Healthy Eating Habits

“Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty.” – Derek Zoolander

I know you’ve heard it before. “Drink x amount of water a day, everyday.” It could be 8 cups or whatever the number is. But is that really helpful and what are the benefits of staying hydrated? Many of them actually help you be more productive in your day and feel more energized. Which who doesn’t want either of those things? Plus if you’re looking to lose weight and have nice, supple skin, you better pay attention.

Drinking enough water a day is a struggle for most, myself included. Some days are better than others. But when you’re in your work flow, how are you getting in your water? Once you’re in the flow, you don’t want to break, which I completely understand. But do you make it easy for you to access and drink water during the day or is it a burden?

Now that I have your attention, here’s what you need to know about how much water to drink, the benefits of drinking water, and how to make it easier for you to drink water throughout the day, everyday.

How much should I drink?

As I’m sure you’ve heard, water makes up roughly 60% of your total body-weight which is found in all parts of your body: bones, fat, muscles, and blood (PN). Making sure you have enough water is essential for your body to function properly and continue to take such good care of you while you crush it at work, in your business, and your everyday life.

So how much water should you drink? The general recommendation is 3 liters a day but since you get roughly 1 liter of water from food, you’ll only need to drink 2 liters a day (which just so happens to be 8 cups, or 64 oz). But if you’re bigger or smaller, your amount of water is different. You’re either not getting enough water at 2 liters a day or you’re getting too much. Another way to determine how much water you should be drinking a day is with a little simple math (that I learned from Precision Nutrition).

Figure out your weight in kilograms (take your weight and divide it by 2.2) and multiply that by 30 and by 40. This number will tell you how many mililiters to drink, divide by 1000 to get liters. For example a 160 lb (73 kg) person would require 2.2 – 2.9 liters of water a day from water and food. And if it’s warmer, which is starting to get, then you’ll want an additional .5 liters even if you aren’t active. If you’re exercising, your intake might double. You can also look at the color of your urine to see if you should drink more or drink less. Here’s a great infographic (be sure to check out what it means if your pee is purple).

Here’s a tip, if you haven’t been drinking enough water, start small. You don’t have to jump to 2 liters tomorrow, but start taking steps to get there.

What are the benefits of drinking water?

There are so many benefits, but I’ll just list a few main ones.

• It’ll improve the way your skin looks. No one wants dry skin or wrinkles.
• It’ll increase how energized you feel and reduce how tired you feel.
• It’ll also help with headaches as headaches are a sign you’re not drinking enough water.
• It can help with weight loss. Thirst and hunger cues often get confused. You may actually be thirsty when you think you’re hungry.
• It can help you concentrate and stay focused.

You can find even more here and here.

How to drink more water.

Make it easier on yourself. Buy a sweet water bottle that you’ll love looking at all day. Fill it up and drink it throughout the day. For those of you that like to see progress and check things off a list, you’ll be able to see how much you’ve drank and can track how much water you’re drinking. So put it on the to-do list so you can cross it off.

Set a reminder on your phone to get up every couple hours and take a water break. This is also get for getting movement in throughout the day, and letting your mind reset before getting back to it.

Start where you are. If you’re not ready to just drink water, sub half your drinks in a day for water or add a little flavor to your water. Either way, you’ll be making progress and increasing your water intake.

How are you increasing your water intake?