Quench Your Thirst

After several posts about food and food preparation I want to dedicate today's post to another very important, yet oftentimes underrated, part of your diet. Fluids.
While taking in enough fluids is essential to increase your performance in the gym and to improve your physique, it does also matter what kind of fluids you put into your body. 

Water

Plain, old H2O should make up the majority of your daily fluid intake since it has several health and performance benefits. Water keeps your organs functioning properly, reduces excess sodium from your body, controls the body temperature, helps digesting, transporting and absorbing nutrients, clears toxins, and hydrates your muscle cells. Lean muscle tissue is composed of  75% water and water plays an important role in cell volumization, so proper hydration is essential for muscle growth. 

The rule of thumb is to drink roughly around .45oz. of water per pound of body weight, so at my current weight of around 265lbs., I should be drinking at least 120oz. of water per day. However since I have usually very intense, read sweaty, workouts in the morning, my body requires much more than this to function properly.
The American College of Sports Medicine recommends the following water intake to replenish your body when exercising: 20oz. before exercise, 10oz. every 15 minutes of exercise and 40oz. for one hour of workout.
Since I am also using water to mix my protein shakes, I end up drinking on average between 1.8 to 2 gallons of water per day.

So where does all this aqua come from? Besides the week before a competition in which I solely rely on bottled spring water to have more control over the nutrition content of my fluid intake,  I drink tap water, fountain water or bottled water. 

Distilled water can have an adverse effect on your performance, since it leeches electrolytes out of your body.
I personally do not mind the plain taste of water, but if you are having a hard time taking enough water in, try mixing it with artificial, zero-calorie flavors such as MIO Liquid Water Enhancers to add some taste.  

Soda

A.k.a sugar water. If you are serious about bodybuilding, loosing weight or improving your athletic performance, you should stay away from these liquid calorie bombs as far as possible. A regular 12 oz. can of Coke for example has 145 calories, coming from 39 grams of carbs (pure sugar), a 20oz. bottle of Sunkist, a whooping 320 calories, 84 grams of sugar and a whole bunch of artificial coloring chemicals. 

Diet Soda

While these zero calories drinks are definitely a better option than their high calorie regular soda cousins, drinking diet sodas can never replace water intake, since it's, duh, not water. However they can be a nice treat every once in a while and make a good drinking option at social occasions.   

Juice

Fruit juices are oftentimes perceived as healthy, however in reality, they are almost as bad as regular sodas. Yes, they do offer more vitamins than sodas, but the number of calories and the amount of sugar are almost the same, for example a 16oz. bottle of apple juice contains 240 calories and 52 grams of sugar.

However, in the off-season, I sometimes take advantage of their high sugar and carb content and use them in my post-workout shake to provide me with quick, fast acting carbs and energy.During pre-contest, I don't even look at them.

Energy Drinks

Again, sugar, sugar, sugar and to top it off some caffeine, which is a diuretic and actually promotes water loss. So in addition to adding a whole lot of empty calories to your diet, you are also depriving your body of water.

If you cannot live without the additional energy, stick at least to sugar-free, low calorie energy drinks, but carefully read the nutrition label before buying, since the serving sizes and therefore the calories vary from brand to brand. My personal favorite in this category and go-to energy drink is Monster Absolutely Zero Energy Drink , which does neither contain any sugar nor any carbs or calories. 

Sports Drinks

During intense workouts sports drinks, such as Gatorade, Powerade, etc. can actually be a better choice than regular water since they contain sodium which helps the body to hold onto water and to guide it into muscles and blood. The containing sugars however can be a double-edged sword though. Yes, on the one hand they will provide your body with carbohydrates and therefore energy, but on the other hand also with a nice amount of calories. So if you are not training at medium or high intensity or if you are preparing for a bodybuilding competition stay away from them and stick to H2O.  

Only because it says "Sports", "Vitamin" or "Health" on the label does not necessarily mean that it is also good for you.  

Tea

Regular brewed tea is very low in calories and according to several studies actually offers several health benefits, such as reduced cancer risks, lowered cholesterol levels and prevention of blood clotting, through antioxidant polyphenols. So regular, black, green or white tea would make for a great addition to your liquid diet as long as it isn't sweetened with sugar or diluted with milk. Try using all-natural zero-calorie sweeteners such as stevia instead and keep in mind that tea also contains caffeine, which as I mentioned earlier promotes water loss.

The health benefits of sweet tea and ice tea are greatly reduced and these beverages are usually full of sugar and calories so stick to regular brewed teas if you're opting for this choice of beverage.   

Coffee

Black, unsweetened coffee by itself only has 5 calories per cup but unfortunately also a good amount of caffeine (DUH!!!). As long as you don't consume 600mg of caffeine or more, drinking coffee can actually be considered adding to your fluid intake but to a much lesser extent than plain water.

As for tea, drink your coffee plain or try only adding calorie-free sweeteners to it and avoid any milk, cremer, whip creme or other shennanigans. 

Alcoholic Beverages

I know I am not going to make any friends with this but alcohol and bodybuilding do not really go well together. We all heard of the many health issues caused by excessive alcohol consumption but what concerns me more is the huge amount of empty calories in alcoholic beverages that will just cause you to gain weight and ruin your hard work in the gym. Don't get me wrong I am not demonizing alcohol or its consumption and actually enjoy a drink or two myself every now and then during the off-season, but when it comes to dieting and preparing for a competition I am as dry as the Atacama desert. 

Happy belated Independence Day. Cheers ( with Water or Diet Soda only)!!!