About 20% of your day by day water consumption comes from meals.
Learn that once more if you happen to’re on a GLP-1 treatment. As a result of when your urge for food tanks and also you go from consuming three full meals to selecting at half parts twice a day, that 20% mainly disappears. You’re not simply consuming much less. You’re ingesting much less with out realizing it.
A pharmacovigilance research printed in Frontiers in Pharmacology analyzed hostile occasion experiences for GLP-1 drugs and located that semaglutide carried the very best threat of dehydration-related occasions amongst all GLP-1 receptor agonists studied.
Dehydration additionally produced the very best proportion of significant outcomes within the dataset. That’s not a scare tactic. It’s a reminder that hydration on these drugs shouldn’t be optionally available background noise.
Why GLP-1 Drugs Make Dehydration So Simple
The treatment isn’t a diuretic. It doesn’t instantly flush water out of your physique. However it creates at the very least 4 situations that quietly drain your hydration ranges.
First, lowered urge for food means lowered meals consumption, and meals carries water. Fruits, greens, soups, yogurt, even cooked grains all contribute vital fluid. When these meals disappear out of your plate, so does an enormous chunk of your day by day water.
Second, GLP-1 drugs suppress thirst alongside starvation. The identical mind pathways that inform you to eat additionally affect while you really feel like ingesting. With these indicators turned down, you’ll be able to go hours with out water and never really feel any urge to achieve for a glass.
Third, the most typical unwanted side effects of those medication actively pull water out of your physique. Nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea all trigger fluid loss. Constipation (additionally frequent) means your colon is pulling further water from waste, leaving much less for the remainder of your physique.
Fourth, and this one will get missed quite a bit: while you drop a few pounds quickly, your physique releases saved glycogen out of your muscle mass and liver. Every gram of glycogen carries about 3 grams of water with it. The quick early weight reduction on GLP-1 drugs features a vital quantity of water weight, and that fluid must be changed.
What Dehydration Really Does to Your Outcomes
That is the place most hydration recommendation falls flat. It tells you to drink water as a result of “hydration is necessary” with out explaining why it issues particularly while you’re on a GLP-1 treatment attempting to drop a few pounds.
Right here’s why it issues.
It stalls the dimensions
When your physique senses low fluid ranges, it holds onto water. This exhibits up as water retention, puffiness, and a scale that refuses to budge though you’re in a calorie deficit. Many “plateaus” on GLP-1 drugs aren’t fats loss stalls in any respect. They’re the physique hoarding water since you’re not giving it sufficient.
The irony is brutal. You’re dehydrated, your physique retains water, the dimensions goes up, you panic and eat even much less, which makes the dehydration worse.
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It tanks your vitality
Even gentle dehydration (as little as 1-2% of physique weight) reduces cognitive efficiency, will increase fatigue, and makes train really feel considerably more durable. For those who’re dragging via your days on a GLP-1 and blaming the treatment, test your water consumption first. The drug will not be the issue.
It makes unwanted side effects worse
Nausea intensifies while you’re dehydrated. Constipation will get worse. Complications turn into extra frequent. Dizziness will increase. Nearly each frequent GLP-1 facet impact has a dehydration part, and addressing the fluid deficit typically reduces the severity of signs individuals assume are simply “a part of the treatment.”
It places your kidneys in danger
That is the intense one. Analysis printed within the Annals of Diet and Metabolism has proven that even recurrent gentle dehydration can contribute to kidney harm over time. GLP-1 treatment labels particularly warn concerning the threat of acute kidney harm associated to dehydration from GI unwanted side effects.
Your kidneys want satisfactory fluid to filter waste and keep electrolyte stability. Much less water means much less blood movement to the kidneys, which suggests they’ll’t do their job correctly. This isn’t a theoretical threat. It exhibits up in actual hostile occasion information.
How A lot Water You Really Want
The previous “eight glasses a day” rule is a tough start line, but it surely undersells what most GLP-1 customers want. A greater baseline is half your physique weight in ounces.
For those who weigh 180 kilos, that’s 90 ounces. For those who weigh 200 kilos, that’s 100 ounces. That feels like quite a bit. It’s. And that’s earlier than accounting for train, sizzling climate, or unwanted side effects that trigger fluid loss.
Right here’s a extra sensible framework:
- Minimal baseline: 64 ounces (8 cups) per day, even on days you barely eat
- Higher goal: half your physique weight in ounces
- Add 16 ounces for each half-hour of train
- Add further if you happen to’re experiencing vomiting, diarrhea, or extreme sweating
- Unfold it out. Sipping all through the day beats chugging giant quantities without delay
If these numbers really feel overwhelming, begin with 64 ounces and work up. Getting from “not sufficient” to “minimal” issues greater than getting from “good” to “good.”
Injection Day Hydration: The 48-Hour Window
Unwanted side effects peak within the 24 to 48 hours after your weekly injection. That’s when nausea is worst, urge for food is lowest, and also you’re least more likely to eat or drink. It’s additionally when your physique wants fluids essentially the most.
Consider injection day and the day after as your hydration precedence window. Entrance-load water earlier than your injection so that you go into that window with a full tank. For those who inject within the night, spend the day sipping persistently so that you’re not ranging from a deficit when the unwanted side effects hit in a single day.
On the day after injection, when nausea tends to be strongest, swap to no matter goes down best. Chilly water with ice. Glowing water. Broth. Popsicles constituted of electrolyte drinks. Something that will get fluid into your physique counts. This isn’t the day to be inflexible about your hydration methodology.
Some individuals discover that room-temperature water triggers nausea greater than ice-cold water on nowadays. Others choose sipping heat broth as a result of it settles the abdomen. There’s no common reply. Take note of what your physique tolerates in that post-injection window and lean into it.
If vomiting occurs, it’s good to change what you misplaced on high of your regular consumption. Small, frequent sips (each 5 to 10 minutes) are higher than attempting to drink a full glass without delay, which may set off extra vomiting. Oral rehydration is about endurance, not quantity.
It’s Not Simply Water. It’s Electrolytes.
That is the half most individuals skip, and it’s the half that issues most on a GLP-1 treatment.
Once you eat much less meals, you absorb much less sodium, potassium, and magnesium. These three minerals are electrolytes, and so they management muscle operate, nerve signaling, hydration stability, and coronary heart rhythm. You may drink a gallon of plain water a day and nonetheless be functionally dehydrated in case your electrolytes are depleted.
Signs of electrolyte imbalance overlap closely with frequent GLP-1 unwanted side effects: muscle cramps, fatigue, complications, dizziness, mind fog, and irregular heartbeat. Many GLP-1 customers who suppose the treatment is making them really feel horrible are literally coping with an electrolyte hole that water alone can’t repair.
LMNT electrolyte packets have turn into my default advice for GLP-1 customers as a result of they include a significant dose of sodium (1,000 mg), potassium (200 mg), and magnesium (60 mg) with out sugar or synthetic elements.
Most electrolyte drinks available on the market are mainly flavored sugar water with hint quantities of minerals. LMNT really delivers sufficient to make a distinction.
One packet within the morning, sipped together with your first 16 ounces of water, units a hydration basis for the remainder of the day. The chocolate salt taste blended into espresso is surprisingly good if you wish to mix two habits into one.
7 Indicators You’re Not Ingesting Sufficient
Dehydration doesn’t all the time announce itself with thirst. Particularly on a GLP-1 treatment the place thirst indicators are suppressed, you may be considerably dehydrated earlier than you are feeling any need to drink. Look ahead to these as a substitute:
Darkish urine. If it’s something darker than pale yellow, you want extra water. That is the only most dependable indicator you’ve at residence.
Complications that present up within the afternoon. Morning complications can have many causes. However complications that creep in round 2 or 3 PM, particularly on days you haven’t been ingesting a lot, are nearly all the time dehydration.
Constipation. Your colon absorbs water from waste to keep up hydration. When water is scarce, it absorbs extra, leaving stool dry and exhausting to go. For those who’re constipated on a GLP-1, drink extra water earlier than reaching for a fiber complement.
These first three are those most individuals acknowledge. The following 4 are subtler, and so they’re those GLP-1 customers are likely to blame on the treatment as a substitute of on dehydration.
Dry mouth and cracked lips all through the day imply you’re behind on fluids, even if you happen to don’t really feel thirsty.
Dizziness while you rise up (known as orthostatic hypotension) occurs when blood quantity drops. If the room spins each time you get out of a chair, your physique is telling you one thing particular.
Muscle cramps, particularly in your calves or toes at night time, level to low fluid and low electrolytes. Each are frequent on GLP-1 drugs and each worsen collectively.
After which there’s the fatigue that 4 cups of espresso can’t repair. If stimulants aren’t touching it, the issue might be circulatory, not neurological. Your blood quantity is low. Water will do greater than caffeine.
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Making Hydration Computerized
Figuring out it’s best to drink extra water is simple. Really doing it when your physique has stopped asking for it’s the exhausting half. These techniques assist greater than willpower.
Get a water bottle with time markers. Those that say “8 AM” on the high and work all the way down to “8 PM” on the backside look foolish however they work. Visible accountability beats psychological math each time.
Set telephone reminders each two hours. To not chug a glass. Simply to take a couple of sips. Frequency issues greater than quantity at any single second.
Tie ingesting to current habits. Each time you test your telephone, take a sip. Each time you sit down at your desk, take a sip. Each time you stroll previous the kitchen, take a sip. Behavior stacking turns hydration into one thing you do with out fascinated about it.
Maintain water seen and inside arm’s attain. If the bottle is in your desk, you’ll drink from it. If it’s within the kitchen, you gained’t. Take away the friction.
Entrance-load your consumption. Drink 16 to twenty ounces very first thing within the morning, earlier than espresso. You get up dehydrated after 7 to eight hours of not ingesting something. Beginning the day with water offers you a head begin that makes hitting your day by day goal a lot simpler.
Associated Studying: The GLP-1 Morning Routine for Higher Outcomes
Hydration and Train on GLP-1 Drugs
For those who’re exercising on a GLP-1 (and try to be, particularly resistance coaching), your hydration necessities soar considerably. You’re sweating out fluid and electrolytes on high of already working a deficit from lowered meals consumption.
Drink 16 ounces about half-hour earlier than your exercise. Sip all through the session, particularly if you happen to’re lifting for greater than 20 minutes. And drink one other 16 ounces inside half-hour of ending.
Look ahead to warning indicators throughout train: lightheadedness, a sudden drop in efficiency, muscle cramps mid-set, or a headache that begins throughout cardio. These are your physique waving a pink flag about fluid ranges. Cease, drink, and provides your self ten minutes earlier than persevering with.
Train-related dehydration on GLP-1 drugs can escalate sooner than you’d count on since you’re ranging from a decrease baseline. Individuals who by no means had hydration points on the gymnasium earlier than beginning treatment are generally caught off guard by how rapidly they hit a wall. Pre-loading with water and electrolytes earlier than coaching makes a much bigger distinction on these medication than it ever did with out them.
Meals That Hydrate (When Ingesting Feels Inconceivable)
On the times when even water appears like an excessive amount of, you’ll be able to sneak hydration in via meals. These aren’t replacements for ingesting water, however they’re a helpful complement when your consumption is dangerously low.
Cucumber is about 96% water. Slice it up and eat it with a pinch of salt and also you’re getting fluid and sodium in a single chew.
Watermelon, strawberries, and cantaloupe are all above 90% water content material. They’re additionally straightforward on the abdomen when heavier meals really feel unattainable.
Broth-based soups (not creamy ones) ship fluid, sodium, and heat in a format that almost all GLP-1 customers can tolerate even on high-nausea days. A mug of hen broth at lunch can contribute 8 to 12 ounces of fluid that you just didn’t need to power your self to drink.
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, and gelatin all have excessive water content material and double as protein sources. On days when your urge for food is at all-time low, a cup of yogurt is doing extra work than you suppose.
What Counts Towards Your Consumption (And What Doesn’t)
Excellent news: it doesn’t all need to be plain water.
These all depend: natural tea, decaf espresso, glowing water, water with lemon or cucumber, broth, sugar-free flavored water, and electrolyte drinks. Even caffeinated espresso and tea depend, regardless of the previous fable that caffeine dehydrates you. Analysis has persistently proven that average caffeine consumption doesn’t trigger internet fluid loss in common espresso drinkers.
These don’t depend (or work in opposition to you): alcohol, sugary sodas, vitality drinks with excessive sugar content material, and fruit juices (the sugar can worsen GI signs on GLP-1 drugs). Alcohol is actively dehydrating and likewise amplifies frequent unwanted side effects like nausea and acid reflux disease.
If plain water is difficult to get down (and for a lot of GLP-1 customers, it’s), temperature and taste each assist. Chilly water with ice tends to go down simpler for individuals with nausea. Including a squeeze of lemon, a couple of mint leaves, or a splash of sugar-free taste drops could make the distinction between forcing your self and really desirous to drink.
Smoothies can pull double obligation right here. Mix frozen fruit, protein powder, and water or milk, and also you’re getting hydration, protein, and micronutrients in a single glass. A Magic Bullet blender retains the friction low sufficient that this really occurs every day as a substitute of changing into yet one more factor you meant to do however didn’t.
Pair that with a scoop of Orgain Natural Protein and also you’re protecting hydration, protein, and several other nutritional vitamins in beneath two minutes. That sort of effectivity issues when your urge for food is nonexistent and the thought of getting ready an actual meal appears like climbing a mountain.
Associated Studying: What to Eat When GLP-1 Kills Your Urge for food (However You Nonetheless Want Diet)
What a Good Hydration Day Really Seems Like
Timelines assist greater than targets for some individuals. Right here’s roughly what 80 to 90 ounces unfold throughout a day seems like in observe:
Get up: 16 ounces of water with an LMNT packet earlier than espresso. That is non-negotiable. You slept for 7 to eight hours with out ingesting something and your physique is already behind.
Mid-morning: 8 to 12 ounces of water, tea, or glowing water. Sip between duties, not suddenly.
Lunch: One other 12 to 16 ounces. For those who’re consuming soup, that counts. For those who’re having a protein shake blended with ice and fruit, even higher.
Afternoon: 12 to 16 ounces. That is the window the place most individuals fall off. Set a 2 PM reminder if it’s good to.
Dinner: 8 to 12 ounces alongside your meal. Small sips between bites, not large gulps that fill you up earlier than you’ve eaten sufficient.
Night: 8 ounces of natural tea or water. Taper off about an hour earlier than mattress so that you’re not up all night time.
That provides as much as roughly 80 ounces with none single second feeling overwhelming. The trick is spreading it out so it by no means requires you to power down an enormous quantity without delay.
When Dehydration Turns into an Emergency
Most dehydration on GLP-1 drugs is gentle and fixable with higher habits. However there are occasions when it crosses a line and wishes medical consideration.
Name your physician or go to pressing care if you happen to expertise any of the next:
- Vomiting or diarrhea lasting greater than 24 hours that forestalls you from holding fluids down
- Darkish brown urine or no urine output for greater than 8 hours
- Fast heartbeat or coronary heart palpitations at relaxation
- Extreme dizziness, confusion, or fainting
- Sunken eyes or excessive dry mouth that doesn’t enhance with ingesting
The Harvard/CDC research on semaglutide hostile occasions discovered that almost all of ER visits had been GI-related, and dehydration from these signs was a typical thread. Most of these visits had been preventable with earlier intervention.
For those who can’t hold fluids down after a dose enhance, don’t wait three days to see if it will get higher. Name your prescriber.
A day by day multivitamin gained’t forestall dehydration, but it surely fills within the micronutrient gaps that shrink even additional while you’re shedding fluids. Consider it as one much less factor working in opposition to your physique when you get the hydration piece dialed in.
Water is the most affordable, easiest, most boring software in your GLP-1 toolkit. No one is making viral posts about ingesting sufficient water. There’s no dramatic before-and-after picture for staying hydrated.
However it’s the one factor that makes the whole lot else work. And it’s the one factor that, when it’s lacking, makes the whole lot else more durable to determine.
