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I have heard that if you drink a lot of water as a habit, the body doesn't do much retention.

That just means that your body will not retain excessive water.

Therefore, if you are preparing for a hiking in the desert where not much water will be available, is lowering the water intake a few days before the hike a better approach to deal with the situation by adapting gradually to the extreme conditions?

No. When you drink too little and become dehydrated, of course you'll lose less water, because your body will start to inhibit sweating and urination, but you don't want to make yourself intentionally dehydrated before going to desert.

Can you improve water retention by diet?

Yes, to improve water retention, avoid high amounts of protein, which, when metabolized, produces urea, which drags water with it when excreted into urine. For example, eating 100 g of protein (100 g of cheese + a 120 g can of fish + a 150 g can of soybean + 500 mL of milk) can result in loss of ~800 mL of urine (NAP.edu).

Can you improve water retention by certain supplements?

Probably not in a hiking-through-desert scenario. Glycerol and hypertonic beverages high in sodium temporary (for few hours) increase water retention but do not decrease your water needs (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise).

I have heard that if you drink a lot of water as a habit, the body doesn't do much retention.

That just means that your body will not retain excessive water.

Therefore, if you are preparing for a hiking in the desert where not much water will be available, is lowering the water intake a few days before the hike a better approach to deal with the situation by adapting gradually to the extreme conditions?

No. When you drink too little and become dehydrated, your body will start to inhibit sweating and urination, but you don't want to make yourself intentionally dehydrated before going to desert.

Can you improve water retention by diet?

Yes, to improve water retention, avoid high amounts of protein, which, when metabolized, produces urea, which drags water with it when excreted into urine. For example, eating 100 g of protein (100 g of cheese + a 120 g can of fish + a 150 g can of soybean + 500 mL of milk) can result in loss of ~800 mL of urine (NAP.edu).

Can you improve water retention by certain supplements?

Probably not in a hiking-through-desert scenario. Glycerol and hypertonic beverages high in sodium temporary (for few hours) increase water retention but do not decrease your water needs (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise).

I have heard that if you drink a lot of water as a habit, the body doesn't do much retention.

The claim suggests that drinking "a lot" of water will make you dehydrated. This is not likely. It's more that your body will not retain excessive water.

Therefore, if you are preparing for a hiking in the desert where not much water will be available, is lowering the water intake a few days before the hike a better approach to deal with the situation by adapting gradually to the extreme conditions?

No.

Can you improve water retention by diet?

Yes, to improve water retention, avoid high amounts of protein, which, when metabolized, produces urea, which drags water with it when excreted into urine. For example, eating 100 g of protein (100 g of cheese + a 120 g can of fish + a 150 g can of soybean + 500 mL of milk) can result in loss of ~800 mL of urine (NAP.edu).

Can you improve water retention by certain supplements?

Probably not in a hiking-through-desert scenario. Glycerol and hypertonic beverages high in sodium temporary (for few hours) increase water retention but do not decrease your water needs (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise).

I have heard that if you drink a lot of water as a habit, the body doesn't do much retention.

That just means that your body will not retain excessive water.

Therefore, if you are preparing for a hiking in the desert where not much water will be available, is lowering the water intake a few days before the hike a better approach to deal with the situation by adapting gradually to the extreme conditions?

No. When you drink too little and become dehydrated, of course you'll lose less water, because your body will start to inhibit sweating and urination, but you don't want to make yourself intentionally dehydrated before going to desert.

Can you improve water retention by diet?

Yes, to improve water retention, avoid high amounts of protein, which, when metabolized, produces urea, which drags water with it when excreted into urine. For example, eating 100 g of protein (100 g of cheese + a 120 g can of fish + a 150 g can of soybean + 500 mL of milk) can result in loss of ~800 mL of urine (NAP.edu).

Can you improve water retention by certain supplements?

Probably not in a hiking-through-desert scenario. Glycerol and hypertonic beverages high in sodium temporary (for few hours) increase water retention but do not decrease your water needs (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise).

I have heard that if you drink a lot of water as a habit, the body doesn't do much retention.

If you need 2 liters of water in a certain period and you drink 2 liters, your body will keep these 2 liters as long as necessary, and if you drink 4 liters, your body will excrete the excessive 2 liters but keep the necessary 2 liters. It's not that the excessive amount of water would push out the necessary amount of water and make you even less hydrated than after drinking 2 liters. There's no logic and no physiological mechanism for this to occur. So, the above claim needs to be understood as that your body doesn't do the retention of the excessive water.

Therefore, if you are preparing for a hiking in the desert where not much water will be available, is lowering the water intake a few days before the hike a better approach to deal with the situation by adapting gradually to the extreme conditions?

If you need 2 liters of water per day and you habitually drink 4 liters, but few days before the hike you decrease the intake to 2 liters, you will excrete 2 liters of urine per day less than before, which may give you an illusion of "better water retention." But in this case, less urination is just a result of lower water load and not a sign of "adaptation."

If you need 2 liters of water per day and few days before the hike you start to drink only 1 liter per day, you will become dehydrated and your body will actually adapt and inhibit sweating and water loses through the kidneys. But then, this works only until you keep yourself dehydrated, which you probably don't want when hiking.

Can you improve water retention by diet?

Yes, to improve water retention, avoid high amounts of protein, which, when metabolized, produces urea, which drags water with it when excreted into urine. For example, eating 100 g of protein (100 g of cheese + a 120 g can of fish + a 150 g can of soybean + 500 mL of milk) can result in loss of ~800 mL of urine (NAP.edu).

Can you improve water retention by certain supplements?

Probably not in a hiking-through-desert scenario. Glycerol and hypertonic beverages high in sodium temporary (for few hours) increase water retention but do not decrease your water needs (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise).

I have heard that if you drink a lot of water as a habit, the body doesn't do much retention.

The claim suggests that drinking "a lot" of water will make you dehydrated. This is not likely. It's more that your body will not retain excessive water.

Therefore, if you are preparing for a hiking in the desert where not much water will be available, is lowering the water intake a few days before the hike a better approach to deal with the situation by adapting gradually to the extreme conditions?

No.

Can you improve water retention by diet?

Yes, to improve water retention, avoid high amounts of protein, which, when metabolized, produces urea, which drags water with it when excreted into urine. For example, eating 100 g of protein (100 g of cheese + a 120 g can of fish + a 150 g can of soybean + 500 mL of milk) can result in loss of ~800 mL of urine (NAP.edu).

Can you improve water retention by certain supplements?

Probably not in a hiking-through-desert scenario. Glycerol and hypertonic beverages high in sodium temporary (for few hours) increase water retention but do not decrease your water needs (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise).