Last Updated on November 9, 2023 by Fasting Planet
This is it, your first fast. You want to do everything right to maximize your chances of success, and that includes staying hydrated. Since you’re allowed to consume water on your fast, how much should you drink?
On an intermittent fast, you should drink water throughout, with the recommended daily consumption for men three liters and for women, 2.2 liters. By not drinking enough water and not eating, you can become dehydrated very quickly.
In this article, we’ll provide more information on drinking water during an intermittent fast. You’ll learn the importance of hydration, the symptoms of dehydration, and we’ll even talk about some tips for maintaining your water consumption. Keep reading!
How Much Water to Drink on an Intermittent Fast
When you start an intermittent fast, you’re cutting out food for a limited time. You may not be able to consume juices, coffee, milk, or sugary beverages either, but water is just fine. The question becomes, how much of it should you drink?
Before we can answer that question, let’s look a little closer at the recommended daily amount of water you should consume even when not intermittent fasting. As we hope you know, you’re supposed to drink at least eight ounces of water eight times a day. That’s two liters of water daily.
During an intermittent fast, your water needs do increase. Men should aim to consume at least three liters of water in a day. That’s the equivalent of 12 glasses instead of the target eight. As for women? Strive to drink 2.2 liters of H20 on the daily. That too is over the recommended limit of eight, as it converts to nine glasses.
Why Is It So Important to Stay Hydrated When Fasting?
Why should you drink, on average, one to four more glasses of water each day when intermittent fasting? The answer is simple: to stave off dehydration.
You see, when you eat a well-rounded diet, you get a good portion of your water requirements from the foods you consume. This is doubly true if you nosh on a lot of veggies and fruits, as these are considered water-dense. That just means they contain a lot of water.
For example, watermelon has a water content of 92 percent, strawberries 91 percent, cantaloupe 90 percent, peaches 89 percent, and oranges 88 percent. It’s not just fruits and veggies, either. Skim milk is 91 percent water, some soups and broths contain 92 percent water, and even plain yogurt is 88 percent water.
When you take those and other water-dense foods out of the equation, you’re losing about 20 percent of your daily hydration. You then have to make up for that, but, since you’re on an intermittent fast, you can only consume water to do it. Hence why several more glasses than the daily eight are suggested for fasters.
The Symptoms of Dehydration
By increasing your water intake, you’re doing a few things. For starters, you’re at least consuming something. Sure, water has no calories, but sipping it is better than going a full day, maybe longer, without putting anything in your system.
Also, by drinking water steadily throughout your day, you may be able to lessen hunger pangs. At the very least, you’ll feel a little fuller. That can make it easier to get through your first and subsequent intermittent fasts.
Most importantly, drinking water prevents dehydration. While most people think of dehydration as extreme thirst, it’s not nearly that severe in many instances. You may be dehydrated without even realizing it.
Each time you urinate, defecate, breathe, or sweat, some of your body’s water content depletes. This continuously happens, which is why you should always drink at least eight glasses of water a day. When you lose too much water and fail to replenish your supply, you become dehydrated.
Mild dehydration is something we’ve likely all experienced at least once. It includes symptoms like muscle cramps, headache, skin that’s cool and dry to the touch, darker urine, reduced urination, a sticky or dry feeling in the mouth, and a sensation of thirst.
These symptoms are your body’s way of reminding you it’s time to drink. If you continue to ignore your body’s cues for a prolonged period, you could suffer from severe dehydration. This brings with it more serious symptoms.
You may faint, feel irritable and confused, lack energy, and have sunken eyes. Your breathing can increase very quickly, as can your heartrate. Also, expect a dizzy feeling, skin that’s incredibly dry, and maybe even being unable to urinate.
Dehydration, especially in its most severe form, can be fatal. Luckily, your body lets you know it needs water long before you ever reach that point. Make sure you listen to your body cues each day, especially when intermittent fasting.
Tips and Tricks to Help You Remember to Drink Water
The reason mild dehydration is so common is because it gets easy to forget to drink water. You start each day with good intentions, then your busy schedule gets in the way. By the time you’re ending your day, you realize you drank way less water than you wanted to. The next day, you want to do better, but then the same thing happens.
If you’re not busy, it could just be that you’re forgetful. Either way, these tips are for you. Intermittent fasters should follow along especially closely to ensure your hydration needs are being met.
- Set reminders: Your smartphone has a reminder function that lets you choose when you get alerts. Why not use these reminders for hydration? You can set them to be recurring throughout the day and to repeat each day.
- Use an app: If that sounds like too much work, there are countless hydration apps out there that will do all the hard stuff for you. When you download one of these apps, it sends you a notification when it’s time to drink.
- Try a marked water bottle: If you can’t spend much time on your phone during the day, you don’t necessarily have to. If you search around online or at your favorite retailer, you can find water bottles with markings or lines. These tell you how much water you drank and how much is left to go. You can also take your own water bottle and mark it up yourself.
- Drink from a smart water bottle: This is by far the coolest option for staying hydrated. Smart water bottles have sensors that determine how much water you’re drinking. They’re connected to phone apps that can push reminders and give you encouragement as you get close to meeting your daily hydration goals.
- Keep more than one water bottle: As awesome as smart water bottles are, they’re no good to you if you leave yours at home. To combat this, why not invest in more than one bottle? (It does not have to be smart, as that would be expensive!) Then, put the bottles where you go the most, such as the gym, the office, and the car. Now you’re never without drinking options.
- Change up the taste of water: You might get tired of drinking nothing but water. If so, then change it up. By using stir-in water flavor enhancers like Mio or even infusing fruit in your water with an overnight soak, your H2O doesn’t taste so boring anymore. Just make sure you’re allowed to make these amendments on an intermittent fast.
Conclusion
When intermittent fasting, it’s crucial you maintain your hydration. Since you’re losing about 20 percent of the water you’d get from food, you may have to drink between nine and 12 cups of water a day.
This is all to combat dehydration, which can be deadly in its most severe form. There are many ways to remember to drink more water, so figure out what works for you and stick with it. Best of luck!