@G0ldengirl68
Well done on all the wonderful improvements!
I am quite surprised that you think that 8oz (which is approx 200ml) is a lot to drink at a time.
Maybe it is because I am used to drinking more.
My mugs are all about 600mls (20 US fluid ounces), so that is a standard size drink for me. Makes it very easy to drink enough, because I don't have to constantly run back and forth to the kitchen.
I don't have much 'thirst' (probably because I seem to sleep with my mouth open a lot, and wake up with a dry mouth, so my body has switched off the dry-mouth=thirsty signal). Consequently, I need to listen to other bodily signals. These include dark or concentrated urine, not needing to pee regularly, constipation, headaches, lost of mental acuity, and the simple knowledge that in order to avoid all those things, I need to drink between 2.5 and 3.5 litres a day. I think that is approx 84-120 US fluid ounces)
Elsewhere, I have seen it advised that as a very rough guide we should be drinking 1 litre of fluid for every 5 stone of body weight. That is 33 US fluid oz for every 70 pounds.
So I have a number of strategies which have now become second nature:
- all my glasses and mugs are roughly equal sizes (600ml = 20 US fluid oz) so 5 of them = my target, unless the weather is very hot, at which point I need 6 or 7 of them
- I have a favourite glass, and a favourite mug, so I use them all the time and don't chop and change between vessels which would confuse me. I am easily confused
- I drink a 600ml glass of water when I get up, then one in the morning, then one after lunch, then one before I finish work, then one in the evening. Then I can drink more at any time, if I wish.
- if I am busy, or away from home, I carry water bottles and drink them
- I try to drink earlier in the day and evening rather than later or just before bedtime, to avoid endless widdling in the night.
- I tend not to swig an entire mug at a time - though I can if I want to - and I never bother about avoiding drinks with meals, unless that meal is overly large. In that case I drink 600mls half an hour before the meal, and drink as much/little as I want during it.
It has all become such a habit that I barely notice it any more. Completely effortless and natural to drink this much - except that when I don't, I notice how rough I start feeling.
Something I find very amusing is that the moment I think 'hmm, don't want to drink much so late in the evening, or I will be up all night peeing' then I become instantly thirsty.
I am pretty horrified at how little some people drink (older family members, for example). They must be putting such a strain on their kidneys, at an age when they would do better to take care of them.
The physical unpleasantnesses of not drinking enough are a great motivator for me, but I didn't realise what they were until I started drinking ENOUGH and the background bodily whinges disappeared,