I’ve been doing random monthly challenges for most of 2020, it’s the least I could do to stay engaged with all the crazy going on. So, for the month of September, I am going to drink ONE gallon of water every day. It will be hard, but I will do it. I’m not looking forward to all the bathroom breaks or the monotonous taste of water, but I’m hopeful there will be some good perks in exchange for those downfalls. Also, my friend Brooke is going to do the challenge too, so I’ll have a partner…and competition!
I’m giving myself a warm up day on August 31. I don’t have to drink the whole gallon, but I’m going to try just to kick things off. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Day 0 (August 31)
I did it. It took all of the time from 0900 to 2030 to get it done! I arbitrarily made the decision to be done at 2030 because I loathe getting up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. Honestly, I doubt it will make a difference, but at least I tried.
How do I feel? I feel like a water bed. My stomach is gurgle-y, I feel bloated, ughh. Earlier today I had a headache, because of too much water. Seriously. I think that I started to washout my electrolytes. But I was fine as soon as I ate lunch.
So, it’s not impossible, but I don’t know how I’m going to feel about this adventure. I hope it gets easier. Check back each day for updates!
Day 1
Today wasn’t bad. I did wake up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom…but other than that it was better than day zero. I also went to the bathroom 12 times. Just seems so excessive! I was better at drinking the water though and finished around 1930.
Day 2
No middle of the night wake up again!!! Unless you count Hastings sitting my my chest and licking my face until I woke up…but that’s a different story. Another 12 rounds in the bathroom. Ugghhh…. finish around 1900. I need to start saving just a little because I always want a drink before bed. Overall, not noticing much change except that I’m getting better at drinking water.
Day 3
So it’s Thursday. I’ve got 2 days in the bag and all I can say is, I need to stop going to the bathroom so much!!! Today, I cut back to 11 times. Yay! Drinking the gallon has gotten easier. Now I find that I’m on track to finish “early”. I don’t want to do that, because then I drink “extra” and it creates more of these bathroom problems.
Day 4
10 – still cutting back on those bathroom visits! Almost down to single digits! 😂 today was a little interesting but tomorrow will be more so. We drove out to Shenandoah National Park to camp, so my bed time routine was outside. Not really a problem, but if the numbers stay this high tomorrow….
Ooh! Also, I tried to have a little extra drink today and grabbed a PSL on our way out of town. Either they made it really strong or the water challenge has changed my taste buds because I took maybe 6 drinks from it and gave the rest to Mike. 🤷♀️ I could take the amount of coffee/espresso that was in it. I was getting jittery from just the little bit I had.
Day 5
Same number of breaks as yesterday: 10. All of them outside. My first was at 0230. That’s not particularly fun anytime, but definitely not when you’re camping. Thankfully, Mike was awake too because we had noisy neighbors in their car that accidentally honked their horn. Mike also had to go, so I didn’t have to venture out to the side of the road on my own!
We hiked over 15 miles today to do some back country camping. When you hike and camp like this it’s a “pack in, pack out” kind of situation. I’m not going to spell out the troubles here, but there were 2 options here the way I see it. I’ll let you guess what I did, if you’re curious ask. But just know, I’m a girl, in the woods, and I had to pee a lot.
Day 6
10 bathroom breaks again. Tried another PSL on the drive home from Shenandoah, still too much. Maybe next weekend I’ll try something else and see how I feel.
Today started off a little more challenging in regards to drinking all the water because I only had 1 liter available to start the day. I had to make that last until we got back to the car. 2.5 hours of hiking and I was definitely ready for my resupply. A second challenge was I got to the point where I had maybe a half a liter left and it was only 1800 and I wanted the water to last and not drink extra because I didn’t want to get up in the middle of the night. So I backed off, and then all of a sudden, I was trying to finish my water before bed.
Day 7
Kept the breaks at 10, I might be able to get to the single digits. This is really the only thing I track because it’s the only thing that seems to be different.
Day 8
14! I had to go to the bathroom 14 times!!! Unacceptable. Aside from that, I really haven’t noticed much change with all the water. I have a zit right now but I did just go camping…and I’ve also heard that the way your skin looks today is because of whatever you did 3 months ago…I don’t know. With the humidity around here everyone “glows” so I can’t say the water did that either. So for now, no changes.
Day 9
15. Holy moly! This is the most bathroom breaks since the start of this challenge! I’m still not drinking much else besides the water, however, I did have a smoothie for breakfast today so that kind of adds to the liquid intake.
I have noticed that I don’t use chapstick quite as much, and when I do, it seem to be more out of habit or a mental thing than it is my lips actually feeling/being dry.
Day 10 (September 10)
13 is less than 15 I guess. I’m definitely fuller throughout the day. That’s a nice feeling, and I feel like it prevents me from over-eating. More along the lines of “hara hachi bu”, the idea of stopping eating when your 80% full. Well, if you’re 20% full of water…80% full of food is pretty full! And I’m probably more than 20% full of water at this point.
Day 11
11. Kind of funny, 11 on the 11th. Really not that funny, but I am really glad I’m trending back down! That zit I had or was getting a few days ago is gone already. That seems faster than normal, so maybe the water has something to do with that??
Day 12
Day 13
Day 14
Day 15
Day 16
Day 17
Day 18
Day 19
Day 20 (September 20)
Day 21
Day 22
Day 23
Day 24
Day 25
Day 26
Day 27
Day 28
Day 29
I stopped counting my bathroom breaks…it was a lot…every day. The bright side? I was able to wake up early (0245) this morning and blow up balloons for Mike’s birthday and cover our bedroom floor with balloons while he slept. Honestly, that’s probably the biggest win with this water challenge.
Also, I take back the chapstick stuff…I want my chapstick. The water didn’t resolve it.
Another thing, I grew up with terrible cramps…nearly every month and everyone has some kind of advice. One thing I was told, quite frequently, was to drink more water and I wouldn’t have cramps. They lied. I don’t know if I was drinking enough water then or not but I spent all month drinking 128 ounces of water a day and let me tell you, my cramps were awful. Tylenol, heating pad, and back to bed. So no, water will not solve my problem. Thanks.
The water intake also significantly hurt my Starbucks habit. Which is ok with me. I’m a little bummed that the handful of times that I’ve had a Starbucks drink (PSL, chai, or Matcha Green Tea Latte) I get jittery or a headache…but that’s also why we shouldn’t take in much caffeine overall.
I have one more day before this is over, but I promise, I’ll do it. I’m thinking I am going to continue this for another month or two. I won’t be as strict as far as I have to have a solid 128 ounces of WATER and any other beverage is extra. Also, if I have a few ounces at the end of the night, I’m not waterboarding myself to finish.
Day 30 (September 30)
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