I try to drink about 80 ounces or about 10 cups of water a day. I’m sure if you asked most people around me, they know me to drink only water and that I always have a water bottle with me. Guess what though? I HATE water. I learned this past year that my mother hates water too. Who knew grown-ups could hate water?! So let’s talk about how to drink more water when you hate it. If you don’t hate water but need to drink more, this may help too.

*DISCLOSURE: THIS POST MAY CONTAIN AFFILIATE LINKS, MEANING I GET A COMMISSION IF YOU DECIDE TO MAKE A PURCHASE THROUGH MY LINKS, AT NO COST TO YOU.

Why is it important to drink water even if you hate it?

#1, your health! There is no health, fitness, or nutrition plan complete without water. From a health perspective, it is great for your entire body but especially your skin, your circulation, your digestive system, and your kidneys. If you are having health issues and aren’t drinking enough water, drinking more water is a relatively easy thing you can do to improve your health.

#2, your money! Unless you want to be bourgeois, which is your right, water is practically, if not completely, free. There’s no other beverage that compares in price. Let’s talk about this. Water from the tap is free. Run it through a faucet filter or a pitcher filter and you’re golden. Bottled water from Costco costs $2.99 for a 40-pack of 16.9 fl oz. bottles. What 40-pack of any other beverage will cost you $3? None! In case you needed more of an incentive, if you’re healthier, your health maintenance costs tend to be lower.

How much water should you be drinking?

While some say to drink a gallon of water a day, I prefer a more customized method instead. I mean, if your height and weight determine how many calories you should eat, then why would there be an arbitrary amount of water for everyone to drink? A Myfitnesspal article recommends dividing your weight by 2 to determine how many ounces of water you should typically drink in a day. So if you weigh 160 lbs and you divide that by 2, that means you should drink 80 ounces or 10 cups per day. Whatever number you come up with based on your weight, that should be your goal every day. If you already drink that much or more, then great! If you aren’t there yet, you want to think about how you can drink more water.

How to meet your quota

So you’ve determined your number which should now be your goal. Now let’s build a routine around it.

If you are set on buying bottled water, buy enough to stock your pantry for a week or two. The largest manageable size bottle you can get in my opinion is about 32 ounces. It can fit a tote size bag easily so you can take it on the go. Whatever your preferred brand is, find the largest bottle you can reasonably carry and stock up!

I make full use of reusable water bottles. They are environmentally-friendly and much more cost-efficient. I have tried a few different brands of water bottles and I always come back to Contigo*. I just found that they are the most leak-proof and user-friendly bottle for me.

Create a routine. Pack your bottle with your lunch. Take your bottle to work or school. If your commute is lengthy, make sure your bottle is full when you’re getting in your car, on the bus, or on the train. Set time goals for when you want to finish a bottle. I try to drink at least 40 ounces before I leave work. If that’s the case, I try to drink 20 more ounces on my drive home and the last 20 in the evening. There are apps that can keep you accountable throughout the day so you stick to your goal.

Know Thyself

There are things I realized about myself that influenced how I go about meeting my goal of drinking more water.

1. I don’t like room temperature water. So I always fill my water bottle from my refrigerated Brita pitcher, keep my water bottle in the fridge overnight, or I add ice. This means for my cold water bottle, it has to be double-walled so the bottle doesn’t sweat all over my desk. You can also buy a neoprene cover, which I’ve done before as well.
2. I drink faster with a straw. Oddly enough, it changes the drinking experience so that is actually more enjoyable for me. So when buying a water bottle, I prefer one that comes with a straw, rather than a pour bottle.
3. I don’t like complicated. At work, my 20-ounce water bottle fits well under the cooler. But if I’m filling my 32-ounce bottle, I have to hold it at an angle to fill it which inherently makes me want to do it much less. So to increase my odds of refilling my bottle at work, I only use my 20-ounce. Plus, I walk more. Win, win!

But I HATE water!

Are you drinking water under duress? Just because you know you have to. If you’re anything like me, drinking water can be quite the chore. Adding variety to it worked WONDERS for me!

Some people can to relatively simple things such add mint leaves and/or lemon/lime slices. If this works for you, great! This makes drinking more water attractive to you with the plus of not using the additives you’ll find in store-bought flavoring. I, however, am not that person. It doesn’t alter the taste enough for me.

So I started by using Crystal Light. Tastes great! However, it had more ingredients than I was comfortable with and a lot of them are not ingredients you’ll recognize. Even their Pure line was problematic for me because their first ingredient is sugar.

So next, I tried Stur Liquid Enhancers*. I loved it! The ingredients are all recognizable. It is sweetened with Stevia. Additionally, you squirt as little or as much as you would like, which is great for control freaks. Unfortunately, I found it a little expensive. I likely used more than other people because I have to drown out that water taste.

I now use True Citrus* flavor packets. It is like Kool-Aid for grown-ups. It has sugar and Stevia which could be a no-go for some people. For me though, it’s perfect. I only use half a packet for every 20-ounce bottle of water. Their first ingredient is crystallized lime or lemon. They have a wide variety of flavors available. The simplest being True Lemon or True Lime. My favorite flavor is True Lime black cherry with True Lime watermelon being my runner-up.

If you hate water, one of these options or their counterparts should help you enjoy water a bit more. That area of the store should have options you can try if the brands I tried don’t appeal to you.

My Water Drinking Routine

Before I leave the house, I fill my 20-ounce Contigo travel mug with green ginger tea with honey or agave and my 20-ounce Contigo tumbler with cold water mixed with half a packet of True Lemon black cherry. I start drinking on my drive to work. While at my desk, I try to finish at least one of my 20-ounce drinks before I eat breakfast at around 10 AM. Ideally, around noon, I would have refilled either my tea or my water to start on the second half of my 80 ounces for the day. I find that if I don’t refill both bottles at work, even if it is right before I leave, I won’t meet my goal for the day. Once I’m home, I’m not thinking about refilling my water bottle anymore.

So that’s how you can drink more water even though you hate it. Some days you won’t meet your goal but try to make that the exception rather than the rule. Some days, you will surpass your goal. When doing a rigorous 30 minute workout, I can easily drink 20 ounces of water without thinking about it (still with my flavor packet, of course).

To-Do List

• Calculate how much water you should be drinking a day. Your weight divided by two equals the amount of water you should be drinking.
• Stock up on water bottles, preferably reusable ones. I use the same two Contigo bottles every day: one for hot tea, the other for cold water.
• If the taste of water turns you off, find ways to add the flavors you enjoy to your water.
• Finally, drink!

Your turn. Do you drink enough water? If not, what makes it difficult for you to do so? If you do drink a lot of water, what helps you reach your goal? Share in the comments below.