Do you count tea and coffee as part of your water intake?

I didn't know there was any myth. If you think its dehydrating, then you wouldn't count it. If you think its not, then you would count it.

Personally i don't bother counting how much i drink. You've already got enough to worry about. Just drink enough to ensure that your pee is pale yellow. If its pure clear, then you are overdrinking and if its dark then you are dehydated. Its almost that simple.

Why are you tracking your water? Will counting coffee/tea change your water count a lot? Like, 5-10 cups of tea/coffee? If so, you might want to reevaluate how much tea/coffee you drink.

I think it's a slippery slope. Would you count brothy soups? Watery fruits?

Drink ample water. If you feel dehydrated, drink more. Done.

Count it - and as Patttience said keep an eye on wee colour. Don't forget to track milk etc too!

Of course! Even jellies and broth. My elderly neighbour told me when they used to be thirsty they would have a cup of tea; to drink just plain water was not a common thing. Tea has minerals in it; it makes sense. They were all thin back then mostly, I think more active with life.

I count water as water. Everything else is something else, for me. If I were going to add in anything else as water, it would be tea and coffee. But that would be it. I log juice, milk, soups and other foods in the calories section.

I think the point of counting water is to encourage people to drink water, not just take in any fluid.

Some people count milk, juice, pop, soup, tomatoes, lettuce and even apples or carrots as water. If that works for them, it's great.

It's really a personal decision. It is your diary and you get to make the rules!

Food has water in it and most beverages are primarily water. These all contribute to your overall hydration. The arguments that caffeinated beverages are a diuretic is kind of silly as water itself is a diuretic, meaning it causes an increased passing of urine.

I just try to shoot for a few Nalgene bottles of water each day and while I don't log any non-caloric beverage, I do count my tea and my water towards my overall hydration when I think of trying to get adequate fluids. If you're active, probably drink a little more and if you're fairly sedentary, you can probably get by with a little less.

The only reason you should be too focused on exactly how much water you're consuming is if you think you're retaining water (water weight). Is this an issue with you?

I don't track my water intake - but if I did of course I would count coffee and tea - I mean it is just water with flavor. Flavor doesn't make it not be water any more.

I also take notice of my urine color to help me determine if I need more water. But I do not log water. I don't log diet soda (no calories and I no longer look at sodium), and I don't log usually coffee (too few calories to make a difference in the big picture unless I'm drinking a lot, like on road trips when I'm trying to maximize time and thus driving at night while doing/seeing stuff during the day).

A few weeks ago, I was out hunting/camping in the forest. I put my pack down in the wrong way at camp and the bite valve broke and started releasing water. I didn't notice until several minutes later when most of the water was already gone. It was a mostly full 3L reservoir and that was a problem since there wasn't a good water source without hiking close to 15 miles and it was getting dark out. So I woke up the next morning thirsty. My brother was with me and shared some of his water, but we decided to take a break mid to late morning and drive back to town. I only urinated once that morning and it was very dark yellow - not a good sign. I was parked 4 miles away, and hiked past my vehicle to a different part of the woods and then back before driving into town around lunch time to get some liquid.

dedrallee wrote: »

I wouldnt count tea and coffee. Water is water . coffees will dehydrate you with all the caffeine.

This has been thoroughly debunked many times. Yes, caffeine has a diuretic effect, but it's far outweighed by the hydrating effect of drinking 8 to 12 ounces of water with it.

You could survive perfectly well drinking nothing but coffee, though as with any extreme diet there would be ill effects other than dehydration.