..does only water itself count as water consumed?

i wouldn't count soda. you want to drink a lot of "water", and if you think soda counts, then that may make you want to drink more soda to reach your "water" goal. then you'd be drinking lots of extra sugar, calories, or other fake, weird, unnatural stuff. if you want to drink a soda, just log it in the food diary.
i'd just stick with counting water. and water is good for you!

you can drink nothing but soda if you choose and your body will still obtain the water it needs from the soda and any food that you eat that contains water. the human body is well designed to break down everything you ingest into its usable parts. why do you think soda is not mostly water? what do you think constitutes most of the liquid?? :huh:

my point is that, although you may be getting "water" from soda, you're also getting a lot of other stuff that isn't good for you.

...but the thread title was a question about what counts as water, not the nutritional qualities of anything you drink that is not water. i'm not soda-phobic so i don't worry at all about what is or is not inside soda, but i rarely drink soda so it doesn't make a difference to me. but if i were stuck in a raft adrift at sea and all i had with me was a case of 7-UP, the 7-UP would certainly keep my hydrated until i had exhausted it. the simple fact of the matter is that a lot of people completely misunderstand what liquids and foods can be used to keep you hydrated... the answer is simple. all of them. provided you're not making your tea with anti-freeze instead of water, then tea counts. same with soda. same with coffee. for hydration purposes, they all count.

i didn't realize that we weren't allowed to slightly deviate from the question in the title of the thread by giving a brief explanation of what our reasoning was for our answer to said question. that being said, i never said that your body doesn't get hydration or water from other drinks. my point is that there are other ingredients that are also being absorbed by your body besides the water portion of your drink, whatever it may be. i mean, you don't say, "i need some calcium. i'll eat some ice cream and my body will absorb only the calcium." - YES, your body will get some calcium from the ice cream, but it will also get sugar, fat, etc. i never said you wouldn't get any hydration from soda, coffee, or tea. i also never said people couldn't drink soda, tea, or coffee. i drink tea and coffee both on a daily basis and i love them both. i just don't count them as water. i have a separate beverages heading that i put them under. BUT THAT'S JUST ME. but i guess all of that belongs on a thread with a different title.

Anything with caffeine or alot of sugar can dehydrate you so I wouldn't count those.

I only count water, and include coffee and teas in my daily log. Also noticed that even though I drink my coffee black, it still registers as 2 cal. So even if you think you may be drinking something totally free of calories, it's best to really check the label.

*this* This is what I do anyway. Anything non-water I consider a "treat" including my "wake me up coffee" and my "I need to stay awake all night diet pepsi 20z" (they both have caffeine which is a diuretic anyway so you really cannot count them). I drink 80oz of water a day... at least that's my goal. I drink no less than 8 cups (64oz)

I count water as water. But generally I don't drink anything but water and one coffee in the morning unless I am sick or drinking vodka or hard cider...I am with the guy who said he has to drink alot. If I don't have at least 80 oz of water a day I feel sick and my skin dries out and flakes. Also, a little water trivia for you, chronic dehydration is the number one reason for fatigue in the USA.

Can you get liquid else where? Yes, but I'm a little OCD and take things at face value, so when I am asked how much water, I put how much water. If it was some liquid with calories, I would log it as food whether it has good nutritional value or not.

I drink only water. Period. It's what works for me.

I don't track my intake because I feel that the number is largely arbitrary. I drink when I'm thirsty.

On the diet soda front, to each his own. I feel that diet soda is detrimental to health and weight loss. The artificial sweetener might not contain any calories, but your body still reads it as sweet, thus triggering a hunger response. People who drink diet soda tend to eat more. I'm not saying all people. I'm saying people in general.

I drink tea on occasion for the health benefits. I drink water because there's nothing in it that could negatively effect my lifestyle.

Water only.

Any other liquid should be logged in your daily food diary

Anyway...H2O...if you add stuff to H2O, it is no longer H2O and thus, no longer water. That said, just stay hydrated..mellow yellow to clear.

False. Tea, coffee, crystal light, etc., do not change the chemical structure of water (H2O). They are homogeneous mixtures of water and the other stuff. The water still exists, in its natural H2O form, and its value is the same.

The answer depends on why you are logging water. If your goal is to remain hydrated, then it doesn't matter what else the water is mixed in with, whether it's coffee, tea, soda, milk, or whatever.

I've gone months if not years without ever drinking "water" and drinking only various sodas, and yet I never got dehydrated. The myth that caffeinated drinks dehydrate you is clearly false.

If your goal is to count the number of "clear liquids" you drink, then by all means, only log clear liquids. I'm not sure what utility that could possibly have, but if that suits your purpose, then go for it. You might also want to log the number of shooting stars you saw that day or number of bugs that hit your windshield while driving, that data might be as useful.

I don't really understand this as a question. Yes, only water is water. Soda is not water, coffee is not water, tea is not water. This is basic 2 year old knowledge. Those things contain water, but if I held up a glass of soda to my two year old and asked her what it was she would not say "water" and if she did I would correct her. Drink water if you want, don't drink it if you don't want. Who gives a crap? But don't try to call your coffee or whatever else "water". It's pretty simple.

And FTR, for me personally I usually do drink anywhere from 8-16 eight oz cups of water. When I work out I down at least 32 oz right then, and I try to drink 16-32 oz before and after, so it's not hard for me to get that much water in. I also drink a cup of coffee every morning and 1-2 12oz cans of diet coke in the evenings. I still only call water, water.

Water is water. Is tea water? No, it is tea. Is hot coco water? No, it is hot coco. Is water water? Well, yeah; duh.