Trouble with Water

cphorton28

Drinking water is tough for me. I am a sweet tea/coke type of girl and getting out of that habit has been very tough for me. In the evening I like to get a kiddie cup at home and fill it with ice and sweet tea but I tend to go back for a second drink. I also love wine on the weekends. I started a water challenge for 21 days drinking only water throughout the day but wasn't so successful. Any tips, motivations. ideas, encouragement. It's all welcomed.

SezxyStef

I am with you there...I love diet soda. To make sure I drink my water everyday I make a rule (which I follow most of the time). after my coffee in the morning nothing but my water until I have at least 6 cups in. so that is a bottle of water in the morning, one at lunch and one in the afternoon. That leaves me 2 more cups for supper/workout. And if you stick with water you will find you want it more then the sweet stuff.

Good luck.

oldandhealthier

I have read on this site that tea and coffee can be counted as water providing they are decaf. My doctor confirmed that so enjoy your tea{decaf} I know I do after getting used to it.

ThinLizzie0802

Looking into Crystal Lite or Slim Sticks to flavor your water would be a great way for you to get in the habit of drinking more while satisfying a little sweet. Also, Vitamin water or Propel. Now, don't get carried away because you will add sugar and calories with some of these enhancers and flavored waters, but it will be oodles better than sweet tea or soda. I like to drinks San Peligrino or Perrier with some lime or grapefruit in it-you can purchase it that way. Not really sweet but has the carbonation. One soda a day = 12 lbs of fat a year. So try whatever you can to get away from it!

Smirfettewithmuscles

Water consumption does not effect weight loss over time. Additionally, there is water in most of the foods and all of the drinks you consume, so if drinking water is tough for you, this is ok because you get water elsewhere.
Either don't worry about it or enjoy other drinks when your thirsty and eat fruit and vegetables which tend to contain more water.

runboettcherrun

I find drinking out of a straw really helps. And if I have 4 cups plain, then I allow myself crystal light. Try getting a 8 cup water bottle , fill it and mark it with times so that by noon you drank half.

HollisGrant

I love good coffee and could drink it all day, but I find it hard to drink plain water. I bought a 32 oz sport bottle (the BPA free kind sold everywhere in grocery and drug stores). I fill it with filtered water and lemon or lime slices and try to drink two of those a day. I've read that a lot of people add other fruit or even cucumber slices.

jmbcab7

I have found that if you drink filtered water, I can tolerate it more because it does not have the foul
Tastes or smells. Hope this helps.

Have a great day.

HeidiCooksSupper

Recent research on hydration indicates that water isn't all that much better at hydration than other fluids we tend to drink. That isn't to say that the sugar in sweet tea isn't problematic. It is. But straight iced tea is almost as good at hydration as straight water. What they used to say about the diuretic qualities of the tea wiping out the good effects turns out to be less true than we thought. So, drink straight iced tea.

"But," you say, "it's the sweetness I crave." And indeed, that's a problem. But over the course of a few weeks you can retrain yourself on how much sweetness you crave. I used to sugar everything from my morning coffee to a bowl of blueberries. But in the 3-ish months I've been watching what I eat, I've found I want the sugar less and less. Limiting my sugar intake has limited my sugar desire.

So, over the next week, drink your sweet tea but cut down the amount of sugar you use with each batch until you are using none. If you are buying tea by the gallon, the easiest way to make it at home is just to fill a jug full of water, throw in some teabags, and put it in the fridge. A few hours later, it's made itself into tea.

Don't replace the sugar with sugar substitute. That won't reduce your sweet cravings but just increase them. Recent research also suggests that, at least for some of us, artificial sweeteners mess with our appetites and increase sweet cravings.

Finally, as far as the "drinking water makes you lose weight" idea. There isn't much science behind it. You may find, however, that when you think you are craving food what you are really craving is hydration and a glass of water is the snack you really need. If your tap water tastes lousy, get a filter pitcher or install an under-sink filter. For the discarded swimming pool water our city supplies to our taps, the filter works wonders.

maureensimmons92

I was also like this. Try putting some lemon in your water, or other natural flavors. I also always drink a bottle of water on the way to work, because im distracted driving it doesnt really feel like im drinking as much as I am. I then fill up that bottle two or four times during work, and drink one more bottle on the way home. Thats a quick way to get a minimum of eight glasses not including what you have for meals. The only problem with so much water is that i always have to go to the bathroom. It can be annoying when you arent used to having to use it as much but i look at it as extra exercise walking back and forth the the bathroom as well as a great way to flush out the posions from my body.

Espressocycle

Get some decaf crystal light tea - although some people thing artificial sweeteners mess with your body, the science is pretty thin on the subject. I think you can get away with switching to that, then start watering it down more a little each day.

Alwayssohungry

Try DaVinci Sugar Free Syrups. Tons of flavors, I use it to sweeten plain yogurt too.

sweetpeas317

Drinking water is tough for me. I am a sweet tea/coke type of girl and getting out of that habit has been very tough for me. In the evening I like to get a kiddie cup at home and fill it with ice and sweet tea but I tend to go back for a second drink. I also love wine on the weekends. I started a water challenge for 21 days drinking only water throughout the day but wasn't so successful. Any tips, motivations. ideas, encouragement. It's all welcomed.

I hate water yuck! I have been making fresh tea, rasberry or green and I brew 6 teabags and fill up a jug with ice and add a little bit of raw honey or raw sugar (just a little to give it a slight sweet taste) and every morning before work I fill a travel jug and drink it throughout the day and it has been working for me.

Try it its also caffeine free:)

HeidiCooksSupper

Get some decaf crystal light tea - although some people thing artificial sweeteners mess with your body, the science is pretty thin on the subject. I think you can get away with switching to that, then start watering it down more a little each day.

The science is pretty thin on a lot of this stuff. I think it differs a lot from person to person. For me, I have recognized a distinct relationship between artificial sweetener consumption and the desire to eat anything that isn't nailed down. Some recent experiments confirm that a relationship exists. Whether an individual is susceptible to the effect can only be determined by that individual.

Mokey41

As far as hydration goes it really doesn't matter what you eat or drink. As far as diet goes there's a lot of useless calories in sugary drinks that will definitely hinder your weight loss unless you are logging them and fitting it into your budget. There's no advantage to drinking a lot of water or anything else. If your urine is pale yellow then you are hydrated enough. Beyond that you're just stressing out your kidneys filtering all of that water and excessive water consumption can also deplete minerals your body needs.

lulavenus

SPARKLING WATER! It's so light and easy to drink - I find that still water just sloshes about in my tummy. It also feels less bland. I get a 2litre bottle every day on the way to work (only 59p!) and drink most of it by the end of the day.

cphorton28

Thanks that's a really good rule to go by. I appreciate the tip.

KeepCalmNGetyaSweatOn

If you like sweet tea try making your own Arnold Palmer. Brew your tea and then sweeten it with crystal light. That always seems to satisfy the sweet tea craving for me with little to no extra calories.

970Mikaela1

For every diet soda i drink i drink a litre of water.

cphorton28

All the information is so helpful. Maybe I've been too stressed about my water consumption. With many of the changes that were suggested in reply I can pull back creatively and still enjoy the beverages I like. Thank you very much everyone.

tigersword

As far as hydration goes it really doesn't matter what you eat or drink. As far as diet goes there's a lot of useless calories in sugary drinks that will definitely hinder your weight loss unless you are logging them and fitting it into your budget. There's no advantage to drinking a lot of water or anything else. If your urine is pale yellow then you are hydrated enough. Beyond that you're just stressing out your kidneys filtering all of that water and excessive water consumption can also deplete minerals your body needs.

This is the correct answer.

margottsponer

What has worked to get me off my diet soda is Mio Sweet Tea. It's portable too - I travel a lot so I can carry my little bottle with me to flavor my water wherever I go!! I love the taste!

Sarauk2sf

As far as hydration goes it really doesn't matter what you eat or drink. As far as diet goes there's a lot of useless calories in sugary drinks that will definitely hinder your weight loss unless you are logging them and fitting it into your budget. There's no advantage to drinking a lot of water or anything else. If your urine is pale yellow then you are hydrated enough. Beyond that you're just stressing out your kidneys filtering all of that water and excessive water consumption can also deplete minerals your body needs.

This is the correct answer.

Yep.

raeganjayne15

Flavour your water.

Berries
Cucumber
Lemon
Mint

Theres many combinations. U wont even realise its water

amonkey794

I use water flavor packets and squirty bottle things. The caffeine in tea&coffee is negligible and you can use that as water granted you log additives such as milk, sugar, etc.

herblackwings39

Add Mio drops or crystal light to your water. There are also flavoured sugar free syrups like torani and davinci that you can use to flavour the water to make it more like soda.

Mario_Az

i bought a one of theses holds a liter of water drink about 3 a day helps me make sure to get my water comes in a few colors


http://www.core150.com/

KALMdown

SPARKLING WATER! It's so light and easy to drink - I find that still water just sloshes about in my tummy. It also feels less bland. I get a 2litre bottle every day on the way to work (only 59p!) and drink most of it by the end of the day.

I love La Croix lemon sparkling water. I thought it was the sugar in Coke that I loved but it was the carbonation. I would drink 3 cans of sparkling water, contained no calories or sodium.

However, now I don't have La Croix here and I'm sad. Perrier is too expensive and not as good as La Croix.

eversosquidly

I used to hate water. HATE IT. I had a personal trainer for about a month and a half in 2011. I started drinking out of those 16oz water bottles. The Dasani ones? I thought, ~Hey, drink one during exercise and I'm all set!' I found out pretty quickly that I needed to drink more water. I struggled to meet the requirements of my trainer. We had a fall out over food because as he got tougher, I got progressively lazier. But one thing that I DID get out of the whole thing was the ability to drink a lot of water.

I slowly changed the size of the bottle that I was drinking. I went from 16 to 22 to finally a liter. I really like the Fiji water bottles because they're square, which makes them easy to hold onto when I go somewhere. Or chase my dogs around the dog park. It doesn't roll under the car if I accidentally drop it.

Because I drink a liter at a time, I know exactly how many I have to drink to get the 8 recommended glasses a day. I wake up in the morning, fill up my water bottle, and do my BEST to drink a liter before breakfast. Then I only have one more liter to finish for the whole day! Usually, I end up finishing with either 12 to 16 cups of water.

So my recommendation is to get a bottle that you know how much it holds and then work your way from one bottle to two to three.

NewDad24

There is so much sodium in everything. Would you ever be worried about not having enough sodium whilst living in modern civilization? Your kidneys are not going to be overly stressed unless you are really drinking way too much water. Drinking more water is generally a good thing for just about everyone in most circumstances.

Stopping the sweet tooth when it comes to beverages has been trouble for me. I quickly began preferring this beverage to all others. It has artificial sweetener and a lot of vitamins. With other dietary changes and products, my sweet tooth has completely dissipated so that I prefer plain water to everything except an occasional glass of my personal product stock. There are lots of mentions of brand names here.

Some observations I have on the sugar cravings though, are that the cravings possibly come from low blood sugar levels and/or nutritional deficits. Occasionally eat some fresh whole super-fruits like blueberries to see if your sugar cravings decrease. A good deal of vitamin B6 from fresh whole tropical fruits like papaya and banana could help for getting energy from the carbs you ingest. Also eat some nutritious complex carbohydrates. Lentils are great; less processed oats are good too. With the grain/legume proteins and complex carbs, your desire for sweets should drop. If this is not doing it for you, it might be that your intestinal walls are polluted with some really bad stuff. Cleaning out your insides with lots of fiber is really where you should start. Once you do that, fresh fruit and other nutritious food is just about all that you would want anyway. How to get reliably clean without a cleanse product, I would have no idea.

Also in relation to blood sugar, I now take a product series that is equivalent to drinking two huge double mocha cappuccinos with two green chi tea every morning as my only breakfast. This is not Starbucks or something. It is specially formulated for weight-loss results. The mocha and low lactose dairy gives proteins that you need. The coffee boosts cortisol, kicking your adrenals, upping blood sugar. It is a jump start of stress in the morning. Too much can be bad insulin triggering stress; so watch out. But this gets the blood sugar up and the coffee/tea part without the mocha and dairy is repeated before lunch. The green Oolong tea has properties useful for diabetics and gets the fat burning rather than storing. That means less sugar being stored to fat; so more sugar is available in the blood without ingesting more carbohydrates. Oolong tea also has antioxidant properties. Like I said, this is all specially formulated for a specific metabolic effect. The coffee and tea you get from your barista may or may not have the desired effect; that coffee and tea is not formulated for weight-loss but according to your personal taste.

So I have more blood sugar than I am used too; most people say they have "more energy." I don't feel those sugar lows that bring me back as a slave to sugar for a quick pick-me-up only to be let down time and time again when the insulin kicks in to convert the sugar to fat. That sugar fix is an endless weight-gain cycle.

RAINMAN4462

I get the Hawaiian Punch Lemon Berry Squeeze flavor mix-ins, it says to put them in 16.9 ozs of water but I like them better in 20 ozs or more and for a 32 oz bottle I use 1 & 1/2 packets. Also if you get them at Wal-Mart they are really cheap (where I live they are $1 for a box of 8 packets) and they are only 5 calories. Also Powerade makes a new Powerade Zero that is absolutely amazing. I have a major sweet tooth and switching to diet was really hard for me but now I love it!!!:flowerforyou: