Drinking enough water is one of the biggest challenges on this new way of life. It helps cleanse you from the inside, and helps wash away those fat cells. But drinking enough, especially when you first start LCing, seems like a daunting task.

The minimum amount of water you should be drinking is 64 oz. There are 2 theories on how much more you should be drinking; add 8 oz for every 25 pounds extra weight you have, or divide your weight by 2.2.

So how much is 64 oz?

8 oz = 1 cup
4 cups = 2 pints or 1 quart
8 cups = 2 quarts = 64 oz
2 quarts = 1/2 gallon (so for those of you who thought you were required to drink "gallons", well it's really only a half a gallon minimum)

In metric measures, 64 oz = 2 quarts = 2 x .946 = 1.9 (let's say 2) litres

How does that compare to what you would have normally drank during the day before LCing?

1. Did you easily drink more than 6 mugs of tea or coffee a day? A mug is about 10 oz. 6 mugs of coffee a day is about 60 oz.

2. Did you drink a whole super jumbo giant sized 711 slurpie or soda? They are 32 oz. 2 of those filled with water would be your minimum water.

3. The average can of soda (in Canada) is 355 mL. If you drank more than 5 cans of soda a day, and it were water instead of soda, that would be just about 64 oz

4. Those big plastic bottles of soda - 2 litres, just about 64 oz

5. Do you drink pints of milk from those cardboard containers? 4 of those is the equivalent to 64 oz.

The bare minimum of 64 is NOT really as much as we think it is. It's a big number, but not really a lot to drink when you put it in perspective. Add in few extra glasses of water above the 64 oz, and you are still not really talking about a lot more. So lets stop wrestling with this big water hurdle. We probably already drank that much fluid before. We just need to replace it with good old H2O

Good post Angela

And for those of you bent on freaking out over a pound or two or three gained a day......


16 oz = 1 pound
64 oz = 4 pounds

So basically you drink 4 pounds of water a day. Hence why you end up sometimes weighing more at night than first thing in the morning.

So get off those scales at night! And drink the water required so you don't store that much water weight!

Bottoms up!

Of course the brits are different (or is it the other way round)

1 Fluid oz = 1 Fluid oz (on this we agree)

20 Fluid oz = 1 Pint

40 Fluid oz = 1 Quart

160 Fluid 0z = imperial gallon

1 pint = 570ml
1 quart=1.2 litres

So 64oz is 3.2 pints or 1.82litres (phew) Its hot work doing all these sums. I think I need a drink of water.

Big pint of course!

Rustpot: Thanks for the additional info. I wanted to post some British equivalents, but had no idea what you used. I was under the impression that most of Europe was metric.

Over here we buy milk in plastic bags. 1 liter per bag, packaged in lots of three. When I try to visualize my desired water intake, I think of a three litre package of milk. It doesn't seem like much at all now!

You are right we are metric Kilos and Litres.

But.... You can still go into a pub and buy a "pint". Burgers are still sold as "quarter pounders" and my recipe books stubbornly refuse to rewrite themselves.

Market stalls are now not allowed to sell you a pound of apples.

However provided you avertise the correct metric value you can still give the imperial equivalent.

The butcher will still give you a pound of minced beef but measure out 450 grams!

Schools obviously teach in metric it is only the golden oldies like me who can and want to remember the "pound of flesh".

Surprisingly most people refer to their own weight in stones and pounds. 14 pounds to a stone. and not kilos. Go figure as they say.

I'm sorry Angela, but I had to read the sentence about milk 3 times..... we sell milk in pints, quarts, 1/2 gallons and gallons.

Water:

I have 4 64 oz clear containers. I also have water in various size bottles for when I go in the car - they fit my cup holder. So, I always grab a bottle on the way out.

I have some smaller size - 1 liters each too, so, basically the botton shelf of my fridge is water!!! I like my water super cold.

I rotate the bottles as I fill them so cold ones are closest to the opening.

I have no clue how much water I actually drink - but I believe it is more that the 64 oz.

P