Enough water?

[Clubber Lang]

I'm 24 years old 6' 220. How much water should I be consuming daily? For bulking? For cutting? Right now I'm at about 3 liters a day.

 

[Daisy_Girl]

No matter what the goals - you should drink about 1 gallon of water a day. At least. Most people drink more. On a bad day I drink 1 gallon, most days I drink 1.5gal.

1 gallon = approximately 4 liters

 

[the guy on the couch]

yeah... what daisy said

 

[Carl Carlson]

I've read that the only real way to tell if you're getting enough water is having at least 5 clear urinations a day.

 

[truth_]

I've read that the only real way to tell if you're getting enough water is having at least 5 clear urinations a day.

And 2 of those should come after your workout.

Excerpt from Lyle McDonald's Baseline Diet:

Water intake
While it should be a no-brainer, water intake is another place where trainees make basic mistakes (I am guilty of this myself). The effects of dehydration range from minimal (at 2% dehydration, strength and performance decrease) to painful (can anybody say kidney stones) to worse (at 10% dehydration, death can occur).

While there are many generalized water intake equations (such as 8 glasses per day), these may not be correct for everyone. To poach a guideline from a friend of mine, a good rule of thumb is 5 clear urinations per day, and 2 of those should come after your workout. This gives trainees a way of individualizing water intake. Obviously someone who lives in a hot, humid environment (or trains in a non-air conditioned gym) will need more water than someone who lives in moderate temperatures and trains in a posh gym.

Water intake should ideally come from water and water alone. However, other sources such as milk, fruit juice, or fruit and vegetables can count towards total water intake as well. Anything with caffeine in it doesn't count because the caffeine will act as a diuretic. As well, alcohol tends to further dehydrate you so beer after a workout isn't a good way to increase your fluid intake. Oh yeah, thirst is a poor indicator of hydration state. By the time you're thirsty, you're already a bit dehydrated.

 

[Carl Carlson]

And 2 of those should come after your workout.

Excerpt from Lyle McDonald's Baseline Diet:

Yeah, I was going to say I read it in one of Lyle McDonald's articles, but I wasn't sure if anyone here would know/care.

 

[truth_]

Yup. With that said I take in about a gallon at least, and I probably could use just a little more.

I fill up my Nalgene at work and drink out of a cup so I don't have to wash the Nalgene very often. 4 Nalgene's a day is a gallon and that's my minimum

 

[Psykosik]

Take your bodyweight ( lbs ) x 0.66 and that's how much water you should be consuming a day ( ounces ) This does not include shakes. ( protein shakes or post-workout shake )

Scientific article about proper hydration

Effect of Plasma Volume on Myofibril Hydration, Nutrient Delivery, and Athletic Performance