Hydration during the day

[Andrew G]

Bucket loads of tea and coffee throughout the day and evening. Occaisional glass of water at work just to rinse the fur off my tongue (manky fake coffee). Find water on its tod a bit dull, the touch of fruit ones are nice, though probably full of sugar.

I asked someone at work about water once as they got through bottles of the stuff. Apparantly you get used to it and don't need to keep going to the loo as your body absorbs it, or something like that. She did say it takes a while though and early on she was always dashing to and fro.

[Jon H]

Glass of juice with breakfast.
5 or 6 mugs of (free) instant coffee at work.
Glass of squash after riding home.
Maybe another coffee during the evening.

[-Adam-]

I always have a couple of bottles of water through the day... After at least half a pint of milk at breakfast, then still more water while im home. And always have a can of coke when I get home after a ride...

Wouldn't reccomend drinking coffee and/or tea all day, they're diaretics too you know!? So they'll just make you worse!

[Snoop Doug]

it's diuretic actually

Am I in the pedants club now?

[Bo-Gilly]

" All water intake counts equally including coffee and alcoholic drinks as any diuretic effect is minimal or non-existent; once accustomed to caffeinated drinks, these count and act as any other water intake "

[url]http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/health.html[/url]

[-Adam-]

Fair enough

[George]

I'm on my bike about 16-21 hours a week at the moment, not including the odd ride to the physio, so I get pretty thirsty.

I always have three bottles of water through the day... At least 3/4 a pint of milk at breakfast, then even more still evian while im at home. And always have a can of red bull when I get home after a ride...

Would reccomend drinking coffee and/or tea all day, they're diaretics too you know!? So they'll just make you better!

[Snoop Doug]

you're all a bunch of wusses - I'm off for a glass of wine, hic!

Snoop

[Dominic]

3 to 4 litres during the day dependant on how much time I am in the office. It stops me drinking too much coffee.

Probably about 0.5 litre in the morning before a coffee and maybe 1.5 litres when I get home.

My commute in total is about 1.5hours a day and I always have a drink with me although sometimes it doesn't get touched.

[huw williams]

About 2 litres a day is good including tea coffee and juices

on the coffee theme - obviuosly if its made with milk like the £3 Starbucks Latte's that Andrew no doubt supps on all day - then its less hydrating than water based ones like instant or filter coffee.

The reason coffee is not so good in huge amounts is that its a big inhibitor to certain vitamin and mineral uptake - so all that carefully planned nutrition can get compromised if you drink coffee by the bucketload.

quite funny is seeing people take vitamin c supplements washed down with cappucino

[kieran]

lets see my minimum is about:
glass of water upon waking
tea for breakfast
water, water and more water at work (mayba a glass an hour)
plus 2 coffees and 1 tea, also some herbal tea (nice lemon and ginger) and a innocent smoothie for lunch
Then 1 cup of tea at home in the evening plus a glass of water
1 barley cup going to bed:

so:
coffee 2
tea 3
herbal 1
barley cup 1
smoothie 1
water 10

should be enough?

[adrian]

I have a pint glass of water on the go at work all day, and have about four cups of builder's tea a day. Milk with porridge in the morning and sometimes hot chocolate before bed (yes, I'm livin' the r' 'n' r' dream).

I maybe have a espresso at 11am now and again but don't like to have undercover-cop breath.

(TMI bit)
The other thing to say is that at most times of the day I can strain my greens a bit and always have to get up in the night. But then I had a hernia operation a few years back and I'm sure I've never had as much pushing power since.
(TMI bit over)

[sid_day]

It works for me to keep a 2 L bottle of Mineral water on my desk and try to drink at least 1 L a day depending on the weather.

I just re-fill it from the water cooler on our corridor.

I have read that the body can only absorb about 400ml an hour.

If you are working in air con evironment you will lose water to the dry atmosphere through breathing.

In summer when racing at Beastway I would drink 3L plus throught the day to keep hydrated.

Once dehydrated it is a slow process to catch up again.

[-Adam-]

[quote="huw williams"]on the coffee theme - obviuosly if its made with milk like the £3 Starbucks Latte's that Andrew no doubt supps on all day

[huw williams]

Yes - but you can get those from sources which don't compromise your Vitamin C uptake

there are other good reasons to drink coffee of course - stimulates the metabolism and heightens brain activity - but too much is not a good idea

It's also an interesting training device - in respect of if you don't drink it during the normal course of your training - then you DO drink it before a race, you should see a clear benefit.