How Much Water Should You Drink for Your Fitness Goals?

This fitness dreamer makes the hydration mistake almost every weekend. You keep track of how much water you drink with your weekday schedule, and on the weekend your plan goes downhill.

How much water did you drink today?

This is the #1 question I ask women after a hard workout what their energy is like. The responses vary from awesome to exhausted.

Great workout! That really kicked butt!

Ugh. I can barely move.

That workout zapped my energy.

Keeping track of how much water you drink makes the difference between feeling energized during your workout, or completely zapped.

My own workouts are impacted by water intake. I feel tired faster and have less in reserve. The workout feels off, and on bad days almost counter productive.

I’m not the only one to feel this. Studies have shown that even mild dehydration can affect your mood and ability to think straight. This would not add up to a positive workout experience.

Do you know where your water bottle is?

Preparation is key. I’ve harped on this fact a lot when it comes to your healthy choices. If you know when, how and what you are consuming all day the chances of eating healthy options.

How much water should you drink for your fitness goals?

The famous 8×8 rule always starts any conversation about water. This rule states you should drink eight 8 oz. glasses of water per day.

Do you need that much? More? There are rules of thumb, calculations, ideas, and suggestions. There are even discussions about over-hydration and the dangers of drinking too much water.

Do you have a fitness goal of reaching a healthy body fat percentage? Consider how much water you should drink based on your workouts.

Here’s a quick way of figuring out how much water you should drink:

• Know your weight – if you have no desire to get near a scale then guess it. We don’t need exact numbers here.
• Divide it in half – for example, at 150 pounds you end up with 75.
• Add a bit back in for your workouts – how and when do you workout? Add 12 oz back to that number for every 30 minutes of exercise.

Using this little piece of math and the example numbers, and planning a 30 minute workout per day, my goal would be to drink 87 oz of water a day.

Tips on drinking the water you need

Let’s talk about when you are consuming for hydration.

1. Start your day off right
Getting into this habit can kick you off to an amazing start. This is the easiest way to get your system to wake up and start burning calories.

2. Finish off your day
Grab another glass of water before you hit the sheets. To make this super simple, keep a container of water at your bedside. Drink a bit at night and down the rest first thing in the morning.

3. Fill your water bottle. Often.
Gauge your consumption based on how big your water bottle is. If you know your bottle is 20 oz. it’s easy to keep filling it up and know exactly how much water you are drinking.

4. Make it appealing
All these ideas will help you keep hydrated, but what if you hate water? Infusing your water with fruit or herbs add a fresh flavor to keep you sipping throughout the day. Try some of these flavors to mix it up: cucumber, lemon, lime, strawberry, or basil.

5. Don’t fall flat
Mix it up with some bubbles! Lightly flavored carbonated and sparkling water can break up the day. For those who struggle with completely cutting out sodas from their day, this is a good way to get that bubbly pop.

What keeps you taking in water throughout your day?

I am not above tricks to get the water down. You know what you like. Trying to choke down plain water when it’s not your favorite will make you avoid it even more.

How much water are you drinking everyday now? Share ideas of what is working for you in the comments!

Go get your fit on – Heather

[fbcomments]