Are you drinking enough water? If you answered yes, what is the optimal amount? Is the old standard of 8 glasses of water a day the right formula for everyone? There is not a “one size fits all” amount of water that everyone should be drinking.

Some people say “drink lots of water”. But what is a lot of water and how do you know how much to drink?

If a woman weighing 100 pounds drinks 8 glasses of water a day, that amount may cause over hydration. On the other hand if a man weighing 200 pounds drinks 8 glasses of water a day he falls far below the correct amount of water.
There is a simple formula you can use to determine the right amount of water consumption each day.

The formula is:

Your body weight ÷ 2 = Optimal H2O Intake

The optimal amount of water to drink is ½ your body weight (pounds) in ounces per day. For example, a 200 lb. person will need to drink 100 ounces of water per day. A key point to remember is that other fluids do not count toward your goal of ½ your bodyweight in ounces. Those fluids include: coffee, tea, juices, soda, milk, sports drinks, and flavored water. In fact, other fluids like sports drinks and juices can actually dehydrate the body because it takes water to actually dilute these high sugar drinks before it is assimilated in the body.

Now that you know how much water to drink, why is it so important to drink water…