodies and genetic codes are, there really isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ solution to proper water intake to support our bodies.

Add in some intense workouts with your trainers (cough, cough) that ups your sweat-game, and you’ve added on another element to consider that affects how much water you need to drink to stay hydrated.

THE H2O MATH

Determining how much water you need to support your body is simple. 

Get your calculator out: this easy formula from www.charlespoliquin.com will help you determine how much you need to drink to get back to hydration:

OUR BODIES NEED:

0.6-0.7 ounces of water per pound of body-weight

OR

39 ml of water per kg of body-weight

...DAILY.

Here’s a quick example:

Let’s take a 200 lb / 91 kg individual.

To figure out how many ounces they would need to drink, multiply the weight by 0.6-0.7.

This equals 120 to 140 ounces.

To determine how many litres they would need to drink, multiply the weight by .039.

This equals 3.55 litres.

AND REMEMBER:

Our bodies are made up of WATER. So, we need to consume WATER to hydrate. Not energy or electrolyte drinks, sodas, coffee, tea, diet drinks, fruit and vegetable juice or alcohol.

Do the math: how many ounces, or litres, of water does your body need to reach hydration? 

Then, get a reusable water bottle and keep it on you at all times. Keeping it with you reminds you to keep drinking and to prioritize consuming more water over other drinks that won’t benefit your entire body in the long run.