How to Drink Enough Water??

I know, I know... I wrote about this months ago, well... years ago... and I thought I had this problem licked. How the heck does one drink enough water in a day?

The recommended amount is 2 litres per day. That can come from drinking or from eating foods that are high in water (e.g. watermelon, cucumbers).

When I go for a hike, or if it's hot and sunny out, I usually have no trouble remembering to drink water. But in the winter... and when I am more sedentary, I really have trouble remembering to stay hydrated.

I had this great system a while back. Every time I went to the bathroom, I would drink a cup of water. That would then make me go to the bathroom more often, where I would drink another cup and... voila... I was super well-hydrated!

But that little hack fell off after a while. Not sure why... possibly because it seemed like I was going to the bathroom every 10 minutes! My partner says my body will adjust after a while but... I don't think I stuck with it long enough to reach that point!

I do have water bottles full of water sitting around my office and... do I drink them? No, I do not. Unless I get a tickle in my throat and then I'm all over them!

Hacks to Drink More Water

There must be something that will help me to remember to drink water??? So I turned to Google and searched for tips on how to drink more water... here are some of the top ideas...

1. Add flavour - add lime, lemon, strawberries, cukes, etc. I'm not a big fan of that. I want my water to taste like water.
2. Tie it to a routine - like drink when you go to the bathroom. Tried that... didn't seem to work.
3. Challenge a friend - yeah... no... my partner drinks water like nobody's business... there's no way I can keep up with that!
4. Set alarms - throughout the day, to remind me to drink water. Maybe... 
5. Track it - well... that's possible. My Garmin app that goes with my fitness watch allows me to track how much I drink. 

I'm usually not a big fan of tracking things - it just seems to add a whole extra layer of work to things but... given how connected I have been to my Garmin app while I'm doing the virtual Camino... then this might actually be the time to try this.

Tracking Water Intake

OK, I am going to try the tracking tip. First step... set up my Garmin hydration tracker...

My Garmin, allows me to set my goal for the day and I chose the standard 2000 ml (2 litres). (I know the image shows 2129 ml - but I changed it to 2000).

I can then preset 3 different types of containers. So the first one is my morning tea mug (473 ml). The next one is my small blue water bottle that easily fits into the side pouch on my office backpack. It's the one I am most likely to take with me when I head out the door. And the last one is my bigger water bottle that rides in my backpack on longer hikes.

Given how much I am walking... I'd also like to bring the small blue water bottle along somehow. I don't really want to carry a backpack though for a 30 minute walk. But... I do have a waist belt that has a holder for a water bottle. I think it's time to dig that out, wrap it around my waist and bring the water with me. It might actually help me drink more water. At this point, every little hack that helps is something to try!

I know that so much of this is rooted in habit formation. The trick is also to make it as easy as possible. Right now... this feels doable... and it's one more of those small steps that help me to build healthy habits.