10 ways to drink more water!

2013 for me, was a wake up call. I needed to do something about my water in-take, it was pitiful! Now I've never not liked water, but it can get quite boring and I found drinking anywhere near 8 glasses of water a day a chore! So, at the start of this year I set myself a challenge to drink more water and I found 10 helpful tips that really made drinking water enjoyable. It's now May, and while I don't manage 8 glasses everyday, I now drink WAY more water than I ever have, and I very rarely drink anything else (except on treat days of course).

 So here are my Top 10 ways to drink more water and how to enjoy doing so!

1.Keep a chart

One of the best things I did to motivate myself to drink more water, was to make a chart to track my progress. This took a couple of minutes to create in Microsoft Excel, and it's basically a tick chart where I can mark of drinks 1-8 everyday of the week. The challenge was to first mark off all 8 boxes in a day, and then 8 boxes for all seven days of the week. It's great to look at the chart at the end of the week too see all of the ticks and knowing all the good you've done to your body!

2. Add Flavour

Photo Source: keyingredient.com

Now water is odd. I for one can't describe it's taste. There's no denying it can be really refreshing, but five glasses in and the 'taste' (whatever it may be) can get really boring. Solution? Give it some flavour! Now I've seen this idea all over Pintrest and Instagram and I, for one, love it! Basically you take a big jug of water and add lots of tasty things, such as frozen fruits, lemon, lime, cucumber and mint for example, and let it sit for a while to infuse the water with all those delicious flavours. The longer you leave it, the more infused the water gets. Refreshing isn't the word! Bye, bye boring water!

3. Buy a fun cup!

I for one am a sucker for anything 'fun' or 'cute'. If a cocktail looks cool, I will probably buy it. So I thought, why can't the same thing work with water? So I went out and bought myself a bright and colourful cup, that at £1 from Tesco, definitely didn't break the bank. It's a small thing, but it definitely makes drinking water more colourful and less bland.

4. Have a drink every time you eat

If you drink every time you eat, you'll soon be consuming most of the water you need in one day. Have a glass of water every time you snack, and with every meal. Not only will you be consuming more water, you'll be keeping yourself hydrated and full up and the water fills up your stomach. Win, win!

5. Have a competition with a family member or friend

One of my main incentives for drinking more water, was to act as a good example for my niece. So I challenged her to a competition to see if we could both fill our drink charts with ticks by the end of the week, and if we succeeded we could both have a treat from the shop at the end of the week. This incentive inspired both myself and my niece to drink more, and it soon became habit.

6. Have an incentive... cheat day

Following the last tip, make sure you're giving yourself something to work towards, whether you're doing it with a friend or not. Have that treat day where you're allowed other drinks to keep you motivated. This also keeps it fun, and less like a everyday chore.

7. Take it with you!

To make sure you can drink all day, keep your water with you! Get a good 2 litre bottle, fill it up first thing, and keep it with you all day as your source of water. Aim to finish the bottle by bed time and you'll be drinking more water in no time. Remember to clean your bottle regularly, and change it after a while as it's not good to continuously re-use a bottle, especially if it's plastic.

8. Use an app to set reminders

I found one my biggest problems, was remembering to actually drink throughout the day. Luckily, there's an app (a few actually) that you can use to set reminders on to alert you to drink more water. You can also track your daily intake like on the chart. I personally use 'Drinking Water', a free app from the Google Play Store.

9. Instead of pop, get a fancy bottle of water

When you're out and about, there is far more temptation, especially in world of drinks. So, instead of getting that bottle of pop or cocktail (If it's not a treat day), invest in a nice bottle of water. Bottled water can be a real experience these days with different companies trying to out-do one another with fancy bottles, or unique tastes. If you really want to treat yourself, check out the range of water available from Selfridges, which includes limited edition water such as Love H20: