The journey to health and wellness is paved with short-term goals. At the beginning of this year, I made a long-term goal to arrive at my 30th birthday (January 2011) in the best shape of my life. That meant educating myself, setting short-term goals and learning to create new habits. I’ve done this by challenging myself in a number of ways: I stay active with healthy activities and I make it a point to pepper my path with commitments that keep me accountable. NoFizzUSA is one of those challenges.

Before joining the 60 for 60 hydration challenge, my soda drinking habits were not extreme. Although I was never a huge regular soda drinker, I drank my fair share of diet soda. Those were days that I also believed that low-fat, no-fat and sugar substitutes were the answer to my health challenges. Over the last three years, I have been able to eliminate soda from my diet and have a new perspective on health.

I remember watching the NoFizzUSA movement take shape on Twitter. What began as a conversation, developed into a non-profit with a mission and a committed following. Though I watched the Twitter stream, I didn’t participate immediately because I felt that soda wasn’t an issue for me. Then I started hearing the word hydration inserted into the conversation and then, that same word started coming from outside my Twitter feed.

It came from my boyfriend, to be exact. We like to run and do most of our training together. We recently trained for a half-marathon and I can’t tell you how many times I heard these statements: “You need to drink more water”, “You don’t drink enough water”, “You’re dehydrated”, “Would you like some water?” , “Drink more water”.

I get it. I need to drink more water. And, I will. Later.

So, I’m training for my race, not drinking enough water and along comes the 60 for 60 hydration challenge. I see it on my Twitter feed and think, “Hey, that seems like a good idea.” Still, I don’t take action. Then I get a direct message from Bobby asking me if I want to participate in the challenge. Does this guy read minds? The timing was definitely eerie. I consider coincidences like these a sign that it’s time for me to take action. So I did.

I’ve been drinking my 60 ounces each day (for the most part). I’m not perfect by any means, but I shoot for the ballpark. I’ve found that getting a bottle that I like helps me to stay the course. I drink out of a large glass Voss bottle that holds 27.1 ounces. Three of those and I’m golden for the day.

Training has been going much better. I notice that I don’t fatigue as quickly and I’m really getting a good sweat, which is great for eliminating toxins from the body. Oh, and the monkey, er, I mean boyfriend is off my back. He’s taking the challenge too.

NoFizz America represents another great way for me to improve my health. If it weren’t for these short-term commitments, my long-term goal of optimum health would be impossible. It’s communities like NoFizzUSA that keep me accountable because, left to my own devices, I’d rather be napping.