# Water: I drink 1.5g a day, but..



## Whyzee429 (Sep 1, 2012)

I've been drinking water a lot more these past few months than I ever have before. I pee a lot, but I feel good lol.

My concern is this, what I'm only drinking a half gallon a day? Is it possible that my body has become used to having a lot of water and that a 1/2-1gallon will cause adverse effects? I know this is a weird question, but does your body adapt to the additional intake thus creating a new standard?


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## bbeltramo (Aug 7, 2012)

While changing habits drastically is never a good thing for a body, your body will definitely adapt to how much you drink. your body can only absorb so much water anyway, the rest is processed out, hence the many trips to the bathroom. as long as you are still peeing clear, or close to it, youll be fine. Each summer my daily drinking shoots up to 1-1.5 gallons a day, but then in the winter some days i will go barely drinking a .5 gallon. just ease your way down you are looking to decrease how much you drink.


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## Whyzee429 (Sep 1, 2012)

Thanks a lot.

I'm not really looking to decrease my water intake, I just wanted to know what would happen if I did go from consistently drinking quite a bit to drinking less (but still more than an average person) lol


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## Air Bud (Apr 4, 2012)

Unless you are exercising heavily, 1 1/2 gallons is way overkill. Technically speaking, that's 2-3 times what you should be drinking in an average day. It's good to keep everything in moderation including water consumption. When you drink that much you are washing out electrolytes and other essential nutrients from the blood. When you drink excess amounts of water, you make your blood hypotonic, forcing electrolytes out of your red blood cells in order to balance the diluted blood. I don't want to get too specific into details but short of the long is you need to cut back unless of course, you do intense workouts everyday. I typically drink about 80-90 oz of fluid on a normal day, more if I'm exercising. To answer your question, cutting back on that much water drastically is not gonna hurt you. In fact, your body will probably be thanking you. I would do about half of what you are drinking (90 oz or so). Thats plenty to keep you adequately hydrated without washing out the good stuff too.


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## Glide the Clyde (Nov 12, 2009)

Air Bud said:


> Unless you are exercising heavily, 1 1/2 gallons is way overkill. Technically speaking, that's 2-3 times what you should be drinking in an average day. It's good to keep everything in moderation including water consumption. When you drink that much you are washing out electrolytes and other essential nutrients from the blood. When you drink excess amounts of water, you make your blood hypotonic, forcing electrolytes out of your red blood cells in order to balance the diluted blood. I don't want to get too specific into details but short of the long is you need to cut back unless of course, you do intense workouts everyday. I typically drink about 80-90 oz of fluid on a normal day, more if I'm exercising. To answer your question, cutting back on that much water drastically is not gonna hurt you. In fact, your body will probably be thanking you. I would do about half of what you are drinking (90 oz or so). Thats plenty to keep you adequately hydrated without washing out the good stuff too.


^^^^this^^^^


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## dv8xin (Mar 10, 2013)

I just started out researching sports nutrition recently, and I used to drink a lot of water. I used to think it was good to drink a lot, until I read the description for Skratch Labs drink mix on Competitive Cyclist's site. I researched more to verify, and a lot of different guys seem to agree. As much as I hate jumping to conclusions, notably conclusions based on "consensus", I am going to believe it and try out these formulas. Doesn't help that Performance is sending me ads about Cytomax and Sea Otter has all this stuff on nutrition... gonna start cheap, and try this "pedialyte" type formula posted on WebMD first, and move up to coconut water or fruit juices maybe out of convenience.


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## RhoadsClimbs (Apr 9, 2009)

dv8xin said:


> I just started out researching sports nutrition recently, and I used to drink a lot of water. I used to think it was good to drink a lot, until I read the description for Skratch Labs drink mix on Competitive Cyclist's site. I researched more to verify, and a lot of different guys seem to agree. As much as I hate jumping to conclusions, notably conclusions based on "consensus", I am going to believe it and try out these formulas. Doesn't help that Performance is sending me ads about Cytomax and Sea Otter has all this stuff on nutrition... gonna start cheap, and try this "pedialyte" type formula posted on WebMD first, and move up to coconut water or fruit juices maybe out of convenience.


Your body will shed any extra water it doesn't need up to a point. Try just mixing in maltodextrin to water for a cheap sports drink. I buy in bulk for this guy: Buy Products | Mike's Mix Recovery Drink


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## attaboy (Apr 4, 2008)

Be careful. You can indeed flush out your electrolytes and it can become dangerous. I personally know if someone who was hospitalized because of drinking too much water. I guess the old adage that too much if anything is bad for you just might have merit.


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## nov0798 (Nov 27, 2005)

Well yes to much water is bad, and will cause water intoxication, and could cause hyponatremia.


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## cyrjm (May 3, 2007)

Air Bud said:


> Unless you are exercising heavily, 1 1/2 gallons is way overkill. Technically speaking, that's 2-3 times what you should be drinking in an average day. It's good to keep everything in moderation including water consumption. When you drink that much you are washing out electrolytes and other essential nutrients from the blood. When you drink excess amounts of water, you make your blood hypotonic, forcing electrolytes out of your red blood cells in order to balance the diluted blood. I don't want to get too specific into details but short of the long is you need to cut back unless of course, you do intense workouts everyday. I typically drink about 80-90 oz of fluid on a normal day, more if I'm exercising. To answer your question, cutting back on that much water drastically is not gonna hurt you. In fact, your body will probably be thanking you. I would do about half of what you are drinking (90 oz or so). Thats plenty to keep you adequately hydrated without washing out the good stuff too.


^^^^this^^^^ x2


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## synodbio (Mar 21, 2013)

If you're not, you could end up with excess body fat, poor muscle tone, digestive complications, muscle soreness -- even water-retention problems


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