I don’t drink water.
I really don’t. I know it’s bad for me and I’m probably destroying my body by not drinking water, but I just don’t like it. I literally have to force myself to drink it.
Because my mom is always harping on me to drink more water, I decided to challenge myself to drink the recommended 8 cups a day for a week and see what happened. It was a tough week for me, I’m not going to lie, but I learned a lot.
1. I peed. A lot.
The water just ran right through me. I had to pee at least once an hour; it made work and class pretty miserable. But as the week went on, I was able to hold it a bit longer. I guess my body got used to holding a large amount of liquid.
2. Cramps were less painful
This challenge week just so happened to coincide with “that time of the month.” Usually I have extremely painful cramps and a migraine that lasts for at least two days. I still had a headache this week but it wasn’t as bad as before and my cramps only lasted a day when they used to last at least three. That was a huge plus.
3. My skin got clearer
Recently I had been breaking out for the first time in four years. It was bad too, like how it was when puberty was in full swing. I have no idea why I was breaking out all of sudden and needless to say, I didn’t like it. The second day of this water challenge, my breakouts started to clear up and my skin wasn’t as oily. I was beyond happy that I no longer had to wear tons of concealer to mask my breakouts.
4. Bloating was a real thing
I may not have the 6-pack I had in high school (beer does that to you) but I don’t have a large stomach either. I would describe it more as a 1-pack. Now, this may just be because I was retaining water, but I was very bloated all week. At times I looked like I was at least 3 months pregnant. That was definitely a downfall for me.
5. My nails grew
My nails never grow, that is why I wear acrylics. After this week, I noticed I now needed a fill because my nails grew so much. Usually I can go six weeks without needing a fill but this time I could only make it to three weeks.
6. My hair was softer
As a curly-haired girl, this is a big deal. My hair can get frizzy and very course unless I put a ton of conditioner in it. But this week I noticed that not only were my curls softer to the touch without any product, my curls were also more defined and shiny.
I’ll be honest, even though the pros outweighed the cons, I don’t know if I’ll be able to drink 8 cups a day every day. It was just a lot of work. It was the only thing I was concerned about for the whole week and that was exhausting. But, I will definitely make the effort to drink more.