What counts as "water?"

That counts as CLEVER is what it counts as. Heck Im told even eatting "wet" foods like soup, yougurt even cucumber counts toward your fluid intake if you find it really challanging. I can't have artificle stuff due to allergies, and honestly I often find I lose more weight quicker if I can avoid it...but that could be a personal side affect. At the end of the day you are like 80% water! If this helps you stay hydrated then power to you

I count water and decaffeinated iced tea (I do not sweeten my tea) as water.

I can't stand plain water....but all I need is just the slightest hint of flavor to be able to drink it...so I slice up a fresh lemon, put it in a pitcher and fill it with water....let it steep in the fridge over night and you have great lemony water for the day. I also use an insulated cup with a straw...fill it with ice and suck it down.....it works for me. It's much better if it's icy cold. I also use sugar free flavoring...but again just enough to get a hint of flavor....not so much as to make it a lemonade or berry flavored drink. Even that gets too sweet. I have gotten much better at getting enough water in me this way.

Any fluid counts for hydration. The 8 glasses of water claim is a myth. The actual medical recommendation was about 2.5 liters of fluid, and the text specifically mentioned coffee, tea, soda, juice, milk, and water all as viable sources.

It was the bottled water industry that changed the word "fluid" to "water" in a marketing scheme to increase sales.

^^^This. Oprah did a big disservice to her audience by reinforcing this belief as well. I clearly remember her showing bottles of water and associating it with health. She holds sway over a lot of the populace and it disseminated out to the rest of the country that it was about bottles of water and not ounces of fluid. (She also brought on the pox of Drs Oz and Phil, for which she shouldn't be forgotten or forgiven).

As a side note to those that love their crystal light - Lipton makes similar packets now (you get the flavanoids). Right now I'm drinking Iced Green Tea with Blackberry Pomegranate. In my grocery store, they are with the tea bags, not the drink mixes. I too need to have something in my water, but with the packets I drink over 100oz a day.

I think you could probably count it, but I log the crystal light packet as well. I always make sure to keep water next to me, and that gives me more of an incentive to drink it.

Weight Watchers counts pretty much any 0-calorie fluid as water. Or it did when I was a member more than a year ago.

Wait, does adding the flavored powder turn it into non-water? Heavens, what the minerals it picks up on the way to your glass must do to it! Now you have to distill every drop of water before you drink it, just to make sure it counts. And you'd better not put it into a bottle because the structure of the water molecule will automatically pick up trace amounts of the glass, plastic, or whatever else you put it in. Heck, you'd better filter the air you distill it from too, otherwise Lord knows what could end up in it.

Sorry, on a more serious note, water, tea, coffee (you might only count 6 out of 8 ounces because the caffeine will dehydrate you for an ounce or two), soda (true, they're full of sugar or artifical sweeteners and everyone knows they're bad for you but your body still counts the water content as water), milk (only count 5 out of 8 ounces because the other contents take up the other 3), ...you get the point. If your body processes it as water, go ahead and count it as water.

Things NOT to count as water: Alcohol (not only should this not count as water, but you should prehydrate to counteract the dehydration it causes), energy drinks (the caffiene content is high enough that it will dehydrate you more than it hydrates you), crisco.

Question... so why is it... the more water I drink, the more thirsty I am? I drink a lot of plain water in a day... more than 15 cups.

LOL, evidently a frequent question? I say to each his own - if you drink water with Crystal light in it and you feel well hydrated then so be it. For me I count my "plain water" as my water intake for the day. I drink several cups of coffee in the cold weather but I don't consider them as part of my intake, and I don't count any other drinks or fruits (watermelon, etc) as part either. This is just something I do for myself to try to up my water. And I try not to drink more than 8 oz at a time because the more I drink the quicker I go to the bathroom and then I've just flushed away what I drank. That is why I have a bottle of water fon my desk, in my car, on my nightstand etc. If it's there I'll drink it - just like some people will drink a soda, coffee, tea or beer - if it's in reach. That's why I don't have it in reach. The way I look at it - "why eat clean if I'm not going to drink clean?"