How Much Water Should You Be Drinking? – BowlFit Tip of the Week

For this week’s fitness tip I decided to cover a little bit of nutrition with recommendations for hydration. I recently have been helping an individual on a weight loss program that is chronically dehydrated and was so used to it that she really had no idea. This is actually true for almost 90 percent of the population. The truth is many of the fluids we drink dehydrate us requiring even more H20 to just get back to equilibrium. That said the old recommendation of 64oz/day should be the MINIMUM but is certainly not enough for most. I typically recommend aiming for 90oz/day. Of course body weight and activity level will change that a bit. You can literally google water intake calculators and there are a ton of sites that help you get an accurate calculation. For activity level you’ll want to add about 12 ounces for every 30 minutes of exercise you engage in.

Another issue people have with water intake is they complain that when they drink more water, they have to rush to the bathroom frequently. This is going to be multiplied if you drink coffee or tea as they will act as diuretics and cause you to lose more water. So if you are a coffee drinker, add another 12-16oz to your daily goal for every cup you drink! Going to the bathroom frequently may happen at first because your body isn’t used to the proper fluid intake- it is used to dumping it and being in a state of hydration. Give it a few days and your body should adjust and you’ll find more energy, better sleep, and most likely weight loss from being hydrated.