paloewi

I have a big question about liquids. They always say to take your body wait, divide by 2, and drink that many fluid ounces each day. I, however, am somewhat overweight. I tend to sweat. A LOT! I have heard of various alterations to the prior equation adding and such what you sweat off. Unfortunetaly, I dont really know how much I sweat, and when I come home from a long ride or a run, I am really really thirsty. If I drink until comfortable, how at danger am I off over hydrating. You occasionally hear horror stories of amateur endurance athletes dying of overhydration. How at risk am I?

How much is a good amount to drink?

I am 6 foot 3 (190 cm) and weight about 190 pounds (86 kilos). I am also 17.
How much is too much, and how much is too little? What about my thirst?

thanks a heap

Peter

joeprim

I don't know. But one cause is to much water without salt. Make sure you include snacks or sports drinks with your water and you should be ok. I really think the ones that get into trouble force water in thinking it is good.

Tokyo huh I was there in '75. I'll bet it's changed. Do you really ride in that traffic? I spent most of the time I was there in Nagasaki. I really liked it there.

Joe

Az B

6'3" and 190 is not really overweight. At most you are on the heavier side of healthy.

Hyponatremia is actually very rare and mostly only occurs in extremely long endurance events. If you're out riding 40 miles at a vigorous recreational pace, there's really no way you could induce hyponatremia unless there's something else wrong. I wouldn't worry about it.

Also, as the other poster mentioned, make sure you eat something as part of your recovery.

Az

EJ123

Yeah im 16, 6;4 at 247. haha you're lucky.

slowandsteady

Who is they? If you are thirsty then drink. The easiest way to figure out if you are drinking enough is to weigh yourself before and after exercise. The weight should be the same. It also helps to have a good scale that is accurate to a tenth of a pound. 8 glasses of water a day should be the MINIMUM. Half your body weight in oz of water would be 12 cups of water. For vigourous exercise drink 12-16 oz of water an hour ingested every 15 minutes. This will vary based on outside temp as well.

What isn't clear from your post is whether you drink during your ride. You seem to suggest that you wait until you come home to drink.

ericgu

At 6' 2" and 190, I considered myself overweight but there are few who would agree with me.

During the day, you should be drinking fairly constantly and your urine should be close to clear. If it's yellow and/or you don't take a trip to the bathroom for 5 hours, you probably aren't drinking enough. Being hydrated before exercise will help you a lot.

If you drink based on thirst after exercise, it's pretty hard to drink too much.