How much water should you drink?

Water is one of my favourite topics (or at least telling people to drink more water is!), but how much water is enough? Today I’m going to tell you exactly how much water YOU should drink, so you know once and for all!

A few months ago I heard an interview with Gretchen Rubin (whom I adore) and in it, she said that drinking 8-glasses of water was a made-up number and people needed to stop worrying so much about it. I was AGHAST! Sure the 8-glasses benchmark may have been made up (as was the 10,000 steps/day thing), but as far as made-up “rules” go, drinking more water is a pretty good one. 

So, when this was one of the questions asked of me when I was answering questions on Instagram Live earlier this week, I knew it would make for a good podcast episode!

How much water should you drink?

Water is so important! Yes, of course, we get a lot of water from the food we eat and the other things we drink, but to assume you are getting enough from those sources is a bit optimistic. Considering most North Americans don’t eat enough fruits and vegetables as it is–and those are the foods highest in water, to assume you are getting enough hydration through food alone is a bit of a dream.

So let’s get right down to basics. How much water do you need?

Take your weight (a general number is fine so if you are 156.7 just go with 155) and divide it by 2.2 to get your weight in kilograms.

Then take your weight in kilograms and multiply it by 30 to find out how many millilitres of water you should drink each day.

Remember, these are millilitres, not litres. If you want to convert this number to litres you’ll need to move the decimal over 3 numbers (or simply divide by 1000).

So, that 155 pound person will discover they should be drinking 2113ml or 2.1 litres of water each day. Honestly, I’d round that down to 2 litres, but it gives you a good starting point.

Sure tea, coffee, milk, and juice technically count towards your water intake, but for the sake of optimal hydration 😉 let’s focus on getting that intake from water–and water alone. Though I am ok with you counting herbal teas and fruit infusions in those counts.

Why all this water?

In case you haven’t heard, your body is 60% water. Anytime I am low on my water intake I picture my insides shrivelling up like a prune. Ha ha! That’s probably a bit extreme, but it’s a good way to help me stay motivated to keep chugging! Prune-y insides aside, water plays a part in some really important functions in our health and well-being.

• Hydration – no surprise here, but by keeping us hydrated it allows us to maintain optimal levels for health
• Transportation – water is used to help transport bodily fluids (like blood plasma, which is slightly important…)
• Temperature regulation – water is used to help lower body temperature when we get too warm (hello there, sweat!)
• Lubrication – water is the primary component in saliva, without which we wouldn’t be able to eat dry foods.
• Universal Solvent – water is used by our body to dissolve solutes in the blood

How it helps with weight loss:

• It can help prevent overeating when consumed before a meal.
• Hunger is one of the first signs of dehydration, so staying hydrated will help fend off hunger when eating in a deficit (i.e. losing weight).

For those who listened to the podcast, I looked it up – broccoli is 91% water! Isn’t that crazy!?

So how do you measure up? Are you drinking enough water??