Stay hydrated is something that took me a awhile to get used to. I think years ago I may have had a redbull and a coffee but that was the extent of my hydration. If you would have told me that I should be drinking 8 glasses of water a day I’d have laughed at you. Now my liquid intake is super important to my training and diet and something I take pretty seriously. I wanted to share with all my readers what I drink daily before, during and after my workouts.
Each day I aim to drink upwards of 1 gallon of water a day, but honestly I usually never make it to a full gallon. I also am not quite sure that would be good for me and I have read some articles that say drinking that much fluid a day could be damaging or harmful, so what I do is make sure I am constantly drinking and even when I am not thirsty I drink. The goal is to never actually feel thirsty, because when you feel thirsty you are already dehydrated. I stay on top of my water intake by carrying a 16 ounce shaker bottle like the one above as well as a 32 ounce shaker bottle.
Let me break down the mathematics here:
Four 32 ounce jugs of water = 1 gallon (128 ounces of water is 1 gallon)
Eight 16 ounce shakers of water = 1 gallon
Basically that’s a crap load of water a day! Even when I feel like I am drinking non stop all day I still never get to the gallon, but I try. Especially on work out days it is a bit easier to get the gallon goal because of the water you drink during and after your workout.
A quick snapshot of the water and drinks I have throughout the day:
1. First thing in the morning when I wake up I drink 4-8 ounces of water. (example: a half or full poland spring regular size bottle). This helps me to get fluid into my body first thing, before food.
2. I work out in the morning so I take my 32 ounce jug and fill that with cold water. To that I add the powders I use for my workout. This covers my recovery, endurance and supplements for joints and skin.
– 1 scoop of BodyTech BCAA & Glutamine powder
– 1 scoop of RSP Nutrition Watermelon flavored training powder
– 1 scoop of Reserveage Collagen Replenish Powder
3. During the day time at work I have my 32 ounce jug and fill it with fruits like the following in order to cleanse and keep the water tasty so I want to drink it throughout the day. Every time I pick the jug up, I take 5-8 big sips. Even if I am not thirsty and I wind up refilling the jug 2-3 times while at the office from 9-5 each day. I like to add lemons, limes, cucumbers, mint or orange slices to my water
4. I always keep water in my car with me in the passenger seat. Whether its my jug of fruit infused water or it’s plain water, I always have it with me to sip while I am driving.
5. For post workout on days that I am not going to go and make some actual food after, I opt for a protein shake. Now, be careful with protein shakes at the gym smoothie bar. I only get a scoop of whey protein and a banana. The rest is water and ice. I don’t necessarily trust the shakes that are made at any smoothie bar especially when they add things like peanut butter because they usually use a pump and I can’t log that in myfitnesspal accurately. So I stick to 1 scoop of chocolate whey protein by Gaspari Myofusion and a banana. This protein shake is 20 ounces so that is additional water consumed.
6. Before bed I always make one last 32 ounce jug of water and make sure it has BCAA powder in it to help with recovery of the muscles over night.
As you can see I am constantly drinking but notice that I make sure to have ways to make it enjoyable. If you just stick to plain old water you’ll likely never get close to a gallon a day. The reason I drink so much water is that I have found it helps to flush my system and also prevents me from actually retaining water. Bloat is not any girls friend so the more water you drink the less you hold onto – I know, it doesn’t seem to make sense but it does. When I started to increase my water intake I felt full longer throughout the day, I felt less tired and groggy, my stomach and digestion was a lot more regular and I had less bloating and cramping. In general, I highly recommend finding ways to drink more fluids a day and make sure to take the right supplements as well. This is my current routine with the powders and fruits I add to my water, if I do update it again I will make sure to do another post.
Products mentioned in this post to get your jugging and hydrated asap:
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