Easy Ways to Drink More Water

Water is essential for living a healthy lifestyle. It helps to keep your body hydrated and contains zero calories. Water also purges harmful toxins out of your system and keeps your skin looking youthful. Your body will function better as you increase your water intake.

Have it with you

You’ll find yourself easily drinking more water if you have it with you, Â especially at your desk and in the car.

 Determine how many glasses/liters you need

You’ve probably heard the “8 by 8″ rule – drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day (2 quarts/1.8 liters) – but the amount of water a person needs varies depending on his or her weight, activity level and climate. Another way to determine your specific recommended water intake is to divide your weight (in pounds) by two. The resulting number is the number of ounces of water you need each day. For example, if you weigh 150 lbs, strive to drink 75 ounces of water daily. For those who use the Metric system, divide your weight (in kilograms) by 50(ex. somebody weighing 70 kg is going to need 2.3 liters per day). Keep in mind that these recommended intake numbers are controversial and some experts believe they are a gross exaggeration. See “warnings” below for more information.

Drink Before Each Meal

There are two benefits to drinking a large glass of water before each of your daily meals. You will be increasing your intake of water, and you may also end up eating less. Drinking more water may enable you to consume fewer calories because it helps fill you up but does not contain any calories itself. If weight loss or weight maintenance is your goal, drinking water before each meal may help you accomplish that. Drinking another glass of water with your meal will increase your water intake even more.

Take Baby Steps

Don’t expect to go from zero glasses of water to the full 8 glasses overnight. Start with one glass of water in the morning and one glass of water at night, and build your way up from there.

Give yourself a reminder

People often don’t drink enough water because they get too busy and forget. Set your watch to beep every hour as a reminder to drink a glass of water. It’ll give you an opportunity to get up and move around too, which is also beneficial to your health.