Do you intentionally try to drink x cups of water per day?

[burritos]

I didn't realize so many people walk around somewhat intentionally dehydrated. 😄

Hormesis

IMHO, a little bit of stress make you a bit stronger. Our hominid ancestors did not have water and food 24/7 and they survived 3 million years. I think we still have 99.9% of their genes.

[MaxPower]

I drink at least (4) of the 16.9 oz water bottles with crystal light every day, plus one 12 oz diet Mountain Dew or Dr Pepper Zero, and at least one glass of OJ or milk/chocolate milk per day when I’m not working, and then it’s a 20 oz DMD or Diet Coke/Dr Pepper because that’s what they have at work.

I had a kidney stone about 4 years ago after a super long revision humerus ORIF case (wearing lead, hot lights, standing up, trying to find that bast*rd radial nerve for hours) followed by a meal at a local place of fries and a roast beef sandwich with au jus, then woke up at about 5 am with the worst pain of my life. I never want to repeat that again so I drink lots of fluids. I also feel nauseated when I’m dehydrated. Now when I start to feel that way I chug a bottle of crystal light and usually feel better within 15-20 minutes. In college when I was playing tennis is used to vomit copiously and repetitively from dehydration, but didn’t figure it out until years later.

I have an aversion to water that started after I started having symptoms of ulcerative colitis. I was so dehydrated from that, and drinking so much water (but not really replacing any electrolytes in the process) that it made me (more) ill. Now whenever I think about water, I just almost can’t bring myself to drink it. The only exception is when we are eating out, which we don’t do often. If we are sitting down to a nice meal at a restaurant, I’ll drink water most of the time and be fine. Weird stuff.

[tomsre]

I didn't realize so many people walk around somewhat intentionally dehydrated. 😄

[JB14]

I stopped drinking coke, then coke zero about 5 years ago and switched to soda water. I currently have a soda stream at work that we hacked to run off a 20lb CO2 tank. I fill the soda stream bottle from the 5 gallon water jug and carbonate the water so that it's super bubbly, Topo Chico carbonation levels. I have 5 or 6 of these through out the day, so 6L there. I also have a ALDI LaCroix (Belle Vie or something like that) for breakfast or on my drive into work. In the evenings, I have a few beers, so lots of liquids for me. I've been that way my whole life.

[K82]

If you have kidney stones then yes a lot a water helps prevent them. But my contention is that kidney stones are often from excess uric acid and oxalates as opposed to shortage of H20. Dogma purports that uric acids comes from purines from meats, but I believe(which I acknowledge is not the same thing as truth) that seeds are high in urates(so grains and hence ubiquitous). Also hepatic processing of fructose(and etoh) produces a lot of uric acid. Oxalates are found in grains and vegetables. Unlike uric acid, oxalates have no physiologic purpose for the human body.

My stones are Ca oxalate. I had my first stone around 3 yrs ago. I found out that spinach has a TON of oxalates in it and I was eating a bunch of spinach (spinach smoothies, spinach salad at lunch, etc). I wasn't drinking enough water at the time so a bad combination. I cut out the spinach and now drink 3L H2O a day and no more stones. I suspect that I could eat spinach again with all the water I'm drinking but I'm too afraid to test that theory.

[burritos]

Agree. Therefore lately, I try to chug several ounces of water after each time I urinate so that I don’t get behind on my I/O’s. No joke.

Interesting. I too monitor my I/O's but since I partake in this peculiar behavior, it's just O's for me for 23 hours. During dinner, just food, fruit, a glass of etoh and maybe 1-2 glasses of water over the course of 1-2 hours. No anuria for the last 3 years, normal daily UO. I even spit throughout the day maybe 1/3 a cup as to minimize sialolithesis. J/K, I just like spitting.

[BruinBones]

i don't have a target
but the older i get the more i noticed when i am dehydrated, it just presents as fatigue rather than thirst…

Agree. Therefore lately, I try to chug several ounces of water after each time I urinate so that I don’t get behind on my I/O’s. No joke.

[wideopenspaces]

Previous kidney stone. I drink 3L a day pretty religiously. The pain from a kidney stone can do that to a person. Also, I weigh 160 lbs and exercise regularly, nothing tastes as good to me when I'm thirsty than water.

Yeah I admit the only time water tastes good to me is after a longer run on a real hot day. Then there's nothing better.

[burritos]

From clinical experience I see the opposite—the lower the SES the less water and the more other beverages a person drinks

Good call, no doubt there is a positive correlation between soda/candy/junk food and low SES.

[burritos]

If you have kidney stones then yes a lot a water helps prevent them. But my contention is that kidney stones are often from excess uric acid and oxalates as opposed to shortage of H20. Dogma purports that uric acids comes from purines from meats, but I believe(which I acknowledge is not the same thing as truth) that seeds are high in urates(so grains and hence ubiquitous). Also hepatic processing of fructose(and etoh) produces a lot of uric acid. Oxalates are found in grains and vegetables. Unlike uric acid, oxalates have no physiologic purpose for the human body.

[DamageInc]

From clinical experience I see the opposite—the lower the SES the less water and the more other beverages a person drinks

Agreed. Hence my surprise that so many in here seem to not drink much water.

[Lordosis]

From clinical experience I see the opposite—the lower the SES the less water and the more other beverages a person drinks

Lots of Monster , Redbull, and Mt. Dew.

I do not get it from a purely economic point of view either. I never bought one so maybe I am missing something but it appears they are a couple bucks a can. I guess that is cheaper than a $4-5 Starbucks coffee but my coffee costs between 0.10-0.40 a cup depending how I make it.

[Anne]

Is there an inverse correlation between net worth and drinking water? I've never seen such a large anti-water drinking cohort.

Fwiw, I drink anywhere between 8-14 cups of water daily and feel noticeably worse when I drink less. However I can freely drink and use the bathroom anytime during the workday so that is not a limiting factor.

From clinical experience I see the opposite—the lower the SES the less water and the more other beverages a person drinks

[K82]

Previous kidney stone. I drink 3L a day pretty religiously. The pain from a kidney stone can do that to a person. Also, I weigh 160 lbs and exercise regularly, nothing tastes as good to me when I'm thirsty than water.

[NumberWhizMD]

When I'm not pregnant, I drink a ton. When I'm pregnant (currently ready to pop), I can't drink enough on top of my usual.

I tend to be pretty active, and notice a huge difference when I'm not drinking as much water. I avoid most caffeine (looking forward to my one cup of coffee post-pregnancy...haven't been able to tolerate this whole time). I do drink alcohol occasionally when not pregnant, but can't have much or feel the effects. I've started doing more electrolyte solutions instead of just straight water, as I feel like I get more bang for my buck. This is especially helpful on the days when I am more active, as I just can't seem to get enough fluids.

Pre-pregnancy I would guess I drink a minimum of 80-90oz daily, in addition to eating a mostly plant-based diet (i.e. getting water from my foods too).
Pregnancy, I don't feel good unless I'm getting 100+ per day (and will drink quite a bit during the night to make up for what I don't get in during the day).