For 35, almost 36 years, I have HATED drinking water with a passion! There was just no taste to it, whereas juices, sodas, teas and coffee, all had a taste that I enjoyed. So lets just say, I have spent my entire life overindulging in sweet drinks to attempt to hydrate my body. What a mistake, that I am paying for now!
I have always had dry skin but I really thought it was just the type of skin I have and kept on ignoring my body’s request for pure water, not water mixed with something yummy. You have read about how I lack any energy to do much after I am done working and how I have no control over my increased appetite (especially for something sweet). I mean it just seemed easier to ignore all the signs that I was dehydrating my body and essentially killing it.
Since challenging myself to get the body I desire, which doesn’t just mean losing the extra pounds I have gained but re-energizing my body and my mind, I have started to do research on what foods and drinks were best for me to partake in. Well the number one thing that was repeated over and over and over…. Drinking water can heal my symptoms!
Drinking water can help with my skin problems, fatigue and lack of energy, joint and muscle aches, IBS problems and so much more but I now have to undo the years of abuse I caused my body by dehydrating it for sooooo long. So I began to research how much water I should be drinking and found a great article that breaks down that each person is different according to weight and activity level. I found out for my 150 pound, low activity body that I need to drink 100 ounces of water everyday. That is alot…. hell I think I drink that much coffee in a day but how am I going to drink that much water??? (to check out the article and chart go to Slender Kitchen’s article!
As I was researching and realizing how much I need to drink these 100 ounces of water, I set out to make a plan. I downloaded WaterMinder on my Iphone so I can input how much water, juice, coffee etc and watch how much more I need to drink to hit my goal. The app will send me reminder notifications to drink water to stay hydrated which is a nice thing because working, running a business, taking care a child, boyfriend, puppy and a house tends to make me forget things easily!
Then I went to Walmart, bought a gallon of water, marked it “DO NOT DRINK” and set it in my fridge so that I can watch my progress of drinking that gallon of water everyday. So far I have averaged half of the gallon everyday so about 60 ounces of water. I won’t lie it has been a struggle to get it down but each day its been a little easier to drink a little more water and a little less sweet things.
I am going to feature a daily post on my Facebook business page with an update on my water intake for 30 days. I am going to record how I am feeling, when I miss my goal and how its been making my body go from the Sahara to an ocean of hydrating water! If you want to follow my journey on my Facebook page Click on Kaella Boutique
Here is a great poster with facts about how water and dehydration affects the body:
I was totally not a water person. However, the affects of dehydration are far worse. Very interesting article.