Easy way to save not ounces but a couple pounds off your pack!!!!

I think I have explained this enough times now and can’t be bothered to re-explain it any more. This is not a ‘cleaning product’ that someone claims ‘it works’. You are a human being and you process water the same as the next human being so it will work for you guaranteed. The only difference is how much water intake you do. Start with small quantities then up it from there to be safe. And if you don’t want to then cool :-)

See you guys :-)

Nah you haven’t explained it. You merely exclaimed in effect “Hey, repeat after me, believe me it works! There are others who believed me, and it worked for them! You’ll be surprised guaranteed!” That’s not explanation.

And when somebody challenged your claim of drinking excess water and massive weight savings, you accused them of getting “bogged down with the nitty gritty” and stated that you couldn’t care less. That’s not explanation either, that’s throwing toys out of your pram.

I have no scientific data, nor test results and I could not care less for them.

Shame….

Andrew Skurka wrote a blog post a few weeks ago explaining why he prefers cooking in pot vs freezer bag cooking.  I guess we should dog pile on him since he didn’t provide scientific data and explanation as to why that technique works for him.

I don’t start hiking until I have a massive number 2 which saves me serious weight.  Don’t believe me?  bring your scale to the crapper next time, I wont post a pic showing my scale weight….. this technique is not for everyone

@Monkey: I think you are just trying to give me a hard time for no reason mate but for your own entertainment!! It’s pointless and silly that you are focusing so much on refuting something you have not tried. You can have a go at this method at home too, not just in the field AND enjoy the other health benefits  (also mentioned several times but check on the net). If you do not want to then DON’T DO IT, but then arguing against it is not really coming from an educated/experienced side is it?

“Nah you haven’t explained it. You merely exclaimed in effect “Hey, repeat after me, believe me it works! There are others who believed me, and it worked for them! You’ll be surprised guaranteed!” That’s not explanation.”
-Your laziness to read posts is not my problem for you to have missed the information. You can start with my edited OP that I decided to amend the other day.

“And when somebody challenged your claim of drinking excess water and massive weight savings, you accused them of getting “bogged down with the nitty gritty” and stated that you couldn’t care less. That’s not explanation either, that’s throwing toys out of your pram.
-You know, if I was being challenged by someone who has had a good go at this then that is fine, I would be having an educated conversation. With you on the other hand….you are refuting with what definitely appears to be nil experience (judging by your replies of the subject) and as above clearly shows with not a proper grasp of the concept in the first place. It’s up to you to properly understand what is being talked about otherwise you are talking of apples whereas the focus is on oranges.

It would really pay for you not to respond before having a go at this several times (check OP for instructions) even at home and experimenting with different quantities to see how it affects your body, energy levels of the day etc etc.

Cheers

There are a few physiological statistics that no one has yet mentioned, and I think they are integrally related to this discussion:

The average human stomach can absorb about 500 cc (~1 pint) of water per hour.

The average human kidneys (assuming you have 2 of them) can filter about 1000 cc, or 1 liter, of blood (and remove any excess water) per hour.

Water passes from the stomach to the small intestine via osmosis. It is absorbed immediately by the blood vessels of the intestine. If the body senses that the plasma is already fully hydrated, then no water will pass from the stomach to the blood. It will just sit there and slosh around until the plasma begins to lose some of its water content.

Facts are facts. What you do with them is up to you.

Skibbs
Me too…
Easy for me because for over 20 years* I had my morning weight loss at around 6:45 (within a few minutes of that) and took me less than 2 minutes to do it.
* never on Sunday.

There’s an optimum amount of water that can be consumed at any one time. Go below it, that’s bad.  Drink more than what’s needed, it’s wasteful and inefficient. Diminishing returns. Very simple really.

Minimalism is all about finding balance. I know from my 8 years of backpacking Arizona that not carrying enough water in dry climes can be deadly. There are a lot people who die from dehydration after getting lost (which is way easy to do). Each year the Superstitions alone claims a few lives. I’m the biggest gram weenie ever, yet at times I’ve carried 5 liters….and I always made sure I’d  be able to find a TOTALLY RELIABLE water source ahead.

David Drake are you back?

It may be worth remembering that runners HAVE died from drinking too much water. It’s called hyponatremia. Noakes of S Africa is a recognised expert on this. The excess water alters the osmotic balance in your body: take that too far and you will have problems. This is why it is often better to take the extra water in with some food. (The Bushwalking FAQ has a few pages on this too.)

This NOT an endorsement of so-called electrolyte sports drinks. Most of those are disguised sugar and salt and yuk. Some people have made up their own versions to properly address the balance needed: the good ones of those are rather different.

All that said, I can’t see much harm from having a big drink after breakfast before you start walking. I do that too, although I don’t think I could manage anything like 1 L!

Cheers

You can start with my edited OP that I decided to amend the other day.

Really? And then you will decide to amend it again so that I can start again? What a waste of time.

geez…

One benefit of BPL having international contributors is that I get exposed to cultural differences.  For example, in the US, “fanny” is a rated G version for posterior; in the UK, it means something else entirely.

To help better understand what’s going on here, does “hydration” or “camel up” mean “yo momma” and “do something inappropriate to a camel” in other countries?

Flame on.

If the body senses that the plasma is already fully hydrated, then no water will pass from the stomach to the blood. It will just sit there and slosh around until the plasma begins to lose some of its water content.

That doesn’t sound exactly correct. Water does not sit in the stomach waiting for the hydration needs of the body. The moment water hits the stomach it is ready to be passed along into the small intestine for absorption into the bloodstream.

In other words all water, including excess water, goes into the person’s bloodstream. It then becomes the kidneys’ job to maintain concentration of stuff in the blood at correct levels, and so any excess water (along with the other stuff that’s too much in the blood) is rejected by kidneys away as urine.

That “sloshing” feeling of water in one’s stomach can be due to one or more reasons: stomach empties itself gradually; if it’s busy digesting food the water will have to wait until its finished; or the normal function of the stomach may be affected due to illness etc…

You can beat a dead horse to water, but you can’t make him camel up.

Just make sure you wear a tie when you do it. :^)

I’m reminded of a couple I met one morning who were filling their camelbacks. They were hiking 9 miles along a river to a lake, where they would camp. I suggested that they didn’t need to carry the water, as it was abundant on their route. No, they replied, you never know…

when the Merced River in spring might dry up over the course of six hours.

No one needs to camel up…start out well hydrated and look at your map. If there’s water ahead, don’t carry it! sheesh.

”

You can start with my edited OP that I decided to amend the other day.

Really? And then you will decide to amend it again so that I can start again? What a waste of time.”

Listen buddy, I have been more than patient with your negative antiques and your snippy comment above is inappropriate especially since you were refuting things without even understanding the ideology in the first place :-(.

I DID NOT amend the info, I clarified it for those (like yourself) who could not understand the basics.

Cheers

Do you recommend to start small, say 10-50ml, then work up to 1000-3000ml over time ?

It is a bit interesting to see how emotional we can become regarding water intake.   All I know is that a few years back I became dehydrated on a trek near Yosemite.   I had chosen to carry less water expecting water at a place I had found water before.  That year however was drier and no water.  Being dehydrated was pretty devastating experience.   So since then I made it a practice to drink at least one litre of water with EmergenC in the morning before hiking and carry a litre with EmergenC and drinking it during the next hour.   I would have a litre of water (no EmergenC)  at lunch and one in the afternoon.   I would have a litre of water around the dinner hour.    I don’t like carrying water but sometimes you have to in the Sierras.     But I carry as little as possible depending on next water sources.     I do pee a lot, I guess, but at my age I pee a lot no matter how much water intake I have.  I live near sea level and don’t drink as much at home. I wonder if hiking at the higher altitudes demands more water.    All I know is I hate carrying water and I will never become dehydrated again.  I have not experienced ill effects at all and I haven’t scientifically examined this.  To be honest I have been working from fear.   DEHYDRATION is scary to me.   Peeing is fun.

Just wanted to get my punches in on the dead horse.

From what I have read, and from personal experience, drinking large amounts of water at once does not hydrate as well as repeated small sips and it has to do with mixing your water with saliva. I don’t have a study on hand, but my guess is that chugging a quart at once will result in a lot of it ending up as urine, which is fine, and drinking a quart over a couple of hours in small sips, moving it around your mouth to mix it with saliva, will be better absorbed. That’s what I do when I hike and it works well for me, FWIW.

Maybe liquid consumption is just different for different people!

I know that my experience is exactly like Katharina’s — SO little is absorbed that it’s not worth the bother to consume it all at once.  But my old (male) hiking partner can consume a full quart and not have to pee for an hour or so afterwards (!), so obviously not everyone reacts the same way.

The whole issue also depends on hiking conditions — hotter vs. cooler environments, high elevation vs. low elevation, etc.  Since I’ve done so much desert hiking, I just consider myself lucky that I can get by on less water than most people.

I do sort of what Mik is suggesting

Drink maybe 1.5 liters in the morning.  Plenty of clear urine.  After an hour any excess urine is gone.

Carry and drink 0.5 liter during the day.  If it’s hot, stop in middle of day and drink another liter.  If I was somewhere with little water I’d have to carry more.

At the end of the day, sometimes I’m a little dehydrated – urine is yellow.  So I’ll drink more then.

No reason to carry extra water, I’ll just pee it out anyway.  Assuming I’m a healthy person.

Funny how people can get all exercised about a topic like this : )

Plenty of clear urine.
Well you have just confirmed the problem with that kind of thinking.
Urine should not be clear, that is a clear (!) sign that you have drank too much and are a good candidate for hyponatremia.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/50-shades-of-yellow-what-color-should-your-pee-be.html

And from :
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hyponatremia/basics/definition/con-20031445
Hyponatremia is a condition that occurs when the level of sodium in your blood is abnormally low. Sodium is an electrolyte, and it helps regulate the amount of water that’s in and around your cells.

In hyponatremia, one or more factors — ranging from an underlying medical condition to drinking too much water during endurance sports — causes the sodium in your body to become diluted. When this happens, your body’s water levels rise, and your cells begin to swell. This swelling can cause many health problems, from mild to life-threatening.
.

In the woods, you’re not peeing into a bowl of water, so unless you’re using a pee bottle, it’s hard to detect how yellow your pee is from your stream.  If your stream looks yellow during the day, you’re probably a bit dehydrated.  Obviously, it will be more concentrated when you first pee in the morning regardless of your hydration.

Just my opinion, but I think if you are eating any significant amount of salt in your trail snacks (personally, I’m eating a lot of salty nuts/chips/sesame sticks/etc. on the trail), it is impossible to drink enough water to cause hyponatremia.

“Just my opinion, but I think if you are eating any significant amount of salt in your trail snacks (personally, I’m eating a lot of salty nuts/chips/sesame sticks/etc. on the trail), it is impossible to drink enough water to cause hyponatremia.”

+1 Of course, for the literalists out there, it wouldn’t be impossible per se…but come on.

some folks in this thread have people expiring of dehydration if they follow the op’s advice; others warn of hyponatremia. Either we’re all imbeciles who don’t know how to drink water on the trail, or everybody needs to get out more after a long winter.

anyway, I’m with Jerry: I like my pee nice and clear! Despite what Franco’s scary bodybuilders tell me, right before they try to sell me an expensive bottle of maltodextrin and a lifetime membership.