Making my water goal.

by | Jul 23, 2017 | SMART, Water | 0 comments

Making my water goal

I feel like being hydrated is a basic building block of life. You can see from the Water Guide that opinions vary on how much water we need to be healthy. I have a set of water bottles that are all roughly 3 cups. I like these bottles because they are dishwasher safe, unbreakable, fit in my cup holder, easy to carry and don’t leak. You can purchase one from Amazon via this affiliate link [amazon_textlink asin=’B01MRCCQ20′ text=’Blender Bottle’ template=’ProductLink’ tag=’onefitthing-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’3a89cc52-6ff1-11e7-8fe6-5f703f5041b1′]

I have decided to drink AT LEAST two water bottles a day and to check the color of my urine. (See water guide for more info). By creating the water guide I did find that the best way to know if you are getting enough liquid was to check the color of your urine. That’s fine, except it tells you after the fact if you drank enough or not and I tend to obsess about these things. For me, it’s best to put a stick in the sand and hold to it. So my stick in the sand for water is at LEAST two of my favorite water bottles full.

I made my goal chart (Monthly Goal Tracker). This is a goal that will be easier for me than others because I gave up soda, juice, and sweetened drinks long ago. If you are trying to cut back or give up on soda, drink a glass of water before drinking any soda. This will help you start to replace your desire for soda with water. Eventually you will just drink water and not even consider soda. I didn’t believe it either. Now, even when I do order a soda at a restaurant, I seldom finish it. One word of caution. Don’t make what you are trying to give up your reward!

Week 1

I was focused on the goal and made it every day. I ran into a few obstacles. A few days, I forgot to take my water bottle out of my laptop bag. This lead to me trying to suck down the entire bottle in one go. Not the best way to start a habit. I found that leaving out the water bottle out on my desk where I see it all day is much better. There is something to be said about out of sight out of mind.

Week 2

I wasn’t as focused. Maybe because last week went so well that I was more lackadaisical this week. I walked out of the house twice without my water bottle. I compensated by buying a bottle of water from the vending machine and then filling it to get the full amount. I decided that because I put it somewhere different everyday that I wan’t making a habit. I decided to put it by the coffee pot. I generally get my breakfast, lunch, coffee and snack together in that area. I won’t be as likely to forget it. Unless I forgot my food. Don’t laugh it’s happened.

Week 3

I am definitely going to the ladies room more often. I was annoyed at first but then I started taking the long way and realized that I like being away from my desk for a few moments. The extra steps are helping my step count. 2 birds with one stone. Changing the placement of my water bottle has definitely helped. I haven’t forgotten it at home and I haven’t forgotten to drink it. During the weekends and in the evenings I am still struggling.

Week 4

I think I need a few more weeks to make this a habit. It was harder than I thought to be consistent. I feel like I am in a rhythm now and don’t want to blow it because I tried to rush. I think two more weeks will do it. I made a new chart (Monthly Goal Tracker). This week I worked on improving evenings and weekends. To help with evenings, I have been finishing my first water bottle by 3:00 pm. This allows me to drink about a third of my second water bottle before I get home. I am able to finish it at dinner. Weekends I am handling by having the bottle always close at hand. I still fill it in the morning when I am getting breakfast.

Week 5

This week turned out to be a travel week. So another obstacle to overcome. I travel sporadically for work. I don’t travel for several months and then 2 or 3 times a month and then not again for several months. Usually, I can predict/plan for it, but not always. This week I wanted to keep my habit and not throw away all of the work I have already put in. I flew, so I didn’t bring my water bottle. I know this is contrary but the less I have to keep track of through security the better. I ended up buying bottled water and reusing the bottle. The bottle was about 16 ounces which is 2 cups. I needed to drink three a day. I tried to stick to the same amount so one and a half in before three and one and a half after. I did alright but needed to focus. I did loose my water bottle a few times and had to replace it at the beginning of the week. I decided to treat travel similar to weekend and evenings and kept the bottle with my purse. This made it easier to remember to bring it, but I still needed to take it out and leave it on the desk or table to remind myself to drink it.

Week 6

I was expecting two more weeks of being home to complete my habit. I got a chaotic week and a week at home. My main concern was evenings and weekends and I got a lot of practice and solved a travel week. But I really need to remember that I have to focus when I travel.

I think I am ready to call this a habit. I get my water ahead of time and generally have it in sight and waiting for me to drink it. Taking the extra steps to the ladies room seems normal to me now and even that has fallen into a pattern. During the weekends I keep my water bottle next to or in my purse depending on which bag I am using.

My take-aways from this habit.

In Sight, in Mind. Seeing the water bottle triggers me to drink. I need to keep focused when my days change to travel or if I need to work from home. Rating my water bottle as important as my purse and phone definitely increased my success. In the end, I made my water goal!

Links for this article :

water goal week 1-4
water goal week 5-6
water guide

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