How Much Water Do You Need To Drink Each Day To Lose Weight

Good hydration can improve your mood, sleep, and overall health and wellness. Find out if your water intake is adequate by using this simple tool.

It's important to drink enough water every day, but fluid from water-rich foods will help you hit your hydration goal.Valentina Barreto /Stocksy

Calculating the amount of water you need to drink daily is more complicated than you may think. That’s because hydration needs are far from one-size-fits-all.

How Much Water Do You Have Drink A Day?

In general, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine suggest that each day women get a total of about 2.7 liters (L), or 11 cups, of fluid and men get about 3.7 L (16 cups). Not all of that fluid has to be water intake. Whole, nutrient-rich foods and beverages, including the following, also count toward your fluid intake:

Compared with people born female, those born male generally need more fluid to support their increased body mass, lower average body fat, and increased calorie burn each day.

Hydration needs are influenced by the surface area of the body, metabolic rate, and body weight, per a paper published in the July 2016 Annals of Family Medicine. As a result, as body weight increases, fluid needs increase as well, notes the University of Missouri System.

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Similarly, when someone is pregnant, they require additional fluids to maintain amniotic fluid levels and keep the baby growing steadily, as PennState discusses. If you're nursing a growing baby, you’ll need to drink more fluids so that your body can make enough milk, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

As the Mayo Clinic points out, the foods you eat will also affect your hydration and the amount of fluid you’ll need to drink. For example, if you get ample fruits and veggies each day (both of which are packed with hydrating fluid), you won’t need to gulp down as much water.

If you eat a lot of these foods each day, you won’t need to drink quite as much. But if your fruit and vegetable intake is low on any given day, a few extra glasses of water will compensate for the fluid you’ll miss.

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O. As the American College of Sports Medicine points out, the intensity and duration of exercise affects how much you sweat and your subsequent fluid needs. According to a study published in Sports Medicine in March 2017, genetics and how accustomed you are to a given climate can also influence sweat volume.

Unfortunately, calculating exact hydration losses from physical activity is complicated, because people sweat at drastically different rates, according to the American College of Sports Medicine. In other words, even in the exact same conditions, two people of the same gender, weight, and with similar diets will sweat differently — and thus need different amounts of fluid.

While water intake needs vary, one thing is for sure: Meeting your personal hydration needs each day will have a tremendous benefit to your health.

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Indeed, as the Harvard School of Public Health points out, good hydration keeps the body functioning properly, lubricates joints, and regulates body temperature. The university also notes that good hydration helps you sleep better, think more clearly, and even puts you in a better mood!

Drinking water gradually throughout the day is important. Too much water at one time may increase the risk of a condition called hyponatremia, which occurs when the electrolytes in the body become depleted. As the Mayo Clinic states, hyponatremia may be life-threatening.

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Holly is a doctor of osteopathic medicine and board-certified physician. She holds a Bachelor's in dietetics and is also an NASM certified personal trainer.

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Elise is a registered dietitian with a Master's degree in nutritional sciences and founder of The Flourished Table, an online nutrition coaching and consulting business.

Water is an essential part of your diet that often goes overlooked when talking about daily nutrient intake. Your body depends on water for a number of physiologic functions, and without it, you could not survive.

Water is necessary to digest foods, remove wastes from your body, maintain a normal body temperature, protect your organs and tissues, carry blood throughout your circulatory system, and lubricate your joints.

Water Intake, What Is Enough?

According to the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, adequate daily fluid intake is about 3.7 liters of fluids a day for men (15.5 cups) and about 2.7 liters of fluids a day for women (11.5 cups).

However, this will vary based on body weight and physical activity. For instance, individuals who are more active lose more fluids through perspiration and require higher amounts of water to maintain adequate hydration.

Similarly, people who live in warmer climates require more fluid intake on a daily basis. If you lose fluid through illness, such as gastroenteritis or a urinary tract infection, you will need to drink more water to replace these losses.

Hydration Tips For Children [infographic]

Similar to how we need to maintain a calorie balance every day to maintain our current weight, the amount of water we drink or consume each day needs to match the amount of water that our bodies lose.

Our main water losses are through urination and sweat, however there are also water losses through the digestive tract and even when we breathe.

The contribution of water we consume from food is estimated to be around 20–30%. The majority of water, around 70–80%, is provided by what we drink.

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The amount of water that you need to drink each day will vary based on your level of activity and how much time you spend in the heat. Most adults need to drink 1/2 to 1 ounce of water per pound of body weight, plus 12 ounces for every 30 minutes of exercise or heat exposure.

While this does vary between individuals based on their sweat rates, this is a good way to estimate how much water you should aim to drink during the day.

For example, a sedentary person weighing 180 pounds would need to consume about 90-180 ounces of water a day. This assumes they do no exercise and do not spend any time in the heat.

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On the other hand, if this same person exercises for 60 minutes and spends another 30 minutes outdoors in the heat, they would need to drink an additional 36 ounces of water, bringing their total water consumption to 126-216 ounces of water.

One cup is equal to 8 ounces. So, when trying to determine how many glasses of water this is equivalent to, you simply divide by 8 ounces.

This may seem like a lot of water, but as you can see, 15.75 cups is very close to the recommendation from the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. And when more exercise or hotter weather is accounted for, the need for water intake increases.

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Keeping your body hydrated is essential for overall fitness and also aids in maintaining a healthy weight. Studies have shown that when coupled with good nutrition, drinking an adequate amount of water can increase weight loss.

Another benefit of staying well hydrated is that this can also decrease hunger cues. This helps you cut back on calorie intake throughout the day.

Research has also found that drinking water prior to a meal can help cut back on calorie consumption when combined with a lower-calorie diet. In one study, participants who drank two 8-ounce cups of water prior to each meal lost more weight than those who did not drink water prior to their meals.

How Much Water Do You Really Need To Drink Each Day?

The key is to avoid dehydration, as this can hamper weight loss. In addition, many people confuse thirst with hunger. You may find that when you are dehydrated, you feel more hungry, which leads to increased calorie consumption and weight gain.

Another benefit of drinking water is that this helps you cut out sugary, high-calorie drinks from your diet. Choosing water instead of soft drinks or sugary juices helps you avoid empty calories