How much water should you drink? (and why you should drink more)

A common issue we all face is not knowing how much water we should drink. So here is a quick tip to find out just how much your body needs for maximum hydration and healthy weight maintenance. Plus we’ve included some information on WHY you should be drinking more water.

How Much Water Should You Drink

I like quick deliveries when it comes to wanting to know stuff, so we’ll get right into how much water you should drink first. Then we’ll dive into why you should drink more water.

First things first, grab your handy-dandy notebook and jot down your current weight (don’t assume you know this, go weigh yourself real quick). Now divide your weight by 2 and the number you get is how much water you should be drinking in ounces.

Example:
Weight: 260 lbs
Hmmm how much water should I drink???? 260/2 = 130
So a person weight 260 lbs would need to drink at least 130 ounces of water per day.

Don’t freak out, i’m sure you are by now. I mean 130 ounces is like 16 (8 oz) glasses of water per day right??? Yea, it is… but who really drinks out of small glasses anyhow? I know we don’t. Personally I love drinking out of this giant mug we have because it’s accounts for 3 glasses of water each time I fill it up.

TIP 1: Serve yourself in a bigger cup!

TIP 2: Drink a gallon of water a day. One gallon of water is 127 ounces. If you need more, just add in another cup or how ever many more you need to make up that deficit. If you need to drink less, I suggest working your way up to a gallon of water a day. More on why drinking a gallon of water a day is beneficial coming soon!

Now this amount you’ve calculated is if your just-hanging-around-most-of-the-day-and-doing-mild-exercise amount. Yup, that’s right!

Your body will crave more if you are working out a lot, or even if you are a breastfeeding mother. This number is basically your base point, so make sure you don’t drink anything less than what you calculate here. And let your body drink more if it’s wanting more. Add a lemon to it if you would like some flavor!

Why drink more water?

►Water helps maintain the human body balance of fluids. The human body is made up of about 60% of water. The following bodily operations require a proper amount of water in your body to function well:

• Digestion
• Absorption
• Creating Saliva
• Transporting of nutrients
• Maintaining proper body temperature

►Water helps prevent bloating and helps flush out toxins from your system.

►Drinking more water can help keep hunger or excessive eating under control. By simply swapping your soda, coffee, or sugary drink with water – you’re automatically eliminating those calories. Often times, when we think we are hungry we are really just dehydrated.

►Water helps keeps muscles healthy. When cells don’t maintain a healthy balance of fluids and electrolytes, they shrivel. In return this results in muscle fatigue leaving your muscles unable to perform well. This often leads to injury.

►Drinking more water helps keep your skin healthy and looking healthy too. Dehydration makes your skin look older, wrinkly, and dry.

►Drinking more water helps your kidneys. Kidneys filter waste and excess water out of our blood, which is released in urine. When kidneys don’t function well, waste products can build up in our blood. Kidneys help keep the balance of our blood stable, which in turn lets our body function properly. They also:

• Make hormones that help bones stay strong, that make red blood cells, and that regulate blood pressure.
• Keep electrolyte levels stable (think sodium and potassium)
• Prevent buildup of waste and excess fluid in our body.

►Drinking more water helps prevent kidney stones.

A warning: Never try to chug all your water intake in one sitting, or in a short period of time. You should begin chipping away at your water intake first thing in the morning and work your way throughout the day. And you should work towards your goal over a few days time, not all in one day. Your blood requires a certain amount of salt — max 2300 mg sodium. When you drink too much water, you flush or dilute your blood and your kidneys won’t be able to filter water fast enough to maintain a proper sodium balance. This means, other parts of your body will begin to absorb this water which can be dangerous. Healthy kidneys can filter about 26.87 – 33.27 oz every hour, which is four 8oz glasses of water in an hour. So you could drink about four cups of 8oz glasses of water in an hour, without causing a problem to your kidneys.

As you keep disciplining yourself to drink more water, you will eventually work your way up to your recommended amount.