{"id":2413,"date":"2020-08-17T05:23:27","date_gmt":"2020-08-17T05:23:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/?p=2413"},"modified":"2020-08-17T05:31:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-17T05:31:03","slug":"what-happens-when-you-drink-a-gallon-of-water-a-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/17\/what-happens-when-you-drink-a-gallon-of-water-a-day\/","title":{"rendered":"What Happens When You Drink a Gallon of Water a Day?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes from a month-long hydration quest.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Aleta Burchyski<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/pocket-image-cache.com\/direct?resize=w2000&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.outsideonline.com%2Fsites%2Fdefault%2Ffiles%2Fstyles%2Fimg_600x600%2Fpublic%2F2018%2F12%2F20%2Ffitness-aleta-water_s.jpg%3Fitok%3DNzSE89AB\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Photo by Hannah McCaughey.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I am that person who hates <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/2148776\/new-rules-hydration\">drinking water<\/a>. Where others enjoy a satisfying thirst quencher, I suffer through a barrage of sulfur, algae, swimming pool, and old metal pipes. Most days I avoid the issue entirely, subsisting on coffee, herbal tea, and the occasional LaCroix. But a few months ago, I began to suspect that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/2293821\/best-ways-hydrate-according-us\">chronic dehydration<\/a> was the reason I continually felt tired and achy. So, in an effort to overcompensate my way to better life habits, I decided to slosh through a feat known across the internet as the Water Gallon Challenge: drinking a gallon per day for a month, with the promise of glowing skin and a lot more energy. Given my taste sensitivities, I went the filtered route and brought with me a hoard of limes, cucumbers, and sea salt, plus an emergency stash of electrolyte mix and a journal to track my energy, yoga performance, and bathroom breaks. Here\u2019s how it went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 1:<\/strong> I\u2019m peeing every 15 minutes. How in the hell am I supposed to get anything done?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 2:<\/strong> I did not think it was physically possible to pee more than I did yesterday (21 times), yet here we are, 23 times. Additional instances of bodily rebellion include an afternoon of mild nausea and a slight headache.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 4:<\/strong> I didn\u2019t feel like a 70-year-old woman when I got out of bed this morning. I deep-cleaned my house with the stamina of an old-school Disney princess. Is water the magical cure for the generalized fatigue my doctor insists is not a real thing?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 5:<\/strong> Yes! Water is <em>life!<\/em> I no longer hobble into my day with my feet and spine curled up like dry leaves. I thought this experiment would be miserable, but I totally get it now. (Though to be clear, water\u2014even filtered water\u2014still tastes disgusting without flavor enhancements.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 7:<\/strong> Can we talk about how good I am at yoga right now? My hamstrings are much more flexible, and my back bends with ease. Even better, I have energy afterward, and I\u2019m not horribly sore the next day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 10:<\/strong> A switch to water that\u2019s been ultrapurified by reverse osmosis (plus \u201ccarbon polishing\u201d and UV sterilization) has proved revelatory. It\u2019s fully palatable and delicately sweet, without a hint of chlorine. I\u2019m now the proud owner of a refillable three-gallon jug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 14:<\/strong> I crave water first thing in the morning instead of coffee. I don\u2019t recognize myself anymore.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 19:<\/strong> The peeing has decreased to ten times per day. I\u2019m still acutely aware of how much water I\u2019m flushing down the toilet, so I\u2019ve donated $30 to Charity: Water, which funds clean-water projects in 26 countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 24:<\/strong> My massage therapist confirms that my muscles and fascia are noticeably looser. She\u2019s shocked to learn that before this, in the two-plus years she\u2019s been trying to fix my body, I had been drinking barely any water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Day 32:<\/strong> Oops, the month is over and I didn\u2019t even notice\u2014hydration is routine, and I\u2019m loving it. Am I going to keep guzzling 128 ounces every day? Not unless I\u2019m sweating buckets. But you better believe I\u2019ll keep sipping on glorious, ultrapurified water like my well-being depends on it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Fluid Dynamics<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nicole Lund, a nutritionist at New York University\u2019s Langone Sports Performance Center, explains the basics of hydration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>How much:<\/strong> \u201cProper hydration means 85 ounces of water a day from food and beverages, plus more to replenish what you lose when exercising.\u201d (That\u2019s roughly four ounces of water for every quarter-pound of weight lost during your workout.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Energy and performance:<\/strong> \u201cPhysiological changes occur even in the early stages of dehydration, including decreased blood volume and less oxygen delivered to working tissues. These changes make it harder to sweat, which will increase body temperature and heart rate and make you feel more fatigued during exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Bathroom breaks:<\/strong> Frequent trips to the restroom are normal with increased water intake, Lund says. \u201cAs with anything else that you change drastically, your body needs time to adjust if you start drinking a lot more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>The bottom line:<\/strong> \u201cWe all wake up slightly dehydrated. The easiest change you can make is to have a big glass of water first thing in the morning.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Notes from a month-long hydration quest. Aleta Burchyski Photo by Hannah McCaughey. I am that person who hates drinking water. Where others enjoy a satisfying thirst quencher, I suffer through a barrage of sulfur, algae, swimming pool, and old metal pipes. Most days I avoid the issue entirely, subsisting on coffee, herbal tea, and the<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link\">\n\t\t\t\t <a href=\"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/2020\/08\/17\/what-happens-when-you-drink-a-gallon-of-water-a-day\/\" class=\"theme-btn theme-btn-line hvr-bounce-to-right\">Read more<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[107,106,108],"class_list":["post-2413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nutrition","tag-hydration","tag-water","tag-weight-loss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2413"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2416,"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2413\/revisions\/2416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fitadelphia.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}