7 Ways to Drink More Water- From Someone Who Hates Drinking Water

Well the title is a bit of a half truth, I only hate spring water, tap water and cold water. I grew up on distilled water so everything other than distilled water tastes dirty. I do not like to buy bottled water as water bottles are an environmental catastrophe and expensive so I have had to come up with some other strategies. Here they are!

1. Use a Water Bottle that Says Something About You

For me, this was an empty wine bottle with a convenient twist off cap that I could re-use to my hearts content. Clearly I don't drink the classiest of wines but that says something about me too. My husband, who came up with this idea, uses an empty vodka bottle. Now I don't want to give you the idea that we are alcoholics, we're not, but using a wine bottle reminds me of when I was young and still fun. There are fantastic, beautiful, natural water bottles out there that could really speak to your personality. Get one you love so you will want to take it with you. And if you are going to be carrying it around with you, you might as well turn it into an accessory.

2. Find an Accountabilibuddy.

Do you have a friend who is also trying to make healthy lifestyle choices? Do you know someone who should be focusing more on their health? Ask them to help you out by sharing this goal with you so you can check in with each other each week and keep each other on track. This works surprisingly well, I tried this with one of my clinic groups. We made the goal to drink more water for the week then reported back the following week. I drank one full wine bottle of water everyday that week. It was motivating knowing that I had to answer to someone on my performance at this task. It also served to bring the group together as we discussed our experiences and brainstormed solutions when problems arose.

3. Fill Your Tank at the Same Time Each Day

Make filling your water bottle a consistent part of your routine. You may not be able to drink at the same time everyday, that is okay, that is why we focus on filling. As long as you fill it, you will probably get to drinking at least some of it at some point during the day, even if you end up chugging some before you hit the hay. The full bottle serves as a pretty constant reminder that there is still drinking to be done so you are more likely to do it.

4. Keep It Realistic

I don't think many people succeed at drinking 8 glasses of water per day when they are use to drinking 0 glasses of water per day. That's too much pressure. Getting a huge water bottle and failing to drink it all will be discouraging. Start slow adding 8 additional ounces of water to your day for the first week or two. Once you have mastered the routine, you can add more if you feel you need it. I found as I drank more water, my body adapted and wanted even more water. I became thirsty more often which made drinking even easier.

5. Drink the Water You Like

For me, it's distilled. For others its spring water or tap water. It's easier to consume what you don't despise. Hate all water? No worries my friend, you can add a squirt of lemon or lime juice, a handful of fresh or frozen fruit, a few sprigs of fresh mint. There are a million ways to flavor water, all of which are probably on Pinterest. Experiment with flavors and have fun. Maybe you will discover something amazing.

6. Just start today!

The only way to succeed is to start. You don't have to achieve a perfect start, really any start will do. Go get your extra water right now and start sipping to success. If you forget to keep up with it tomorrow, who cares, just pick it up the next day. We need to aim for over-all trends of healthy behavior, not perfection, life happens. So do what you can when you can, give yourself a pass on the days you can't reach your goal and get back on the horse as soon as you can.

So now lets say you are a water flavoring, bottle carrying aficionado, just how much of this stuff are you expected to pump into you everyday? The answer is enough to make your pee just slightly yellow. If it's too dark you probably need to drink more, if it's clear, maybe a little less. The 8 glasses a day rule is complete fiction and not supported by official sources (1). 8 glasses can be too much for many people as we do get a lot of water from our food and the 8 glasses 8 ounces rule originally counted all the water we got from food in that 64 ounce per day requirement (and technically it was 6-8 glasses a day, not 8 minimum). So no need to adapt unrealistic and hard to achieve hydration goals. Just drink enough to feel your best.

Reference:

1. “Drink at least eight glasses of water a day.” Really? Is there scientific evidence for “8 × 8”?

Heinz Valtin, (With the Technical Assistance of Sheila A. Gorman) American Journal of Physiology - Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology Published 1 November 2002 Vol. 283 no. 5, R993-R1004 DOI:10.1152/ajpregu.00365.2002