Last week I shared with you my Health Goal for my 40 Days of Fanatical Focus - in addition to increasing my exercise I wanted to drink more water each day.
I am happy to report that I have been doing much better and most days I drink my whole water jug full! I must admit this has been a bit of a struggle for me. I confess – I am a diet soda drinker. I know it’s not great for me and my high school senior daughter loves to tell me how it causes cancer – but just about everything causes cancer these days, doesn’t it? I was proofreading a paper for my sweet college boy a few weeks ago and he cited a study that made the claim that ice cream causes cancer – yes, ICE CREAM! I refuse to buy into that one! But I have limited myself to a diet soda every other day.
Since drinking water is a bit of a challenge for me I have had to come up with some ways to make it easier and increase my intake. So today, here are my Top Tips for Drinking More Water:
1. Set a goal of how much water you want to drink each day and have someone hold you accountable. I place my big water jug on the counter each day so the rest of my family can see how much I have drunk. I don’t like drinking out of the big jug so I fill and refill a smaller water bottle until the big one is empty.
2. I place a smaller water bottle next to my bed and when I wake up I try and drink the bottle of water within 20 minutes of waking.
3. I carry a water bottle with me everywhere, I keep one on my desk and always take one in the car with me.
4. Before I drink a diet soda I make myself drink twice the amount of soda in water.
5. Each time I crave something sweet I drink some water first.
6. Before each meal I also drink another 8 ounces of water – it’s amazing how it decreases my appetite.
7. After each trip to the bathroom (and these are more frequent with all the water I’m drinking) I drink another 8 oz. of water or so.
8. I get real tired of drinking just plain old, flavorless water so I have found some different things to add to my water bottle to make it easier.
…I love adding those cute little individual packets of Crystal Light to my water. They come in all kinds of fun flavors – the Classic Orange is my current favorite. They are so easy to just throw in your purse too!
…If you’d like something a little less sweet my Aunt Dawn recently told me about True Lemon and True Lime. It is also a powder but it tastes like you just squeezed some fresh lemon or lime juice into your water. I found it at Safeway. It is light and refreshing.
…I also purchased a box of Greens to Go at Costco. Honestly – despite the advertising on the box that says “Guaranteed Great Tasting” I think it tastes like you are drinking grass but it really does make me feel better after I drink it. (I drink it really fast). In the late afternoon when I hit a little energy lull I mix some up and I really feel better afterwards and I am sure it is better for me than a diet soda!
9. I drink a bottle of water after I get back from my morning walk to rehydrate.
10. Finally, make it a contest. Find a partner – your husband, friend or neighbor and see who can drink the most water each day. Make sure there is some kind of reward or prize for the winner!
Do you have any tips or tricks for drinking more water? I’d love to hear what they are. Please share by leaving a comment below or if you are reading this in an email update or rss feeder please remember to click through to the blog post to leave your comment.
Happy Drinking (water drinking that is!)
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You can also get True Orange. It’s not in any of our local stores, but the website says it exists.
I drink my water at room temperature – not cold. I find I can drink more at a time this way and I’ve actually learned to like it better than ice water.
When I worked in an office, every time I got up from my desk to walk further than 10 steps away (which was most of the time), I would take 10 big sips of water from my water bottle – including when I got up to go to the restroom. I soon found I was drinking more than a gallon of water a day! Also, I recently started adding Benefiber to my water bottles because I was trying to increase my fiber intake. It totally dissolves and you can’t taste it at all. I get the big container at Costco.
That is a great challenge and one I need to take up. My problem is that I find myself the thirstiest right before bed. I will drink two or three large glasses of plain tap water to try and quench my thirst.
Now, I just fill a large Big Gulp cup with crushed ice and water. I drink it and refill it until the ice melts and there is no more ice.
Oddly, I think I must get a lot of water in my… if, and that’s a very big “if,” I can refrain from pouring Diet Coke in the Big Gulp cup in between refills.