Trouble with Water

I have read on this site that tea and coffee can be counted as water providing they are decaf. My doctor confirmed that so enjoy your tea{decaf} I know I do after getting used to it.

Water consumption does not effect weight loss over time. Additionally, there is water in most of the foods and all of the drinks you consume, so if drinking water is tough for you, this is ok because you get water elsewhere.
Either don't worry about it or enjoy other drinks when your thirsty and eat fruit and vegetables which tend to contain more water.

I love good coffee and could drink it all day, but I find it hard to drink plain water. I bought a 32 oz sport bottle (the BPA free kind sold everywhere in grocery and drug stores). I fill it with filtered water and lemon or lime slices and try to drink two of those a day. I've read that a lot of people add other fruit or even cucumber slices.

Recent research on hydration indicates that water isn't all that much better at hydration than other fluids we tend to drink. That isn't to say that the sugar in sweet tea isn't problematic. It is. But straight iced tea is almost as good at hydration as straight water. What they used to say about the diuretic qualities of the tea wiping out the good effects turns out to be less true than we thought. So, drink straight iced tea.

"But," you say, "it's the sweetness I crave." And indeed, that's a problem. But over the course of a few weeks you can retrain yourself on how much sweetness you crave. I used to sugar everything from my morning coffee to a bowl of blueberries. But in the 3-ish months I've been watching what I eat, I've found I want the sugar less and less. Limiting my sugar intake has limited my sugar desire.

So, over the next week, drink your sweet tea but cut down the amount of sugar you use with each batch until you are using none. If you are buying tea by the gallon, the easiest way to make it at home is just to fill a jug full of water, throw in some teabags, and put it in the fridge. A few hours later, it's made itself into tea.

Don't replace the sugar with sugar substitute. That won't reduce your sweet cravings but just increase them. Recent research also suggests that, at least for some of us, artificial sweeteners mess with our appetites and increase sweet cravings.

Finally, as far as the "drinking water makes you lose weight" idea. There isn't much science behind it. You may find, however, that when you think you are craving food what you are really craving is hydration and a glass of water is the snack you really need. If your tap water tastes lousy, get a filter pitcher or install an under-sink filter. For the discarded swimming pool water our city supplies to our taps, the filter works wonders.

Get some decaf crystal light tea - although some people thing artificial sweeteners mess with your body, the science is pretty thin on the subject. I think you can get away with switching to that, then start watering it down more a little each day.

Drinking water is tough for me. I am a sweet tea/coke type of girl and getting out of that habit has been very tough for me. In the evening I like to get a kiddie cup at home and fill it with ice and sweet tea but I tend to go back for a second drink. I also love wine on the weekends. I started a water challenge for 21 days drinking only water throughout the day but wasn't so successful. Any tips, motivations. ideas, encouragement. It's all welcomed.

I hate water yuck! I have been making fresh tea, rasberry or green and I brew 6 teabags and fill up a jug with ice and add a little bit of raw honey or raw sugar (just a little to give it a slight sweet taste) and every morning before work I fill a travel jug and drink it throughout the day and it has been working for me.

Try it its also caffeine free:)

As far as hydration goes it really doesn't matter what you eat or drink. As far as diet goes there's a lot of useless calories in sugary drinks that will definitely hinder your weight loss unless you are logging them and fitting it into your budget. There's no advantage to drinking a lot of water or anything else. If your urine is pale yellow then you are hydrated enough. Beyond that you're just stressing out your kidneys filtering all of that water and excessive water consumption can also deplete minerals your body needs.

For every diet soda i drink i drink a litre of water.

As far as hydration goes it really doesn't matter what you eat or drink. As far as diet goes there's a lot of useless calories in sugary drinks that will definitely hinder your weight loss unless you are logging them and fitting it into your budget. There's no advantage to drinking a lot of water or anything else. If your urine is pale yellow then you are hydrated enough. Beyond that you're just stressing out your kidneys filtering all of that water and excessive water consumption can also deplete minerals your body needs.

This is the correct answer.