I've seen a couple questions floating throughout different strings about proper hydration, and related topics. Proper hydration is essential not only to good health, but to efficient fat loss. And it's the only fluid that actually quenches your thirst.

While eight 8oz glasses a day seems to be the general consensus for how much to drink (I drink tons more because it's just so darn good), there's actually a signaling system from nature that lets you know if you're drinking enough or not. If you are, your urine will be "clear and copious." If not, you need more water. This is an even more important rule during exercise. Most people don't hydrate well enough before, during, and after exercise.

While hydration and its effects are huge topics, one other thing I wanted to comment on is something I discovered as a kid about drinking. If you're slightly thirsty and also have a drink you want to enjoy (juice, soda, tea, etc) drink a tall glass of water first. That will satiate your thirst and keep you from needlessly guzzling something else.

Here's some good links on hydration, or just google "hydration" or "proper hydration":
http://www.universalwater.net/Proper_Hydration.htm
http://www.bottledwater.org/public/InfoForRepTenTips.htm
http://www.femalemuscle.com/wilkins/hydration.html

Good post, a lot of people underestimate the importance of proper hydration. I've always paid attention to it because dehydration causes a signifigant drop in your metabolism. Everywhere I go I carry a bottle of water around and I'm always sipping at it.

I've always judged my hydration by "if your piss is clear, have no fear".

I think people should also be aware of overhydration. It hard to achieve by drinking too much water but its a lot more dangerous than dehydration. Heres a link.

http://www.ehendrick.org/healthy/001006.htm

Marcus :tucool:

While I do agree that overhydration is more dangerous than dehydration, its rarity in every day life makes it of no significant concern.

Overhydration occurs when the salt content of the blood is diluted and this interferes with brain, muscle, and heart functions. This is only found in specific extreme competitions, eg a marathon or triathalon (or in infants or patients with kidney problems).

The very specific conditions for overhydration are long/hard/sweaty exertion, lack of food/electrolyte sources, and over consumption of water. An athlete must be entirely inattentive to or uninformed of their health, or act purposefully to achieve this. The solution: simply eat something or drink a sports drink.

Overhydration has gotten some attention lately. An induced state of euphoria that it sometimes brings have caused some people to trip on it (unlike drugs, water's free), and binging on water as part of hazing/induction rituals has become common in some frats (unlike beer, water's free, and there's no such thing as underage water drinking). But people have ODed doing this. Mind you, this is after drinking HUGE amounts of water. Even if you're drinking several gallons of water a day, if you're also eating, you aren't under any risk of overhydration.

More good related links:
http://www.fruit-eze.com/education/laxative/overhydration.html
http://www.fruit-eze.com/education/laxative/importance_of_fluids.html
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/hydration/a/aa051200.htm
http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2003/05_2003/050120031c.htm

While I do agree that overhydration is more dangerous than dehydration, its rarity in every day life makes it of no significant concern.

Overhydration occurs when the salt content of the blood is diluted and this interferes with brain, muscle, and heart functions. This is only found in specific extreme competitions, eg a marathon or triathalon (or in infants or patients with kidney problems).

The very specific conditions for overhydration are long/hard/sweaty exertion, lack of food/electrolyte sources, and over consumption of water. An athlete must be entirely inattentive to or uninformed of their health, or act purposefully to achieve this. The solution: simply eat something or drink a sports drink.

Overhydration has gotten some attention lately. An induced state of euphoria that it sometimes brings have caused some people to trip on it (unlike drugs, water's free), and binging on water as part of hazing/induction rituals has become common in some frats (unlike beer, water's free, and there's no such thing as underage water drinking). But people have ODed doing this. Mind you, this is after drinking HUGE amounts of water. Even if you're drinking several gallons of water a day, if you're also eating, you aren't under any risk of overhydration.

More good related links:
http://www.fruit-eze.com/education/laxative/overhydration.html
http://www.fruit-eze.com/education/laxative/importance_of_fluids.html
http://sportsmedicine.about.com/cs/hydration/a/aa051200.htm
http://www.pressrepublican.com/Archive/2003/05_2003/050120031c.htm

Sorry I hope you didnt misinterpret what I was saying. I didnt want to imply that people should worry about overhydration and that its of major signifigance, I just think they should be aware of the possibility eventhough it rarely happens unless you have a bodily condition which prevents you from getting water out of your system.

Marcus :tucool:

What about salt intake?

Normal exercise patterns don't induce sweating, but if you're exercising regularly, surely you need to replace some of the salt lost, as well as the water?

I have Japanese 'Pocari Sweat' which is a sports drink with electrolytes, which I drink sometimes as well as water, especially at times such as Japanese summer when it gets very hot and I lose a lot of sweat through exercise or from being in the sea.

I was just wanting to be informative, sorry if it came across as otherwise. It is something everyone should be aware of, because it can happen under well intentioned, but misguided efforts.

Yeah it's a tough one, i tend to say "drink tons of water" becuase 99% of people would and could never get close enough to too much. But given how a lot of people approach cardio by not heating for 3 hours before and not eating after, throw in an hour or more of sweating and a high water consumption and it could be an issue.

Half my problem is i don't do ounces lol, i can handle lbs and feet, but i never did get the hang of ounces, so i just say drink lots :)

Yea... It's about time in the UK they abolished imperial measurements altogether. Anyone up to around 31 or 32 years old went through school studying and using nothing but metric. Why are we still using miles/gallon, acres, stone, pounds etc ? Frankly I find it annoying, metric is so much easier to work with since everything rounds up into 10s and 100s.

I actually use feet and inches for height, i only know my height in cm becuase i used to high jump. I'm happy with km or miles, it's just ounces i never did really get. oh and i hate the way i have to work out weight in kg, then stones and lb, then just lb for the americans lol, i have a 3 way weight converting spread sheet.

So anyone want to do the whole gallons/fluid ounces/ml/litres/pints for me?

pint is 564ml
1000ml is 1 litre
gallon is?
fluid ounce is?

weight is easier, 14lb in a stone
2.2lb is a kilo

actually i think i'll do this in a new thread

So anyone want to do the whole gallons/fluid ounces/ml/litres/pints for me?

pint is 564ml
1000ml is 1 litre
gallon is?
fluid ounce is?

weight is easier, 14lb in a stone
2.2lb is a kilo

actually i think i'll do this in a new thread I don't want to, but google ('http://www.google.com') will!

1 pint in ml ('http://www.google.com/search?q=1+pint+in+ml&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8')
1 gallon in fluid ounces ('http://www.google.com/search?q=1+gallon+in+fluid+ounces&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8')
1 gallon in ml ('http://www.google.com/search?q=1+gallon+in+ml&sourceid=mozilla-search&start=0&start=0&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8')
etc....

You should see the trend :)

I really HATE water unless I'm physically working hard and sweating a lot, but I force myself to drink 1.5 gallons per day because I have to. I drink a lot of diet mt. dew, but not as much now due to having to consume water......I still drink a lot of diet dew though. Water just has no taste, thus I don't like it. I never much liked anything at all with no taste. If it's sweet or salty, I normally LOVE it, but this is unhealthy and the reason I'm overweight at this moment. Two months ago when I started back lifting I overtrained. I was having some excruciating headaches at the top of my neck/bottom of the back of my head. I was hardly drinking any water then. I read somewhere that dehydration can cause bad headaches, so I took a couple weeks off at the gym, began a strict diet and started drinking 1.5 gallons of water and so far so good. Maybe someday I'll actually acquire a taste for it. It is getting easier day by day to drink it though.

Try adding some lemon to your water- it gives it a much fresher, better taste

I really HATE water unless I'm physically working hard and sweating a lot, but I force myself to drink 1.5 gallons per day because I have to

I LOVE water. Nothing else quenches your thirst like water does.
Another tip for making it taste better is a cucumber slice. It makes it taste like a refreshing summer afternoon, light and cool.

Good post, a lot of people underestimate the importance of proper hydration. I've always paid attention to it because dehydration causes a signifigant drop in your metabolism. Everywhere I go I carry a bottle of water around and I'm always sipping at it.

I've always judged my hydration by "if your piss is clear, have no fear".

I think people should also be aware of overhydration. It hard to achieve by drinking too much water but its a lot more dangerous than dehydration. Heres a link.

http://www.ehendrick.org/healthy/001006.htm

Marcus :tucool:



"if your piss is clear, have no fear". - I love that! Makes me wonder how women check though........... :confused:

I don't like water much either, but I'm trying.

I found that mineral water is a nice switch, though some people are trying to tell me that it can cause kidney stones, which I can't find any information about.

I think I'd have a bit of a problem drinking something called 'Pocari Sweat' :eek:



...grabs a chunk of cucumber to toss into her water glass...

Mmmm, surprisingly refreshing! Should I try the red pepper next time?