Thursday, March 10, 2011

A Year Of Healthy Habits- Drinking Water

This year, I'm attempting to add a healthy habit each month and work on being consistent with that habit all month long. Then the next month add something else.

I'm hoping this method will be more effective  than my usual " start everything at once" approach.

January flew by with lots of activity and before I knew it the month was over and I hadn't started this new habit of, um, learning a new habit.

In February, I decided to exercise each day for 30 minutes. I chose to walk with the dog and decided to do it early in the morning, before Baby Girl arrived. I drew a little star on the calendar each day that I did this and I'm happy to report that I did not miss a day! There have been a few days where I waited until later in the day to walk, but still I was able to be consistent!

Both the dog and I are reaping the benefits!

What I'm doing is simple-- I set my stopwatch for 15 minutes. When we've walked for 15 minutes, we turn around and come back. For variety, I switch up where we walk several times a week. I've also noticed which streets have the most cats and limit our time there unless I'm really needing resistance training. Hahaha!

For March, my goal is to get back into the habit of drinking plenty of water each day. I recently heard that for maximum health benefits, a person should drink as many ounces of water each day as half their body weight. So if you weigh 100 pounds, you should drink 50 ounces of water.

My ultimate goal is to drink 2 1/2 - 3 quarts of water each day. If not able to make this requirement then at least 2 quarts (64 ounces) or 8 glasses which is widely recognized as a good amount of water to drink.

Already, I'm seeing that this is a more difficult habit to learn than 30 minutes of exercise!  But I continue on, filling my Mason jar with filtered water first thing in the morning and aiming to finish my 2nd quart by early afternoon. Spacing it out seems to help me a lot as fellow members of the Itty Bitty Bladder Club can most likely relate!

And every day I accomplish my goal, I add a smiley next to the star on the calendar. And maybe one of these days, I'll reward myself with a special treat!

Would you like to join me in drinking an adequate amount of water each day for the rest of March? It's up to you whether you choose to drink 8-8oz. glasses or half of your body weight. Let me know in the comments if you'd like to join in!

Tell me what kind of healthy habits you are actively trying to form?


3 comments:

Rhonda said...

I like your simple way of making goals and keeping up with them.
My personal goal at the moment is to give up diet dr. peppers, which are not good for me or my budget.

So am I drinking lots of tea at the moment and hope to switch to water soon.

I walk with our dog and know all about those cats. But the cats in my neighborhood wander around. You would think they would run when they see us coming :)

Serenity Now said...

Ooh, this is a good one for me! I read that too, but I've just never been able to drink that much - I KNOW I would lose weight if I did though. I've been good about consistently walking the dog as well, so I will definately try and add this healthy habit in this month - let's do it! We are considering baby #2 and I would love to drop some pounds first :) Thanks for the motivation!

Monica Wilkinson said...

In January, I picked three things I wanted to work on this year - drinking more water, exercising more and praying more. I did great for January and then sickness hit and I've yet to fully recover my routine. I love how you are adding one at a time!