A couple weeks ago I challenged myself to drink half of my body weight in ounces of water each day. My first week was a bit of a struggle but the second one went much, much better! I plan on continuing this challenge but thought I’d share some thoughts.
First, this challenge was definitely a challenge for me!
I am SO glad I did it though. I definitely learned a lot about how important it is to stay hydrated throughout the whole day. I know you can google the internet for all the reasons why it’s important to drink water so I thought I’d just share some of the things I found helped me be successful.
Before we get to those, though, here are some of the benefits I saw: more energy (seriously!), less head aches, and I didn’t have the urge to snack as frequently! So many wins! Ok…now to some tips…
- Plan out when you are going to drink your water. I did this by deciding what hours of the day I was really going to focus on drinking. I made sure to eliminate hours I was asleep (duh!) as well as hours in which I know I may be too busy to get drink water. I ended up with a 12 hour period which I felt gave me flexibility because I definitely ended up with more than 12 hours to drink each day. Just divide how many ounces you need to drink by the number of hours you have dedicated to working on the goal! (For example: 120 ounces/12 hours= 10 oz each hour!)
- Buy a big water bottle. I tried it both ways: dividing the water into separate bottles to drink throughout the day and also just filled up one big jug of water. I found that the latter worked best for me. It was encouraging to see the water level go down. I used this plastic 101.4 oz water jug and refilled it as needed. Super affordable!
- Use water flavorers, if you need. My favorite water flavorers are from Crystal Light. I love the Mango Passionfruit flavor or the Strawberry with caffeine if I am in need of a little extra boost!
- Be honest with yourself, and remember tomorrow is a new day! Ditch that perfectionist attitude, it won’t help you get anywhere! I am always working on this. This goal isn’t too hard or impossible to meet, you can do it. Remember to give yourself grace and move forward each time you don’t meet your goal!
Here are some great products you could use to help with your water consumption:
Bubba Water Jug– it’s huge and insulated
This hilarious (and huge!) water jug to keep you going
Of course, you could always use a Cricut machine to do your own hydration markers using a cute SVG file from Etsy. I like this one!
I am really glad I tried this out and plan on continuing it from here on out. I can feel a difference! The past 14 days have been a learning experience and I could always tell a difference from when I got enough water or didn’t!
xoxo
Nicole
