A gallon is a lot of something. If you drink that much milk, you’re sure to get at least 100,000 YouTube views – or more – if you catalog the aftermath of your attempt. Drink as much water as I’ve heard and seen many people try and you suddenly get exponentially healthier. At least that’s how it works, doesn’t it? Does massive water consumption mean massive health?
So far it’s cost me about $ 35, or the price of a gigantic 64-ounce insulated water bottle I bought to drink more water because it got annoying to refill a regular pint glass several times a day. As for the health benefits, I’ve tried drinking more water for the past few months, but I can’t say it made me less sleepy, acne prone, or lighter. Ah, pandemic life.
And what is this fun challenge for? Vital has taken root – thank you, Beth. The imagination? Maybe I didn’t drink enough water so I’ll go with the “gallon” measurement you refer to on all SEO Health spam sites and TikTok these days. And I probably wasn’t very consistent in my consumption either, so I challenged myself to consume a gallon of water – regular old faucet, no sparkling or thicc-every single day.
I started this challenge on Wednesday and am happy to announce that I have completely failed so far. Close up, but that only counts for horseshoes and hand grenades, not water challenges.
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Timing is everything for copious water usage
Honestly, a gallon of water is a lot of water, but that’s only possible if you try to chug it in gigantic bursts. Speed up your drinking all day – like a college student at a music festival – and a gallon is entirely achievable. Tricky, yes, but not impossible.
My problem? In the past two days, I found that moments of concentration made me forget about drinking water. I would work on an item for a couple of hours, or get on a World of Warcraft heist, neglecting my giant blue water bottle. Then when I was trying to catch up, I found that it was painful to drink more water than I really wanted to consume at one time. I would feel a smidge puffed up (nothing bad, just a little full), but worse, I would get tired of drinking water. This mild mental fatigue was just enough to slow my daily consumption.
I made it to three-quarters of a gallon on the first day. The next? Half a gallon only because I’ve had a busy day. I suspect part of my problem was establishing a new routine during the monotony that (for most of us) is a pandemic life. I’m just not used to handling so much fluids. As I type this, I realize that I haven’t even filled my half gallon container for that day. This is the first step in making sure I’m actually drinking it at my desk.
But timing is also key. I was almost as close to hitting that gallon mark on my first day, but realized I had a quarter of a gallon left to drink by around 8 p.m. When I was trying to finish, I also didn’t want to wake up at two in the morning to deal with the aftereffects of all the fluid moving around my sleepy system. At least I didn’t want to risk it. Sleep is precious.
I think probably the best way for me to overcome this challenge is to set measured goals throughout the day. For example, I may try to bring down at least half of my water bottle before (and during) each meal. That’s already three quarters; Trapping the rest of the day shouldn’t be difficult. When I come back I think catching up is the biggest struggle of this challenge.
What I expect from this challenge is probably irrefutable evidence that three straight weeks on the water doesn’t really do much, other than peeing a lot more. But who knows. Maybe I have shiny, influencer-able skin, a fresh look at life, and the ability to work on water with six hours of sleep a night. Wouldn’t that be fun?