How much water?

gerbo

I know the recommended amount of water for the average person, per day, is 2 liters, but what is the average person? I'm pretty sure i'm not it.
I'm male, tall and heavy. Surely I should be drinking substantially more than 2 litres? Is there any way to roughly calculate the amount of water I should be drinking?

rubadub

The recommended "8 glasses" includes water in food, so if you ate lots of watery fruit you might need very little additional actual glasses of water to get this amount. Some would say simply look at your pee, it should be fairly clear.

gerbo

Well, I don't eat alot of watery fruit and I can't believe the amount of water that would be ingested by eating some fruit would make up the difference in water requirements between, for example, a 5'5", 8 stone female and a 6'2", 16 stone male.

metamorphosis

Just go by your pee really - light straw yellow to clear means your hydrated and dark yellow/orange and strong smelling usually means dehydrated (unless your supplementing with b vitamins which excrete through urine making it yellowish).

Just been aware of your liquid intake.

EileenG

The whole "8 glasses of water" thing is totally over-hyped. There's no actual evidence behind it, it's just a figure that someone picked and decided to recommend. And it does include other drinks and wet foods.

Drink to thirst, and get to know your own body, so you don't confuse hunger and thirst.