I wrote last week about how much water you should be drinking each day: approximately 3 liters if you’re a male and a little over 2 liters per day if you’re a female. To most people who aren’t used to drinking that much water each day, it can certainly seem like a crazy amount. But if you want to avoid running to the bathroom every five minutes, you may have to plan out when you’re drinking the water.
If you’re a guy and you need to drink 3 liters of water per day, you’ll obviously want to spread that amount out from the time you wake up to shortly before you go to bed. Furthermore, if you’re the type of person who has to get up during the night to go to the bathroom, or if you take multiple bathroom breaks at work each day, you may have to cut down on the other drinks you consume during the day. 3 liters is certainly a lot of liquid to drink, and I’d be willing to bet that’s more liquid than most people drink all day.
The best way to ensure that I am drinking a lot of water each day is with a reusable water bottle. I’ve tried 1 liter bottles and 2 liter bottles but have settled on 500 ml because that’s an amount that I can drink in one sitting. First thing in the morning, I fill it up and chug it back. At work, I’ll fill it up at the water cooler multiple times per day. When I’m at home, I’ll fill it up again. It’s less daunting when you can fill up a smaller bottle and drink it back in one shot. There’s also the added benefit of not having to carry around a giant, heavy 3 liter bottle of water with you throughout the day.
Now I’ll admit that there are times when I want to drink water but forget to. One suggestion I’ve heard is to set the timer on your phone. Program a countdown timer for every hour or two and when you’re at work, you not only remember to drink your water, you can get up and stretch your legs as well.
I realize that some people just don’t like drinking water. For those people I suggest a water bottle with a fruit infuser. If you haven’t seen one of these before, it’s essentially a standard reusable water bottle with a “cage” in the middle that holds fruit. The idea is you cut up fruit and toss it in the cage, then fill the bottle up with water. The cage holds the fruit but allows its juices and flavor to enhance the water naturally, giving you something a little more palatable that you’re more inclined to drink than plain ol’ water.