How to Drink More Water When You Keep Forgetting To

Drinking more water is the easiest health goal to set and one of the hardest to keep, for one reason: there is no moment when you decide not to drink water. You simply do not think of it, and then it is four o'clock. A plan has to work around that, which means the plan has to do the thinking for you.

How much is enough

The National Academies set adequate intake for total water, from all drinks and food, at about 2.7 liters a day for women and 3.7 liters for men (Dietary Reference Intakes for Water, 2005). Roughly a fifth of that arrives in food, so the drinking part works out near 8 to 12 cups a day, which is where the old "eight glasses" rule comes from. More in heat, more when you exercise, less if you are small or sedentary.

The exact number matters less than knowing where you stand at lunchtime. Most people who think they drink enough are guessing from the last glass they remember, and the last glass they remember is usually breakfast.

The plan

1. Pick a goal in glasses. Eight is fine to start. If you drink from a bottle, decide what it holds and count in bottles instead.

2. Count every drink as it happens, not at the end of the day. A number sent in the moment is accurate; a number recalled at bedtime is fiction.

3. Keep a running total you can see. The total is what turns "I should drink more" into "I am three short with four hours left".

4. Get a check-in when you are behind, and only then. A reminder every hour is a reminder you learn to ignore; one at late morning and one mid-afternoon, skipped on the days you are already on track, keeps its meaning.

5. Front-load. A glass with breakfast and one before lunch puts you halfway there before the afternoon slump.

Where the text check-in fits

Water Textapp is the count and the check-in. Text Hi to its number and tell it your goal in whatever units you think in: "8 glasses", "three 40 oz bottles", "2 liters". It converts to glasses and keeps the total.

Then, every time you drink, send it the amount: "1", "a bottle", "40 oz", "half a glass". It adds it up, shows the conversion when it changed units, and tells you how far you are from the goal. That reply is the whole trick. It takes two seconds and it puts the number in front of you at the moment you can act on it.

It checks in at 11am and 4pm in your time zone, and only when you are short of the goal. If you have logged nothing all day by mid-afternoon, it leaves you alone that afternoon rather than sending a second nudge; the morning one was the one that mattered. Hit the goal and the check-ins stop for the day. Hit it several days running and it keeps the streak for you.

You can change the goal, ask where you are, ask about your streak, or tell it you would rather not have the check-ins at all, all in plain words.

What the first two weeks look like

Days one to three you will be surprised how low the count is by lunchtime. That surprise is the plan working. By the end of the first week the 11am check-in starts to arrive after you have already logged something, which is the habit forming. In week two, most people find the afternoon is the gap, and a glass at the start of the afternoon slot closes it.

Keep the goal modest until you hit it most days, then raise it. A streak at eight glasses teaches more than a failure at twelve.

Try it by text

Text Hi to (646) 640-0771 to start Water Textapp. It works on any phone that can text, with no app to install and no account to create. Tell it your goal, send it a number each time you drink, and it keeps the count and checks in when you are behind.

Your first 20 messages are free. After that, one $9.99 a month subscription covers every Textapp. Text STOP at any time to end it.