Your August Challenge: Hydrate, Hydrate, Hydrate!

Hydrate up! Credit: Christopher Craig

Holy moly, it’s hot outside! And it seems that no matter where you live in the country, you’re probably in the midst of some serious record-hot temperatures. Because we’re in the dog days of summer, we thought that in August we’d focus our free SparkPeople team challenge on…you guessed it…hydration! While staying properly hydrated is important at all times of the year, it’s especially important when you can barely get the mail without bursting into a hot, sweaty mess.

So just how do you participate and measure hydration, you ask? Well, there are a couple of parts to this challenge…

The Hydration Challenge Guidelines

1. Start your day off by drinking 8 ounces of water. Most of us wake up slightly dehydrated, so this puts us all ahead of the hydration curve before our day even starts.

2. Swap non-water drinks for water. We’ll leave the particulars up to you, but try to get your hydration from water—not six cups of coffee, soda or juice.

3. Drink before, during and after workouts. We’re not asking you to drink a ton here—and if you’re exercising outside for a long period of time, definitely get some sports drink in you, too, for electrolytes—but be mindful and drink during all stages of your workout. The main idea is to be hydrated before your workout even begins, and then to stay that way.

4. Keep that pee to a pale yellow. Hydration is different for everyone and depends on many things (stress, food, weather, caffeine, etc.), so just keep an eye on your pee. If it’s dark yellow, drink up. If it’s pale yellow, then you know you’ve been drinking water at a good pace. If it is totally clear, you can probably drink a touch less.

So…who’s in? Commit to this challenge on our discussion board (sign up for our free SparkPeople team here!) and check in regularly on how the challenge is going. Hooray for proper hydration! —Jenn