How much water should you drink? (And how to get there)
How much water should you drink?
While the numbers will be dependent on a lot of variables, generally:
Most adults need 3L (12 cups or 96 ounces) of fluid daily as a baseline. If you are consuming a reasonable amount of fruits and vegetables, you can assume 1L (4 cups or 12 ounces) is coming from your food and assume 2L (8 cups or 64 ounces) from drinking.
Bigger people need more fluid than smaller people as you have more that needs water.
People who are sick and are losing water through diarrhea and / or vomiting will need additional fluid as well as electrolytes for replenishment.
If it’s warmer and / or drier, you might need ½ L (2 cups or 8 ounces) more.
If you’re exercising hard, you might need up to 6L ((24 cups or 192 ounces) per day.
If you want a more specific number, you can estimate your fluid needs by bodyweight. For every kilogram of bodyweight, ingest 30-40mL of water for a normal day to day drinking levels. See requirements below for hydration with activity.
Feel free to use this calculator.
Struggling to get enough water? Here we some tips we came up with in our past hydration challenges:
Take 10 big gulps everytime you grab your cup to drink some water.
Set milestone deadlines throughout the day, finish my first bottle by x time, second by x.
Earn your glass of wine with a glass or water. Before you pull out the corkscrew, fill up and drain that glass of water.
Don't like toting a water bottle around? Keep a separate bottle in the locations you frequent most often. Have a bottle for your house, one for your office, and an one for in transit that you use in the car, at the gym, at the movies, etc.
Invest in a nice water bottle that you'll actually use.
Class it up: Add some jazz to your water with a slice of lemon or lime or a sprig of mint.
Earn your morning coffee with 8-16 ounces of water. Before you can take your first sip of your coffee, you've got to finish that glass of water.
Make it a game: How can you incentivize your progress? For every day you hit your water intake goal, you get a point and when you accumulate 10 points you earn a ____________.
Pour your daily intake into a large container like an old gallon jug and use that to refill your cup.
Try switching it up with Seltzer water or club soda every once in a while, a can of La Croix can quickly
become your mid-afternoon 12-ounce indulgence!
If you love apps, check out apps like Water Reminder or Water tracker. If you aren't into apps, try a 1 hour timer that you keep resetting to remind you to take a few sips of water.
Bottoms-up! Use a dry erase marker on your reusable water bottle and on the bottom (or somewhere you won't rub it off) tally the amount of bottles it will take to meet today's water intake. Every time you drain your bottle, mark off one notch.
Drink 8 ounces 20-30 minutes before each meal.
General hydration requirements for activity:
For moderate intensity activity UNDER 2 hours and / or high intensity under 1 hour
Step 1: Consume ½ liter - 1 (2-4 cups) of water before activity
Step 2: Consume ½ liter - 1 (2-4 cups) of water during activity
Step 4: Consume ¼ - ½ liter (1-2 cups) of water at each meal
For moderate intensity activity OVER 2 hours and / or high intensity over 1 hour
Step 1: Consume ¼ - ½ liter (1-2 cups) of water before activity
Step 2: Consume 30-45 g Carbohydrate + 15 g Protein + Electrolytes in 3 cups of water every hour during activity
Step 3: Consume 30-45 g Carbohydrate + 15 g Protein + Electrolytes in 3 cups of water every hour after activity
Step 4: Consume ¼ - ½ liter (1-2 cups) of water at each meal
