DIY Sports Drink Calculator

A homemade electrolyte drink is a mix of water and a small number of ingredients, each contributing sodium, potassium, magnesium, carbohydrate, or calories in known amounts. Totaling those contributions and scaling them to a per-liter concentration gives a figure that can be checked directly against standard hydration targets, rather than trusting a label.

Water volume, in milliliters, fluid ounces, cups, or liters, sets the base the ingredients are diluted into. Ingredient types include table salt, lite salt, baking soda, sugar, honey, citric acid, and magnesium citrate, plus custom sodium or custom potassium entries for anything not listed, each with its own milligrams-per-gram concentration. Amounts can be entered in teaspoons, tablespoons, grams, or a pinch, which is treated as approximately 0.36 grams for conversion. Lite salt substitutes a portion of its sodium chloride for potassium chloride, which is why it contributes to the potassium total in a way plain table salt does not, and the custom sodium or custom potassium entry exists for any product, salt substitute, or supplement whose milligrams-per-gram figure is not one of the built-in options.

Results total sodium, potassium, magnesium, carbohydrates, calories, and an estimated osmolality, then scale everything to a per-liter concentration for comparison against a target profile: light activity, moderate activity, intense activity, or the World Health Organization rehydration solution. The WHO profile targets roughly 720 milligrams of sodium and 390 milligrams of potassium per liter with about 20 grams of glucose, while a light-activity target runs 200 to 400 milligrams of sodium per liter, a useful reference for telling an everyday hydration drink from a genuine electrolyte replacement. The per-liter figure is what actually gets compared to a target, not the totals for a specific batch, so doubling the water volume and every ingredient together changes nothing about how the drink measures against a profile.

Homemade electrolyte drinks replace commercial sports beverages at a fraction of the cost while giving full control over sodium, potassium, sugar, and flavor. The scenarios below illustrate how ingredient adjustments serve different hydration goals.

• Endurance Training: A high-sodium drink for runs, cycling, or triathlon sessions lasting more than 90 minutes uses the intense activity target profile, table salt plus a small amount of lite salt, and enough sugar to provide 30 to 60 grams of carbohydrate per liter for sustained energy.
• Everyday Hydration: A light electrolyte drink for daily water intake uses a pinch of table salt and a pinch of lite salt per liter with minimal sugar, keeping sodium within the light activity range of 200 to 400 milligrams per liter.
• Illness Recovery: An oral rehydration solution follows the WHO rehydration profile: table salt, lite salt, and sugar in proportions that approach 720 milligrams of sodium and 390 milligrams of potassium per liter with roughly 20 grams of glucose.
• Keto and Low-Carb Diets: Electrolyte intake without added sugar comes from salt, lite salt, and magnesium citrate alone, contributing zero carbohydrate and zero calories while still meeting sodium and potassium targets.
• Hot-Weather Labor: A high-volume batch for outdoor work crews scales the water volume to several liters, with salt and sugar added in proportion so the per-liter concentrations stay within the moderate or intense activity range across the full volume.
• Pediatric Hydration: A mild electrolyte drink for children reduces salt amounts and uses honey, for children over 12 months, as the carbohydrate source, checked against the light activity sodium target to avoid over-concentration.
• Cost Comparison: Matching the same electrolyte targets as a commercial sports drink label with table salt, lite salt, and sugar often reduces the cost per serving by 80 percent or more.