Tip Tuesday #1: Water

Every Tuesday I will be sharing a new tip.
(They will usually not be this long, but this post needs this much info-sorry!)
This week I will be discussing why water is so important and ways to drink water throughout the day.

Now, I am not a Dr. I am just sharing with you the things I have learned. It is important that you do your own research as well.

Why is water important for us:
–It keeps us hydrated. Especially once you start exercising and being more active you need to be sure you hydrate yourself.
–Helps you fight cravings. If you are craving something unhealthy the first thing to do is drink one large glass of water. You will be shocked to see that it does the trick and you no longer crave that food.
–If anyone has stretch marks, water helps them fade. The reason why stretch marks occur is due to the fact that our skin is dry. So when you are pregnant or losing weight it is important to moisturize your body and to drink tons of water to moisturize from the inside out.
–It flushes away harmful toxins from your body.

Again there are tons of more reasons I am sure, but you can look into that on your own.

Basically water is GOOD FOR YOU. So drink it!
Ha, if only it were that simple. C’mon! Water is boring. Tasteless. And it can be really hard to get in your daily amount. The amount of water you should be drinking is usually around 2-3 Liters a day. Or you can take your weight in lbs and half it. Then drink that much of water in ounces. No need to go crazy counting every cup you drink, just follow my tips below and it will be easy to do.

You can try any or all of these tips and see what works for you.


1-Before every meal and snack drink one glass of water. Then eat your meal/snack with another glass of water or after you are done eating, drink another glass at the end. So one before and one after. Drinking before a meal will also help you get fuller faster and you will end up eating less than you would have had you not had the water.

2- Every night before bed fill two bottles (mine are 1.5 Liters each) with water and put them on your kitchen counter. Bring them around with you throughout the day and sip or chug from them. This works well for those of us who are at home most of the day, since dragging around 1.5 liter bottles is not so convenient. I also put one of them in the fridge so I have an option of having cold or room temperature water.

Side note: Drinking cold water is actually better since your body needs to work to get the water to reach body temperature. I find cold water takes longer to drink and I prefer to chug the water at times so I grab the room temp bottle for that.

3- This is a great tip I got from Undressed Skeleton blogger Taralynn. Take two bottles that hold 4 cups of water. With a permanent marker mark where each cup ends and put a time. That time is the time you will finish your water amount by. I only use one bottle and I label both sides. When the first 4 cups are done I refill and start over. This is great for those on the go. It’s also great when starting out since it is a smaller amount, but you are still getting in your water.

4- I don’t remember where I saw this, but if you like to wear bangles its a great idea. Put 8 bangles on one hand. Every time you drink a cup of water move one bangle to the other hand. By the end of the day your other hand should have all the bangles on it. Now you know you drank enough water.

To get your water down quickly a good idea is to look at the clock while drinking. I tell myself I will stop drinking when the seconds hand gets to 6 or whichever number. You can also count to 10 in your head while drinking.

Now that we know how to drink the water, we need to make that water taste yummy. First off, once you start you will get used to it and eventually enjoy it. But for now, there are some great ways to make water taste good, naturally.

–Add some sliced cucumbers and lemon. It tastes super refreshing. When I was pregnant with my 3rd I had tons of dizzy spells and had a hard time drinking water. When I tried this, drinking water was much easier to do and my dizzy spells stopped. I call it my “Spa Water.”
–Add a few cubes of watermelon and some fresh mint.

–Add a splash of your favorite fruit juice, just a splash to give it a bit of flavor.
–If you really hate the idea of drinking water as is. You can start by drinking it with some sweetener/flavor like crystal light. I hear they have a new one that uses truvia so that is 100 times better than artificial junk. But again, this is really if you aren’t ready to make the big change to water.

I challenge you to get in your daily amount of water. This week it will be my challenge. So I hope you join me! 
I know it sounds funny but at the end of the day when you see that empty water bottle, you feel like you just accomplished something really big- and you did! So drink up and give yourself a pat on the back for it!


* Stay tuned for a delicious chicken recipe and “Fit Friday!“