It was 10:30 A.M on a Monday and I was sitting in my finance class, mid-test, truly believing my bladder was about to explode. To get up or not to get up and sprint to the bathroom was the debate that kept lingering in my mind. That’s when I knew I was in for a ride when I decided to drink a gallon of water every day for a week.
It didn’t hit me how hard this challenge would be until me and my friends were out shopping in town and couldn’t find a nearby bathroom. From typically not drinking enough to drinking a gallon of water a day wasn’t easy to say the least. As a matter of fact, I probably wouldn’t challenge myself to do this again, unless a rush of ambition overcomes me again. I set this goal to see if I would actually be able to accomplish drinking this much water and while I was able to accomplish the task and saw some changes, it genuinely wasn’t pleasant.
Day 1 and 2 were definitely the hardest and consisted of a lot of bathroom trips. I woke up and downed about a bottle of water before starting to get ready for classes, chugged a bit more and then continued to sip throughout the whole day.
I am totally cool with having 8 A.M classes every day, except for the fact that I had to pee about four times before it hit 9 A.M. Sitting through class with the constant thought of having to run to the bathroom is not for me. This constant need to pee made me irritable by day 4 and was honestly starting to really annoy me. I kept thinking to myself how I needed the week to be over.
Later on in the week, I would notice more and more people judging me for the insane amount of water I was drinking. Aside from getting judged by almost everyone for constantly refilling my water bottle and rushing to go pee, there were some positives to this experiment.
I am a huge snacker, especially when it hits 9 P.M. and I’m bored in my room. Drinking all this water has made my stomach so full that I couldn’t even think about devouring the Doritos in my room. Early on in the week, I felt extremely bloated all day, but on day six and seven, I started feeling lighter because I was eating less. Drinking all this water has also made me feel more awake, which is definitely a plus for my early classes. In addition, I even felt my skin changing and becoming smoother.
While I probably won’t be drinking a gallon a day for a while, this experiment has made me aim to drink more water than I did before and has allowed me to see what the positive effects drinking enough water has on my body!