water consumption? Need help!

[jmstoge]

Now I've always heard about the benefits of drinking water in body building however, I have a couple questions....

The first..
How can I figure out how much water I should be consuming daily in order to achieve all of good ol' H2O's benefits? I've heard a half gallon to a gallon, I've heard half your body weight in ounces, I've heard a lot of things. So I would appreciate it if someone could set me straight on that.

Second..
I'm just curious, How is it that drinking water when your body is not telling you that it needs it healthy? If water cleans everything out, then theoretically wouldn't it wash out all of the good things in your system along with the bad things?

 

[Ngordyn]

listen to your piss

if its clear ur good

if its starting to get yellow drink up

 

[bigsahm21]

Water doesn't really clean out the bad things in your blood. Your kidneys function to cleanse your blood primarily of toxins and some excess of good/necessary nutrients that are in your bloodstream in excessive quantities. Extra water doesn't mean you're going to clean out more of the good things, it just means your urine will be more diluted because of the extra water volume.