Resolution 1: Hydrate, Part 2

Today is day six of my hydration resolution, and I have to admit this was a hard week for even such a simple goal. Today was my shortest work day, weighing in at only 10.5 working hours: Tuesday was the hardest, weighing in at 13.5 working hours from start to finish. (Neither total factors in the planning and grading I did from home on those days.) Having such a full work week, right after a week and a half of winter break, was tricky with my hydration goal because it meant it was harder to stay caffeinated. Therefore, it's hard to assess whether the exhaustion I have been feeling recently is from working hard for more hours in a row than I had been accustomed to over the previous week's vacation, or from my lessened caffeine intake.


Despite the challenge of my hectic schedule, I was able to successfully drink my six servings a day without fail. Albeit, there were a few days when I was drinking my final serving later in the day than I would have preferred. Part of what made my water drinking quite palatable was that I discovered that I enjoy Vitamin Water's Zero Mega-C, which is flavored to taste like grape-raspberry. The drink's crisp, subtle sweetness is not the same as that which I crave with Diet Coke and Coke Zero, but nonetheless I find it refreshing and a nice way to break up the redundancy of drinking plain water all day. Plus, one bottle is 20oz, fulfilling 2.5 of my 6 daily servings. Additionally, I have also found that club soda is a delightful option when out at a restaurant: ordering something other than a water feels more natural to me, not to mention that the carbonation is a characteristic I commonly crave.


The increased intake of water has helped me to feel fuller, enabling me to minimize my snacking during the workday, which is when I typically snack most frequently. For this reason alone, I am inspired to continue doing my best to maintain this goal as I go in to the coming weeks.