Everyone has heard the maxim: “Drink at least 8 – 10 glasses of water a day.” That’s a good starting point, but most of the time they don’t. Now that you have a clear goal and are committed to becoming the best you can be, it’s time to add another new daily habit to your list: the habit of drinking plenty of pure H2O every day.
effects of dehydration
Most people don’t drink enough water, and the effects are subtle but devastating to your training and fat burning efforts. Let me explain. Have you ever woken up in the morning and felt so groggy it almost felt like a hangover? Maybe you didn’t even want to get out of bed. Guess what? You were probably dehydrated. In fact, a “hangover” – headache, tiredness and fatigue is caused in part by dehydration from the diuretic effects of alcohol.
Here’s another example: Do you normally get great workouts, but then some days, your butt drags and you just can’t finish your workout? started? Guess what? You were probably dehydrated. You see, the effects of dehydration are very subtle. They “crawl” on you. By the time you feel the effects of dehydration, it’s already too late: you’re already dehydrated. Usually, you don’t even associate these effects with a lack of water. You might think that you are overworked, didn’t get enough sleep, or that you are coming down with a cold. That’s why people so easily overlook this aspect of nutrition.
Water is important in all physiological processes in your body.
With so much attention being paid today to complex issues like protein and carbohydrate intake, essential fatty acids, macronutrient ratios, and performance supplementation, it’s no wonder something as simple as water can be take for granted so easily. The importance of drinking plenty of water and staying properly hydrated cannot be stressed enough.
Water is the most abundant nutrient in your body. Approximately 60-70% of your body is made up of water. Your blood is made up of about 90% water. Your muscles are about 70% water. Even your bones are 20% water. Without adequate water, nothing in your body could function properly. All physiological processes in your body take place in or depend on water. Water is necessary to regulate your body temperature, transport nutrients, and build tissues. Water is necessary for joint lubrication, digestion, circulation, respiration, absorption, and excretion. Without water, you would die in a matter of days.
Dehydration decreases stamina, strength, and physical performance
As you become dehydrated, your core body temperature rises. This negatively affects your cardiovascular function and reduces your physical work capacity. Even a small drop in your body’s hydration level can decrease your performance. Studies have shown that even mild dehydration of 3% of body weight can decrease contractile strength by 10%. When 4% – 5% or more of the total weight is lost in water, muscular and aerobic endurance can decrease by 20% to 30%. If more than 1012% of your body weight is lost as water, you could die.
High protein diets have a diuretic effect and require extra attention to drinking water
Because it should be moderate to high in protein, it’s especially important to drink plenty of water. The processing of protein foods generates metabolic waste products that must be removed and eliminated by the kidneys. Without adequate water, the kidneys cannot remove these wastes properly. It is a myth that high protein diets cause kidney damage. A high-protein diet is not harmful to healthy kidneys, as long as you consume plenty of water every day.
Water is essential for the fat burning process.
Not only do you need plenty of water for good health, you also need water for fat loss. Here’s why: One of the important functions of the kidneys is to remove toxic waste products from your body through urine. When you’re dehydrated, your body’s knee-jerk reaction is to retain whatever water it has to survive. When this water retention occurs, waste products in the body are not removed and build up in your system. At this point, the liver will try to help with the overload. The problem is, when the liver helps during fluid retention, it can’t do its own job as efficiently, one of which is burning stored body fat for energy. The result is that your body may not be able to burn body fat as efficiently as usual.
Drinking a lot of water does not make you retain water
Many people avoid drinking a lot of water because they think it will cause them to retain fluids and make them bloated. Actually, the opposite is true. When you are dehydrated, your body senses a lack of adequate water and retains all the water that is currently in the body. When you consume adequate amounts of water, your body feels like you are no longer dehydrated and therefore your kidneys remove water from your system as they normally do, resulting in less Water retention.
How much should you drink?
The most common general guideline for water intake is to drink eight to ten 8-ounce glasses of water per day (64 to 80 ounces per day). This may or may not be suitable, depending on a variety of factors. The guideline of 8 to 10 glasses is fine as a baseline, but factoring in activity levels and caloric expenditure will give you an even more accurate and individualized estimate of your water needs.
Water needs can vary depending on a number of factors. Large individuals need more water than smaller ones, and very active individuals need more than inactive ones. The weather can also affect your hydration needs. If you live or exercise in a hot and humid environment, your water needs will be higher.
If you want the best estimate of your water needs, you need to take your activity level into account, and the best way to measure your activity level is by daily calorie intake. The following chart lists the amount of water required based on your total daily energy expenditure.
Calories expended Water required
2000 calories 66 – 100 oz.
2500 calories 83 – 124 ounces
3000 calories 100 – 149 oz.
4000 calories 116 – 174 ounces
5000 calories 132 – 199 ounces
Using this formula, a 172-pound man with a daily caloric expenditure of approximately 2,800 calories per day would need 93 to 139 ounces of water per day (there are 128 ounces in a gallon). The guideline of eight to ten glasses (64 to 80 ounces) should be his minimum, regardless of calories expended.