I confess I am very bad about drinking my water. I rarely get thirsty, and I just forget about it. Plus, I don’t really care for the taste of water. But it’s so important for so many things in our body, especially losing weight. So I’ve been trying to drink at least 64 oz, of water every day since the start of the year. Things were pretty touch and go until I got desperate after a 32 oz. day and begged Google for answers on how I could drink more water. Admist the search results, I found my answer in an image of a water bottle marked with lines and times. Aha!! It turns out you can buy water tracker bottles, but you know me … I’m a make-it-don’t-buy-it sorta girl. So I made my own DIY water tracker bottle and it’s awwwe-some!
First, the big question: does a water tracker bottle help? Yes, it’s totally working for me. All of my water fits in the bottle, so it sits right here on my desk all day within easy reach. I came up with a sipping schedule that works for me and I marked it on the side of the bottle, so it’s really easy to see if I’m on track or if I need to drink some more. Plus, my water bottle has a wide mouth so I can easily add fruit for yummy fruit-infused water. I’m actually finishing my 64 oz. ahead of schedule. It’s a total win!
Benefits of Staying Hydrated with Water
Staying properly hydrated does a lot of things to make us healthier and happier. Even mild dehydration can make us feel tired and less energetic. When I’m not consciously drinking water, I do feel like I’m walking around dehydrated and I can definitely feel the effects of that.
Water is important for basic bodily functions, like regulating your body temperature, lubricating joints, lessening the burden on your kidneys, carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells, dissolving minerals, preventing constipation, protecting body organs and tissues, and moistening tissue around your mouth, eyes, and nose.
Water can do other things for us that can make a real difference in our quality of life, such as:
- Helps you lose weight (you feel more full with water and thus eat less)
- Relieve headaches (I sometimes get headaches when I haven’t had enough water, too)
- Improve your complexion (water makes my skin tone less ruddy)
- Improved energy (muscles get tired when they don’t have water)
- Better concentration (I definitely notice this when I have more water)
- Lessen hangovers (drinking water the night before and in the morning help me!)
- Fight illness (water helps with decongestion)
Another benefit to drinking more water you may not know about is it can combat the effects caffeine has on your nervous system. So if you feel over-caffeinated, drink a bunch of water and it’ll help. I can attest to this personally!
The Mayo Clinic recommends we drink 8 glasses of 8-ounce water daily, which is also what my doctor recommends. That’s 64 oz. and is a totally doable amount if you spread it out over the day with a water tracker bottle.
DIY Water Tracker Bottle Materials
So I thought you all might like to see how to make a DIY water tracker bottle for yourself. Perhaps you’d also like to challenge yourself to drink more water!
The links below are Amazon affiliate links for your convenience.
- Rubbermaid 2 Qt. (64 oz.) Servin Saver Bottle
- Rubbing alcohol
- Paint Sharpie marker (oil-based)
- Paper template (Design #14 a PDF of the one I used is in my Resource Library—get the password to it by filling out the form at the bottom of this post)
- Pencil (a standard no. 2 pencil works best)
- Tape
- Krylon crystal clear acrylic coating sealer
DIY Water Tracker Bottle Step-by-Step Tutorial
Step 1: Peel the labels off your bottle.
Step 2: Clean off any residue or oil with the rubbing alcohol
Step 3: Print off the paper template and scribble the back of the template with a pencil (you only need the graphite where words and lines appear)
Step 4: Tape the template to the side of your bottle, graphite side against the plastic. We are use the Pencil Transfer Method for the image transfer.
Step 5: With your pencil, trace over all the lines, letters, and numbers on your template. Remove the template.
Step 6: Using your paint Sharpie marker, go over all the pencil lines you transferred to your bottle in the previous step. (If you make a mistake, use a little rubbing alcohol to remove the paint.) Allow to dry.
Step 7: Spray the area with the Sharpie paint with the clear sealer so it doesn’t come off when you wash it. Allow to dry, and then you’re done!
DIY Water Tracker Bottle Notes
If you wanted to drink a gallon a day for the Water Gallon Challenge, this DIY water tracker bottle also works really well. It’s exactly half of a gallon, so you’d simply refill it once during the day to get your full gallon. And this is much easier to carry around than a huge gallon!
What about that Water Gallon Challenge? I did it once, years ago. It was really tough and I constantly felt like I was sloshing about. I think it was too much water for me, honestly. And most health authorities consider a gallon of water to be more than the recommended intake, but it won’t have harmful effects on you. And, it’s true, I had no harmful effects other than possibly being less productive because of the frequent bathroom breaks. But I also didn’t notice any earth-shattering changes either, like amazing skin or whatever. It’s important to remember that we get fluid from the food and other beverages we consume, so 64 oz. is really a good water target to shoot for.
Still not convinced to drink more water? A study published in the Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics found great evidence that drinking more water helps us control our weight. They surveyed 18,311 adults between 2005 and 2012 and found that those who drank the most plain water also consumed fewer total calories, sugar, salt, saturated fat, and cholesterol. The study recommends that increasing our water consumption by 1-3 cups per day could decrease calories and that could add up to a lot fewer calories over time, resulting in significant weight loss.
The DIY water tracker bottle is working really well for me. I’ve been using it for a week, both with and without the added fruit, and I’ve finished my water everyday without it being a huge chore. Being able to see how I’m doing at any given time is a HUGE motivation and help.
And, I’m happy to report that I’ve lost 10 pounds since the start of the year. Yay!
I hope this helps you, too!
Love,
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I definitely need something like this. I am absolutely horrible at keeping up with drinking the right amount of water each day. Today was proof of that. I came home from running errands and chugged a bottle of water within 5 minutes, I was so thirsty… I’m going to have to try this out. I didn’t know about transferring lines over like that!
You don’t have to transfer lines over like this — you could just freehand it. But I knew I’d be looking at it a lot and I wanted my lines to be straight! ๐
I am really bad as well and do not drink nearly enough fluids. I do like the sound of this DIY water tracker and it might help relieve the headaches I often get !
Love the idea to motivate and guide us to drink more water with this DIY. I forget to drink water all-the-time and need to get better at it…so this would def help!
Oh my gosh!! This is such an awesome idea, I definitely have to do this when I get back home. I’ve been trying to drink more water lately, this would help so much
xo, Lydia | wheretheprettythingsare.co
This is great! Definitely a cheaper alternative to the expensive water bottles that sync with an app. I know I definitely feel better, have less bloat, etc when I drink water more consistently.
This is adorbale and would be really help with motivation to drink more water! ๐ Thanks for sharing!
One of my goals for 2017 has been to drink more water and it’s a struggle for sure! I love this idea of making a DIY sipping schedule. I’m going to have to make one ASAP to get myself back on track with drinking my water. Thanks!
this is really great. I think I actually have a water bottle similar to this one just laying around. I will have to try this and see if it helps me drink more water.
This is a great idea. I always promise myself I will drink more water but I never do! I like this idea as it will mean I can keep on track throughout the day :-).
I love drinking water, but sometimes it’s difficult to keep up with the habit, especially when I’m busy working or doing something. This is an amazing idea! I will try this.
Living in the desert, we have to drink a lot more water than in other locations. It took some time to get my body used to drinking so much water. This is a great idea for getting into the habit of slowly drinking all of the water that your body needs.
I definitely need to do this! I used to be really good about forcing myself to drink lots of water, but I have really fallen off the rails. Your DIY bottle looks so pretty with the fruit!
What a great idea. I know I certainly do not drink enough water each day. This would help to remind me.
This is a really great idea. I’m always trying to get in enough water. I try and keep track of how many of my big Bubba cups I drink. This is much easier.
I love tracking bottles. They help me so much. As I am so busy chasing after my three year old I always want to make sure I stay hydrated,
The tiny inspirational notes to yourself are the best!! I’d almost write those instead of times, but that would keep me on the ball, too.
Love this! It always helps me to have water in a big bottle otherwise I forget to refill it. Thanks for the detailed instructions on how to label and keep track.
That is brilliant and looks so easy to make! While I don’t have problems drinking my water, that’s pretty much what I drink all day (and coffees), my fiance is really bad with his water intake so I may try to make him this bottle in the near future ๐
This is great, whenever I get a headache the first thing I go for is a glass of water. I am not very good about keeping track of how much water I drink in a day.
I cannot get enough of water and do a great job of drinking it but I know I’m not hitting the amount of h2o that I should have. I’ve seen bottles like this before and I think that it is a brilliant idea. I’m thinking of what water bottles I have that I can do this with.
What a fabulous idea! I too really suck at drinking water and it is one of my resolutions! thanks for sharing this!
This is such an awesome idea, I’m totally recreating this! It’s so simple – how have I not thought of this before haha! x
Wow! What a fantastic and very helpful DIY project! I love it! Drinking at least 32 ounces of water per day is one of my goals this year and I just might do your DIY to help me stay on track. Thanks for sharing!
This is such a fantastic idea and definitely acts as a reminder to keep healthy. Water can play such a vital role in so many parts of our health- after all we are over 75% water! I need to make me one of these for the boys because they don’t drink as much as they should.
This is such a great idea and so easy. I totally want to do this and the water with fruit… Love that! Thanks for sharing.
What a great idea! I don’t drink nearly enough water like I should, so this would be perfect to help me remember! Love the idea of putting the fruit in there too!
Loving this idea! I am in the same boat as you, trying to drink 64oz but it literally never happens. I have to try this
I am very bad about drinking water too, however I have been putting forth more effort. This would be a great way to track intake for sure!
This is pretty creative! It’s important to stay hydrated regardless of the season. You can really notice how much water does to your health. I think this is very useful and it’s effective too since you can see your progress each hour.
This is such a good idea! I’d love to make one to track how much water I’m drinking because I either drink loads or forget to drink at all
This is a great idea for getting enough water every day! I struggle with this most days, so having the water in a marked bottle like this would be very helpful. I’m ordering one of these bottles today!
This is really cute and I love the positive messages on it! I will have to try this. I’m always needing to drink more water.
As a military wife who could barely handle her busy schedule I am truly glad I came across your helpful post. That is so true that water is very inportant to our body and it has a lot of benefits. Luckily I always hydrate and drink a lot of water.
I love this idea! I’m usually adamant about my water intake, but I have been seriously lacking lately. This will probably definitely help me get back on track, though!
I love this! Especially how you can encourage yourself along the entire way! I need one of these of my own!
Great tutorial! I always try to keep track of my water intake, especially being prego. Staying hydrated is really important!
i always struggle with drinking enough water throughout the day. i had an especially hard time when i was pregnant! this would make it easier for me to keep track of how much more water I need to take in. love this idea and i love how easy it is to make! so simple!
This is a great way to drink more water! I love fruit in my water, it makes it less boring!
Drinking more water is definitely on my list to do this year. I don’t drink enough and this would definitely motivate me.
I try and push myself to drink more water but I find myself failing. I think that this may help give me that extra push.
What a great DIY idea! I’m all about DIY’s and finding ways to make drinking water easier. I’ll have to give this a try next week!
Now that you have your Cricut, you need to make a vinyl version of this!
I was just thinking that!!
Hello, Thank you for the idea. Got pictured it out on my mind. Well, I would know if i skip drinking on that.
Hi, Denise! Yes, you would know if you skipped with this — that’s the beauty of it.
Garnish your meal with chili flakes or fresh peppers and you ll be reaching for more water in no time.