I don’t drink water. Well…I do, but not very much of it. Every day I try to force myself to drink at least half of my water bottle, but even that is a stretch for me. When I do drink water, I always have to flavor it with MiO, Zipfizz, Emergen-C, apple-cider vinegar, etc… Growing up, I never really touched the water glass my parents sat in front of me. I always viewed it more as a temporary placeholder for the good stuff, AKA the food. After a while, I became accustomed to eating my meals without anything to drink at all. Fast-forward to now, and you got a girl who runs on coffee, tea, and juice. I pretty much avoid water at all costs, and in my opinion for good reason.
Here are all the reasons I don’t drink water:
- I don’t like carrying my water bottle (it’s just another thing to lug around in my backpack)
- I don’t like the taste (and yes, water does have a “taste”, don’t fight me on this one)
- It makes me feel bloated (I hate when water sloshes around in my stomach)
- I don’t have time (it’s just another thing I grudgingly put on my to do list, and then forget to do)
- Food is better (why fill my stomach with flavorless liquids when I can fill it with pizza?)
And here are all the reasons I should:
Water helps….
- Relieve fatigue
- Flush out toxins
- Improve your mood
- Promote healthy skin
- Regulate your body temperature
- Improve digestion
- Stop headaches and migraines
- Maintain weight loss
- Prevent kidney damage
- Aid cognitive function
- Heighten physical endurance
- Keep you alive
I realized that the pros greatly outweigh the cons, which is why I wanted to give H2O another try. It is recommended that the average person drinks eight 8-ounce glasses of water each day, or roughly half of your body weight in liquid ounces. To see if water is really worth all the hype, I decided to consistently drink the recommended amount of water for a week to see if there would be any noticeable changes.
Day 1
Okay, I’m not gonna lie, I only made it to one 32 oz bottle, but hey, that’s more than I usually do so for me that’s an accomplishment. I tried my best to drink the water standstill, but after a while, I caved and put a ZipFizz in to make it more tolerable. So far I don’t feel very different, except for being irritated that I have to drink so much water. We’ll see how tomorrow goes….
Day 2
It’s currently 9:06 PM and I still have 16 oz to go…on my first water bottle. I’m not very good at this. I guess if anything, this experiment is an indicator of how dehydrated my body really is. Around 5:00 PM, I finally chugged the rest of the first water bottle, and now I’m feeling extremely bloated. Why did I voluntarily do this again?
Update: I still have one more bottle of water to go, and it’s already officially Wednesday – 12:42 AM to be exact. At this point, I think it would be easier to get IV fluids than it would be to finish this water bottle.
Day 3
I had to finish my remaining 16 ounces from last night this morning. It’s now 1:05 PM and I have 2 more bottles to go today…. I’m beginning to taste defeat, and it tastes like water.
Also, quick side note, don’t chug large amounts of water right before bed, or else you WILL be up all night “flushing out toxins.” I guess there’s finally one notable side-effect.
Day 4
I’ve honestly stopped keeping track of my time-to-water consumption rate. At this point, my only objective is to finish my water within the allotted 24-hour time period. All I can say about today is mission accomplished and thank you, next!
Day 5
The end is near, or at least that’s what I keep telling myself. I’m finding it more difficult to find motivation, especially after my quick coffee fix at Radina’s. Now I’m full, and water has become even less appealing if that’s possible. I finished my first water bottle sometime this afternoon and managed to drink about 16 more ounces tonight. Unfortunately, I think I’m at my water capacity for today… meaning my glass is still half full.
Day 6
I’m not buying the whole, “water keeps you woke” statement. I had to drive back to Kansas City this afternoon and I was extremely tired/distracted even though I was consistently sipping my water throughout the trip. I did happen to go out the night before, but that’s a minor detail, right? On the upside, I didn’t have a hangover this morning so that was an A+.
Day 7
It’s finally Sunday, which means it is my LAST day of drinking water. I’m stoked. Surprisingly, I’m not hating the task. I hope the rest of the day goes this smoothly.
I can successfully say that I finished BOTH 32 oz bottles of water in record time. And to think that all it took was a boring Sunday afternoon, some salty snacks, and an eagerness to stop drinking water.
My Conclusion:
Was it worth it? WATER you think? Overall, I do notice some minor improvements to my health. My skin appears clearer than it had the week prior. In addition, I lost 2 pounds over the span of a week. I’m not sure how correlated the weight-loss is to my water intake, but I’m not complaining! Honestly, I think that most of the listed benefits are long-term ones. A week of water is too soon to tell. Now if I were to do a month of drinking water, I think I would see some serious progress….but don’t worry, I’m not THAT motivated. For now, I’ll stick to comfortably drinking half a bottle of water a day like my fellow hydro-haters.
