Eight Cups? A Gallon? How Much Water is Enough?

You probably hear all the time that drinking water is important for both health and performance in the gym. Our bodies are  made up of around 60% water (on average), and yet still we underestimate it. Our body craves it, but not everyone is so in tune with the signaling.

Water: Why is it important?

Cell composition, cell signaling, digestion, hormonal function, homeostatic regulation, nutrient delivery, waste removal, joint lubrication, (the list goes on) all require water. 

When improperly hydrated you probably feel tired or foggy-brained. You might have dry mouth and/or dry skin, you may experience headaches and muscle cramps. You will definitely have decreased performance in your sport, gym, or job activity. 

Feelings of thirst and hunger are often confused. Why would our bodies do that? If you are depriving the boy of the water it needs, it will figure out how to get it in a different way. Food also contains water, and your body couldn't care less about that new diet you are trying to stick to. 

How Much Should We Drink?

I am constantly hearing numbers being tossed around and everyone prescribing set amounts to people regardless of their size and activity level. "You need 8 cups!" "You need a gallon!" Well a gallon is 16 cups, so these numbers are VERY different. I caution as always, BEWARE of a one size fits all to anything, diet, exercise, even those leggings that everyone is mad about. Not one program or one cookie cutter diet plan can work for everyone, and those leggings, yes they stretch, but even those have their limit! 

Water is no exception to this. Do you think a 225 lb man who does construction in the Florida heat, and is in the gym 5 days a week has the same needs as a 160 lb man who works in an air-conditioned office and does Pilates on the weekend? Probably not. Things that need to be considered include body weight, age, activity level, the amount in which you sweat, and even the climate in which you live. 

I still haven't answered the question, "How Much?" A baseline recommendation is 35 mL /kg body weight in adults. In America we go by ounces and pounds, so this is a little over an ounce per kg or about 1/2 an ounce per pound of body weight. So for someone who weighs 128 lbs, 64 ounces (8 cups) will be adequate as a baseline daily intake. Someone who weighs 200 lbs need about 100 ounces or 12.5 cups approximately. But remember, this is the starting point, what you want to hit if you are someone who has a relatively low active lifestyle. If you exercise, or have a labor intensive job the requirement only goes up from here. 

Exercise and Water Needs

The goal for the athlete or more active individual is to stay in a state of euhydration. This means not only drinking enough water the day of the increased physical activity, but the days leading up to it. The guidelines for us are intended to be sure that we are hydrated before our workouts, and then to replenish all fluid lost during exercise.

Before working out it is recommended that you drink 5-7 ml/kg body weight prior to exercise. So for someone who is 128 lbs this equates to between 10-14 ounces. For the 200 lb athlete, this is approximately 16-22 ounces.

During the workout you should consume water liberally. The body can only process a certain amount of water in a given time, so it is not entirely possible to stay completely hydrated during your event or training period, but the goal is to stay out of the state of dehydration. The amount during your training will vary dependent on your sweat rate, the climate that you exercise in, and even the clothing that you are wearing. The starting point for this is between 14-27 ounces of fluid per hour.

After your training the goal is to replenish all the fluids lost during exercise, which again is going to depend on a number of factors such as sweat rate and exercise duration. This is an amount more difficult to decide on because the determining factor here is how much weight in water was lost, and let's face it, most of us do not weigh ourselves both pre and post workout. If you are a long distance runner or cyclist or your workouts last longer than two hours, I would recommend you consider doing this because it is a more accurate way to make sure you are meeting your needs. For every pound that is lost during exercise, it takes about 23 ounces of water to replenish, (conversion to ounces and pounds from liters and kg makes this number strange, I know, but I'm trying to make it easier on you). 

A much more practical way of tracking hydration status is by looking at your urine. If you are an athlete you should make habit of looking to see what color you pee. Your urine should consistently be pale yellow to almost clear if you are properly hydrated. Darker urine, USUALLY indicates that you are dehydrated. I say usually, because if you are like me and take a multivitamin, it may contain higher levels of B2 (riboflavin) than your body needs and will just excrete it, turning your urine almost fluorescent an hour or two after taking it. Some foods such as beets may also contribute to a darker color, but it usually takes a larger portion than most people would normally consume. I

If you use choose this method to re-hydrate, take notice of your urine right after you workout, and then aim to return your urine to pale yellow in the hours post exercise. Again, you want to make sure you return to a state of euhydration, especially if you plan on training again the next day. 

**If you are not someone who has an easy time drinking adequate fluid throughout the day, don't worry, I will be writing a separate blog on tips/tricks on how to stay hydrate**

Replenishing Electrolytes 

This is a large and very important topic on its own, which I plan on discussing in later blogs, but I do need to mention it here. In general, most people consume enough electrolytes (sodium especially) in their diet to support their training. However, if you are an athlete who trains for two or more hours or are a salty sweater (you will know because you will see white residue on your skin or clothing) then plain water is not enough and it is HIGHLY suggested that you also consume a drink containing electrolytes. Again, I will cover this topic at a later date.

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to ask, and remember to drink up!!

Mahan, L. Kathleen, Sylvia Escott-Stump, and Janice L. Raymond. Krause's food & the nutrition care process. Elsevier Health Sciences, 2012.

Dunford, Marie, and J. Doyle. Nutrition for sport and exercise. Cengage Learning, 2011.

Does Your Nutrition Match Your Training?

I come across this all the time on social media or from people I run into in various public places. Questions like:

"I'm trying to lose weight, and I go to the gym, but nothing is working"

or

"I'm training really hard six days a week, and not seeing results, how should I alter my training so that I can make more gains? What supplements do you think I should take"

And then I ask them what their nutrition is like, and they look at me like I have ten heads. I feel like they want to say "what does this matter?" or even maybe "none of your business".

The thing is that people really don't understand how important nutrition is to their fitness goals. We hear all the time that losing weight or getting fit is "20% working out and 80% diet". While these are arbitrary numbers, and not actually proven as the exact ratio, it is just to say that nutrition is a much larger  part of the puzzle, and it is so true!

Believe me, I had to learn all of this the hard way, which is way I decided to talk about this topic, so you don't make the same mistake.

If you know much of anything about me, I have always loved being in the gym. As a teenager I took weight training in high school and would go with my older brother, Steven, to the local Planet Fitness a few times per week. I picked up at least some of the basics here, but by no means was this type of working out anymore than just something fun to do.

For most of my life I have either been skinny or "skinny fat".  As I've progressed in my training, from having fun in the gym - to cardio bunny - to dabbling in weights -  to training,  my diet also progressed somewhat along with it, but it was no where near optimal. From eating mostly crap food as a teenager -  (we really need more nutrition education in public schools) to eating like a bunny - to "eating more healthy" - to eating healthy and then binge drinking and eating crap on the weekends, it didn't matter what I was doing in the gym, my body pretty much stayed the same, just with fluctuations in my weight.

Now when people ask me how long I've been training for, I don't tell them that I started as a teenager at planet fitness because this was not training, I also don't tell them the first time I actually started working with a personal trainer but was still eating crap food. I consider that I started training seriously when I started taking my diet seriously and not only training, but EATING like an athlete.(although my idea of what serious actually means is continuously morphing into a  higher standard as I continue to grow as it should). When my nutrition finally came into alignment with my weight lifting, that's when I actually started seeing results.

The body is an amazing machine, but you can't expect miracles from it. What you put into your body is going to dictate what you get out of it. Match your nutrition with your training and fitness goals. You need to fuel your body to perform optimally.

Step back and reflect on your own fitness goals and where you are right now with nutrition and training. Are you in the gym training your butt off, spending time researching programs to bigger biceps or killer abs, and not seeing results? Are you trying to put on muscle? Are you trying to get lean? What are you putting in your body to make this your reality? If you want to put on muscle, are you getting enough protein? Enough calories? Do you even know how much protein you need to get in? If you are trying to lose weight, and aren't, do you know how many calories you actually need each day and whether or not you are exceeding these? Are you aware of how many empty calories you are consuming or their sources?

It is absolutely a waste of your time to get your training to a level 8 or 9 in whatever sport you're in or goal you have if your nutrition is still hanging out in the 1's and 2's. Learn the basics, then find out what you need to change your nutrition to bring it up to the same level as your athleticism.

If you are overwhelmed by the idea of this, start by learning the basics of nutrition and what foods do for your body. Everything will start to make sense, and as you learn more you can continuously adapt. If you are brand new to the gym or fitness, even better. Start small with both your fitness and nutrition and build them both simultaneously. Be consistent, and you will see results.

Don't let all of your hard work in the gym or on the field to go to waste because of bad nutrition. Get what you work so hard for.