Drinking water is something that most of us understand is important for our overall health and wellness. Despite this fact, many individuals still beg the question of “How much water should you drink a day?” There is quite a bit of information online helping to navigate how much water one should drink, which adds to the confusion on top of that. We will hopefully give you a decent rule of thumb that you can apply to your daily life.

To make this as simple to follow as possible, we can split this up into male and female categories to define how many cups you should drink in a day.

Males

• 4 Liters or 16 cups of water per day

Females

• 3 Liters or 12 cups of water per day

Although this seems overwhelming at first, we have to remind ourselves that there is quite a bit of water in food itself. Because of this, you will likely be getting a decent amount of water within your food, especially if you eat a large amount of fruits and vegetables.

Another point to consider is how physically active you are. if you are someone who is very physically active or someone who lives in a warmer climate, you will likely need to increase the water intake simply because you sweat more on a daily basis.

Lastly, if you are a larger individual you will also need to increase your overall water intake above the baseline recommendations we gave today. The bigger you are, the more you will sweat in order to keep the temperature of your body in homeostasis. Getting to the recommended water intake may seem challenging, but remember to get in as much as you can, when you can. If you know you are going to be busier throughout the day, it would likely be advantageous to drink more water earlier in the day to “plan ahead.”