One of my goals this year is to drink more water. For some people, it seems like the easiest goal ever. Fill cup. Drink. Repeat. Easy Peasy. However, I’ve never been a big liquid drinker… so it’s actually quite a challenge to keep sip sip sipping all day long.
And it’s not that I’m sipping on soda or milkshakes or vodka. I basically just drink coffee and water. But for some reason I just don’t seem to be that thirsty.
Anyways, at my last two doctor’s appointments my doctor stressed that I MUST START DRINKING MORE WATER or I’m going to get kidney stones. So, I’m trying my hardest to make it a habit.
My current tricks:
Trick #1: A super cold and fancy water cup with a straw.
I’m much more likely to drink water if it’s ice cold and through a straw, so I’ve been using my favorite Corksicle travel mugs on a daily basis. I try to keep them filled with ice and water and right next to me all day long, so I don’t even have to think about it. The cups are magical and keep my water super ice cold for hours.
Trick #2: Drink as soon as I wake up.
When my alarm goes off in the morning, I typically lay in bed and swipe through my phone a bit before I start moving. For the past couple weeks, I make sure I sip on my bedside cup of water (it still has ice in the morning because, as I said, Corksicle cups are magical) while I’m lazing around. I can usually get in 8-10 ounces before I even leave bed, which gives me a good start on the day!
Trick #3: I’m using the Water Llama app.
I downloaded the Water Llama app. The one-time purchase price was $6.99 (you can also choose a month purchase instead, which is $3.99). I added my information and it decided I should try to drink about 70 ounces a day. It sits right on my main screen of my iphone and you can see visually exactly how much liquids I’ve had throughout the day.
It’s super easy to add coffee, water, hot chocolate and even soup to the tracker so it’s just a quick push of the button to log your drinks. Water gives you 100% hydration for each ounce you drink, but other beverages vary. For example: coffee is 60% hydration, soda is 80% hydration, milk is 130% and 3.5 ounces of tequila is -318%!
I also have a Water Llama reminder set every 2 hours if I don’t add a drink for my watch to ding and remind me to sip on something.
What doesn’t work for me: Flavored water/tabs/drop. I’m perfectly fine with the taste of water, so adding flavor doesn’t really entice me to drink any more than I already do.
Even with these tricks, it is still a struggle to get to my water drinking goal each day. I think the only days I’ve actually made it are days that I started with water, drank my normal coffee, sipped on water all day long, had soup for lunch and then an afternoon Starbucks run for a latte.
Do you have any tricks I can use to make myself drink more water? Also, if someone can tell me when I’ll stop peeing 30 times a day, I’d really appreciate it!
Well, this may sound silly, but my dog Rosie, (passed on, now) gave me (birthday present) a plastic (no bpa) large glass with straw,and top. This is my favorite way to drink my water. Plus, it says Woof all over it, in different colors. Who wouldn’t like that? I am reminded by the big “woofs” all over it, to drink my water.
I read that drinking water when you get up, wakes you up. I find this really helps.
Good luck, on your drinking goals!