Drink Your Water!

32oz Narrow mouth Nalgene water bottle. My most important accessory.

Recently when visiting a friend of mine, her children thought it was absolutely hilarious how my water bottle never leaves my side.  Its true, no matter where I go, even when going into a restaurant, my water bottle comes with me.  If I forget to bring it with me my throat instantly feels constricted and I can’t think of anything else other than getting water ASAP.  (No, I don’t have PTSD from being stranded in a desert!) My kids think my water bottle is tacky and they try to hide it in every family photo, but honestly, I couldn’t care less!  I guess that comes with age maybe?!  

I have two water bottles that I rotate each week to make sure they go through the dishwasher at least weekly.  They are my absolute favourite and no other bottle compares in my opinion, but everyone has their preference.  Mine is the 32oz narrow mouth Nalgene water bottle.  The flow is perfect for me to be able to chug a bunch of water and the loop allows me to carry it everywhere easily.  If I somehow forget it somewhere, that’s okay because it’s only a $10-20 bottle, and I do usually go through two of them a year.  I lost the last one due to dropping a full bottle on the pavement in the winter and it cracked.  The one before that I forgot at the Rome airport.  Two each year like clockwork.  :)

I do not like ice water.  Its painful to drink.  I know that some of you may think I’m crazy, and that’s okay because it does come down to preference.  The main thing is that however you prefer to drink your water, you need to figure out how you can make sure you’re getting enough every day.  If you drink from the straw-type water bottles, test it out and see if you consume as much as with different bottles.  I don’t like the big wide mouth bottles because I will inevitably spill in on myself as I am chugging it.  Make sure you can bring it with you everywhere because you will drink more if its always with you.  AND you will avoid going for those iced coffees/frappuccinos that have like a billion grams of sugar.

I LOVE my water.  I go through 3-4 litres per day.  Three litres should be your goal, and increase that if you are exercising.  My first litre always has a good dose of lemon juice in it and it serves as a good reminder to see how fast I get my first litre in each day.  I’ll talk more about lemon water another day because since I started doing that, I don’t have heartburn anymore that had plagued me for most of my adult life!

If you are getting enough water, your hunger cues will be more real as well.  Often we are actually thirsty and when we eat instead, we are getting way more calories than our bodies actually need.

To sum this up, your body likely needs way more water than you are giving it.  

Do you drink your 3 litres each day?