That is my queston for the day. I did a websearch and got quite conflicting answers. I am addicted to sweet tea. I prefer to drink that over anything else. Unfortunately, I rarely drink anything else. I rarely substitute my tea for something healthy. I do drink water during class, but rarely outside of class. So, I went in search of a guideline to help me determine how much water I should be drinking each day.
CNN.com has an article by Mayo Clinic that states that I should be drinking 9 cups of beverages per day. Nine cups would be 72 ounces per day. Since the bottled water that I generally take to school with me is 16.9 ounce bottles, I would need to drink 4-5 of those per day. I definitely do NOT do that. If you add the tea into the mix, then I would probably go over the suggested 72 ounces.
About.com had a link for a hydration calculator. Even though I felt that the Mayo Clinic was a more reputable site, I decided to try it out just for fun. This one actually took my weight into consideration. It did not however ask if I was male or female. It did ask about exercise level and dietary habits. The calculated suggestion was 116 ounces. That would be about 6-7 bottles of the water mentioned above.
Since I also want to lose weight, I decided to do an additional search. I searched for "how much water should I drink per day to lose weight" and got a variety of responses again. I did expect that. I did not expect to see how much extra water I would need to drink to lose weight. Based on what I read at a number of sites, the general consensus is that I need an additional eight ounces of water per twenty five pounds of weight I want to lose.
Although, it may all sound fairly overwhelming, I truly believe I now have a general idea of how much water, I should be drinking each day. Due to the large amount of weight I need to lose, I have decided to set a goal of 170 ounces of water per day. That is a little over the actual calculated amount based on the 72 ounces the Mayo Clinic suggests for women added to the eight ounces per twenty five pounds I want to lose.
I overestimated on each of these. That means that I may not actually need that much. I probably will not make it to that level for quite some time. I need to pull out a one subject notebook to keep track of what I drink. I probably will not do that. But I will be increasing my water intake as of today. I'm using a pretty glass. I'm also using my crushed ice dispenser and water dispenser to keep it fresh and cold. So far, so good. I've already had at least four glasses of water. Only another fifteen or so to go.
So, how much water do you drink each day?
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Comments: 22
For myself, I keep a large (1 qt. capacity) to-go mug filled with ice water in the car and on my desk at work. I drink two latte mugs of black coffee with Splenda in the mornings and fill up the to-go mug at least three times a day while at work. Then at least three more tall plastic cups (20 oz.) of water at home. That seems to be what's right for my body but it's not really a goal, it's just what I need.
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Good luck with your goal. If you really get discouraged, do what I do. Drink a glass of sweet tea, its at least liquid, and the tea will dehydrate you enough to get that last glass in. :)
Honestly I would rather drink than eat...good thing I dont drink alcohol huh? lol
The other thing that was important was not as much "caffeine" in any beverage you drink. So it is okay to count some of your other beverages like an unsweetened tea (or use splenda).
Just my thoughts.
I think this is one of those cases that science told us one thing and then changed its mind. They used to say other liquids did not count. Now they say the do.
Milk industry spent years telling us that we should drink 4 glasses a day. That is true until you are about 6 months old.
So 8-10 and no more unless you are a coffee drinker like me , I easily drink a pot or two a day.