I have a confession; I don’t drink “enough” water.

On an average day, I would drink somewhere between 0.5-1.5L of water. It’s not because I don’t like the taste, nor is it because I can’t be bothered, it’s because I rarely get thirsty; please let me explain…

I’d call myself an intuitive eater (gosh sounds so wanky saying it out loud; apologies, I REALLY need to come up with a new name). This means that I eat and drink according to what my body feels like eating or drinking. No set portions, no expectations just good old-fashioned wholesome grub when I feel like it (and can get my hands on it). As much as my husband struggles to get his head around it, it works for me. Anyway, part of that system means I rarely crave the old H2O, and hence my intake drops.

PLEASE NOTE: I’ve never let myself get to a severely dehydrated state and will up my intake “naturally” when I exercise. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables and would drink a few herbal teas a day but, I agree it’s not the same.

ANYWAY… I realised how bad this was, so decided to do something about it; I challenged myself to drink 2L of water each day for 10 days and this is what I learned…

THE 10 DAY EXPERIMENT

• Day 1: I didn’t visit the bathroom as much as I thought I would have. This is a sign that despite what I originally thought, I may have been dehydrated (whoops).
• Day 2: I opted to use an app that reminded me to stop and drink water at regular intervals. It drove me insane, it was like a constant nag. Day 2 = Deleted.
• Soon after the app was deleted I realised that the whole 8 glasses of water per day “thing” wasn’t going to work for me AT ALL. Whilst it meant that I had smaller pieces of the puzzle to “chew”, it meant that I had to keep re-filling my cup; disaster. I found myself approaching 3pm and needing to down 6 glasses before bed – NOT GOOD. 1L Water bottles all the way.
• Day 3: As functional as they are, the old stainless steel water bottle didn’t work for me. The reason? If I can’t see the water, I won’t drink it; weird, I know but that’s me. Glass water bottles all the way.
• Heading out for the day meant I had to be prepared. I try to avoid buying bottled water whenever I can and on the days I didn’t have access to a water filter, I had to ensure I had 2 bottles ready to go. NOTE TO SELF: Glass water bottles make an awful lot of noise as they roll around on the floor of your car.
• Day 4: For the first time in a long time, I feel thirsty! Weird, because I’m drinking more water than normal!
• Day 5: 2L is nothing; I’m finding myself easily drinking more than the required intake without a flinch.
• Day 6: My skin is becoming brighter (even my husband noticed) and perhaps I’m being a little OTT (over the top), but I believe that even my fine lines are starting to fade. My eyes are also becoming brighter. I looked into this some more and found this article published by the Daily Mail in 2013 – I’m not alone!
• Day 7: I accidentally knocked my glass water bottle off the bench and it’s smashed into a billion pieces on the kitchen floor. Maybe stainless steel bottles could become an option after all.
• Day 8: I have noticed that I’m eating less. You can read about why this is possible here. I’m also saving a hell of a lot of cashola on herbal teas.
• Day 9: I’ve only just realised that I have not craved chocolate during this whole experiment. Aside from eating 1 piece of fruit per day, I’m not craving any sugars either? Could dehydration be related to sugar cravings? Yep!
• Day 10: I noticed this morning that my endurance has improved. Now, this might be a result of the training that went on during this experiment, but training has become a lot easier.

All in all, what started as a challenge now has become part of my everyday life. It’s been a week since I completed this challenge and haven’t gone a day without 2L-3L since. Could it be that a simple 10 day challenge could be the most simplest way to show you all that you’re missing? How much water do you drink per day? Is it enough?

PS. If after reading this, you’re still struggling to include boring old water in your day, you might like to read this post: 10 Ways To Pimp Your Water! Drink up!