Water is essential for us, but what’s the bet you’re not drinking enough? I know I definitely don’t, but I try to as hard as I can. For a couple of months now, I’ve been consistently hitting my goal of 2L / per day (excluding teas, etc) and so, coming from someone who was lucky to drink a glass a day, I thought I would impart my (not so great) wisdom onto you all. We all know the benefits of more water; more energy, better skin, overall health, etc etc, so this is an important one! Enjoy!
Water Bottles
Considering the hype about health, there are always new water bottle fashions. Voss was one, then we all had to have that flat A5 water bottle, then a metal eco bottle…
Get a water bottle that you like. I know I never promote buying something as a good way to start a habit you’d like to make consistent, but this one does work. I have a couple of different water bottles that I use, but I always make sure I know EXACTLY how much water they hold so I can track how much I’m drinking. I mainly use a cheap plastic water bottle that’s 1L from the supermarket, and keep refilling it until it falls apart. I aim to get through two of these a day.
Task Measure
Drink every time you have a task – every time you check your phone, open an email/text, a new scene plays on TV, you watch a new youtube video – whatever. Even set it as on the hour every hour, you have to take a drink. This can be a sip or more, but set that habit for yourself to just keep going. This is what builds the habit.
Apps/Trackers
If you need to, use apps on your phone to track how much water you’re drinking. I tend to remember (two of the same bottle is pretty easy) and mark off in my bullet journal at the end of the day if I reached my goal or not, and at work I used to make little check boxes for each 500mL bottle I went through. There are heaps of ways to track water intake, just go through them till you find the one that works for you.
Flavouring
If you hate the taste of water, flavour it with fruits or even cordial if you must. Just get it into you, and figure the logistics of it out later. Flavoured water is better than none at all.
Challenge Yourself
It might be useful to challenge yourself if you’re competitive (or even a friend), by doing a week or two where you have to drink a certain amount of water per day. Challenging/games are very effective tools! Treat yourself at the end of it to a brand new water bottle, or maybe just an ice cream.
Deadlines
Give yourself deadlines – for example, if you’re really struggling, try to get down 500mL in half an hour. We manage to get water down before some types of ultrasounds, blood tests, etc, so it’s possible. Use that.
I hope this helped!
Zoe x
Come chat!