Water!!!!!!!!!!!

Does anyone have any helpful advice on getting hooked more on water????? Also, how can I lose the soda addiction!!! I drink on average about one or two a day!!!!!!! Oh dear!!!!!

Replies

  • crackur
    crackur Posts: 473 Member
    add flavored water packs.....no calories or low in calories.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    For me my aversion to water just changed all of a sudden. Sometimes I add a measured quantity of no added sugar fruit & barley or buy the occasional water with a touch of fruit flavour, although both have calories

    However I just seemed to start enjoying the water on its own
  • Susan0279
    Susan0279 Posts: 69 Member
    I do use Crystal Light to flavor the water, I don't like plain water. I also drink flavored seltzer water for the fizz! I used to drink alot of pop, but I limit myself to one on the weekend so it is a treat. Good Luck!
  • redredfox
    redredfox Posts: 76 Member
    Instead of limiting yourself to how many sodas you can or can not have because you are on diet or trying to be fit, simply tell yourself that you just don't drink soda. We make up too many excuses for ourselves and give way too much personal leeway. Remove it from your lifestyle. And water does not taste bad... just force yourself to drink it and stop making it a chore =)
  • lmoore9107
    lmoore9107 Posts: 38 Member
    Add flavoring or buy flavored water! Trying sparkling flavor water too it has the bubbles like soda so may help out! Good luck!
  • mamathrash2
    mamathrash2 Posts: 80 Member
    I put slices of lemon, lime and orange in mine. It gives the water taste so I find that I drink a lot more :)
  • K_Serz
    K_Serz Posts: 1,299 Member
    Does anyone have any helpful advice on getting hooked more on water????? Also, how can I lose the soda addiction!!! I drink on average about one or two a day!!!!!!! Oh dear!!!!!

    1315053306_woman_drinking_water_in_space.gif

    If astronauts can do it, so can you
  • I had the same problem it scared me because Idid not like water. I stared drinking cold water with crystal lite back up and so far I have not craved diet coke. Worth a try.
  • amandamae61288
    amandamae61288 Posts: 39 Member
    I was the same way when I started. I could not drink plain water- hadn't my whole life. Start out with a goal of so many oz a day and slowly increase. The flavored packets helped me when I first started, but I would advise against another "addiction". Your mind wants to cling to something. first soda, then it will be those flavoring packets. Have some in moderation, but by just drinking more and more, little by little, your tastes change.

    Now I LOVE water. I crave water. I drink 10-16 glasses of water per day. Nothing truly quenches your thirst like water does. And I have learned to tell when I am actually just THIRSTY and not hungry. Plus, a glass or two of water keeps me from snacking mindlessly all day at work.

    I haven't personally tried it, but infused water is the new thing. Probably tastes great and it definitely better for you that artifical flavor packets. Start somewhere, but set a goal of weaning to just plain water for the most part and your body will thank you.
  • LFDBabs
    LFDBabs Posts: 297 Member
    I started out adding a couple drops of lemon juice to water. Then graduated to lemon, lime, orange or cucumber slices....yes cucumber! It's amazing! Then, in January, I gave up soda....cold turkey (and I was a soda junkie). My family doesn't understand my choice but they respect it. I opt instead for water, tea or the occasional glass of wine with dinner. It's pretty much all water (plain) for me now. Sometimes I still get the craving for cucumber slices (family also doesn't understand this)...but I swear it's the best water flavor IMO. You just have to get yourself there...eventually, it becomes habit and preference :) Good luck!
  • ChangingAmanda
    ChangingAmanda Posts: 486 Member
    I kicked my soda habit over about a two week period. I was drinking much more than you (2 large sodas from a restaurant plus around 4 cans through out the day. Restaurant soda was regular and cans were a mix of regular and diet). I only drank a can if I had been craving it for more than an hour and I made myself drink 8-16 oz of water before I had the soda. For the first few days that cut me down to 1 can a day. Then the next few days it was one every other day. The last week it was about one every 2-3 days. Then I stopped. I had one a couple weeks later at Thanksgiving and it really didn't taste all that good and the bubbles were really harsh feeling.

    What about the soda do you think you crave/need/want/addicted to? Is it the caffeine? Try switching to coffee or tea sweetened with a natural sweetener like truvia. Is it the bubbles? Try switching to flavored seltzer water and add a touch of juice or even cut up fruit to add flavoring to unflavored seltzer. If you're not liking the flavor (or lack there of) of water, google water infusion recipes - it's essentially adding cut up herbs, fruits or veggies (think citrus fruits, mint, cucumbers, etc) to water and letting it sit over night and drinking it the next day. As long as you don't eat the add ins (tho you probably could) they add minimal calories to the water.

    You could add stuff like crystal light or mio to the water, but since they have all sorts of chemicals and artificial sweeteners, how is that really any better than diet soda? Just a thought...
  • LarryLaird
    LarryLaird Posts: 94 Member
    Flavor packets work great, You just have to put in your head. You will get used to it. It won't be long that a can of Coke will taste like syrup. I can tolorate diet 7-up or Sera Mist, but not much of it. Plain water is still the best for you they say. I don't know who "they" are.
  • couchbunny
    couchbunny Posts: 11 Member
    I find that when I'm drinking an adequate amount of water, I don't have the capacity to add much on top of it. Get a water bottle and keep it with you during the day. Know how much is in it and how many times you have to empty it to get your 8 cups. It's not too difficult if you can manage 2 cups with breakfast, lunch and dinner. Then you just need 2 more during the day/evening somewhere.

    If water is boring for you, I second the suggestions of the water enhancers. There are some tasty ones out there. You can also try switching to diet soda, either long term or during your transition period if you want to kick soda entirely. I don't drink coffee, so sometimes I will have a diet soda if I feel like I need caffeine during the day.

    Good luck!
  • 1princesswarrior
    1princesswarrior Posts: 1,242 Member
    I decided that when I ran out of diet Mtn Dew I just wouldn't buy anymore so I tried to make what I had last as long as possible. Then I drank iced tea for awhile to get off caffeine. Now I just drink water, lots and lots of water, usually more than a gallon a day. Occassionally I'll have some of those liquid drop flavorings you can add. I do love fruit infused water, a nutritionist told me about it years ago. I do that in the winter when it's cold and harder to drink cold drinks.

    Maybe it's my inner child but I also really love drinking out of the Camelbak bottles, I think they are fun. Anything that's fun makes it easier so I have two 1-liter bottles that I continuously fill up during the day.
  • Fullsterkur_woman
    Fullsterkur_woman Posts: 2,712 Member
    just force yourself to drink it and stop making it a chore =)
    That sounds like the opposite of "stop making it a chore".
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    OP, do you have some particular medical reason why other zero calorie drinks are insufficient to your hydration needs?
  • skyekeeper
    skyekeeper Posts: 286 Member
    Here's an idea that may help...
    1 glass or plastic pitcher - the simpler the better.
    Any number of fresh, organic fruits, berries or citrus: (use whatever you like)
    1 apple
    1 lemon
    1 orange
    1 pear
    4 large strawberries
    Handful of raspberries
    Handful of mint leaves
    Fresh cold water
    Personally, my favorite way to arrange the pitchers is to get sort of a theme going on. I might make one fruit water with all the berries and mint leaves, while another with the apples, pears, oranges, lemons, and mint leaves.
    Make sure your fruit is well-rinsed; if you're using mint leaves, rinse those, too. Then you just cut large slices or thin wedges of each fruit- depending on how you look at it and place them in the pitcher of cold water. Leave the mint leaves whole.
    You could even freeze other herbs or little flowers like violets in ice cubes and float those darling things in there. The possibilites are endless. Surprisingly, the water's flavor is very light with just a hint of refreshing fruit.
  • GingerLolita
    GingerLolita Posts: 738 Member
    I've always been willing to drink insane amounts of water (at least the daily recommended value), but I find that it helps to keep a reusable water bottle with me. Mine holds three servings of water, so I know that I should drink three a day - one bottle in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening. I've also heard that you can count other drinks towards your water intake, but I don't really know because I drink little else except for coffee w/ almond milk + sometimes 100% juice.
  • ChrisM8971
    ChrisM8971 Posts: 1,067 Member
    Does anyone have any helpful advice on getting hooked more on water????? Also, how can I lose the soda addiction!!! I drink on average about one or two a day!!!!!!! Oh dear!!!!!

    1315053306_woman_drinking_water_in_space.gif

    If astronauts can do it, so can you

    That just looks soooooo wrong lol
  • 2013sk
    2013sk Posts: 1,318 Member
    I drink 3 litres a day

    Chop a lime or lemon and leave it in the glass, gives it some flavour

    I keep the big bottle next to me at work all day, and drink the lot before I finish
  • joewalkerfan
    joewalkerfan Posts: 13 Member
    Start drinking roibos tea. It doesn't contain any caffeine so it's more hydrating than regular tea. It also has a lot of health benefits and it's delecious!

    And to lose the soda addiction, you could try cutting down on the consumption little by little, or go cold turkey if that works better for you. What I did, was to replace soda with carbonated flavoured water.
  • shivles
    shivles Posts: 468 Member
    Filtered water! Once your water doesn't taste all chlorine-ey it's much more palatable, you can pick up water filter systems that go under the kitchen sink on amazon really cheap. Also drink fruit and herbal teas, I wouldn't add all these water flavourings because of all the atrificial stuff in them but I make my own cordial to flavour my water which is super easy (boil fruit in water then add sugar/honey/ maple syrup until it forms a syrup, strain and bottle it!) and that way I'm also getting some vitamins from the fruit I used.
  • ATT949
    ATT949 Posts: 1,245 Member
    Does anyone have any helpful advice on getting hooked more on water????? Also, how can I lose the soda addiction!!! I drink on average about one or two a day!!!!!!! Oh dear!!!!!

    Why bother?

    We have a thirst mechanism that's been around for about 5 million years and medical research has repeatedly demonstrated that the thirst mechanism (unless it's been compromised as tends to happen to the elderly) is the best available guide to consuming water.

    When you're thirsty, drink. If you're not feeling thirst and you drink water all you're doing is spending time urinating. Again, why bother?
  • Class_Act
    Class_Act Posts: 18 Member
    I found using a 32 oz water bottle helped a lot! I purchased one from Walmart and started with the goal of just drinking 64oz for the day so it was easy to walk around with that bottle knowing i only had to drink 2 for the day. Then after a while I found myself drinking 3 before my work day ended and now I'm drinking 4! I turn to water now before pop and don't find myself craving it so often.
  • Think of drinking it as a duty.

    Personally I can't allow myself to sleep until I've had my 2L
  • prettigirl01
    prettigirl01 Posts: 548 Member
    I found using a 32 oz water bottle helped a lot! I purchased one from Walmart and started with the goal of just drinking 64oz for the day so it was easy to walk around with that bottle knowing i only had to drink 2 for the day. Then after a while I found myself drinking 3 before my work day ended and now I'm drinking 4! I turn to water now before pop and don't find myself craving it so often.

    this is what I did as well and its funny because just buying a simple water bottle made it easier to want to drink it. I don't like water at all. I probably never will but I don't flavor it or anything I just drink it because I know I need to