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30 Day Challenge Series, Day 2: Drink a Glass of Water After Waking

For day two of the 30 day healthy habits challenge, Cheryl shares why hydration is so important and how to use this simple yet important habit to start your day.

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Episode Transcript

Cheryl McColgan (00:00.098)
Hey everyone, I'm Cheryl McColgan and welcome to day two of the 30 day healthy habits challenge. This one I'm really excited to share with you. It is something that I have been meaning to do for a long time. So I will be doing this throughout the challenge with you. And that is to drink a glass of water after waking. That is so simple and yet I don't know, I never do it. Do you? So ideally you want to do this.

before you have your coffee, before you have anything else. I'm not telling you a very specific amount, but they make it a large glass of water. So in my world, I have this, actually I have it right here on my desk. It is empty. So it's proof positive that I need to be drinking more water. But this is about 16 to 20 ounces in this glass. And that is what I like you to do before you do anything else. Now, if you happen to get this on the, you you get this in the morning, but more than likely,

You might have already had your coffee or you're listening to this while you're drinking your coffee. If that's the case, like I said, this is easy peasy challenge, right? No big deal. Just try it tomorrow instead, along with your habit that's going to come tomorrow. But if you're hearing this in time, drink that glass of water before anything else and then you can move on. So why this is important. Even mild dehydration can affect your mood and attention.

And hydrating early in the day, it supports everything, energy, digestion, performance, you're hydrating your cells. And one of the people that I interviewed before on the podcast, they were saying, ideally, you know, for the challenge, we're drinking this kind of large glass right at the beginning of the day, but ideally, you want to be hydrating throughout your day, because you need that extra hydration for your cells on an ongoing basis, not just all at once. So as much as we hate those little Stanley cups and everything that people carry around,

If you can have one of those or have this glass of water on your desk and take a few sips like every few minutes, that's really the ideal way to hydrate. And this is again, starting the day with a simple success. just gives you a good mindset for the entire day, knowing that you already had one small win and it's just a great habit to start. So another thing you can do is you can set this habit up at night. So maybe you actually put a glass of water

Cheryl McColgan (02:14.754)
by your bed before you go to sleep. And that way when you wake up, you immediately drink that glass of water. This can also help if you're like me, I take thyroid medication first thing in the morning and I have to wait 30 minutes before I can eat or do anything else anyway. So how I'm gonna approach this challenge is I always just, my thyroid pills are very, very small. So I always swallow them dry while I'm still in bed in the morning. But I'm gonna make it a point for this challenge to bring up a glass of water with me in the evening, put it next to my bed, put it right next to my thyroid pills.

And I'll just do that all at once. So that's also a little intro into what we call habit stacking, which we'll be talking about throughout this challenge, but more specifically on one of the days. but basically all habit stacking is, is just take one thing that you already do consistently and then put another habit right with it. So for me, I am very good about always taking my thyroid medication in the morning, but I don't have a glass of water next to it. And I generally don't get out of bed to do it. So the way I'm going to make it easy on myself is to just put a glass of water next to the bed.

So anyway, it's like I said, if you missed it this morning, try it tomorrow and then try it with the habit. That's how kind of all these are. it's for some reason, you don't get the email until later in the day and you miss it, just do it the next day. They're two simple habits. They don't take any time at all. And so waiting until the next day is completely fine. So again, no need to be perfect. Just one glass. If you do a smaller glass than me, no judgment there. You can do whatever size works for you, but drink a glass of water. Okay. I will see you tomorrow.

Author

  • Cheryl McColgan

    Cheryl McColgan is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Heal Nourish Grow, where she has published evidence-based health and nutrition content since 2018.

    With over 30 years of experience in fitness, nutrition, and healthy living, and nearly 20 years of professional editorial and journalism experience, she brings both subject-matter depth and trained editorial judgment to everything on the site.

    Cheryl holds a degree in Psychology with a minor in Addictions Studies, completed graduate training in Clinical Psychology, and is a NASM Certified Personal Trainer and E-RYT Certified Yoga Instructor and trained in Yoga Therapy.

    She is the author of 21 Day Fat Loss Kickstart, Make Keto Easy, Take Diet Breaks and Still Lose Weight, The Grain Free Cookbook for Beginners, and Easy Weeknight Keto.

    Read more about Cheryl and the journey that created Heal Nourish Grow on the about page.

    Cheryl McColgan is the founder of Heal Nourish Grow, where she writes about protein, body composition, healthy aging, and evidence-based nutrition and wellness along with the everyday habits that actually make those things work in real life.

    With a background in psychology and graduate training in clinical psychology, plus nearly 20 years of experience in editorial and publishing, Cheryl approaches health from both a research and real-world perspective. She’s also been immersed in fitness and nutrition for more than 25 years, which gives her a practical lens most purely academic content tends to miss.

    Her work today focuses heavily on protein intake (especially for women), muscle retention, metabolic health, and sustainable fat loss, along with topics like sleep, wellness, recovery, and wearable health tech. You’ll also find a mix of high-protein, low-carb recipes designed to make hitting those goals easier without overcomplicating things.

    Cheryl’s interest in health and nutrition became more personal after navigating her own health challenges, which pushed her to dig deeper into how lifestyle, diet and daily habits impact long-term health. That experience continues to shape how she approaches everything on this site: practical, realistic, and focused on what actually works over time.
    What Cheryl Covers
    Most of the content here falls into a few core areas:

    Protein & Muscle Health: how much you actually need, especially for women and how to use protein to support strength, body composition, and aging
    Fat Loss & Metabolic Health: sustainable approaches that prioritize muscle retention and long-term results
    Healthy Habits & Lifestyle: sleep, movement, strength training, consistency, and the small things that compound over time
    Wearables & Recovery: real-world testing and comparisons of tools like Oura, Whoop and others
    High-Protein & Low-Carb Recipes: simple, realistic meals that support your goals without feeling restrictive
    Travel & Lifestyle: wellness-focused travel, outdoor experiences, and a slightly more elevated take on healthy living

    If you're new, here are a few good places to begin:

    30 Day Healthy Habits Challenge

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    High Protein Recipes

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