Water. Everyone says drink water. It’s healthy for you. It will help you lose weight faster. It will help your skin look beautiful. It will make your whole body run better.
For me, it makes me pee the moment I drink one small glass.
And it’s never just once. With my hectic schedule, I am always in my car. I don’t drink water when I’m in it because I would be stopping to pee every five minutes.
There are those women with perfect bodies, walking around with their work out leggings and tank tops with their water bottles glued to their hips. How to they do it?
More specifically, how does a girl like me get enough water? How much water do you really need? And how can you train yourself to stop peeing so much?
I consulted a weight loss expert and nutritionist. They told me that average intake of water for women is about nine cups (2.2 liters) of total beverages a day.
The great news is you don’t need to rely only on what you drink to meet your fluid needs. What you eat also provides a significant portion of your fluid needs. On average, food provides about 20 percent of total water intake. For example, many fruits and vegetables, such as watermelon and spinach, are 90 percent or more water by weight.
In addition, beverages such as milk and juice are composed mostly of water. Even beer, wine and caffeinated beverages, such as coffee, tea or soda (woo hoo!) can contribute, but they say these beverages should not be a major portion of your daily total fluid intake. (Why not?)
Generally, they say if you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and your urine is light yellow – and measures about 6.3 cups (1.5 liters) or more a day if you were to keep track – your fluid intake is probably adequate.
And the peeing too frequently? The nutritionist said that your mind will get used to the additional water I’m consuming within a month or so, and I’ll go less often. Okay, so I’ll drink more water. And hopefully my body will get used to drinking it, and
I won’t have to pee so much. But I’m most excited about the fact that coffee and wine count as part of my daily water allocation! Cheers!
Barbara Bishop is President of Santa Monica-based BBPR, Inc. For comments or suggestions, email Barbara.bishop@bbprinc.com.
