need help with water!!

Hi MFP!!

I have trouble drinking water. Can anyone suggest ways I can drink my 8 glasses a day. I use to drink a lot if coke, but not had any for 4 days. Taking it day by day with that, as it was a daily habit. Tried to drink water with cordial, but can only manage a glass a day. I don't know whether that counts as part of my 8 glasses a day!! Please help as trying my best to be healthy. Thank you.

Hi, Studies show that you actually don't have to drink 8 glasses of water a day. Just make sure you stay hydrated. As for the soda, I haven't had one in over a year. How I did that was by getting the sparkling flavored water from walmart, the carbonation really helped to keep from drinking soda again. I hope this helps.

how about sparkling water with cordial? Or just sparkling water?
Green tea?
I love vimto sugar free and barley, plain sparkling water and I drink LOADS of green tea!!!

Can you just take a mouthful of water and swallow it? i know it might not be delicious, but it's water, so it shouldn't be leaving a bad taste in your mouth or anything.

Flavored things help (crystal light, Mio, etc.) but it's best to get used to a little plain water. that way the other things are like treats instead of crutches.

I recently started taking my water intake seriously. It is definitely a habit that takes work to build, if you are not used to it. Stick with it! And if you cut out stuff like coke but don't replace it with water, you're going to have a bad time (dehydration).

I find that it helps if i start with a bottle of water i get at the store, just to transition. i fill it up over and over again over the course of the day. mine holds 33 oz, so after two fill-ups i'm "set" and anything above that is gravy.

It also helps to have several times when you just chug a glass of water. I try to chug one first thing and last thing in my day. it's easy enough to just DO then (rather than remember to sip throughout the day) and i know that i don't take in any water overnight, so i figure i need it. I aspire to "chug" another glass 1/2 hour before each meal.

I let myself count decaf teas as water, too. so i have 2-3 of those a day, which helps. I don't count my coffee, but i'm sure that is at least somewhat hydrating (despite the caffeine).

keep it with you, just take sips. you get used to the (lack of) taste and then it is refreshing.

Taper it. That's what I did, and I'm still working on that.

Meaning start with 1 cup a day, maybe 2 ... and go up gradually.

Maybe put a bottle of water on your nightstand and drink it first thing when you wake up. Or part of it, and then set a goal to finish it sometime during the day.

Just make sure you stay hydrated. Water is best of course, but it takes getting used to. Maybe flavor it up with some lemon or MIO or whatever until you get the hang of it. It's far better than soda, regardless.

Basically, do with adding water what you're doing with cutting out soda: Take it day by day, and go gradually if need be.

I've never used cordial, but I don't think it counts. Just the water itself, not what you add to it.

I love green tea so I brew myself up a big pot of it, put it in a pitcher and drink it iced.

Plain water is always best, but there ARE other ways to stay hydrated while increasing your water intake.

However I WILL tell you that once you get used to drinking water, nothing else is going to satisfy you as far as hydration goes. It just won't. There's nothing better, period.

I love sparkling seltzer water; all the fizz of pop, none of the empty calories. And before you say "Eww, seltzer water!!!" IT'S JUST FIZZY WATER! Not to be confused with tonic water, which IS eww!

Coffee and tea can also count towards your water, just keep the caffiene to a minimum. There are also the individual drink additives (like Crystal Light, Powerade, etc), but I am not sure of the carbs/sugars from them.

You can also add squeezes of citrus to your water to make it a little more palatable.

I have always been a big fan of water; I have water next to me all day and I drink loads of it.

A few years back, I was dating someone who drank a ton of diet soda, so I started having it in my fridge so he could have some when he came over... and of course, I started drinking it too, until.....


...... one day I took a nice, big swig of water and it tasted gross to me.

I really think that soda spoiled the taste of water for me, and I quit soda that very day.

Hopefully, once you've had more days of not drinking soda, and get more used to the taste of water, it won't be quite so icky to you! As long as the water you're drinking isn't heavily chlorinated (I found that to be true when visiting a relative a few years ago), it should taste fairly flavorless and be nice and refreshing.

I find it easier to drink water if it is room temperature, and drink a glass at a time straight away,( in about 5 seconds) lol, gets it over with. Much easier when it isn't freezing cold from the fridge. Black tea (no milk) & green tea count as water intake too.

I drink a bottle on the way to work and one on the way home (4 glasses). I also have a large decaf hot tea (2 glasses) and usually a large ice tea or bottle of water with crystal light on the go ( 2 glasses). This is a daily routine that seems to work for me. I try not to use any sweeteners except for what is in crystal light.

Just drink it lol it doesn't take long. You don't have to sip on it

I just drink and sip it during my meals. I'm weird though and love drinking water with sweet things. (fruit, chocolate flavored things like my clif bars!) I just only and always drink water.

I was exactly the same! I bought a drink bottle with one of those filters at the top. The water where I live tastes gross so this helped it taste nice once I got into the habit of drinking water I was fine. Now I just have a normal bottle and drink tap water. I always forget to log it but at least I know I drink 2L a day. I try to reach for the water and drink a big gulp (or two) whenever I feel like soda. I do drink soda still but not nearly as much my skin is sooooo much nicer now!! And I'm sure I save money lol

try getting a soda stream and then adding cordial. Im still a sucker for pepsi max but its low cal and sweet so gives me a mini sweet fix. drink loads of low cal cordials now though. don't worry about the 8 glasses thing just try to get some !

I have the same problem and have struggled with dehydration since I was a teenager. Meaning every few years I have to get IV fluids because I'm too dehydrated...and the rest of the time I ignore it. I've never been a big soda, coffee, tea, alcohol drinker so water is easy for me to commit to...it's just so boring :frown:! I suppose that's why I don't drink much....nothing gets me excited. But I've found that if you drink 1 bottle...and I mean guzzle...when you first wake up and do the same before bed then that's half your water and now I found the Crystal Light Wild Strawberry Energy packets and those are great...to me.

I carry around a litre bottle and give myself 3 hours to drink it then constantly refill it when im empty usually do about 4 litres x

At first I made myself drink a glass when I woke up and one before bed. When at the office I make sure to have a bottle full of water at all times; if you get hungry, a glass of water, if you get bored: a glass of water. Before you know it, you'll be on 5 or 6 glasses a day!

You can do it dear!!

Oh, I reward myself with ONE small glass of diet coke every few days (once a week maybe?)