Hydration.

Two weeks ago, my roommate decided she wanted to drink more water. But, as she told me, she has a hard time starting a new habit unless there is competition involved. So she dragged me into it. The rules were simple, you had to drink 9 cups of water each day for 2 weeks.  If you didn't drink enough water for a day, that day would be considered a "miss" and you would start again the next day. At the end of the 2 weeks, whoever had missed the least amount of days won. The loser had to take the winner out for dinner.

Now, while 9 cups may not sound like an excessive amount, think about how much water you honestly drink in a day. I think I would have been lucky to say that I drank 2 cups of water in a normal day. Obviously, this will vary greatly depending on what I did that day physical-activity-wise, the temperature, etc.

I would like to, again, point out that I never really wanted to do this from the get-go. I have tried to increase my water intake before, and it usually ended after a day or two, after I had gone to the bathroom about two hundred times and realized it wasn't worth it anymore.

But, I am a competitive person, so this time, I went hard. I am proud to say that while I did pee more in this last two weeks that I usually do in a month and a half, and I did have couple evenings spent chugging water I had forgot to drink, I did not miss a day.

Today the competition has officially ended.

My roommate missed one day, leaving my victorious and the recipient of a free dinner (the time and place has yet to be determined).

What did I gain from this?

Well, for starters I am significantly more hydrated than when I started. Also, having to drink so much water made me cut down on drinking other stuff like juice, pop, etc. Not that I drank a lot of that stuff anyways. But still, when its 4 pm and you still have 5 more cups of water to go, you are not going to waste precious bladder and stomach space on other liquids. This meant that even when I ate out, I ordered water. And if I didn't, I paid for it later when I tried to fit more liquid into my body. I also think that I may have eaten a bit less. Not a crazy difference in amount or anything, but constantly having water in my stomach probably made me a little bit less hungry.

Now that I am done I have to say that I will probably not continue drinking a full 9 cups of water per day, but I hope I will drink at least 4-6. A good 1.5 L seems like a good amount to me.

Advice I have for others wanting to start drinking more water... start slowly. If you go from 2 cups a day to 9 cups a day overnight, it will be a challenge. I have to say that those first couple days were pretty uncomfortable. All I did was force water into my stomach and pee. Over time it got easier and my body adjusted a bit. By the end of two weeks, I still had to force myself to drink ALL the water, but it was getting to be a routine. But, in the end, my competitive side got the best of me, and I won. And that makes it all worth it, right?

And there you have it. That is my adventure in hydration.