Oprah Winfrey vs Tom Brady: Water Habits Compared

The TB12 (Tom Brady drinking water regimen) seems very extreme but very efficient, while Oprah’s simplistic approach might seem too easy. This article will explain what both hydration approaches involve and what the academic literature says. At the end, I will decide, which hydration routine is the best?

Here is Why You Should Drink Water Like Oprah and Not Like Tom Brady

Keeping well hydrated is important to staying healthy. According to WebMD, your body needs water to help it maintain all of its functions. 

The average body of a healthy adult is made up of around 60% water and it needs to maintain its hydration levels so that it can regulate a number of things.

For instance, your body needs water to create saliva, aid digestion and maintain its body temperature.

There are lots of ways to stay hydrated but I want to look at 2 different approaches from well-known public figures. The first approach to hydration is from Oprah and the other approach is based on Tom Brady’s water drinking regime. I’m going to argue that you should follow in Oprah’s footsteps, but steer clear of Brady’s insane regimen.

Let’s first start by understanding how each of them stays hydrated.

 Tom Brady Drinking Water Habits?

The Tom Brady drinking water habits and regimen are outlined in his book, “The TB12 Method: How to Achieve a Lifetime of Sustained Peak Performance.” The Super Bowl champion quarterback for the New England Patriots describes his regime as drinking at least half of his body weight in ounces of water every day. 

He describes this as the “bare minimum” because you should really be doing more than that. He says that the water you drink should ideally have added electrolytes too.

So what does this mean in practical terms?

Well according to the NFL records, Tom Brady weighs around 225 pounds. When you use the hydration formula from his book, this translates to 112 ounces or approximately 14 eight-ounce glasses each day. Let’s bear in mind that this is the “bare minimum”. On particularly active days, Brady talks about how he can drink up to 300 ounces of water (or 37 cups).

Brady’s 37-cups a day of water is far greater than pretty much any other professional recommendation.

According to a report from The National Academies of Medicine, the average healthy adult male should drink around 15.5 cups (3.7 liters) of water each day, while healthy adult female should get around 11.5 cups (2.7 liters). You should not forget that around 20% of your hydration each day comes from the food you eat. Once you take out the 20% from food then you only have to consume 12.4 cups if you’re a man and 9.2 cups for women.

Taking all that into consideration, drinking 37 cups is probably over doing it at best and downright dangerous at worst.

How Does Oprah Drink Water?

Who doesn’t love Oprah Winfrey? A billionaire media mogul, critically acclaimed actress, producer and women’s empowerment advocate. Oprah is both a shareholder and a spokeswoman for Weight Watchers.

She has openly admitted many times that she is not a fan of drinking water.

Yet Oprah has also stated that drinking water was an essential part of her 30-pound weight loss success.

Understanding the importance of hydration to her health lead her to find clever ways to drink more water.

In an E news interview Oprah says, “I don’t really like water but I’m grateful to have it.” She continued by saying, “I’m drinking right now, like right now as I’m talking to you all, I’m drinking a tea. It’s like water infused with ginger and a hint of vanilla—I’m trying to trick myself that way.”

Why Is Oprah’s Approach Better?

To put it simply, Tom Brady’s 37 cups of water a day is like putting a fire-hose to your mouth.

First of all, you should never put a fire-hose to your mouth.

Second, drinking too much water is very dangerous and it can lead to hyponatremia, which is also known as water intoxication.

Hyponatremia is a condition that can prove to be fatal.

The Oprah approach, on the other hand, is about first acknowledging that you don’t drink enough water and then finding ways to encourage yourself to drink more.

She does this by infusing her water with fruits and herbs, which is smart because this also has extra health benefits.

Apart from the extra vitamins and nutrients, it may also mean you eat more fruit while preparing them to infuse.

The sad fact is that most people are dehydrated, in fact some reports claim that as many as 75% of US citizens are chronically dehydrated. This is alarming because water is essential to a properly functioning body.

You should proactively keep yourself hydrated even if you aren’t training or trying to lose weight.

But hydration is not the only benefit you will experience from maintaining a good level of daily water intake, your general health and well-being will improve as well.

A good place to start is to calculate the right amount of water you should be drinking each day.

Use a daily water intake calculator to work out the right amount of hydration you need according to your body weight.