Do you try to stay hydrated during the day everyday?

I drink two cups of coffee in the morning and 8 glasses of water a day. At first I hated drinking all that water but after a while it becomes a habit. I feel more clear headed and my skin looks much better.

I never really think about it unless I am actually thirsty. I know that is not the current accepted practice.

I have a 16 oz. glass of water on my desk I fill up at least twice while at work and have a similar mug at home that is always at my side. I also always have a couple water bottles in the car.

I drink both water and tea.

According to my doctor, if it’s got caffeine in it, it doesn’t count.

Still and all, I drink tea and coffee in the morning, at home and at work. When that runs out, it’s diet Coke (12 oz or 20 oz). After that runs out, I usually forget to drink water when at work. On weekends, I may pick up a Diet Coke if I’m shopping. If at home, it’s probably tea or sometimes water.

I definitely don’t drink enough water. I am probably mildly dehydrated, if caffeinated drinks don’t count.

Yes, and I succeed almost always.

I don’t think about it, if I get thirsty I drink something.

I am a member of the stand-up-to-pee set. My hydration system is ridiculously simple:

If my pee looks darker than usual, I drink more.
If it looks clear and I need to go about 4 times per day. I am perfectly hydrated.
If I feel full and need to pee every 2–3 hours I am over hydrated.

The typical adult male with healthy kidneys processes about 1 ml of urine / kg of body weight per hour while awake. Doing the math for a 160 pound man you should drink or take in with food about 1400 to 2000 ml of water. You need more if you are sweating.
It is easy to measure yourself for one day and see how close you are. Data is important..

I try to make sure I am hydrated, but I am not one of those people who walks around everywhere with a water bottle. Over hydrated is annoying. Constantly needing to pee is not fun for me.

In my opinion drinking coffee is still hydrating. Same with tea and soda. There isn’t enough bad stuff in them to say all the liquid isn’t hydrating. I am not promoting drinking soda and coffee, I am only talking about hydration specifically.

I lived overseas for a while. One of the stereotypes and jokes they make about of American is that we all walk around with water bottles. Either our water is bad or we must have something going into our mouths all the time. They thought a typical American can’t wait 1 hour to either eat or drink something. Funny.

@LuckyGuy That does seem true. I don’t see why everyone needs to walk around with a water bottle either.

@LuckyGuy I think it is ridiculous too. My husband and I also can’t understand why everyone needs to drink and eat in their cars. How far are you going? We take water with us on long driving trips, but regular driving around during the day? No. Not unless we know we are going to be outside a long time in 95 degree weather once we get to our destination.

I think it is like smoking. If people have their hands empty they don’t know what to do with themselves. God forbid you don’t have drink to hold at a bar. People on dance floors with their beer bottles. In DC most nightclubs had rules on the dance floors, no drinks, no smoking. Thank goodness.

Maybe an oral fixation also. The stereotype doesn’t surprise me at all. My friends who have soda with them everywhere, more than one of them are or were alcoholics. Not just soda in that bottle.

I know for a fact a number of years ago a certain Japanese car manufacturer (that shall remain unnamed) had problems with the seat belts not latching completely in American cars while working perfectly in Japanese cars. The seat belts were identical. Why the difference?
The failed seat belts (about 30) were returned and studied. Every single failed seat belt from America had food jammed in the slot.
One of the engineers actually asked me, “You eat in your car? Why?! Do you all drive so far every day?”

@LuckyGuy The German car manufacturers back years ago had to adjust their thinkIng and add more cup holders and larger ones to accomodate cars sold in America. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Japanese had to do the same years ago. It also would not surprise me if the Japanese figured it out before the Germans if that is the case. You really should not be on the Autobahn while sipping a coffee and eating a McMuffin. Plus those German engineers can’t think about anything besides what they think is important. My 2007 Porsche has a door unlock/lock remote on the key thingy, like most cares do now. That key has one button for unlock and lock. So, if you take a few steps from the car and are not sure if you locked it, but you did lock it, and you press the button again you just unlocked it. I can just hear one of those German engineers saying, “but why would you push it twice? It works the first time.” It has been changed since. The service guy at Porsche said women especially complained about it a lot. I could go on, but I am getting off topic.

I think that people with a water bottle with them constantly look ridiculous.

I drink 2 glasses of water when I wake up, 8 oz half hour before I eat any meal or snack, a half hour before I exercise, and every two hours otherwise, also 1 a half hour before I go to bed. That puts me generally in the slightly overhydrated group. And I am on diuretics, but It is part of my health regimen, I was told by current doctor who is saving my life that I need to flush my system continuously as it will keep toxins out of my system and keep it functioning optimally.

@Unbroken Wait… let me add that up… Assume 1 glass is 8 oz.
Wake up x2×8 oz = 16 oz
Pre meal and snack x4 c 8 oz= 32 oz
pre exercise 8 oz = 8 oz
every 2 hours x 4×8 oz = 32 oz
before bed 8 oz = 8 oz
Total = 96 oz, 3 quarts! 2.8 liters! Yikes! How do you sleep? Do you have to get up every 3.5 hours?
Wow!

@Unbroken Before bed?! I guess you never sleep through the night. What toxins? What condition do you have that you need to drink so much water? You are making your kidneys work harder with all that water.

I have started sipping water every hour. So, that means perhaps I’ll have a small glass of water every hour. I’m peeing a lot!

I rarely sleep through the night. But not for peeing, sure when I first started but not now.. By the way most of these are my rules of thumb.

Also for example in the morning I drink two glasses of water. I will also eat breakfast sometime between right away or shortly in that case I usually stick with just two same for exercising and other meals.

So assuming I stay up for 16 hours that’s 9 glasses 73 oz roughly….. Oh a tip I get tired of just water… I sometimes add flavored vinagerettes or oils no added or fake sugar but flavor… Of course there is the fruit cut in water too… And if a smoothie or juice is rather runny I will count it as a1/2 meal and ½ a drink. On the subject of tea… well I seldom use strongly caffeinated tea so I count tea as a drink as well.

The one before bed is actually just perfect I can sleep through the night now.

And since I use a variety of glasses and cups mugs etc… It isn’t exactly on point.

My kidney function has always been great. Since my liver is affected. End stage liver failure it doesnt remove toxins very effectively and aids digestion over all.

@Unbroken You must have a bladder the size of a camel’s. I am so jealous. :-)
I’m good for 500ml. The only way I can last through the night is if I cut off all liquids 2–3 hours before bed. Otherwise I am up at 3–5 am, sitting in front of a keyboard flagging fluther spammers.

Is this TMI?

I have 750 ml bottle at my desk and I fill it up in the morning and the afternoon. I also drink coffee, tea and wine (at the appropriate time of course) and I pee in the morning, about 3 or 4 times at work and about 2–3 times in the evening. I think I’m quite well hydrated during the week but at the weekends my water consumption goes down and the alcohol consumption goes up….

I keep water in my car – I buy a pack of 500ml bottles which i put on the back seat. The pack contains 12 or 16 bottles and costs less than 20p per bottle. My children can then have a drink and I don’t need to buy them a drink if we are out. Buying a single 500ml bottle in a newsagent can cost 80p to £1 (or more).

@Stinley I have water bottles in my car too. They are cheap if I buy them in flats of 35 bottles – but I am even cheaper. I only keep 1 or 2 sealed bottles in the car – for guests. the other 5 or 6 are refilled from my tap. They get used for rinsing my hands or washing or for emergencies.

@LuckyGuy good plan. I might try that

@LuckyGuy‘s method also saves on plastic being wasted.

The caps reseal up nicely and do not leak. I also keep them in the car year ‘round. That means they are frozen for about 4 months out of the year. The plastic is flexible and does not break like a can of pop or a glass bottle.
If you accidentally leave a can of Cola in your car on a cold winter night it will burst and make a mess all over the car interior.. Plastic water bottles don’t do that.

do you think bacteria might grow in the bottles?

Maybe, but I change the water periodically. And I mostly use it for rinsing my hands and washing anyway.
When I am on a trip I’ll go to a rest stop and fill the bottle. It is easy, I save 20 cents and there is less plastic to manufacture and landfill.

The 1 or 2 “pristine” bottles stay in the car untouched sometimes for years.

@LuckyGuy I wouldn’t say that… But I have been doing a ton of kegel’s lately for some reason…

I’m all for thrift but don’t drink the water out of those bottles. They leak bpa especially after exposure to hot and cold elements or when they start getting creased from use. Bpa is known to cause cell damage and other assorted problems. The replacement chemical can be just as bad or worse… http://www.edf.org/blog/2014/03/05/bpa-free-plastics-may-pose-equal-or-greater-hazard-predecessors.. But that all should be negligible if you only use water for hand cleaning etc.