It’s SO important to drink water throughout the day. It helps to replace the water we lose, can help with weight loss, and lower the risk of getting bladder infections.
It’s VERY easy to get dehydrated if you don’t drink enough water during the day. Now that I drink more water, I can see how much dehydration affected me.
The Key Takeaway.
I increase my water intake by tracking how much I drink each day, making it very convenient to track, adding vegetables to my water, and finding ways to add one to three extra cups whenever I can. My best advice? Just pay attention to your habits, know your limits, and find what works for you.
——
I was never a big water drinker because I always had to pee a lot, and I didn’t want to deal with more of that.
One day, I decided to choose discipline and drank a lot of water for a week. I noticed it affected my cravings, skin, pee, and look, so many other things. I had to choose: drink more or stay dehydrated. After many attempts, I started to drink more water.
From barely drinking water, I now drink 2, 2.5 liters. Sometimes, I even drink 3 liters, depending on how my day goes.
How Much Water Do You Really Need To Drink Daily?
For years, health experts have said to drink a particular amount of cups of water a day. But you don’t actually need to drink that much.
Please!
Your daily water intake depends on your diet, lifestyle, weather, and activity level. Pregnant or breastfeeding women, children, active people, and those who are sick should drink more water.
The Warnings.
- If you increase your water intake too quickly, you’ll need to pee more, which can be annoying. Add just 2-3 extra cups per week as you work towards your goal.
- You might also have to get up at night to pee. To avoid this, try to limit liquids after dinner.
- You can overdose on water. Yep! It is rare but you could get hyponatremia, an electrolyte imbalance that can be very serious, even deadly. Yes, you could die from it. To avoid this, let your thirst guide you. Drink water when you’re thirsty and get fluids from fruits and vegetables.
And If Water Makes You Feel Like Puking Or Bloated…
If you drink too much water at once, your stomach has to stretch, which can cause bloating. If you feel like vomiting, it’s because your body is trying to get rid of the excess water. Too much water can weaken your muscles and nerves. The stomach is the first place water is absorbed, so it’s sensitive to too much of it.
Now, How Can You Drink Way More Water?
At first, it could be hard, but it would get easier over time, especially when you follow these strategies:
Drink Water As Soon As You Wake Up.
When you wake up, go about your day and wait 2-3 hours before drinking water, you don’t feel like drinking as much throughout the day.
The sooner I drink my first cup of water after waking up, the more likely I am to reach my goal by the end of the day. It just makes sense: if you drink between 9 AM and 9 PM, you have more time to drink than if you start at 1 PM.
Drink Water Before and After Food.
Have a glass of water before and during meals to reduce your appetite. If you don’t know, we mistake thirst for hunger sometimes, so drinking water can help.
Replace your usual drink with water, or at least have water next to it. This can save you money when eating out and will help cut calories.
Monitor Your Water Intake
Ever since I started tracking my water intake, I’ve been drinking a lot more.
I believe tracking is important to progress in anything we do in our lives. Use an app, a calendar, your journal, or a random notebook. Do it everyday.
Get A Bottle You Like.
I got tired of trying to remember how much water I drank earlier in the day or guessing the size of different cups.
If you do this, then I’m sure you can understand my confusion and frustration.
Once I started using the same 1-liter bottle all day, every day, enjoying drinking water became much easier.
When we get something new, it’s hard to stop thinking about it. So, get a cute water bottle that you know the size of. A bottle you like can help you remember to drink more water. Try it. Get a very cute water bottle.
A personal bottle can remind you to drink water. It makes tracking your water intake easier, saves you a lot of headaches and remembering to drink water becomes less of a hassle.
Set Alarms/Triggers.
Set an alarm on your phone to remind yourself to drink water. Try setting hourly alarms or pick up personal “triggers” for drinking water. These triggers should be a part of your daily activities like:
- After a phone call.
- Going to pee.
- Waking up.
- Brushing your teeth.
- During cooking.
- Finishing a class or meeting.
- When someone calls your name.
- Before setting up your FIFA24.
- Or even after winning a game.
These reminders will really help you stay hydrated throughout the day.
Add Some Ice.
Cold drinks feel GREAT on the tongue, just like cold sodas and cocktails. Try adding ice to your water or drink it at room temperature, whichever one you prefer honestly. Cold water will even boost your metabolism a bit.
You can also make your cold water interesting by freezing pieces of fruit in your ice cube trays.
Add Some Flavor To Your Water.
By all means, avoid artificial sweeteners. Instead, try adding natural flavors to your water. You can use tea (green, black, or white) or add slices of cucumber, strawberry, berries (blueberries or raspberries), ginger, lemon, orange, pineapple, watermelon, or add herbs like mint, rosemary, basil, or licorice leaves. It tastes great and refreshing and it looks cute too.
Get Hydrated From Fruits and Vegetables.
You can get water from fruits and vegetables. Why? It’s because most fruits and vegetables come with high water content in them. For vegetables, cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, zucchini and celery works. For fruit, watermelon, pineapples, kiwis, cantaloupe, peaches, strawberries, oranges and blueberries work.
How do you drink way more water?
