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Hello! This week I am challenging myself and you (yes, scroller in the supermarket line/bathroom/waiting for yoga class to start – YOU) to hydrate properly.
Hydration Challenge
The challenge: Make sure you drink enough all week.
The goal: To learn how much YOUR BODY needs to be properly hydrated.
How: Track what you drink, how ya feel and your pee.
Who: YOU. (Me too.)
Why: Because being just 2% dehydrated can hurt athletic performance. And we don’t want to make running or Zumba or Crossfit any harder than it already is, right?!
I recently had a call with Laura Daray Sr. Scientist at the Gatorade Sports Science Institute and a hydration expert. Before our talk I sent her my pre run weight, fluid intake and post run weight to determine my sweat rate. Then, we discussed my hydration needs.
I have always said I am a heavy, salty sweater. And the results came our that my sweat rate is average. But, then I remembered I didn’t account for a HUGE iced coffee that I also drank right before I left for my run! So, I need to do this exercise again to double check.
But the good news is you can determine how much you need to drink when you workout the same way.
How to determine how much to drink during a run
1. Weigh yourself (nude) before a workout.
2. Exercise for 1 hour.
3. Keep track of the amount of liquid in ounces that you take in from weigh time to when you are done working out.
4. Record weight after the workout (nude). Subtract starting from finish weight and change it to ounces.
5. Add the ounces of weight difference to ounces of fluid consumed. That is approximately about how much you should drink an hour.
6. Keep in mind changes in climate/season/other will affect this so plan accordingly.
How can I tell if I’m drinking enough
The easiest way to check your hydration is to check your pee. It should be a light lemonade color. If it’s dark you probably have to drink more or are eating weird vitamins or something. If it’s green go to the doctor.
Drinking enough day to day isn’t difficult for me – I struggle BIG in other areas though. So my goal this week is just to make sure I’m staying hydrated in the heat and feeling good.
But, since I had a hydration expert on the phone I asked her the #1 question I get when talking about drinking enough water –
Does coffee count in your water intake?!
Daray said that coffee has a reputation for being dehydrating, but that’s a myth. There has been a lot of research on caffeine and exercise and a lot more has been discovered about coffee along with that. As long as it is in moderate consumption coffee does count toward your water intake. (More info in this study.)
Don’t worry – I’m cutting back and only having one cup 
Question: Do you think you drink enough?
How do you track if you are well hydrated?
What is YOUR goal for this week in checking your hydration?
Disclaimer: This post is part of my partnership with Propel All opinions are my own.
So glad to hear that my coffee problem isn’t harmful to my hydration! I’m doing much better with my hydration nowadays than I have in years past. I go by the color of my pee…
I have a big race on Sunday so I definitely need to step it up a notch and make sure I’m hydrated. Sometimes I forget to drink enough water and then get horrible headaches in the afternoon….so not fun!
No problems drinking water for me. I have a 24 oz cup I fill at least 4x a day and I drink water at home too. My pee is usually pretty light in color. But I did want to comment with one exception. It’s a much darker yellow about 2 hours after taking my multi-vitamin; so that can be deceiving.
Have a great week!
Must admit I’m quite surprised by this. I was always under the impression that coffee did dehydrate you. I am a big coffee fan and have to keep my consumption in check! I’m going a bit off topic here but my personal trainer advised me to drink coffee half an hour before training. I’ve found that it really helps with losing weight. Do you find that this helps too?
I know I drink enough coffee, hehe. I judge my hydration needs on how I feel and on the color of my pee, the last part sounds gross, but it never fails me! 🙂
I used to always carry a water bottle at all times (especially during marathon seasons) and stay hydrated until I developed awful headaches that felt like a hangover. Turns out, over-hydration is a real thing, and it sucks! Gatorade and Nuun after a super-sweaty run have completely wiped out my headaches. Apparently moderation is helpful even when it comes to water!
So true. That has happened to me before. It’s scary because it can be dangerous. Darn moderation – it’s not my strong point.
Gatorade is a formulated sports drink that contains electrolytes in and is designed to replace those that you sweat out during exercise. Of course, we need water for hydration but when we’re exercising those electrolytes are essential. You’re correct, if you drink too much water you can over hydrate. It’s possible to formulate your own homemade electrolyte drinks with ingredients like fruit, salt, sugar, and honey.
Busted! I was totally scrolling while in the bathroom. Sorry for the mental picture.
Ha! Knew it.
I had no clue the coffee thing was a myth! I drink water like a camel, so staying hydrated isn’t usually an issue for me except in the morning… and I know because my pee is usually clear, haha! Loved the post… very informative!
I was finding that on days when I work I generally have a waterbottle in front of me all the time and always drink enough. On my days off, different story. I never thought much about it until I became pregnant and on my days off would have headaches from being dehydrated. I downloaded (free) an App ‘Water Tracker’ where you can sub in whatever your goal is for mL or oz of water/day and it will send you a notification if you fall to far behind. No more headaches!
Good tip about the app! Thanks 🙂
I have an office job, so I always have a water bottle with me and drinking constantly. Keeps me hydrated and moving due to frequent potty breaks. I definitely feel the difference in the weekends when I don’t have my water bottle constantly with me. Need to be better at that!
I carry a huge water bottle around with me with ice and lemon all day. I’m constantly drinking from it. I also have either coffee or tea with me too. I get made fun of at work when I’m carting it around from meeting to meeting, but honestly it works and I feel good!
Hopefully I’m getting enough (yeah, my pee colour is light :P) . I tend to have 1-2 glasses of water after every bathroom visit. (sorry TMI!). I’ve 2 cups of coffee a day – it doesn’t seem to be dehydrating for me.
I sweat so much. And I’m a salty sweater too. I’m not good at guzzling water but get enough most days to have lemonade colored pee 🙂
I am a huge intaker. I probably gain 5 pounds while working out
I am usually pretty well hydrated, I definitely don’t do as well on some days though. The heat has been a good reminder lately, I don’t think about it as much when the weather is cooler.
I do the pee check to check my hydration, it’s easier than keeping track of ounces all the time.
The trick I follow is the drink half my body weight in ounces, and a little more if I’m active!
I like this challenge. I feel like my hydration is usually a little out of whack. I’m also a super-salty sweater. I drink tea CONSTANTLY throughout my day, but it’s always in sips and gulps while I’m running around doing research. I know that I start to feel shock-y and I get a splitting headache when I don’t drink enough fluids though.
This might be a weird question, but I figure if we’re talking hydration among runners I have to ask. Does anyone else have to pee way more often than normal throughout the day after long runs? I wonder if I get super thirsty and over-hydrate after I finish, or if my salt balance gets all screwed up. I feel like anything over 13 miles has me jetting to the john an absurd amount for a few hours afterwards.