SALT LAKE CITY — Water, it’s everywhere! And it should be consumed more than all the other liquids we put in our body to keep us hydrated.

Drinking has several benefits: increasing energy and relieving fatigue, promotes weight loss, flushes out toxins, improves skin complexion, boosts immune system, prevents cramps and sprains, among others.

Recently, there has been a trend to take part in a 30-day water gallon challenge. The idea is simple: drink a gallon of water a day for 30 days and see the health benefits start rolling in. You’re going to be fit, fabulous, and well-hydrated, or so the theory goes. But is this really the case?

We like challenges at KSL.com, so two of us on staff (Faith Heaton Jolley and Josh Furlong) decided to give it a try. We documented the challenge to give you an idea of what we experienced. The recommended consumption of water is half your bodyweight in ounces, so drinking a gallon of water may be almost double (128 oz.) for some people.

Before we jumped into the challenge, it was important to learn that drinking too much water too quickly can actually lead to water intoxication and death — you drown from water consumption. However, you would need to drink about 3 liters of water in about an hour’s time for you to get close to this. If you try the water challenge, just spread the gallon out throughout the day and not in a quick burst and you’ll be OK.

So here’s what we learned:

Day 1

Faith: I noticed a few things right off on our first day. The first observation was that my hands got super dry because I had to wash them so much because I was having to go to the bathroom so much. I literally had to take a bathroom trip once an hour every hour of the day (that’s 12 times, for those of you that are counting). With that said, drinking a gallon wasn’t as hard as I expected.

On the first day, my urine was still pretty yellow most of the day. However, by the beginning of the second day, my urine was already pretty much clear because I was drinking way more water. On my third day of the challenge, I noticed that I was getting hungry way earlier in the morning than I used to.

Josh: Drinking a gallon of water wasn’t as hard as I thought it’d be the first day. Don’t get me wrong, there were moments throughout the day that the task seemed daunting, but focusing on drinking that much made it fairly easy to consume a gallon of water. I’m expecting it to get harder to keep that focus as the challenge goes on, though.

The biggest takeaway for me from the first day is that I saw the inside of a bathroom a lot at the beginning. I expected this, but three times in a 30-minute period kind of morning was a little tedious. By the afternoon, the bathroom breaks were back to around normal, though. Other than the frequent breaks, I didn’t notice anything drastic on the first day. Here’s looking forward to 29 more days!

Day 5

Faith: I have still been drinking a gallon consistently, and it still hasn’t been as hard as I expected. However, on the weekends when I’m not thinking about it as much and I’m not sitting at a desk with my water bottle constantly there, it was much harder to drink the gallon. I also noticed that in order to drink the gallon, I have to start early in the morning and consistently drink all day.

I’ve also noticed that the hardest thing for me is that I feel like I can’t drink any other beverages— milk, juice, soda, etc.‚— or I won’t be able to drink my full gallon. I’m constantly having to refrain from other drinks so I can reach my goal of drinking a full gallon of water.

I'm still having to go to the bathroom consistently, and it makes it hard to go anywhere outside where I don’t have close and constant access to a restroom.

Josh: Well, I'm still drinking water, so that's half the battle. Most days it's not too hard, but the more I'm out of the office the harder it becomes. I have no problem bringing the water bottle with me everywhere I go; it's just harder to routinely drink water. The hardest part is just planning meetings and other long events around drinking water so I don't have to excuse myself too many times (super awkward).

As far as health benefits go, I'm not noticing much, if anything (should I be at this point?). I'm consistently in the restroom and have just learned to deal with that, which can sometimes be annoying. Water is supposed to reduce bloating but I constantly feel full of water (because I am!) and it's not always that comfortable. The water also hasn't cut down on my food cravings. I'm not necessarily snacking a lot, but it's not deterring me from overeating (I like food, OK). I've maintained my weight while essentially keeping the same diet. I have had several moments this week where I start to feel sick, but I'm not sure if that's just because of something going around or if my body is flushing out toxin.

Day 10

Faith: I feel like drinking a gallon each day is getting easier. However, I’m realizing that you really have to pace yourself and drink consistently all day or it is really challenging. I have done a good job setting a goal to drink 40 ounces before lunch. Then I usually try to drink my next 40 ounces before I get off work. Then, I drink my last 40 ounces at home during the evening, and I drink my last 8 ounces about an hour before I go to bed.

However, if you don’t keep your water bottle with you and you don’t have easy access to a bathroom at all times, it is very difficult to drink a gallon. During my first weekend with the challenge, I was in areas where I didn’t have a bathroom in close proximity and I forgot to bring my water bottle so I was trying to cram my last 80 ounces all at once at 9 p.m. Needless to say, it didn’t happen.

Josh: This was the first weekend experience with the water challenge and that was pretty rough. Sitting at a desk makes it easier to focus on drinking enough water all day. However, on the weekend, there are a lot of things drawing for your attention and water becomes an afterthought. I still managed to get a gallon every day, but it was much harder.

Once again, I must mention how much you’re in the bathroom if you try to drink a gallon a day. I think it’s actually gotten worse in these last five days. I hate to belabor the point, but it’s a serious side effect of drinking this much water, as would be expected. I have noticed that drinking this much water makes me hungrier throughout the day and I tend to want to snack between meals. Basically, being “full” doesn’t last that long for me.

Day 15

Faith: I did much better drinking a gallon each day this second weekend of the challenge. Granted, I had to lug my 40-ounce water bottle around with me everywhere (which was semi-awkward during church), but it helped me to consistently remember to drink.

I’m still hating having to turn down other sodas and drinks so that I can reach my gallon. I feel lame at get-togethers because I can pretty much only drink water while everyone else has tastier beverage options. But, aside from having to turn down other beverages and having to carry my water bottle everywhere, I feel like drinking a gallon isn’t really that bad.

However, I haven’t really seen any major health benefits yet. I know everyone talks about how it helps clear up acne and gives you shinier hair, but I haven’t really noticed anything like that. My main observation is that I just still have to urinate a lot.

Josh: I'm not usually one to complain about tap water in small doses, but in large quantities it's sometime unbearable and feels heavier in my stomach. Most of the water I've had during this challenge has been filtered, and it's been easy to consume in large doses. You might want to keep that in mind if you're trying to consume more water.

Overall, I've noticed that drinking water has given me more energy. It's not like I'm bouncing off the walls, but I don't feel like I desire caffeine to wake me up or maintain a regular alertness. I'm feeling much better in the mornings and finding it easier to get through the day without any high highs or low lows. Maybe I'll become a morning person after this is all said and done (nope!).

Day 20

Faith: Twenty days in, I still haven’t noticed any real changes from drinking a gallon of water a day, aside from having to visit the porcelain throne about once every hour of the day. As long as I pace myself though, drinking the gallon isn’t really that bad. You just need to make sure you are near a bathroom. And I really miss soda and juice and basically all beverages that aren’t water.

Josh: Drinking a gallon of water has become somewhat of a burden now 20 days in. Without focusing on drinking that much water all the time, it can be hard to get a gallon in every day. I’m still able to do it, but I’m finding myself trying to drink more water at night because I have to get it all in before I sleep. This obviously causes problems trying to sleep when your bladder is full.

Day 25

Faith: This was probably my best weekend since we started the challenge. I am finally getting more used to drinking more water and I did the best at remembering to pace myself so I didn’t end up having 80 ounces left to drink by 7 p.m. I was more consistent, which was good since it is usually much harder to remember to drink/lug my water bottle around with me when I’m out and about and not just at a desk.

However, road trips are really hard when you are drinking that much fluid. I drove back from Moab Saturday night and still had to drink 40 ounces of the gallon during my drive. Needless to say, we had to stop for a bathroom break five times on the four-hour drive. So if you are planning a long drive, drinking that much water is not time effective or fun. Just as an FYI.

Josh: Drinking a lot of water comes with a price. I help coach soccer and baseball for two of my sons and I tend not to drink a lot of water around those times, so I’m not running to the bathroom all the time. However, I feel like I become dehydrated quicker by not having water around me all the time. It’s become a part of my life (as burdensome as it has become sometimes) and my body needs the water now. I do feel healthier, but I don’t know if that means anything. I’m still eating about the same calories, but it doesn’t feel like the food is staying with me as long.

Day 30

Faith: We both made it! I was honestly relieved to be done because, although it wasn’t too difficult, it definitely was a conscious effort every day to remember to drink that much water. And often, I was having to chug 25 ounces or more right before I went to bed in order to reach my goal. That obviously resulted in me having to wake up an hour later to go to the bathroom.

While I didn’t notice any major health benefits or that my skin or hair was healthier, I did end up losing 5 pounds, which was pretty awesome. I didn’t exercise any more than before the challenge and I think I ate pretty much the same, but it probably helped that I wasn’t drinking soda or juices that have way more calories than water.

It was an interesting experiment, and while I probably won’t continue drinking a gallon of water each day, I plan to drink more water than soda in the future (and hopefully I can keep those 5 pounds off!)

Josh: It’s finally over! OK, so it wasn’t that bad. The hardest part was having the water consumption dictate my life. Everywhere I went, I had to first think about my red, little water bottle that followed me around. Would I have a chance to use the restroom where I was going or would I need to drink water later? It’s sometimes too hard to think about all that (trust me).

As with Faith, I lost 5 pounds since starting this challenge; however, I feel like I ate the same amount of food as before the challenge. I think it helped cut back some snacking, but I didn’t think enough to really make a difference. Will I keep drinking a gallon every day? No, but I’ll still drink more water as it’s now part of my routine. If anything, I'll be closer to the recommended consumption than I was before.

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