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| My KORKEN glass water carafe from IKEA, and a complimentary La Neige water bottle I received from a recent purchase at Sephora. (Isn't the little "Refill Me" water droplet cute?) |
- Staying hydrated keeps you energized throughout the day (and is even a great way to cut back on the caffeine! Water = a quick energy boost sans the teeth stains and coffee breath. Sign us up.)
- Drinking water can brighten up your mood (dehydration is known to be correlated with grumpiness, irritation, and impatience)
- Healthy, glowing skin
- Weight loss - snack cravings and hunger can often be curbed with a bottle of water. Our bodies sometimes misread signals, and it's all too easy to confuse a dehydration for a snack craving. The next time you're in the mood for some Hot Cheeto's at night, try reaching for a water bottle first and see if it helps.
- Prevents headaches, constipation, and all sorts of bladder problems.
So even when you're too, too busy to drink water, you should. That's where we come in: we've broken down how to keep yourself hydrated into 3 easy steps.
A little anecdote (skim if you're TTB):
Last Christmas, when I announced to my boyfriend and my friends that I had just splurged on a $50 BKR water bottle as a little holiday gift for myself, I could almost see the "Is she crazy?" thought cross their minds.
"$50 on a water bottle?" Henry demanded. "That's what you decided to get yourself? You don't even drink out of a five dollar water bottle!"
But that was exactly the point. I tried to explain to him that I intended to hydrate more often, and that, by splurging on an aesthetically pleasing water bottle, not only would I be guilt-tripped (or rather, moolah-tripped) into using my water bottle more often, but that, as a result, I'd end up drinking more water. For a while, that held true. Purchasing the BKR, I had fun picking out the colour that the BKR inventors insisted would help me "express" myself. Call me a sucker for marketing, but the stunning array of colours and the fact that celebrities like Blake Lively were using it was enough to convince me to click 'Buy' on the BKR website and pay nearly $20 in additional shipping fees. Imagine how much fun my friends had teasing me about that purchase, especially when we found an almost near-identical imitation of the BKR at a Chinese supermarket months later for 3 bucks.
It sounded like a great plan at the time, but it wasn't. Within a few weeks, my BKR had fallen by the wayside, and I had been seduced by yet another pricey waterbottle that was on the market: the MemoBottle.
Again, my boyfriend was incredulous. "You already have one!" He insisted. "You definitely don't need another."
But you see, the thing was, the MemoBottle wasn't just any water bottle. Or so that's what I tried to tell myself (and him). It was elegantly shaped to lay flat, like a book, and could be easily tucked between my laptop and my books for work and school - it was the perfect commuting bottle. Plus, it came with two - two - different bottle caps, so I could personalize it a bit when I wanted to! How fun was that? Again, I found myself making the splurge.
Soon, I found myself using my new water bottles as bookends. They were collecting dust, and I definitely wasn't keeping hydrated or drinking the daily amount of water that I should have been. Instead, I was quickly becoming the Overpriced Water Bottle Collector/Hoarder, while my health (and my wallet) took a hit.
How to Stay Hydrated When You're Two Too Busy:
1) Calculate how much water you should be consuming daily. (And no, a vague '8 cups' doesn't count.)
Although the general consensus is to drink 8 cups of water a day, the amount you should be drinking is actually dependent on a variety of factors, including your weight, how much you've exercised within the past 24 hours, etc. Although there are several different formulas that various nutritionists swear by, I used this nifty, easy-to-follow formula from Slender Kitchen to calculate how much water I should be drinking on the daily:
Your weight x 2/3 (or 67%) = the amount of water you should be drinking daily, in ounces. So, say if you were 130 pounds, you should aim to drink about 87 ounces a day. (The link above actually has a handy chart so you don't have to do the math yourself, although I'm terrible at math and it's a pretty simple calculation!)
Bonus: Add an additional 12 ounces to every half hour that you work out. So, if you worked out for 2 hours that day, you should add an additional 24 ounces to your daily water intake.
2) Pick a water bottle, any water bottle. This will be your main squeeze.
Whether it's a gorgeous, vibrantly-coloured one like the BKR, a compact one like the MemoBottle, or an inexpensive generic bottle that you picked up from your local store, make sure the bottle is one that isn't made out of plastic, and that it's a size that's convenient for you to carry, and one that you'll want to drink out of (meaning it's easy to open, it doesn't have a weird opening that makes water dribble down your chin when you drink from it without looking, etc...not that I've experienced that, of course). Because I'm often on the go, I like to alternate between my collection of water bottles (ha! gotta make use of them somehow,) and tend to use at least two of them in a day - one at work and school, and the other at home.
2.5) *Optional: Use a larger water holder or carafe (if you're feelin' fancy).
Because I spend long hours at the office and at my desk, and because I often find myself with a long to-do list that makes it easy to forget to refill my water bottle, I find it helpful to have a larger container of water right at my fingertips. It's convenient to have on hand for refills, and that way, you have no excuse but to refill your water bottle and hydrate for the day! I got my carafe, called the 'KORKEN,' from IKEA for less than $4. It's large enough to hold about 34 ounces of water, so when I divide my 87 ounces of water, I aim to drink at least 3 refills of it.
3) Grab a Post-It note or piece of washi tape, and make a weekly Hydration Tracker.
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| It doesn't take longer than a few seconds to make one for the start of each week, and makes a huge difference! DIY it up. |
Label the first piece of tape/Post-It note with 7 evenly spaced boxes, and the other one with different days of the week (Mon-Sun), adding with little circles underneath. Keep a Sharpie nearby, and, as you drink water throughout the day, reward yourself by filling in the squares and circles.
Here's a close-up of my DIY Hydration Tracker.
There's something just so satisfying - like checking off a To-Do list or day on your calendar - about filling in the circles and checking off the squares to make sure you're drinking the daily amount of water you should!
I find one of the biggest incentives to progress is to track it or write it down - this holds true for working out, daily planning, and everything (which Steph and I will definitely be covering in upcoming posts.) It especially holds true when it comes to staying hydrated - because drinking water often seems like such a menial, mundane thing to do, it's easy to lose track and forget, or make excuses not to stay hydrated. Having this weekly, and putting it on your water bottle or carafe, will help you feel and stay motivated, while reminding you of how much water you've had (and how much water you have left) to drink for the day!
Say hello to glowing skin, a chippier mood, and less late-night junk food cravings! Let us know how this method of getting your daily fill of water works for you.
Never two too busy to stay hydrated,
Grace (and Steph)
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