Hydration: Day 1

Starting again with a new goal. I love beginnings.

I need to drink enough water. But how much water do I need to drink in a day?

The answer to that far less straight forward than I had expected, or hoped. You can search the web all you want for 'how much water should I drink' or variations on that, and you will find 100 different answers. Two of the most common are:

Eight, 8oz glasses in a day (or 64 oz)

or

Take your weight (in lbs) and divide by 2, that's the number of ounces you should drink in a day.

Since I weigh 138 pounds (right now, many of these habits are going to be designed to improve that number) that's 69 ounces.

Those two numbers are really close. How convenient.

The last common answer that abounds the internet over is, 'enough water that your urine is light colored'. While this answer appeals to me because it it clearly the most physiologically relevant, it makes goal setting hard, AND requires that the next 22 days is spent in a discussion of my urine color. I'll spare us both.

There are a few complicating factors.

Now, I live in the desert. It's only April, and it is already 80 here most days. The humidity is ridiculously low. As a result, I probably need more water than the 'average' person. But I have no idea how much.

PLUS (I told you this wasn't straight forward) I run three days a week. I love to go out for hikes. This will mean I need more water too.

And oh yeah, I'm still nursing my Little One. More water.

Taking all this into account, I have decided to set this goal as follows:

Nine, 8 oz glasses of water a day, or a total of 72 ounces.

And since I learned from my last habit that I need to be as specific as possible, I am going to break that up as follows:

2 glasses before/with breakfast
1 glass midmorning
2 glasses before/with lunch
1 glass midafternoon
2 glasses before/with dinner
1 glass before bed

Voila! 9 glasses, minimum.

If I go for a run, water consumed during the run doesn't count. It will be 'extra'.

Now, I reserve the right to alter this as I go, in case it seems like I am getting too much or not enough along the way. The above mentioned urine color may come into play, as well as thirst. I'll tweak as I go.

For now, I have already gotten started this morning. This habit will be much harder than the last, so here's to working hard and getting those glasses down. Bottoms up!

**report for yesterday

Yesterday I finished my perfect streak for brushing and flossing. Hopefully these little daily reports become more interesting now, because this habit is more involved. Let's see.