Water, the magical fluid of life has been banished to the back row of convenience store fluid popularity by calorie laden sugar bomb soft drinks and “sports” drinks that never quite quench your thirst, but leave you always digging for change in your pocket to buy just one more.

Are you carrying around a few extra pounds that no amount of mad dog dieting and exercise can seem to get rid of? The solution might be found in water, my friend. The truth is most of society is chronically water-deprived. Did you know one of the liver’s main jobs is to convert fat to energy? Don’t drink enough water and it puts a strain on all your body systems, including the liver and kidneys, forcing Mr. Liver to do a less than stellar job at fat conversion.

Maybe that’s why your ankles and thighs are fat, or your belly paunches out more than it should. Simple solution. Drink more water. And don’t whine about how you hate the taste. Chances are, you’re just not used to it. Stick it out. Stay dedicated for a good length of time. The transformation in your body might make you a true believer.

How much should you drink? One reason it seems every expert has a different answer is that the need for water varies from person to person. It really is an individual thing. Here are three approaches you might take to approximate how much you should be pouring down your gullet.

Replacement: The average urine output for adults is about 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) a day. You lose close to an additional liter of water a day through breathing, sweating and bowel movements. Food usually accounts for 20 percent of your total fluid intake, so if you consume 2 liters of water or other beverages a day (a little more than 8 cups) along with your normal diet, you will typically replace the lost fluids.

Eight Glasses a Day: Another approach to water intake is the “8 x 8 rule” — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The rule could also be stated, “drink eight 8-ounce glasses of fluid a day,” as all fluids count toward the daily total. Though the approach isn’t supported by scientific evidence, many people use this basic rule as a guideline for how much water and other fluids to drink.

Dietary Recommendations: The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

But all that aside, if you drink enough water so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce about 1.5 liters of slightly yellow or clear urine a day, you’re doing good work. Keep it up.

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