A Vision Quest: The Blog of a Big Loser to Win

What a can of worms! 
 
I've heard, read, and been told to aim for 2-1/2 liters of water per day. For me, and the operative word is you know who, this has proven to be the most beneficial. 
 
I've had kidney stones on a couple of occasions and, for those of you who have avoided this experience, I can tell you this is something you want to avoid at all costs. One doctor told me that when I feel thirsty, it's already too late; that I'm becoming dehydrated. Dehydration is a recipe for more kidney stones because the stuff that makes them begins precipitating out of the blood if you don't drink enough water. Given the fact that 13% of men get them (http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2007/hmkidney.htm), I prefer to err on the side of prevention if I can. 
 
I should mention, too, something that the Snopes article has overlooked, and that is that retained fluid is not the same thing as fluid that your body can use. People who don't exercise enough will get swollen ankles which comes from fluid retention. But, it does them no good whatsoever to it to pool in their extremities. 
 
One thing I noticed when I first started drinking more water was that I had to make more pit stops than usual for the first few days. But, there came a time when my body shed a lot of excess water, probably because it "knew" that it didn't have to hold onto every precious ounce. 
 
Rather than seeing how little we can get away with, I think we can all benefit from taking in a bit more than we think we need, especially as the weather begins to warm up.