Water is pretty much a magical elixir. It can clear up your skin, boost your metabolism, keep your energy levels high, and stave off bloating. Knowing that, a few months ago, after reading a million articles on why water is the answer to everything, I decided to dive into the "more is better" mindset and set my daily water goal to a gallon.
Every hour, I drank about 16 ounces of water. I struggled at the beginning and even got nauseous a bit, but I labored on, convinced that the life-changing results I'd heard of were just around the corner and feeling proud of myself that I'd lived through yet another day of this new way of life. But going from not drinking much water to drinking a gallon wasn't sustainable for me.
Apparently "more is better" goes hand in hand with "all or nothing" for me, and fast-forward to a week later when life got busy and my gallon-a-day challenge vanished into the air. I found myself at level zero again, drinking absolutely no water and too busy to notice. As you can guess, this really isn't an ideal scenario and it taught me a lot about the importance of keeping a balanced intake of water in mind at all times. Here are the symptoms that made me realized I had slacked on hydration.
They say you don't know what you have until it's gone and I learned that first-hand. Needless to say, I am never, ever not paying attention to my water consumption. My water bottle is now a permanent fixture in my life, and here to stay.