I exercise a lot and hydration is very confusing, can you help me?

This is a broad subject and by no means is this answer the most comprehensive. For the sake of simplicity, lets look at hydration in context to four different situations:

1. Basic hydration that is life-sustaining
2. Pre-exercise hydration
3. Exercise hydration
4. Post-exercise hydration

Basic hydration is simple and involves maintaining your water balance throughout the day.  Pure water is perfect for this and you ordinarily need a 1/2 ounce of water per pound of body weight per day.  That's ten 8-ounce glasses a day if you weigh 160 pounds.  For every 25 pounds more, increase it by one 8-ounce glass.

If you are an active, athletic person, you'll need approximately 2/3 ounce per pound, which is a little more than thirteen 8-ounce glasses a day if you're 160 pounds.  The more you exercise and the hotter it is, the more water you'll need.  Spread out your water intake throughout the day and don't drink more than 4 glasses within any given hour. You will urinate more frequently in the beginning, but after a few weeks your bladder will calm down and the frequency will drop while the volume each time will increase.

Hydration before, during, and after exercise requires special consideration.  During these situations, hydration is best achieved by drinking solutions designed to hydrate or provide energy and electrolytes to the body quickly and efficiently.  

Here are a few things you should keep in mind about exercise hydration. The drink should:

1. Taste good so you'll drink it regularly and continuously
2. Contain sodium and carbs to increase absorption in the small intestine
3. Be cold when possible, to prevent over-heating, and
4. It shouldn't upset the stomach.

Pre-Exercise Hydration

Dehydration (loss of 2% body weight) can compromise your exercise performance and may impair your cognitive functions as well. Therefore, if you begin exercise in a state of dehydration you will severely reduce your potential for optimal performance, and should look to address this.

 

The table above demonstrates how to easily assess your own hydration status from the color of your urine, ensuring you begin exercise in an optimal state every time. Start monitoring a day before your event and if you're not in the right range, make the necessary adjustments to reach an ideal hydration level by your deadline.

Exercise Hydration: 

Continuous exercise under one hour does not require additional sodium or carbs, unless you are a Type II Diabetic. But if you exercise continuously for more than an hour, you may require a carb and electrolyte solution to assist in glycogen sparing, supplement glycogen stores later in exercise, and increase water absorption in the small intestine.

The concentration of carbs in your drinks should be 4 to 8 grams per 100mL (approximately 3.5 ounces) or 6-8%.  This range only slightly alters osmolality, which allows for adequate absorption of water with efficient delivery of carbs and electrolytes in the small intestine while minimizing gastrointestinal disturbance and dehydration-related performance decrements.

To calculate carbohydrates per 100mL:

# of carbohydrates per serving/ (volume of each serving/100) = grams of carbohydrate per 100mL of solution.

Example:

Gatorade

14g carbs/ (240mL/100) = 5.83g of carbs per 100mL of solution.

Keep in mind that solutions containing 10% or greater concentrations of carbs generally increase the rate of carb delivery, which may be useful in providing adequate energy for those exercising longer than 1 hour.  However, these high concentrations decrease water absorption in the small intestine due to substantially increased osmolality and cause gastrointestinal disturbances possibly leading to further dehydration and performance decrements.

Post-Exercise Hydration:

Your primary focus here is to restore any fluid deficit and to effectively replenish muscle and liver glycogen stores.

Accurate post-exercise hydration depends on knowing your sweat rate. Which depends greatly on the accuracy of your body weight measurements taken before and after exercise. For example, if you started with 160 lbs body weight and at the end of a long endurance workout you weighed in at 157 lbs (1.88% dehydration) you'll need approximately 60 ounces of fluid and 80 gms of carbs within 30-45 minutes after you stop to fully recover from your losses. More about this in another blog maybe!

I use DietMaster Pro (professional nutritional planning software) to create my clients Diet Plans that are 100% accurate and targeted to their goals. If you are interested in a highly effective Exercise Routine and a supporting Nutrition Plan to improve your health and body composition, contact us at Azhar Therapy & Fitness or call 405-752-7377 to set up an Exercise or Nutrition Consultation.