How to Calculate How Much Water to Drink in a Day

Lots of people don't realize the true importance of drinking enough water everyday and how it can impact both your health and your weight loss efforts. According to experts in a recent study, drinking just 2 cups of water, which is smaller than the size of a bottled soda, before meals helped dieters lose an extra five pounds yearly and help you maintain your weight loss. Additionally, drinking the right amount of water daily can actually speed up your metabolic rate and help to curb overeating when your body confused hunger and thirst. But how much water is enough? Here is how to calculate how much water you should drink a day for both health and weight loss benefits. 1  Your weight: The first step to knowing how much water to drink everyday is to know your weight. The amount of water a person should drink varies on their weight, which makes sense because the more someone weighs the more water they need to drink. A two-hundred-pound man and 100-pound woman require different amounts of water every day. 2  Multiply by 2/3: Next you want to multiple your weight by 2/3 (or 67%) to determine how much water to drink daily. For example, if you weighed 175 pounds you would multiple that by 2/3 and learn you should be drinking about 117 ounces of water every day. 3  Activity Level: Finally, you will want to adjust that number based on how often you work out, since you are expelling water when you sweat. You should add 12 ounces of water to your daily total for every 30 minutes that you work out. So if you work out for 45 minutes daily, you would add 18 ounces of water to your daily intake. Weight              Ounces of Water Daily   100 pounds          67 ounces   110 pounds          74 ounces  120 pounds          80 ounces   130 pounds         87 ounces   140 pounds         94 ounces   150 pounds        100 ounces   160 pounds        107 ounces 170 pounds         114 ounces   180 pounds        121 ounces   190 pounds        127 ounces   200 pounds        134 ounces   210 pounds        141 ounces   220 pounds        148 ounces  230 pounds        154 ounces   240 pounds        161 ounces   250 pounds        168 ounces To make it a littler easier to calculate how much water to drink everyday, here are the recommended amounts for a range of weights. Remember to adjust for your activity level. Tips for Reaching Your Daily Water Goals So now that you know how much water you should be drinking everyday, let's talk about how to make sure you actually get enough. Drinking over 100 ounces of water may seem impossible at first, but with these easy tips you can reach your goal in no time. •   Drink 2 cups (16 oz.) of water before every meal: Science has proven that drinking 2 cups of water before every meal helps you to eat less during meal time and lose weight. If you do this three times daily - at breakfast, lunch, and dinner - you have already consumed 48 ounces of water. •   Morning and Night: Get into the habit of drinking one glass (16 oz.) of water when you wake up and another 8 oz. glass before you go to sleep every night. This will add another 24 ounces of water to your daily intake. The easiest way to do this is to keep a glass or container of water at your bedside, that way as soon as you wake up and start your day, you can begin drinking water. •   Keep Track by Your Container: One thing that has proven to help people consumer enough water daily is to buy a special container for their water and set a goal of how many times they will fill and finish the container. For example, if you buy a 16 oz. container and need to drink 80 ounces of water a day, your goal would be to drink 5 of those daily. Need to drink more water? Try a larger container. •   Infuse Your Water with Flavor: Water doesn't have to be boring and infusing your water with fruit, herbs, and other flavors can make it much easier to reach your daily goal. Try adding cucumber, strawberries, lemons, limes, and fresh herbs to create flavorful water. •   Bubbles: Consider carbonated and sparkling water in addition to regular water. Many people find that adding sparkling water and 0 calorie flavored water makes drinking water throughout the day more fun. Here are six reasons to make sure you're drinking enough water or other fluids every day: drinking water (either plain or in the form of other fluids or foods) is essential to your health.  "Think of water as a nutrient your body needs that is present in liquids, plain water, and foods. All of these are essential daily to replace the large amounts of water lost each day," says Joan Koelemay, RD, dietitian for the Beverage Institute, an industry group.  Kaiser Permanente nephrologist Steven Guest, MD, agrees: "Fluid losses occur continuously, from skin evaporation, breathing, urine, and stool, and these losses must be replaced daily for good health," he says.  When your water intake does not equal your output, you can become dehydrated. Fluid losses are accentuated in warmer climates, during strenuous exercise, in high altitudes, and in older adults, whose sense of thirst may not be as sharp.  Here are six reasons to make sure you're drinking enough water or other fluids every day: 1.    Drinking Water Helps Maintain the Balance of Body Fluids. Your body is composed of about 60% water. The functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.  "Through the posterior pituitary gland, your braincommunicates with your kidneys and tells it how much water to excrete as urine or hold onto for reserves," says Guest, who is also an adjunct professor of medicine at Stanford University.  When you're low on fluids, the brain triggers the body's thirst mechanism. And unless you are taking medications that make you thirsty, Guest says, you should listen to those cues and get yourself a drink of water, juice, milk, coffee -- anything but alcohol.  "Alcohol interferes with the brain and kidney communication and causes excess excretion of fluids which can then lead to dehydration," he says. 2.    Water Can Help Control Calories. For years, dieters have been drinking lots of water as a weight loss strategy. While water doesn't have any magical effect on weight loss, substituting it for higher calorie beverages can certainly help.  "What works with weight loss is if you choose water or a non-caloric beverage   over a caloric beverage and/or eat a diet higher in water-rich foods that are  healthier, more filling, and help you trim calorie intake," says Penn State researcher Barbara Rolls, PhD, author of The VolumetricsWeight Control Plan.   Food with high water content tends to look larger, its higher volume requires  more chewing, and it is absorbed more slowly by the body, which helps you feel  full. Water-rich foods include fruits, vegetables, broth-based soups, oatmeal, and  beans. 3.    Water Helps Energize Muscles. Cells that don't maintain their balance of fluids and electrolytes shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. "When muscle cells don't have adequate fluids, they don't work as well and performance can suffer," says Guest.  Drinking enough fluids is important when exercising. Follow the American College of Sports Medicine guidelines for fluid intake before and during physical activity. These guidelines recommend that people drink about 17 ounces of fluid about two hours before exercise. During exercise, they recommend that people start drinking fluids early, and drink them at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating. 4.    Water Helps Keep Skin Looking Good. Your skin contains plenty of water, and functions as a protective barrier to prevent excess fluid loss. But don't expect over-hydration to erase wrinkles or fine lines, says Atlanta dermatologist Kenneth Ellner, MD.  "Dehydration makes your skin look more dry and wrinkled, which can be improved with proper hydration," he says. "But once you are adequately hydrated, the kidneys take over and excrete excess fluids."  You can also help "lock" moisture into your skin by using moisturizer, which creates a physical barrier to keep moisture in. 5.    Water Helps Your Kidneys. Body fluids transport waste products in and out of cells. The main toxin in the body is blood urea nitrogen, a water-soluble waste that is able to pass through the kidneys to be excreted in the urine, explains Guest. "Your kidneys do an amazing job of cleansing and ridding your body of toxins as long as your intake of fluids is adequate," he says.  When you're getting enough fluids, urine flows freely, is light in color and free of odor. When your body is not getting enough fluids, urine concentration, color, and odor increases because the kidneys trap extra fluid for bodily functions.  If you chronically drink too little, you may be at higher risk for kidney stones,  especially in warm climates, Guest warns. 6.    Water Helps Maintain Normal Bowel Function. Adequate hydration keeps things flowing along your gastrointestinal tract and prevents constipation. When you don't get enough fluid, the colon pulls water from stools to maintain hydration -- and the result is constipation.  "Adequate fluid and fiber is the perfect combination, because the fluid pumps up the fiber and acts like a broom to keep your bowel functioning properly," says Koelemay. References:  NASM.Org, ACSM.Org