Hi everyone
Could someone give me some advice regarding hydration? I live in a hot climate and do work that is quite physical so I sweat a lot. I suspect I may often be running on borderline dehydration, even when I'm going training. Can anyone give me some advice on how much fluids I need to keep up with to maintain proper hydration without going overboard? If some of the advertising for sports drinks is to be believed I should be drinking 4L of gatorade every day....
David
Parents
Former Member
David,
If you weigh yourself before and after practice, you can figure out how much more fluid you need to consume to completely rehydrate you to the level you were at before practice. Drink 16 oz for every pound difference.
Using this principle and applying it over the course of a day would be less accurate, but try weighing yourself before work and after work. Most likely you will weigh more in the afternoon than the morning, and if you don't, you need to consume enough water to make up the difference.
Sports drinks contain electrolytes which you may need, but it really depends on your physiology and diet. If you have a bag of salty potato chips with lunch, and your dinner is well seasoned, you won't need as much in the way of electrolyte replacement as if you followed a low sodium diet.
You will have to experiment to find your sports drink to water ratio and figure out what leaves you feeling the best. It might be 100% water.
Drinking constantly over the course of the day is much better than drinking 2 gallons at the end of your shift.
Reply
Former Member
David,
If you weigh yourself before and after practice, you can figure out how much more fluid you need to consume to completely rehydrate you to the level you were at before practice. Drink 16 oz for every pound difference.
Using this principle and applying it over the course of a day would be less accurate, but try weighing yourself before work and after work. Most likely you will weigh more in the afternoon than the morning, and if you don't, you need to consume enough water to make up the difference.
Sports drinks contain electrolytes which you may need, but it really depends on your physiology and diet. If you have a bag of salty potato chips with lunch, and your dinner is well seasoned, you won't need as much in the way of electrolyte replacement as if you followed a low sodium diet.
You will have to experiment to find your sports drink to water ratio and figure out what leaves you feeling the best. It might be 100% water.
Drinking constantly over the course of the day is much better than drinking 2 gallons at the end of your shift.
