I never drank enough water until very recently...now I'm at 1-1.5 gallons of water a day. Trouble is I'm able to walk to the urinal with my eyes closed now. I'm not going to stop the water intake beacuse of all the huge benefits...but how long does it usually take for the body to acclimate to the increased water? Does it stop once all that excess water reserves are flushed or what?

It took about 1-2 weeks for my bladder to stop freaking out :)

I have got a question about water here.

I drink at least 4 litres of water everyday, is that too much and is that ok? Ever since I start drinking that much water,on some days when i clear my bowel its very watery. Is it cause by drinking so much water?

And if you are retaining water, wher is it stored? the stomach or evenly distributed around the body? Cause i wanna know if i am retaining water some times

I have heard that proper hydration is achieved by drinking 66% of your bodyweight in ounces daily. For me, that comes out to about 8 "full glasses" of water each, which sits well with me.

I used to drink too much, and yeah, it's distracting, especially if the bathroom is down a hallway and you're trying to get code written. Definitely strike an equilibrium you can live with.

In my experience, water goes right through me if I am lacking nutrients, and am using it purely to stave off hunger pangs at night. I usually need to add some calories in order to keep it in my stomach for awhile.

I used to drink too much, and yeah, it's distracting, especially if the bathroom is down a hallway and you're trying to get code written. I use that time to think about my changes before hitting `cvs commit` ;)

Hey everyone, I'm new here, but I just read about water guidelines for males/females in Shape while I was working out the other day. They said that the Institute of Medicine (IOM) established new water intake recommendations recently through over 2 years of studies. This article was about hyponatremia (too much water, too little sodium), which can cause confusion, seizures, coma, even death. But anyway, the new guidlines they listed were:

Women : 2.7 liters or 91 ounces in a day
Men : 3.7 liters in a day, which equals about 1 gallon

I hope this helps! :)
*Angie

I drink about 1.5L-2L a day and I'm pretty sure I'm NOT dehydrated, I do eat a good amount of fruits and veggies. I always pee clear, and its a perfect balance between sprinting to the porta-john every 20 mins and not going all day!

Drinking about 1.5 galons of water a day is OK. Even 2 galons is not as bad. But over 2 galons will bring your sodim and calcium levels down and your joints will become weeker and you may actually get waisted. I personally drink about 1.5 galons a day.
The good rule is that when you go to the restroom before your next meal, your urine supposed to be cristal clean. it means that you are flushed out all bad stuff that ptherwise would be retained by your body.
In terms what where your body retains the water: it really depends on what you eat. If you eat food that is high in sodium during the day, then you will retain more water then usual (that explains why people gain 5 lbs overnight - it is just plain water weight). As everybody is different, we will retain water differently.

I don't know if I agree with the crystal clear = "flushed" statment... it seems to me - just using common sense - that if you have 5 units of "dirt" and 10 units of water, then you'll see the dirt a lot more, but if you have the same amount of "dirt" and 100 units of water, then you see a lot more water then dirt... make sense?

I don't know if I agree with the crystal clear = "flushed" statment... it seems to me - just using common sense - that if you have 5 units of "dirt" and 10 units of water, then you'll see the dirt a lot more, but if you have the same amount of "dirt" and 100 units of water, then you see a lot more water then dirt... make sense?
Theoretically yes. But practically no. Make an experiment you you will see. Between breakfast and snack I will drink about half a liter of water. Between snack and lunch a liter of water. Between a lunch and another snack i drink 2 liters of water at least. And no matter how dirty my lunch is (I mean how much different food I eat), my urine is always cristal celan 3 hours after, just in time for my afternon snack. I did a fare amount of reasearch and experimented myself. But you could be just that unique, different person.

... I don't think I was clear (haha get it)
I have NO doubt that it "flushes" your system, I'm just saying - looking at your pee isn't a great indicator b/c the PERCENTAGE of water in your pee is so high that any other bits (which there has to be, our your kidneys are not doing too well) are too small a percentage to discolor your pee. ya know what I mean?
in any event, I think anyone who is drinking more then a liter of water per day will have clear pee.

Just wanted to let you know that there is no sound scientific evidence for the 8 glasses of water a day rule. There are few or no benefits to drinking yourself sick; in fact, every now and then someone dies in a marathon from drinking TOO much water and not replacing the salt they lose through sweat.

A Dartmouth professor discusses the "8x8" rule some more here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/dms-al080802.php

Good article... like I said I drink 1.5L-2L a day - which is right around 8x8, but I only drink when I'm thristy, so I think I'm right on track for either recomendation ;)

Just wanted to let you know that there is no sound scientific evidence for the 8 glasses of water a day rule. There are few or no benefits to drinking yourself sick; in fact, every now and then someone dies in a marathon from drinking TOO much water and not replacing the salt they lose through sweat.

A Dartmouth professor discusses the "8x8" rule some more here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/dms-al080802.php

That's a point I wanted to make, but kind of lost my track.

Good article... like I said I drink 1.5L-2L a day - which is right around 8x8, but I only drink when I'm thristy, so I think I'm right on track for either recomendation ;)

And that is a great indicator wether you should drink or not. Don't just drink a bottle of water every 15 minutes. Drink wisely, like eat wisely, like work out wisely. If you take anything to the extreme you'll most likely injure yourself.

Does anybody take into consideration that food contains a lot of water? Just wondered...



This is what I know about water in the body:

A cell is basically a body of water containing minerals (and a bunch of stuff in there, but I won't go into that), surrounded by a membrane. This membrane will allow water and certain mollecules to pass through it by osmosis. What this means, is that if the concentration of water is higher on one side of the membrane, the membrane will allow water to pass through, to even it out. The same will happen to other mollecules, such as sodium, but not to the same extent as with water.

The cells of the body are all connected to the blood stream through extremely small blood vessels. It's through these vessels that the cells get the nutrition that you eat, from osmosis. When the reactions within the cell cause mollecules to change form, the concentration of these mollecules (and the new ones) will be altered, hence causing the used ones to pass out through the membrane, and new ones to enter the cell. Eventually the mollecules will be transported to your bladder, and you will pass them out of your body along with your urine.

When eating a lot of sodium, the level of sodium in your blood stream will rise, and your cells, ALL cells, will start to take in the sodium to even out the concentration within and outside of the cell. At the same time, water will be forced out of the cell, since there is "less" water on the outside than on the inside. This would cause the concentration of good minerals (well, sodium is not all bad, but at high doses, it is) to be low on the outside, hence making the cell expell them. When you drink water while being high on sodium, this will cause the blood to be low on sodium again, and the cells will take up a lot of water to make up for the changes, as well as pushing the sodium and other minerals out, since it has got high levels comparing to the blood. As I know it, the blood is capable of producing a comparatively bigger difference in low sodium halts than high sodium halts, making the entering of water into the cell bigger than the previous exiting. Given that this occurs in every cell of the body, probably, it's quite easy to understand that the body can add a few pounds by this process.

This process will also occur when drinking too much water. The blood will have a low concentration of minerals, drawing them out of the cells and pushing water in. Yes, this will mean that you're flushed of much of the bad stuff, as well as much of the good stuff. So sure, if you want to get rid of all the minerals that you consume through supplements since they are so hard to get from ordinary food, go ahead and drink gallons of water each day. Mind the sarcasm there, I know many of you out there probably don't even use supplements, but consider this when you drink your daily water...

The only thing clear pee proves, is that there's a low concentration of minerals and bacteria in the urine. It does not mean that you're drinking the right amount of water, or having a healthier lifestyle than if you're urine would be dark yellow.

Now I'm no scientist, so there might be a few missconceptions in my interpretation of the facts I've read about over the years, feel free to argue about it, but I doubt that anyone could argue the general occurance of osmosis. This is why I strongly believe that you do not have to - and shouldn't - drink huge amounts of water. In my eyes a gallon a day is too much unless you live in a warm climate or work physically over long periods of time.



Personally, I drink about two litres a day or something like that, and I feel that's good enough. It keeps my body going strong, and I doubt more water would change it to the better.

I've been drinking around 1.5 gallons of water each day for close to 3 months now, and my need to take a leak has only decreased slightly (something like 12-13 times a day). The problem is, I feel thirsty if I don't drink 1.5 gallons a day.

Maybe I should start HA (Hydroholics Anonymous) ;)

I drink 1-1.5 gallons of H2O each day myself. I even have to force myself to drink it because I don't favor water too much unless I'm doing some intense work and sweating a lot. I also slam down several diet Mt. Dews and caffeine free diet sprites each day also. I drink sometimes even when I'm not thirsty just out of habit I suppose.

Knubb your post is quite scary. This put me in a delimma whether i should drink a lot of water.

Last visit to my doctor to have my stomach checked out. I asked him about water intake. He told me that I should not go by the 8 oz 8 times a day. Rather I should take my bodyweight/2=oz of water a day. (ex. 250lbs would be 125 ounces of water a day)

My little joke when I first started drinking water was that it was not the water making you lose weight but getting up every 5 minutes and walking accross the floor to go pee. :p

How is every one else water intake broken down.

Mine is I try to drink 75oz while at work. I drink another 32 oz at the gym, then another 32 oz at night after workingout. Which gives me a total of 139 ounces of water.

How is every one else water intake broken down.

Mine is I try to drink 75oz while at work. I drink another 32 oz at the gym, then another 32 oz at night after workingout. Which gives me a total of 139 ounces of water.


Don't forget the water you take in from food. Fruits and vegetables are more than 95% water, for example.

Knubb your post is quite scary. This put me in a delimma whether i should drink a lot of water.
It is scary, if you drink too much water. I wouldn't say that a gallon a day (which is about what you get right?) is harmful, but if it was up to me I would definitly NOT drink more.

Trinity is on the same line as I am, food contains water too. I'm not saying you should eat them, but did you know that jellyfishes contain more water (98%) than the water it lives in (97%)?

About thirst. The body is a master of adapting, as we all know. If you drink two gallons of water each day, this is what the body gets used to. When it doesn't get that water, it screams for it by telling you that you're thirsty. I have been drinking a lot of water during some periods of my life, and what I've noticed is that the thirst doesn't get any worse over time. It's just a feeling that you need water, but it doesn't go further than that.

whats wrong with more than a gallon of water? :confused:

drinking 1-2 galons a water spread out throughout the day is not harmful..

drinking 10-20.. thats harmful

Just wanted to let you know that there is no sound scientific evidence for the 8 glasses of water a day rule. There are few or no benefits to drinking yourself sick; in fact, every now and then someone dies in a marathon from drinking TOO much water and not replacing the salt they lose through sweat.

A Dartmouth professor discusses the "8x8" rule some more here: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2002-08/dms-al080802.php

From the article you posted, the doctor has this to say about his conclusion that we don't need to drink 8 cups of water a day...

"Valtin emphasizes that his conclusion is limited to healthy adults in a temperate climate leading a largely sedentary existence -- "

Alright, sedentary lifestyle, sounds great.... and he continues...

"At the same time, he stresses that large intakes of fluid, equal to and greater than 8 x 8, are advisable for the treatment or prevention of some diseases, such as kidney stones, as well as under special circumstances, such as strenuous physical activity"

Ok, check, we'll avoid the strenusous physical activity, we don't want to have to drink too much water, because we all know the horrible consequences of drinking too much water....

"And he lists other disadvantages of a high water intake: (a) possible exposure to pollutants, especially if sustained over many years; (b) frequent urination, which can be both inconvenient and embarrassing; (c) expense, for those who satisfy the 8 x 8 requirements with bottled water; and (d) feelings of guilt for not achieving 8 x 8."

Guilt? My toaster has scarier side effects.

You know what, I think I'll keep exercising, and keep drinking.

My apologies for the tone, I really do have a smile on my face; that article really just amused me in a pleasant way :d_biggrin

It is scary, if you drink too much water. I wouldn't say that a gallon a day (which is about what you get right?) is harmful, but if it was up to me I would definitly NOT drink more.

Trinity is on the same line as I am, food contains water too. I'm not saying you should eat them, but did you know that jellyfishes contain more water (98%) than the water it lives in (97%)?

About thirst. The body is a master of adapting, as we all know. If you drink two gallons of water each day, this is what the body gets used to. When it doesn't get that water, it screams for it by telling you that you're thirsty. I have been drinking a lot of water during some periods of my life, and what I've noticed is that the thirst doesn't get any worse over time. It's just a feeling that you need water, but it doesn't go further than that.

Yes, and it is a very good think that your body adapts itself to increased water intake.

When your body knows that it will have a constant supply of water it doesn't hoard it, so your water retention goes down and you look harder! I could tell over spring break the difference after when I had a few days of not getting water at regular intervals throughout the day (only drinking two or three times instead of sipping throughout the day). The second half of spring break my water retention was definitely up.

Not a huge difference, but when you look at yourself carefully a couple times a day, as everyone going through this process probably does, you start to be able to notice these things.

Yes, and it is a very good think that your body adapts itself to increased water intake.

When your body knows that it will have a constant supply of water it doesn't hoard it, so your water retention goes down and you look harder! I could tell over spring break the difference after when I had a few days of not getting water at regular intervals throughout the day (only drinking two or three times instead of sipping throughout the day). The second half of spring break my water retention was definitely up.

Not a huge difference, but when you look at yourself carefully a couple times a day, as everyone going through this process probably does, you start to be able to notice these things.
I bet you're right, but hoarding less water would actually mean that you'll lose more minerals, since osmosis won't stop.

Still, it's a matter of opinion though. I'm would rather stay healthy than to look hard, but if drinking several gallons a day will make you look hard, and that's your main priority, go for it.