21 Day Water Challenge – September 2021

Our Goal for September 1st thru September 21st: Drink at least 64 ounces of water per day. 64 ounces is the same as the old fashioned rule of eight 8 oz glasses of water a day.  If you are doing a lot of sweating and exercising and you are already drinking 64 oz per day, consider drinking even more water. If you want to drink a gallon (128 oz) or half your body weight, that’s great too. The choice is yours.

Track your daily ounces with this month’s tracking calendar. You’ll find the calendar below. Four 16oz water bottles = 64oz.

This month, we will commit to cutting out/cutting back on drinking empty calories.

• Soda
• Sweet tea and other drinks with added sugar or sweeteners
• Store bought juice – Any juice from concentrate
• Alcohol

Instead we will drink…

• Water 70-80% of the time, along with…
• Herbal Tea sweetened with Natural Sweeteners, like stevia and honey. (Use sweetners in moderation)
• Freshly made juice
• Water infused with fruit, tea, mint, etc…
• Fresh, homemade smoothies

Need some smoothie ideas? Check out our Green Smoothie Book!

Join the Daily Check-in

During the challenge, we will post a check-in post in our Facebook group and on Instagram every evening at 6:30 pm EST where you can leave a comment and share how much water you’re drinking each day. Note: You don’t have to drink all of your water by 6:30pm. The post will go up at 6:30 and your can post your water total anytime after that.

Q & A

Why should you drink more water?

• Drinking more water can help boost your metabolism for weight loss.
• Drink water to stay hydrated. Dehydration is dangerous for your health and saps your energy levels.
• Your brain, tissues and organs rely on water to stay in good health.  Your muscles need water to stay toned.
• Drinking more water can actually help relieve water retention.  It allows he body to stop trying to store water to combat dehydration.

How much water should I drink per day if I’m just starting out?

If you have always had an issue with drinking enough water or are drinking less than 24 oz per day, we suggest you start with 24 oz of water and work your way up to 64 oz. This challenge is NOT about going overboard.  Simply adding 24 ounces more of water a day can make a big difference, especially when you are exercising.

Some sources suggest that we should take our body weight, cut that number in half and use that number as a guide for the number of ounces of water we need each day. So, if you are 200 pounds, you may want to shoot for 100 ounces of water a day as a goal for the end of the month. Of course there are cases were you should drink more than the minimum of 64 oz, especially if you are working out hard, breast feeding, living in a very warm climate, etc.

Here at BWLW, we don’t suggest that you drink more than a gallon of water per day (128 oz) (…unless you are already doing so with no issues, or if you are an athlete/someone who is training hard and sweating a lot.) A gallon could be WAY too much water for some people’s systems to handle, especially if you drink too much in one sitting or your body is not used to drinking that much water. Going from consuming say, 30 oz a day to drinking 128 oz in a matter of days is not recommended. Everyone’s needs are different and your goals have to be realistic. Take it slow, do your research and listen to your body.

Of course, we all see people in the gym walking around with gallon jugs, and that’s fine, especially in the summer while doing intense workouts in the heat. There is nothing wrong with drinking a gallon a day if you are healthy enough to do so and it works for you. However, when you aren’t even drinking 64 oz regularly, it’s ok to start out with a smaller goal.

If you have already been advised by your doctor to limit or monitor your intake of fluids, you need to keep that in mind as well. In addition, medications (like diuretics) can affect how much water you should consume.

Get the calendar today!

Challenge Instructions:

1. Click Here to get this month’s water tracking calendar (PDF file).

2. Decide on a daily water goal and fully commit. Leave a comment below and tell us what your daily water goal is.

3. Throughout the month of September, share photos of your water bottles on social media with the hashtag: #BWLWWaterChallenge and let everyone know that you’re joining us. We just might feature your post in a story on one more our profiles.

Tips:

• Create a water drinking schedule and drink water throughout the course of the day.
• For flavor, infuse your water with real fruit – Cut up fruit and put it in the water bottle to steep, like tea. If you drink any sweeteners, they should be natural and you should only drink them in moderation (honey, stevia, agave nectar, etc). You can also have freshly made juice, milk, unsweetened nut milk (almond, soy) and homemade smoothies. 
• Drink the most pure water you have access to.  Filtered water, spring water, distilled, etc.
• Buy a glass water bottle or a BPA free plastic water bottle.
• Buy a water bottle with ounce markings on it so that you know how much you are drinking.
• Mark how much water you want to drink by a certain time on your bottle or gallon to keep track of your water drinking. A Sharpie is a great way to do this but you can get creative with stickers and other decorations.

Don’t forget to leave a comment below and tell us how many ounces a day you’ll be drinking!

Medical Note: If there is any reason why you should not increase your water intake due to kidney issues, edema, any ailment or a chronic illness, do not participate in this challenge. When in doubt or if you have any questions speak with your doctor.

Check out these Cute Bottles*

Water Intoxication – Can you drink TOO much water?

Some of you may be concerned about drinking too much water. Here is some info to help you understand that water intoxication is possible but you would have to drink a LOT of water (far more than 64 oz over the course of a day).

“When you drink enough water to where the salts in your blood are severely diluted, you can experience a number of health concerns. The first symptoms may include headache, fatigue and feelings of nausea. As the levels of water in your body increase, you may vomit, urinate frequently and feel disoriented and confused — a condition known as water intoxication…  One of the reasons why it is possible to drink too much water is because your kidneys can only filter so much fluid at a time. If your kidneys are healthy, you can filter about 800 to 1,000 mL or 0.21 to 0.26 gallons of water, meaning you can drink about this much every hour and have your kidneys function normally… When considering how much water healthy kidneys can filter in a day, you can filter about 15 L — almost 60 glasses — of water each day,” – Read the full article from Livestrong.com

also

Rapid intake of too much water floods the inside of cells when sodium is depleted. This sodium depletion, called hyponatremia, can rupture the cells, either from extra pressure on the cells from without, or from pressure within flooded cells. As cells rupture in various parts of the body, certain symptoms emerge, and usually quickly.

What kind of symptoms? Well, things like vomiting, headaches, confusion and disorientation. If things progress this can lead to more serious things like seizures and coma. Untreated cases have resulted in death. (Like this case, or these other sad cases, for example). – Source

Space out your water drinking throughout the day and drink a reasonable amount that works for you.

*This post includes Amazon affiliate links. If you purchase, we may receive a small commission. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on. 🙂