And if I don't like water......?

Are you serious? :indifferent:

its mostly made of water, so is coffee, so is a lot of the food we eat too.

As long as you're drinking around the same amount in the sugar free drink I wouldn't worry about your water consumption too much. I'd log the drinks in your diary though rather than the water bit. I know a lot of people that don't bother about the water thing.

Your water intake of 2 litres a day is more a guide for how much fluid you should be consuming so the water content in tea and juice drinks count as well.

I used to be like you and hate water by itself. I started drinking the lightly flavoured waters as an alternative then gradually started drinking water by itself. I think the main change for me drinking water was when I was at the gym I just started chugging the stuff down. Start with mineral water that has a nicer taste then tap water then work onto filtered water then onto tap water.

No, soda doesn't count as water. It actually dehydrates you, unlike water, which hydrates you. If you count it, you'll only be fooling yourself.

I used to hate water. I still don't love it. I struggle to get in even half the recommended amount per day. But I've cut out all other liquids. I keep a bottle of water near me at all times. If I get bored, I take a sip. If I'm hungry, I take a sip. If I see the water bottle, I take a sip. I drink nothing else with meals. It is still a struggle, but it definitely helps. I used to get headaches all the time. Now, I rarely do, and I feel one coming on, I know right away that I haven't had enough to drink that day.

If you need the flavor, try some different kinds of tea. You can add a little bit of honey or sugar at first if you need to sweeten it up. Some teas I still do; some, I don't need to anymore. I particularly love loose leaf teas- I buy mine at the Tea Spot (theteaspot.com). They have some great flavors and need very little sweetening, if any, to make it taste delicious!

I add Ecodrink to my water. It is full of great vitamins and it adds a nice mild flavor to satisfy my sweet cravings. I buy it from Costco and usually samples of it are available there. Maybe you can give it a try.

I have the same reply with an added wtf?
how can someone not choke down water?

quite easy, my water smells and tastes like the swimming baths...I can't afford bottled water or a filter on the tap and have no fridge space for the jug things I drink NO water. As for "are you serious" and "WTF" they're hardly helpful and supportive are they, especially when its someones first post.

Back to the OP, there are studies that say that if you regularly drink a X amount of coffee/tea/cola that your body gets used to the diuretic effect and its almost totally negated. So if you usually drink a litre of cola then you can count that, anything over your usual amount should not be counted. Water is a diuretic too BTW. There was a time i drank nothing but caffeinated coffee and cola...for several years and I was NOT dehydrated. (or overweight!) I have switched to decaf as I've become very sensitive to it since being hit with a health problem, and suffer severe palpitations if I have caffeine now.

Obviously water is better but if you really cannot stand the stuff then any none alcoholic fluid is better than no fluid at all

I struggled at first, but I feel so much better after sticking to 8 cups a day, I can totally tell the difference in the way my body feels when its fully hydrated.
And how on earth can you hate water? it doesn't taste of ANYTHING! lol XD

You cant afford bottled water or a filter, but you drink a soda a day? How about saving your soda money and at the end of the month, buy a water filter?

You cant afford bottled water or a filter, but you drink a soda a day? How about saving your soda money and at the end of the month, buy a water filter?

The original poster said nothing about not affording a filter or bottled water, it was me that said that, when I was drinking soda (not every day I hasten to add!) I could have saved but that was a while ago, health changes bought about financial changes too.

Hear hear meggiemaye!