Back to the Tap

So, last week I posted about how I planned to drink 102 ounces of water a day at work.

Well, a funny think happened on the way to the water cooler... and to the bathroom... and back to the water cooler... and back to the bathroom...

It really became a struggle to drink that, at least on most days. As a refresher (no pun intended), I have a 34 ounce water bottle on my desk, and the plan was to fill it and drink it 3 times a day. On my thirstier days, that wasn't a problem, but on most days, I didn't want to really drink any more water after 1 1/2 to 2 fills.

You can go back to the original post for all the details, but basically I made a calculation that I needed 118.75 ounces day, and I figured after my 102 ounces at work, the other 16.75 would be easily made up through food intake. In the comments, Joe accurately stated "You are vastly underestimating the amount of water you consume via eating." I knew he was right, but I also knew I was erring on the side of making sure I was consuming enough.

But really, if I know I'm getting enough, why drink even more water when it's a struggle?

Even Swoopy from Skepticality, who is the one who got me thinking about water in the first place, posted this....

Listeners are concerned I believe in the 8 glasses a day myth.
Fear not.
The big bad blue jug, advertises the 8 glasses a day myth, and I drink out of it.
I should probably get rid of it.

Following the link, I found some useful information....

The confusion may have arisen because a typical adult's energy requirements call for two to three litres of fluid – but it doesn't all have to be in the form of glasses of water. All foods and non-alcoholic drinks count toward the goal. For example, Barr said:

broccoli is about 90 per cent water
bread is about 35 per cent water
meat, fish and poultry contain 50 to 60 per cent water

So, time for a new calcualtion. I'm starting with the same 118.75 ounces, but....

---- For sake of simplicity, I'm estimating I eat a pound of food each for lunch and dinner, and that it's equally divided between meat, veggies and carbs. I actually think this is fairly accurate. Also for simplicity, I'm using the above broccoli percentage for all veggies and the above bread percentage for all carbs.

So that's a little over 5 ounces each for each food category at each meal, So I'll say I get 5 ounces of water from veggies, 3 from meat and 2 from carbs, or 10 ounces of water each for lunch and dinner.

---- I usually don't have much more than a granola bar or piece of fruit for breakfast, but I do have bad snacking habits. I'm going to say that breakfast plus snacks amount to another half of a lunch or dinner every day, so I'll say I get 5 ounces of water from other food sources every day.

---- Here's the biggest change in my calculation... taking other fluids into account. I'd say I average about a 16 ounce drink each for lunch and dinner, and usally about 16 ounces of caffenaited beverages on a typical work day. So that's another 48 ounces right there.

---- So here's the new math..... 25 ounces for food and 48 ounces for other beverages comes to 73 ounces a day. That leaves me only 45.75 ounces of other water needed per day. So I'm doing just fine, and getting a little extra, if I only drink 1 1/2 or 2 of my water bottle per day. And this isn't even taking other water I typically drink at home into account.

Much more manageable.