I carry water around like it’s my security blanket. This hasn’t always been my reality though. In fact, I used to only drink tea & flavored drinks. But I knew I needed to drink more water. I even wanted to drink more water, but I wasn’t sure how to change my liquid habits.
But my water consumption changed the day my daughter showed me a water app. She had just downloaded it & I thought it would be a great way to keep up with how much water I drank. I put in my water consumption goal for the day & started keeping track.
It became a challenge to me to be sure that I hit the goal each day. I logged my water for about 3 months which was the perfect amount of time to get me into a habit & caused me to realize how much better I feel when I drink enough water.
Another thing that I noticed after making water a new habit is that when I didn’t always have water with me at all times, I felt so thirsty! Was it all mental? I don’t know but it doesn’t really matter. Water has become an integral part of every day for me.
So how can water become a habit for you? Here are some ideas to help you drink more water:
Get a water app – If any part of you has a competitive edge, then a water app might be just what you need. Keeping track on an app can become a game of winning for the day or beating your own goals. Plus, just like water should be, your phone is probably something you have close to you most of the time. Daily Water Freeis a great place to start looking for the app that’s right for you. Once you find the app you want, be sure to set alarms & turn on notifications so the app can remind you to drink your water.
Habit stacking – Habit stacking is taking something that is already a habit & adding another thing that you want to be a habit to it. For example, you could set a goal to drink 16 ounces of water for every cup of coffee, drink a glass of water every time you go to the bathroom, or drink a glass of water before every meal.
Get a smart water bottle – Smart water bottles are a newer invention that are changing lives. These bottles help keep you on track with alarms & reminders. There are all sorts of them but the HidrateSpark PRO water bottle gives a fun glow to remind you to drink up & connects to your phone on their personalized app where you can not only track but you can change the color of the glow of your bottle!
Get a large water bottle – The Hydracy water bottle is not only big, but it has time markers on it that help you know how much you should drink by certain times of the day. This is great because you have specific goals throughout the day which helps make the big goal of drinking more water very doable.
Get a water bottle with a flavor infuser – Flavored water can be such a treat. Personally, another bottle I love from Hydracy is the Hydracy fruit infuser bottle & it’s fun that it comes with a recipe book to help you find all sorts of flavors. Trust me those store-bought flavored waters are not what they are cracked up to be!
Choose sparkling water or mineral water – Another way to drink water that’s not plain is to choose sparkling / mineral water as a special treat. I drink sparkling water every afternoon after lunch & it is a real “pick me up” for that afternoon slump that can happen some days.
Which of these ideas will help you get more water in every day?