How to drink more water?

cmm7303

I have an aversion to water, and so am generally dehydrated. My dad and my grandmother also had this problem and I've been "treating" it with carbonated water and unsweetened iced tea, but...I don't feel thirsty, and drinking too much makes me have to pee every 15 minutes (difficult, since I'm a teacher).

Still, I'm struggling to get even 24-30 oz down a day (and will happily just re-heat the same 2 cups of coffee over the course of 10 hours, so it is actually probably more an aversion to liquids in general (I can't chug things, I don't drink soda or anything else, I just don't feel thirsty and so don't drink anything).

So, assuming I can't make myself WANT to do it, anyone have any tips on remembering and making yourself drink water? I've got a bottle here and am working through it, but it is slow going and I need to figure out how to do better since I've got some serious medical stuff that has just started, and finding my veins has been a problem for my doctors.

Help?

L1zardQueen

Drinking copious amounts of water is not necessary. As long as your urine is light colored you are good.

I get most of the fluid I need from diet soda, coffee, and the fruit and vegetables that I eat. I only drink water when I get thirsty or when hiking.

spiriteagle99

Many years ago, I got into the habit of drinking a cup of water every time I went to the bathroom. I also keep a bottle of water next to me all the time. I have one in the office, one in the living room, one in the bedroom. Whenever I'm thirsty, I drink. I drink with meals: coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon or evening, a diet soda at lunch. On my runs, I drink a sip/gulp of water every two miles as practice for race day. Start with making a conscious effort to include more liquid, then it will become habit.

OTOH, if you aren't actually dehydrated, then you may not need to do anything. I had a friend who never drank anything. He ate a lot of fruit and vegetables and soup, so felt he got all the liquid his body needed.

SunnyBunBun79

I use a 16oz bottle.. so it's not a lot of water, it feels good to accomplish drinking a smaller amount at a time.

yirara

Why drink water if you don't like it? Drink carbonated water, tea, whatever you like. If it has calories then log the calories. Simples
If you work an office job you could also put a big cup/glass or whatever is acceptable to you. Maybe you start drinking automatically. Other than that: water also comes from food, like soups, fruits, everything that is mildly juicy or liquidy. Thus still not a problem if you get all your liquids from that.

rosebarnalice

As a strategy for breaking bad mindless snacking habits, I (a) started making myself drink at least 8 oz of water before I could eat a snack; and (b) imposed a strict "no snacks in front of the TV" rule.

Two things I learned: (a) sometimes I mistakenly think I'm hungry when I'm actually thirsty; and (b) sipping a nice herbal tea or fizzy water in front of the TV is just as satisfying as chips or nuts!

142jmh

I drink a lot of water now, but previously I'd just forget, or had to time when I purposefully dehydrated myself (worked in emergency response). I started drinking a glass of water any time I went the bathroom (like another poster mentioned). In my experience, if you are chronically dehydrated and you start drinking more water, expect to pee a lot for the first couple days, but after that it will sort of normalize.

Fit_Skywalker

I drink sparkling water with either lime or fresh mint leaves. The latter is really nice and give quite a nice flavour to the water. I would suggest adding some flavour to plain water as that may make it more palatable. Also, fruity herbal teas can be substituted for plain water.

elmusho1989

Drink it out of a snazzy, opaque water bottle. Don't know why but this works for me. I think I don't like seeing the water when I drink it🤷‍♀️

7rainbow

I try to just keep a water bottle on me all the time. Leave it on your desk or by your bed, wherever you spend your time. I end up sipping it without even realizing it!

ShalloKiBaji

I once heard a motivational speaker say in a talk that don't drink your water. Eat your water and drink your food. I am trying to accomplish that by having bullet proof coffee and lots of cucumbers and 🍉 watermelon.

ShalloKiBaji

Fit_Skywalker wrote: »

I drink sparkling water with either lime or fresh mint leaves. The latter is really nice and give quite a nice flavour to the water. I would suggest adding some flavour to plain water as that may make it more palatable. Also, fruity herbal teas can be substituted for plain water.

I agree , however too much tea even if it's herbal or green tea can add pressure to the kidneys. I suggest you speak to a doctor on how many green or herbal teas can you have in a day.

ninerbuff

I leave a cup near our water dispenser. Everytime I go in the kitchen, I drink about 4-6 ounces. Lol, I'm in the kitchen a lot.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

SnifterPug

Set an alarm on your watch every hour to make sure you get through the amount you wish to drink in a day. But remember that you can get a lot of liquid from food so how about majoring on watery foods as well? Lots of fruit and salads, stews with plenty of gravy, soups etc etc.

jeri30

Buy yourself a pretty water bottle and a reusable straw.

Using a straw tends to increase fluid intake according to research. I find this works.

Personally I like to see my water levels so I get transparent bottles. I need the visual reminder of how much is left. Out of sight is out of mind for me.

Some water bottles also allow you to track how many refills you've had.

Aim for 2.7 liters for women and 3.7 liters for men, according to the Mayo Clinic. I think in terms of liters since getting in 11.5 cups sounds intimidating but 2.7 liters doable even though I'm American.

It's honestly not that much since 1 liter equals 33.8 fluid ounces or 16.9 ounces x 2, which is the amount you get in 1 water bottle from the store (16.9 ounces). Just refill it approx 4.5 times after the first bottle for 2.7 liters to get the water down. (2.7 liters = 91.3 ounces approx; 91.3 ÷ 16.9 = 4.5 approx (rounding up)

So that's 5.5 bottles of 16.9 ounces of water. It's doable.

So just average out your bottles during your day. 1 bottle per hour or so so you're not constantly peeing all the time. Gulping it all down at once or in a short time span is when that tends to happen. Also happens when you increase your fluid intake but it'll pass.

Use flavorings with no artificial sweeteners. I really messed up my gut by using those flavor drink packets all day in my water. There's now research showing they can possibly be harmful to your gut microflora. I found it to be true in my case. Wish I'd known that before. They can ease the transition though I found to drinking plain water.

Just buy a bottle of lemon juice if you like and add to water. It's what I'm doing when I can't stand the taste of water. Makes it go down easier.

Be careful with drinking tea, coffee, and soda as they're considered weak diuretics to increase your intake (caffeine) as they'll make you pee more since that's a concern. Save it for home.

Yeah, I get kidney stones every so often. It's major fun. Not.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/water/art-20044256#:~:text=So how much fluid does,fluids a day for women

nataliepate25

Buy a 1L Water bottle and keep trying to finish it 3 times per day. I also drink 4 litres of water in a day. I hope this will help you.

Kaysmile012015

I Cheat..20oz of water I do 5oz-10oz Seltzer delicious flavors... I rarily do full Seltzer, no need the water takes on all the flavor of the Seltzer, plus I read alot carbonated is not great for you. My water always tastes yummy which makes it easy to down, I have (3) 20oz
Plastic reusable bottles that I refill

*Ps I've done the above w/ Sprite it worked really good, but I was over the sweetness after a few days,and went back to my seltzer add-in.