How to keep yourself hydrated when working out
While there is a more precise answer to this question depending on the type of exercise, duration of exercise, climate etc…The rule of thumb for general hydration, not including exercise is half of your body weight in pounds should be consumed in ounces of water. So, for a 150 pound person, 75 ounces of water should be consumed in a day.
If you work out you need to replace the water that was lost through sweat with water. An accurate way to do this is to weigh yourself before and after your workout to determine how much water you lost in pounds. Now, let’s get real for a minute…who is going to do this? Not me. My recommendation is to pay attention to the color of your urine. It should be the color of pale lemonade. This would be an indicator that you are hydrated. For exercise that is longer then an hour in duration an electrolyte replacement may be necessary due to the loss of electrolytes in the sweat. Drink up!
Melissa Gerharter MS, RD is co-owner of Joust Strength and Fitness of Ann Arbor, joustfitness.com. She is also a personal trainer and an adjunct lecturer at Eastern Michigan University. She can be reached at Melissa@joustfitness.com
Comments
Kent Jocque
Sun, Dec 27, 2009 : 9 a.m.
Melissa, Sorry it took so long for me to get back to this post. Thanks for the direction. I have done some reading about the "eight glasses of water a day" recommendation and tend to question hydration articles. Your references are the type I was looking for. -Kent
Melissa Gerharter MS, RD
Thu, Dec 3, 2009 : 1:30 p.m.
Kent, In this article I mention that half of your body weight in water is another way to get a general idea in how to aim for adequate hydration. There has been research done on hydration on how much is actually enough and it is hard to prove since everyone has different needs. One article that addresses this Drink at least eight glasses of water a day? Really? Is there scientific evidence for 8 x 8? Am J Physiol Requl Integr Comp Physiol. 2002;283:R993-R1004. If you are looking for more concrete references there are Adequate Intakes (AI) that are set and are available at www. nap.edu. I hope this helps!
Kent Jocque
Wed, Dec 2, 2009 : 8:23 a.m.
Can anyone direct me to the scientific research which would support this article's contentions?